Decentering First World War History: Arabic Perspectives on a Global Event

This chapter is an attempt to decenter history writing on the First World War. The war was a momentous event that reshaped large parts of the world in enduring ways. The Middle East was among the regions most profoundly affected by this war and its outcomes. Life after the war was radically different from what people had known and experienced prior to this landmark event. Putting an end to empires and leading to a change in political systems on a previously unseen scale, the war also had profound effects on the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. Despite these fateful consequences, so far, no systematic study exists on the ways in which Arab historians have understood and presented the First World War to an Arab readership. Taking historiography in Arabic on the First World War as its subject of inquiry, this chapter explores the ways in which historians have described and analyzed this global event.