The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War

Excellent job of sorting out the muddle that was Turkish "policy"

The quality of the academic research and detail in this book is top notch, at the level of a professional historian as one would expect. Mr. Aksakal convinces the reader of his point by clearly explaining the reasons Ottomans went in WW1 with Germany. The potential reader should know though that this is an expert scholarly work, with a chronology that essentially focuses on a 5 month period in 1914 (from July to November, the beginning of the war) when crucial decisions and hesitations pertaining to entry into the war were being weighed/debated amongst Ottoman/German/Russian diplomats. Interesting and crucial content, but nevertheless narrow in scope from the general public's perspective.I am of Armenian origin and for me the book was fascinating in understanding the psychological state of Ottoman leaders, their priorities/objectives, the dilemmas they faced, negotiation tactics they used, and the political/military constrains under which they operated at the beginning of the war ... and months before the start of the genocide.

Well researched, expertly written.