This thesis attempts to trace the Arab sense of national belonging to the Ottoman state in the immediate prelude to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. It analyzes Arab popular sentiment...Show moreThis thesis attempts to trace the Arab sense of national belonging to the Ottoman state in the immediate prelude to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. It analyzes Arab popular sentiment toward the Ottoman state, specifically toward the Committee of Union and Progress (İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti, CUP or Unionists) during the period between 1909 and 1914. In doing so, it seeks to deconstruct the post-Ottoman, Arab, nationalist, meta-historical narrative that commonly links the development of Arab proto-nationalism during the CUP period (1908–1918) with the creation of Arab nation states in the post-Ottoman period, in which the Arab (Sharifian) revolt of 1916 is often presented as the main event that gave way to that transition.Show less
