Among the Ottomans ─ Diaries from Turkey in World War I

During World War I, the Ottoman Empire, one of the largest and longest-lasting empires in history, faced severe challenges to its structure and existence, which eventually resulted in its dissolution. Among the Ottomans introduces two unique diary accounts written by two generations of the same family in the declining years of the Ottoman Empire.

Living at the heart of the crumbling Ottoman Empire, Marie Lyster's diaries describe the realities of daily life in wartime Constantinople and the transcendent tolerance between the Turks and the belligerents of the Allied forces who remained in the Ottoman capital throughout World War I. Her vivid descriptions portray the political and social climate of the capital as Allied troops swept through Turkey, wreaking havoc on the country's infrastructure and forcing residents, regardless of their national allegiance, to endure the hardships of war.

Just 200 miles away in the Dardanelles, her son Henry was fighting with the Allies against the Turks. Following the retreat in 1915, he was posted to Salonika in northern Greece where he worked with the "Comitajis" as they clashed with the Bulgarians. Providing a firsthand account of the Allies' retreat to Salonika, Henry Lyster documents the dense fog of war which hindered Britain's attempt to mount an offensive. In addition to offering a unique portrait of daily life on the battlefront. Henry Lyster's diaries provide tantalizing insight into the bureaucratic and political inner workings of the Allied military apparatus. In the years following the war, while serving as the Military Governor of Eastern Thrace, he witnessed the rise of Turkish Nationalism and the post-war struggle for control of the fallen Empire's territories. In attempting to maintain political neutrality, Lyster fell into the crosshairs of both Greek and Turkish political parties as he faced charges of bias and corruption.

Published for the first time, these two contrasting diaries from two generations of the same family provide an unprecedented account of the Great War's impact across generations and geographical borders and a unique insight into the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

Ian Lyster (the son and grandson of the diarists) was born in 1937 in London and educated in Istanbul, where his father and grandmother had earlier lived, as well as in the UK. After studying at the London College of Printing he worked for a number of printing companies and later set up his own book distribution company.