Sean Ennis

Research Topic

Cooperation and Rivalry: Britain's Imperial Interaction with the German Reich and the Ottoman Empire over the Middle East

Supervisor: Professor Andrew Thompson and Professor Paul Betts 

I am a DPhil student from Canada, having done both my Honours Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at the University of Toronto. My dissertation's research will focus on the British Empire's interactions with the German Reich and Ottoman Empire over the Middle East from the British perspective. I will be examining fluctuating periods of rivalry and cooperation over regions in the Middle East where their economic and geopolitical interests intersected and collided in the years that led up to the outbreak of the First World War. Ultimately, I hope to answer the question of whether or not the British Empire was on an inexorable collision course with the German and Ottoman empires in 1914? I plan on carrying out extensive research of the British Foreign Office's correspondence as well as diplomatic memoirs and newspapers in the archives.