At the end of the First World War the modern Middle East was created by Britain and France, who carved up the old Ottoman possessions with scant regard for the wishes of those who lived there. It was destined from the outset to failure. With reference to a huge amount of primary and secondary sources, Walter Reid explores Britain's role in the creation of the modern Middle East and the rise of Zionism, from the early years of the twentieth century to 1948, when Britain handed over Palestine to UN control – a process from which has flowed much of the instability of the region and of the world-wide tensions that threaten the 21st century.