Contents -- Introduction -- The Ottoman-Safavid Conflict -- Turbulence on Persia's Frontiers -- Balance of Power in Southeastern Europe -- Beginnings of the Russo- Ottoman Conflict -- Decline and Fall of the Safavid State -- The Era of Nadir Shah -- Russian Imperialism under Catherine the Great -- Developments in the Ottoman and Persian Spheres -- Napoleon Enters the Middle East -- The Era of Muhammad Ali -- Anglo-Russian Rivalry in the Persian Sphere -- The War of 1828 and Its Aftermath -- The Crimean War -- Britain and Russia in Persia and Central Asia -- The Russo-Turkish War of 1877 -- Confrontations in the Persian Gulf and Egypt -- Resurgence of Anglo- Russian Rivalry -- The Close of the Ottoman Era -- The Last Ottoman War -- The Dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire -- Bibliography -- Index.