Military Review English Edition July-August 2016 | Page 140

focused on setting Germany apart as a willing friend and potential ally . In response , men such as Amin al-Husayni , the mufti of Jerusalem , took up the cause by 1940 and emerged as a key adviser to the Nazi hierarchy . Aggressive courtship of Muslim partners , however , really began in 1942 as it became clear that German victory was not at hand and indeed might never come .
An initial problem entailed the mere act of communicating interest in a common front to potential Muslim allies . Relatively few Muslims in most of the war zones were literate , and fewer still possessed radios . Recruiting Muslims from among Soviet prisoners of war sometimes proved simpler . In the meantime , the Nazis confronted a huge problem of their own making in trying to sell Germans — steeped in years of racist indoctrination — on the virtues of their proposed allies . The Schutzstaffel ( SS ) units in particular had to learn to work alongside Muslim units of their own creation . For the most part , German officials followed in the wake of the Wehrmacht and spread an invitation to join the cause to any Muslims who would listen . Much of their argument centered on “ shared values ” between Nazis and Muslims . They even sponsored friendly Muslim hierarchies and institutions to demonstrate their benevolent concern for the ulema ( mullahs ). The message resonated best in places where predominantly Turkic Muslims , subjugated by Slavic populations , lived as minorities in lands they once owned . In turn , some Muslims perceived this as an opportunity to align their fates with that of an apparently victorious power .
To be sure , the Nazi recruitment campaign was not wildly successful , although it did yield a few divisions of soldiers in the Balkans and the Caucasus . Of course , a good many Muslims served in armies fighting the Nazis as well , a fact that was sometimes lost in the aftermath . Indeed , it is also noteworthy that Nazi attempts to instigate unrest behind allied lines had little effect . Nevertheless , in the end , associating themselves with the Nazi cause often had serious postwar consequences for Muslim minorities . To their later regret , Muslims in Yugoslavia aligned themselves with Croatian fascists of the Ustasha . Serb memories of the terror they were subjected to helped fuel Bosnian Serb aggression during the Yugoslav Civil War of the 1990s . Meanwhile , within the borders of the Soviet Union , significant , but not large , numbers of Chechens , Ingushis , and Crimean Tatars , among others , joined the invaders . Once the Red Army regained control of the Crimea and North Caucasus in 1943 – 1944 , Joseph Stalin directed the wholesale deportation of entire populations to Siberia and Central Asia . Many perished during the removal process while those who arrived in their assigned places of exile typically found they were less than welcome . Ultimately , return to their ancestral homes became possible for some under Nikita Khrushchev in the 1950s , while others had to wait until the Gorbachev era at the close of the Cold War .
In summation , Motadel ’ s study includes much original research and pulls together in a coherent narrative the separate experiences of a variety of Muslim populations . The work is highly readable and provides fresh coverage of a seldom-addressed aspect of the war . Overall , the book draws upon a broad range of sources , including many documents from the German archives , and is a valuable contribution to scholarship on the war . For students and scholars alike , it serves as useful background for understanding many developments of the post-Cold War period across the Middle East , the Balkans , and western Eurasia . Dr . Robert F . Baumann , Fort Leavenworth , Kansas
THE GREAT DIVIDE The Conflict Between Washington and Jefferson That Defined a Nation Thomas Fleming , Da Capo Press , Cambridge , Massachusetts , 2015 , 410 pages

Idealistic , naïve , and hypocritical are among the gentler terms used by well-regarded and prolific historian Thomas Fleming to describe the third president of the United States . When compared to the leadership , judgment , and political skills of George Washington , the contrast is stark . The portrait painted of Thomas Jefferson is not a flattering one . While the book is framed as the dichotomy between Washington and Jefferson , it is no surprise that a primary connection between the two is James Madison .

The establishment of the National Bank was the turning point in the relationship between Jefferson , Madison , and Washington . Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton convinced the president that
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