| Summary/Abstract |
This article investigates the German cultural diplomatic efforts in the Ottoman Empire between 1900 and 1918 and the example of the German so-called Propagandaschule in Baghdad. The article argues that contrary to recent scholarship, the German Empire had a considerable and well-designed secular-based cultural diplomacy programme, especially in the Ottoman Empire. This finding is important for the social history of the Arab provinces of the late Ottoman Empire, as it gives the local population, especially the Muslim part, a much stronger agency in daily life than recently argued. The finding breaks with the assumption that the local population only had the Ottoman state schools or western missionary schools to choose from. The Muslim population in particular favoured the possibility of secular education.
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