A century ago, the Ottoman Empire was increasingly retreating its forces from the Middle East. Even before Jerusalem was captured in December 1917, the British Empire declared its sympathy with a future Jewish homeland in Palestine. British and other Western diplomats were starting to create a new order in the Middle East that still affects the current complex and violent situation in that region. The First World War was a seminal change for the Ottoman world and the Middle East. However, Western diplomats had already influenced and shaped politics, infrastructure and visions before the war broke out. The so-called Eastern Question influenced European powers especially after the Crimean war and led to a growing diplomatic and military presence in the weakened Ottoman Empire. This paper analyses how the diplomatic networks were set up. The focus lays on the cooperation and rivalry between the Western diplomats in the Ottoman Middle East from 1900 to 1918. While the great powers were often competing, the shape and scale of the Ottoman provinces demanded also cooperation. Examples hereby are law and order, local Christian communities and infrastructure projects. It further explores the notion of sovereignty, imperial self-perception and representation of the Christian powers.