Gregg L Carter. Book Review: Cem Emrence. Remapping the Ottoman Middle East: Modernity, Imperial Bureaucracy and Islam. New York, NY: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2015. NETSOL, 4/2, Fall 2019, pp.74-76. (original) (raw)
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Revisiting Ottoman State formation: A New Approach and Conceptualisation
2024
The Ottoman Empire often conjures images of despotic sultans, formidable armies, and luxurious harems. These perceptions, shaped largely by orientalist portrayals, have long overshadowed the complexities of Ottoman history. Over the past decades, however, scholars have reevaluated and enriched our understanding of the empire’s origins and development, challenging outdated narratives and simplistic explanations. This paper explores the emergence of the Ottoman state, critically examining among others Paul Wittek’s influential Gaza Thesis. Wittek argued that Islamic ‘holy war’ (gaza) against Christians was the primary catalyst for Ottoman expansion and state formation. By situating this debate within the broader historical and cultural contexts of Turkish migrations and the frontier dynamics of Anatolia, and by applying theoretical models of ancient state-building, this paper reevaluates the process of Ottoman state-building and explores alternative explanations for its remarkable success.
Reflecting on the state of Ottoman social history poses a paradox. On the one hand, it is impossible not to appreciate the great strides accomplished over the past three decades. Earlier approaches have been challenged, topics that were previously untouched or unimagined have been studied, and the foundations of a meaningful dialogue with historiographies of other parts of the world have been established. On the other hand, the theoretical sophistication and methodological debates of Ottoman social history still look pale compared to European and other non-Western historiographies in the same period.
The Ottoman Empire: A History, 2022
The Ottoman Empire was the last of the great empires that had dominated the Middle East and Mediterranean since the dawn of the history of civilisation. The Ottoman Empire began around 1300 as a late-medieval entity, and it transformed several times over its six centuries of existence as it adapted to the conditions of the early modern and modern periods, until its ultimate demise at the end of the First World War. The Ottoman Empire: A History surveys six hundred years of Ottoman history in a single, concise volume. This book covers the major political, diplomatic, and military events and social, economic, financial, administrative, and legal institutions of the Ottoman Empire from the early fourteenth to the early twentieth century. It also explores the political-administrative and socio-economic transformations the empire has undergone over the centuries. The book frames Ottoman institutional history in terms of the concept of the Circle of Justice in the Middle Eastern state tradition. In the conclusion, Çetinsaya discusses three key questions and offers some answers to them: What is the relative place of the Ottoman Empire in world history vis-à-vis that of other empires? What factors account for the great longevity of the Ottoman Empire? And how to deal with the controversial legacy of the empire in its successor states? In addition to a series of box texts and tables on various subjects throughout the book, a basic timeline of key dates and events is offered at the beginning of every chapter, and a list of suggested readings at the end.