HISTORY 274

History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923

(General Education Curriculum: Fulfills Historical Analysis Approach and the Beyond
the North Atlantic World Connection).

Instructor: Dr. Cemil Aydin

Email: [email protected]

DESCRIPTION
This course approaches more than six hundred years history of the Ottoman Empire from
a world historical perspective. It will situate the Ottoman imperial experience in relation
to Muslim, Mongolian and Byzantine traditions. Moreover, it will discuss the early
modern and modern era transformation of the Ottoman Empire, and its legacy for
contemporary Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

JUSTIFICATION

There is a gap in our history curriculum with regard to medieval Muslim societies and
Eurasia. This course on Ottoman Empire will help fill this gap, and will help our students
to overcome the established Eurocentric narratives with regard to decline of medieval
Muslim societies. This course will also provide a crucial background to the contemporary
Middle East and Eastern Europe while encouraging our students to better understand
modern world history.

.
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING POLICIES
I work with a 1000-point scale rather than grade points:

4 Tuesday Reading Reports (100 each) 400

Participation 200
Take Home Mid-Term (2 questions) 200
Take Home Final Exam(2 questions) 200
Total 1000

Grading scale
1
 2

A 1000-930 A- 929-900 B+ 899-870 B 869-830 B- 829-800 C+ 799-770

C 769-730 C- 729-700 D 699-600 F 599 or less

1. Four Reading Reports: Students will read about 50-60 pages each week,
approximately three articles, and they will write a report about these readings.
Tuesday reports are very important for your class participation and final grade. They will
be at least 1100 words, 3-4 double spaced pages, in length. The reading reports will
usually review an assigned reading around a set a questions the instructor will provide in
advance. You need to bring a hard copy of your response to the class. Then, you will be
asked to summarize your paper in class. Each report must include your name, topic, date
of the assignment, and word count.

2. Participation and Professionalism: This course has a discussion oriented

seminar format which requires that each student is prepared to exchange his or her ideas
with the class. Your performance in class discussion will be graded. Half of your
participation grade, 10 percent, will be based on your professional conduct during the
class. If you are disruptive to the class environment or miss the class for no reason, you
will lose this portion of the grade. Phone texting, or focusing on social media (facebook,
twitter) rather than participating in the class are common causes of lack of
professionalism in classrooms.

3. Take Home Mid-Term and Final Exam: There will be a take home mid-term
and in class final examination. For the take home examination, students will be asked two
essay questions, with each worth 10 percent of the final grade. Responses to each essay
question will be about 5 pages long (Double spaced). There will also be two essay
questions on the final examination, each worth 10 percent of the final grade.

COURSE OUTLINE
This course outline is tentative and can be changed at the discretion of the instructor.
Please complete all readings for the week by Tuesday at class time.

WEEK 0 - August 21- Introduction-Basic Questions and themes of the course

WEEK 1- August 26-28

MUSLIM, MONGOLIAN AND BYZANTINE BACKGROUND
I. The Ottoman Empire in World Historical Context
II. Multiple Legacies of the Ottomans (Muslim, Mongolian, Persian, Byzantine)

Readings:
*(Primary Source) Ibn Battuta, The Travels of Ibn Battuta in the Near East, Asia and
Africa, 1235-1354 (translated and edited by Rev. Samuel Lee) (Dover Publications Inc,
New York) p. 45-81. Includes Battuta’s visit to Anatolia just before the emergence of the
Ottoman Empire.
*(Primary Source) G. Lewis, trs., The Book of Dede Korkut, pp. 117-32. (Includes the
Story of Kan Turali”
 3

*S. Vryonis, The Decline of Medieval Hellenism, pp. 69-163.

NO CLASS ON SEPTEMBER 2nd- LABOR DAY

WEEK 2 – September 4
SECRETS OF OTTOMAN SUCCESS
I. The Rise of the Ottomans, 1300-1452
II. Causes of Ottoman Success

Readings:
*H. Inalcik, “The Ottoman Turks and the Crusades 1329-1451” in K. Setton (ed.),
History of the Crusades, vol.VI: 222-54.
*K. Mihailovic, Memoirs of a Janissary, 140-163
*G. G. Arnakis, “Gregory Palamas among the Turks and Documents of His Captivity as
Historical Sources,” Speculum, 26 (1951): 104-18.
*Cemal Kafadar, Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State,
(University of California Press, 1995) pp: 29-59. Chapter 1: Moderns (Summarizing the
existing historiography on the Ghaza thesis)
*Cemal Kafadar, Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State,
(University of California Press, 1995) pp: 91-154. Includes Chapter 3, Kafadar’s own
alternative explanations of the rise of the Ottomans.
*Cemal Kafadar, Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State,
(University of California Press, 1995) pp: 60-90. Includes Kafadar’s discussion of the
sources

First Reading Response: Based on your readings of (only) three of the assigned
readings, write a short paper on the secrets for the success of Ottoman principality in
expanding its territories and in establishing long lasting state institutions? What made the
Ottoman start-up principality to grow and expand successfully?

WEEK 3 – September 9-11

EMPIRE AFTER THE CONQUEST OF ISTANBUL
I. The Test of 1402
II. Mehmet II and the Classical Ottoman System

Readings:
*H. Inalcik, “Ottoman Methods of Conquest,” Studia Islamica 2 (1954): 103-29
*H. Inalcik, “The Policy of Mehmed II towards the Greek Population of Istanbul and the
Byzantine Buildings of the City,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 23 (1970): 231-79
* B. Lewis (ed., trans.) (Primary Text) Islam from the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture
of Constantinople, 141-8.
*Runciman (Primary Text) on the Fall of Constantinople
*Tursun Bey (Primary Text) History of Mehmed the Conquerer

Second Reading Response: What was the importance of Istanbul for the Ottoman
Empire? What changed after Istanbul? (Need to use at least two assigned readings)
 4

Week 4 - September 16-18

EXPANSION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
I. The Ottoman-Safavid Conflict
II. Reclaiming the Abbasid Legacy and Invasion of the Central Lands of Islam

Readings:
*A. C. Hess, “Ottoman Conquest of Egypt (1517),” International Journal of Middle East
Studies 4: 55-76
* A. Allouche, “The Origin and Development of the Ottoman-Safavid Conflict”
*Parry on “Bayezid II and Selim I”

Third Reading Response: Why did the Ottoman Empire had war with Safavids and
Invade Egypt? Are these wars any different than the Ottoman wars against other empires
in Europe? (Must refer to two assigned readings)

WEEK 5- September 23-25

ADVANCES IN EUROPE & THE INDIAN OCEAN
I. In Pursuit of the Red Apple: Advances into the Heart of Europe, 1520-1574
II. Competing with Emerging Oceanic Empires in the Age of Discovery

Readings:
*Casale, Giancarlo. "The Ethnic Composition of Ottoman Ship Crews and the 'Rumi
Challenge' to Portuguese Identity." Medieval Encounters 13 (2007): 122-144.
*Casale, Giancarlo. "The Ottoman 'Discovery' of the Indian Ocean in the 16th Century."
In Seascapes: Maritime Histories, Global Cultures, and Trans-Oceanic Exchanges
(2007): 87-104.
*Casale, Giancarlo. "Global Politics in the 1580s: One Canal, Twenty Thousand
Cannibals, and an Ottoman Plot to Rule the World." Journal of World History 18 (2007):
267-296.
**C. Kafadar, “The Ottomans and Europe,” in Handbook of European History, eds. T. A.
Brady et al., vol. 2, pp. 613-25.
*A. C. Hess, “The Evolution of the Ottoman Seaborne Empire in the Age of the Oceanic
Discoveries, 1453-1525,” American Historical Review 75/7 (1970): 1892-1919
*Ozbaran, “The Ottoman Turks and the Portugese in the Persian Gulf,” Journal of Asian
History 6: 45-87
*J. Elliot, “The Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry: The European Perspective,” in H. Inalcik
and C. Kafadar, eds., Suleyman the Second and His Time, pp. 153-62

Fourth Reading Response: How can you characterize the Ottoman Empire’s grant
strategy in Europe, Central Asia and Indian Ocean in relation to Habsburg and
Portuguese Empires? (Must refer to at least 3 assigned readings)

Week 6 - September 30 (Homework Break on October 2nd)

CLASSICAL INSTITUTIONS AND VALUES
1. Kul System, Kanun
 5

I. Timar, Waqf and Medrese

Readings:
*Halil Inalcık, The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age, 1300-1600 (Preager Publishers,
New York) p: 55-118. Includes sections on Chapter VII: The Rise of the Ottoman
Dynasty; 8: The Manner of Acession to the Throne; 9: The Ottoman Concept of State and
the Class System; 10: Law; 11: The Palace; 12: The Central Administration; 13: The
Provincial Administration and the Timar System;
*R. Repp, The Mufti of Istanbul, pp. 27-72
*H. Inalcik, “State, Sovereignty and Law During the Reign of Suleyman,” in Suleyman
the Second and His Time, pp. 59-92
*Uriel Heyd, Kanun and Sharia in Old Ottoman Criminal Justice,” pp. 407-424

Fifth Reading Response: Read at least two of the above readings and write down at least
3 characterizes of the Ottoman classical institutions that you found surprising and original
compared to other empires and states you know about. Be ready to discuss your points in
the class panel.

WEEK 7 - October 7-9

Focus on THE OTTOMANS AND EUROPEAN EARLY MODERNITY

Readings:
*Daniel Goffman, “Introduction: Ottomancentrism and the West” in The Ottoman
Empire and Early Modern Period (Cambridge University Press, 2002) pages: 1-22.
*Bowles, Edmund A. “The impact of Turkish military bands on European court festivals
in the 17th and 18th centuries.” Early Music 34, no. 4 (n.d.): 533 -560.
*Kafadar, Cemal, "Self and Others: The Diary of a Dervish in Seventeenth Century
Istanbul and First-Person Narratives in Ottoman Literature," Studia Islamica, No. 69
(1989), pp. 121-150.
*  El-Rouayheb, K (2008) “Myth of ‘Triumph of Fanaticism’ in the Seventeenth-Century
Ottoman Empire,” Die Welt des Islams, 48/2: 196-221.
*Cemal Kafadar, “A history of coffee houses in the Ottoman Empire” (unpublished
conference paper)

Sixth Reading Response

WEEK 8 - OCTOBER 14-16

Focus on IMPERIAL COSMOPOLITANISM

Readings:
* Hüseyin Yılmaz. “Imperial Ideology.” In Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, edited
by Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters. 273-6. New York: Facts on File, 2009.
*Gábor Ágoston. "Information, Ideology, and Limits of Imperial Policy: Ottoman Grand
Strategy in the Context of Ottoman-Habsburg Rivalry." The Early Modern Ottomans:
Remapping the Empire . Ed. Virginia H. Aksan and Daniel Goffman. Cambridge, New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2007: 75-103.
 6

*Cemal Kafadar, “A Rome of One’s Own: Reflections on Cultural Geography and

Identity in the Lands of Rum,” in Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Culture of the
Islamic World, vol. 24, ed. Gulru Necipoglu and Sibel Bozdogan (Leiden: Brill, 2007).
* Tezcan, Baki (2007) “Dispelling the darkness: the politics of race in the early 17th
century Ottoman Empire in the light of the life and work of Mullah Ali”, in Baki Tezcan,
ed., Identity and Identity Formation in the Ottoman World, University of Wisconsin,
Center for turkish Studies, 73-95.
*S. Hattox, Coffee and Coffeehouses, pp. 72-130
*Lady Montagu, Complete Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, pp. 325-352
*D. Terzioglu, “The Imperial Circumcision Festival of 1582: an Interpretation,”
Muqarnas 12 (1995): 84-97
*R. Dankoff, trans., Evliya Celebi in Bitlis, pp. 117-151
*M. P. Pedani, “Safiye’s Household and Venetian Diplomacy,” Turcica 32 (2000): 9-31
B. Braude and B. Lewis, “Introduction,” in B. Braude and B. Lewis, eds., Christian and
Jews in the Ottoman Empire, pp. 1-34
*Katib Chelebi, The Balance of Truth, G. Lewis, trans., pp. 50-65; 128-135.

Seventh Short Paper & Student Panel Question: Was the Ottoman Empire a “Muslim
empire?” Why or why not? Did cosmopolitanism of the empire contradict with its
Muslim tradition? (Student must refer at least 5 of the course readings until Week 10)

WEEK 9 - October 21- 23

THE CRISIS OF THE 17th CENTURY: BEGINNING OF DECLINE?
I. What was the crisis about? Who wrote about that?
II. Politics of Decline Discourses

Readings:
*M.A. Cook, ed., A History of the Ottoman Empire to 1730, pp. 103-132.
*S. Faroqhi. “Political Tensions in the Anatolian Countryside Around 1600.”
*B. Lewis. “Ottoman Observers of Ottoman Decline,” pp. 71-87.
*A. Reid, “The Battle of Lepanto and its Place in Mediterranean History,” Past and
Present 57: 53-73
*C. Kafadar, “The Question of Ottoman Decline.” Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic.
Review 4 (1998): 30–75;
*C. Kafadar. “Prelude to Ottoman Decline Consciousness: Monetary Turbulence at the
End of the Sixteenth Century and the Intellectual Response,” pp. 1-40. (typescript).
*C. Fleischer, Bureaucrat and Intellectual in the Ottoman Empire, pp. 235-293
*(Primary Text): Mustafa Ali. Counsel for the Sultans, tr. A. Tietze, pp. 66-86.
[discourse on signs, reasons, and remedies of decline according to influential late
sixteenth-century author.]

Eight Reading Response: Did the Ottoman Decline after the in the seventeenth Century?
Why or why not? (Must refer to at least two assigned readings)

WEEK 10 - October 28-30.

 7

BEYOND THE BATTLE OF VIENNA: RE-THINKING THE MEANING OF

OTTOMAN WARFARE IN EUROPE
I. What happened after the Vienna Defeat?
II. Is there a new Ottoman empire in the 18th century?

*Şener Aktürk, “September 11, 1683: The Myth of a Christian Europe and Massacre of
Norway” in Insight Turkey (Winter 2012) pp: 1-11.
* Emrah Sefa Gürkan, “Christian Allies of the Ottoman Empire,” European History
Online at.
http://www.ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/models-and-stereotypes/from-the-turkish-menace-to-
orientalism/emrah-safa-gurkan-christian-allies-of-the-ottoman-empire
*Donald Quataert, The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, chs. 3, 4.
* Felix Konrad, “From the ‘Turkish Menace’ to Exoticism and Orientalism: Islam as
Anthithesis of Europe (1453-1914)?” at European History Online
http://www.ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/models-and-stereotypes/from-the-turkish-menace-to-
orientalism
*Albert Hourani. A History of the Arab Peoples, pp. 225-230.
*Roads Murphey. Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700, ch.6.

Ninth Reading Response: Was the battle of Vienna an example of Clash of

Civilizations? What did this battle change for the History of Ottoman Empire?

WEEK 11 – November 4-6

CHALLENGE OF DECENTRALIZATION AND RIVAL EMPIRES
I. Political Upheavals in the Capital
II. The Rise of the Periphery: Social Unrest in the Provinces

Readings:
* Sajdi, Dana (2002) “A Room of his own: the “history” of the Barber of Damascus
(fl.1762), MIT electronic journal of Middle East Studies, 3: 19-35.
*K. Barkey, Bandits and Bureaucrats, pp. 141-188
*R. Abou el-Haj, The Rebellion of 1703 and the Structure of Ottoman Politics,
*C. Kafadar, Janissaries and Other Riffraff of Istanbul,
*C. Kafadar, When Coins Turned into Drops of Dew and Bankers Became Robbers of
Shadows,
*A. Hourani, “The Fertile Crescent in the Eighteenth Century,” pp. 35-70
*A. Raymond, “The Economic Crisis in Eighteenth-Century Egypt,” pp. 687-707
*H. Inalcik, “Centralization and Decentralization, 1600-1700,” in T. Naff and R. Owen,
eds., Studies in Eighteent-Century Islamic History (Carbondale, 1977): 27-52

Tenth Reading Response: Based on at least 2 of the above reading, discuss your
impression of the 18th century Ottoman empire. Was this a despotic empire with little
room for individual and social autonomy and participation? Are frequent janissary revolts
a sign of chaos or limited government?
 8

WEEK 12 - November 11-13

OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN THE AGE OF ATLANTIC REVOLUTIONS
I. Decentralization and Central Government’s Response
II. Post-Napoleonic Diplomacy and Reform

Readings:
* Sükrü Hanioğlu, “Chapter 2 and Chapter 3: Initial Ottoman Response to the Challenge
of Modernity & The Dawn of the Age of Reform” in A History of Late Ottoman Empire
(Princeton University Press, 2008)
* Virginia Aksan, “Ottoman Political Writings, 1768–1808,” International Journal of
Middle East Studies 25, no. 1 (1993): 57–59.
*R. Kasaba, The Ottoman Empire and the World Economy, pp. 11-87
*J. C. Hurewitz, Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East, pp. 1-5
*Karpat, ed., The Ottoman State and its Place in World History (Leiden, 1974), 107-118
*Kahraman Sakul, (2009) “Ottoman Attempts to Control the Adriatic Frontier in the
Napoleonic Wars”,Andrew Peacock (ed.),The Frontiers of the Ottoman World
(Oxford University Press(Proceedings of the British Academy), pp. 253-71.
*Subrahmanyam and Armitage, ed., Atlantic Revolutions in a Global Age, Selections

Eleventh Reading Response: What was happening in the Ottoman Empire during the
Atlantic Revolutions and Napoleonic Wars? Was the the Ottoman Empire an outside
observer or an active participant in these events? Why or why not?

WEEK 13 - November 18-20

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER OF THE 19TH
CENTURY
I. Decentralization in the Provinces
II. The Rise of Nationalism

Readings:
* (Primary Text) 1839 Tanzimat Proclamation
* Sükrü Hanioğlu, “Chapter 4: Tanzimat Era” in A History of Late Ottoman Empire
(Princeton University Press, 2008)
* Jennifer Pitts, “Liberalism and Empire in a Nineteenth Century Algerian Mirror,”
Modern Intellectual History 6, no. 2 (2009):, 287–313.
*(Primary Text) W. E. Gladstone, Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East
(London: John Murray, 1876)
*R. Clogg, A Short History of Modern Greece, pp. 16-69
*R. Clogg, The Movement for Greek Independence, pp. 17-21; 106-118
*B. Jelavich, The Establishment of the Balkan National States, 1804-1920,

WEEK 14 - November 25
AN ANTI-IMPERIALIST EMPIRE? OTTOMANS AND EUROPEAN
COLONIALISM
 9

I. Ottomanism and the Restructuring of the Empire

II. The Ottomans as the Leader of “the Muslim World”

Readings:
*Selim Deringil, “They Live in a State of Nomadism and Savagery”: The Late Ottoman
Empire and the Post-Colonial Debate” in Comparative Study of Society and History, p.
311-342.
*Engin Deniz Akarlı, “The Tangled Ends of an Empire: Ottoman Encounters with the
West and Problem of Westernization –an Overview,” in Comparative Studies of South
Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Vol: 21, No. 3 (2006) pp: 353-366.
*Eric D. Weitz “From the Vienna to the Paris System: International Politics and the
Engtangled Histories of Human Rights, Forced Deportations, and Civilizing Missions” in
American Historical Review (December 2008) pp: 1313-1343.
*Sükrü Hanioğlu, “Chapter 5: The Twilight of the Tanzimat and the Hamidian Regime”
in A History of Late Ottoman Empire (Princeton University Press, 2008)
*Cemil Aydin, “Globalizing the Intellectual History of the Idea of Muslim World” in
Samuel Moyn (Ed.) Global Intellectual History (Columbia University Press, 2013)

Twelfth Reading Response: How and why did the Ottoman Empire began to be seen as
the leader of the Muslim world in the second half of the 19th century? Did the Ottoman
Empire really become more Muslim in the early 20th century?

WEEK 15 – December 2-4

OTTOMANS IN WWI AND AFTERMATH
I. World War One and the Disintegration of the Empire
II. The Ottoman Legacy in the Balkans and the Middle East

Readings:
*Mustafa Aksakal, “Holy War Made in Germany? Ottoman Origins of the 1914 Jihad” in
War in History (2011- 18:184) p: 184-199.
*Berna Pekesen, “Expulsian and Emigration of the Muslims from the Balkans,” in
European History Online
http://www.ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-on-the-road/forced-ethnic-migration/berna-
pekesen-expulsion-and-emigration-of-the-muslims-from-the-balkans?set_language=en
*Shaikh Mushir Hosain Kidwai, Pan-Islamism (London, Lusac & Co, 1908)
*Halil Inalcik, “The Meaning of Legacy: The Ottoman Case,” pp. 17-30
*A. Hourani, “The Ottoman Background of the Modern Middle East,” in K. H. Karpat,
ed., The Ottoman State and its Place in World History (Leiden, 1974)

FINAL TAKE HOME EXAM DUE ON DECEMBER 10 (MONDAY) by Noon.

10