The Ottoman Empire’s Most Important Battles: The History and Legacy of the Ottomans’ Biggest Victories and Defeats

The unprecedented political power of the Ottoman imperial harem in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is widely viewed as illegitimate and corrupting. This book examines the sources of royal women's power and assesses the reactions of contemporaries, which ranged from loyal devotion to armed opposition. By examining political action in the context of household networks, Leslie Peirce demonstrates that female power was a logical, indeed an intended, consequence of political structures. Royal women were custodians of sovereign power, training their sons in its use and exercising it directly as regents when necessary. Furthermore, they played central roles in the public culture of sovereignty--royal ceremonial, monumental building, and patronage of artistic production. The Imperial Harem argues that the exercise of political power was tied to definitions of sexuality. Within the dynasty, the hierarchy of female power, like the hierarchy of male power, reflected the broader society's control for social control of the sexually active. Scope and content: "Although scholars have begun to revise the traditional view that the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries marked a decline in the fortunes of the Ottoman Empire, Baki Tezcan's book proposes a radical new approach to this period. While he concurs that decline did take place in certain areas, he constructs a new framework by foregrounding the proto-democratization of the Ottoman polity in this era. Focusing on the background and the aftermath of the regicide of Osman II, he shows how the empire embarked on a period of seismic change in the political, economic, military, and social spheres. It is this period--from roughly 1580 to 1826--that the author labels "the second empire," and that he sees as no less than the transformation of the patrimonial, medieval, dynastic institution into a fledgling limited monarchy. The book is essentially a post-revisionist history of the late Ottoman Empire that will make a major contribution not only to Ottoman scholarship but also to comparable trends in world history"--Provided by publisher The unprecedented political power of the Ottoman imperial harem in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is widely viewed as illegitimate and corrupting. This book examines the sources of royal women's power and assesses the reactions of contemporaries, which ranged from loyal devotion to armed opposition. By examining political action in the context of household networks, the author demonstrates that female power was a logical, indeed an intended, consequence of political structures. Royal women were custodians of sovereign power, training their sons in its use and exercising it directly as regents when necessary. Furthermore, they played central roles in the public culture of sovereignty--royal ceremonial, monumental building, and patronage of artistic production. This text argues that the exercise of political power was tied to definitions of sexuality. Within the dynasty, the hierarchy of female power, like the hierarchy of male power, reflected the broader society's control for social control of the sexually active. "The late Ottoman Empire is usually depicted as terminally ill, 'the sick man of Europe' according to the great powers in the nineteenth century. Justin McCarthy argues strongly that the Ottoman Empire ultimately collapsed not because of any problems 'within' but because of the imperial ambitions of outside powers and the irresistible tide of nationalism. He is not blind to the weaknesses of the empire - particularly its inability to modernize its economy or finances at a sufficient pace - but in light of the baleful developments in the Balkans and Middle East in the twentieth century, it is impossible not to reflect on the opportunities lost as a result of the Ottoman demise. Until the final years of the empire, peoples of different religions lived together who have been unable to live together since. Millions have been displaced, millions more killed, and the conflicts engendered by the passing into history of the Ottoman Empire continue to plague the world today."--Back cover "The late Ottoman Empire is usually depicted as terminally ill, 'the sick man of Europe' according to the great powers in the nineteenth century. Justin McCarthy argues strongly that the Ottoman Empire ultimately collapsed not because of any problems 'within' but because of the imperial ambitions of outside powers and the irresistible tide of nationalism. He is not blind to the weaknesses of the empire - particularly its inability to modernize its economy or finances at a sufficient pace - but in light of the baleful developments in the Balkans and Middle East in the twentieth century, it is impossible not to reflect on the opportunities lost as a result of the Ottoman demise. Until the final years of the empire, peoples of different religions lived together who have been unable to live together since. Millions have been displaced, millions more killed, and the conflicts engendered by the passing into history of the Ottoman Empire continue to plague the world today."--Jacket

This book examines the collapse of the Ottoman Empire which changed the lives of Slavs, Turks, Greeks, Arabs, and Armenians. For six centuries the Ottoman Empire united a diverse array of religious and ethnic groups, but its dissolution into distinct states left a tradition of nationalism and ethnic enmity in much of the Balkans and Middle East which directly links to crises in the region today.

The new map of the Balkans and Middle East, which was largely the product of the victorious Allies after Word War I, made little concession to practical concerns such as access to seaports, or the rights of minorities. In particular the majority of the Muslim population of the Ottoman Balkans would never be integrated into the new states as the "national" character of these states depended, in part, on the elimination of what they considered "outsiders". Only the Turkish Republic was able to thwart the plans of the conquerors by defeating military incursion.

Machine generated contents note: 1 Introduction 2 Reforming the Empire 3 The Balkans 4 Ottoman Asia 5 The Balkan Wars 6 World War I 7 The peace conferences 8 The Turkish War of Independence 9 The Balkans after the wars 10 Mandates in the Arab provinces 11 The Turkish Republic 12 Legacy and consequences Notes Suggested readings Index. This book proposes a radical approach to history of the late Ottoman Empire. Baki Tezcan constructs a new framework by foregrounding the proto-democratization of the Ottoman polity in this era, and shows how the empire embarked on a period of seismic change in the political, economic, military, and social spheres. From the beginning of the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent in 1520 until the mid-17th century, high-ranking women of the Ottoman dynasty enjoyed a degree of political power. This text examines the sources of their power and assesses the reactions of their male contemporaries.