93295 - History of the Ottoman Empire (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be able to apply the main techniques for understanding the cultural and historical processes leading to the formation and development of the Ottoman Empire, whether in the specific geo-historical context or through interaction witih other cultural worlds such as Western Christendom, Islam, Byzantium and Central Asia. They will be able to place political, religious and cultural phenomena in historical context, critically examining the interconnections (including comparison with other cultural areas), and use specific cases to illustrate the multicultural dimension of the Ottoman Empire. They will recognise and analyse documentary and textual sources pertaining to the area in question. They will know how to listen, understand and debate respectfully with different cultures and viewpoints, spotting tie-ups among the different disciplines involved in interpreting cultural and historical phenomena.

Course contents

History of the Ottoman Empire: Society, Politics, and Culture

The course intends to deal with the Ottoman history from the 13th to the 20th centuries, from the birth of the Ottoman principality in Anatolia to the end of the empire with the First World War. Political and military developments that brought about the expansion and the dissolution of the empire will be studied alongside the social, cultural, and intellectual aspects. During the course, the consolidation and the expansion of the empire and the crises and reforms of the late Ottoman era will be discussed.

 

Course syllabus:

1. Introduction of the course, the sources, the syllabus

2. The evolution of the early Ottoman state

3. The conquest of Constantinople

4. The expansion into the Middle East/rivalry between the Ottomans and the Safavid empire

5. Ottoman golden age Suleyman I and the institutionalization of the state

6. The international relations of the Ottoman Empire, Venice and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean

7. The transformations of the 1600s and 1700s. The decline of the empire?

8. The tulip era. The reforms of Sultan Selim III and Mahmud II. "The Eastern Question."

9. The Tanzimat

10. Opposition to the Tanzimat. The Young Ottomans. Abdulhamid II.

11. 1908. The Young Turks.

12. The period after 1908. The wars-The Italo-Turkish war of 1911-1912 and the Balkan wars of 1912-13.

13. The Ottoman Empire in World War I: domestic and military front and social engineering

14. Women and social change in the late Ottoman period

15. From empire to republic, postwar developments

Readings/Bibliography

1. Compulsory Reading:

Cigdem Oguz (a cura di), Storia dell'Impero ottomano e della Repubblica turca, Brescia, Scholé-Morcelliana, 2023, pp. 1- 216.

 

2. Further Readings:

1. Suraiya Faroqhi, L’impero ottomano (traduzione di Lea Nocera), Bologna: il Mulino, 2018.
2. Erik Jan Zurcher, Porta d’Oriente. Una storia della Turchia dal Settecento a oggi (traduzione di Stefania Micheli e Andrea Piccoli), Roma: Donzelli, 2016, pp. 5-200.
   
3. Federico Donelli, Islam e Pluralismo: La coabitazione religiosa nell’Impero ottomano, Firenze: Le Monnier Università, 2017.
   
4. Giorgio del Zanna, La fine dell’impero ottomano, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2013.
5. Karen Barkey, Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
6. Leslie Peirce, The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Teaching methods

Each seminar includes a lecture and a discussion part.

Assessment methods

Those who attend at least 22 hours over 30 will be considered as attending students.

The exam will take place as an oral interview which is based on the themes and the readings cited above. 

Those who cannot attend the course should read this book alongside the Oguz's:

• Suraiya Faroqhi, L’impero ottomano (traduzione di Lea Nocera), Bologna: il Mulino, 2018.

The final mark will be based on these assesments:

A good knowledge of the readings, critical and analytical skills, and knowledge of the academic language treated in the class will bring a good grade.

Acceptable knowledge of the readings and less ability of using the academic language will bring a sufficient grade.

Fragmented knowledge of the readings and weak critical capacity, and inability to use the academic language will be bring a low grade. 

 

 

Teaching tools

Power point presentations

Short documentaries and interviews with the historians 

Office hours

See the website of Cigdem Oguz