Ruling an empire spanning three continents for almost half a millennium, the Ottoman Empire is one of the most important polities in world history. The Sublime State, as the Ottomans called their own empire, encompassed a diverse population, and a complex range of institutions that changed considerably over time. During its long history, the Ottomans went through a series of peaks and troughs in terms of their military and economic power, sometimes a result of their own policies, sometimes thanks to events very much beyond their control. A place of fabulous wealth, beauty, and sophistication, it could also be violent and oppressive. Trying to capture this empire is a difficult task for historians, and attempts to tell the Ottoman story has resulted in decades of arguments and debates among scholars.
This course will use a range of recent scholarship on the Ottoman Empire, informed by a diverse array of written and material sources, to think about how this story might be told. We will think about its history from the reign of Sultan Mehmed II, conqueror of Constantinople, until the end of the First World War. As well as thinking about the past as described and recorded by those who lived through the events in question, we will also consider how the empire persists in the popular cultures of the areas it used to rule.
On the one hand, our sources often lead us to the grand imperial capital of Istanbul, with its royal mosques and rich archives. But we will also try to think about what Ottoman rule looked like in the provinces, and how the big events of high politics affected the lives of the millions of anonymous subjects who kept the sultans and their armies fed and supported. We will also consider how this state adapted to change over time, why it survived so long – and why it ended in tragedy.
