Ottomaanse geschiedenis blok 2: Donald Quataert’s The Ottoman Empire 1700-
1922
Chapter 1: Why study Ottoman history?
Introduction
The Ottoman Empire was one of the most important non-Western states to survive from
medieval to modern times, and played a vital role in European and global history.
The Ottoman state had emerged, c. 1300, in western Asia Minor, not far from the
modern city of Istanbul. In a steady process of territorial accretion, this state had
expanded both west and east, defeating Byzantine, Serb, and Bulgarian kingdoms as well
as Turkish nomadic principalities in Anatolia (Asia Minor) and the Mamluk sultanate based
in Egypt.
The appellation “Turk” has some basis since the Ottoman family was ethnically Turkish in
its origins, as were some of its supporters and subjects. But, as we shall see, the dynasty
immediately lost this “Turkish” quality through intermarriage with many different
ethnicities.
Ottoman history in world history
The Ottoman Empire was one of the greatest, most extensive, and longest-lasting
empires in the history of the world. The Ottoman Empire was born before 1300 and
endured until after World War I.
In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire shared the world stage with a cluster of other
powerful and wealthy states. To their far west lay distant Elizabethan England, Habsburg
Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire as well as Valois France and the Dutch Republic.
Also the city states of Venice and Genoa exerted enormous political and economic
power.
To the east were two great empires, then at their peak of power and wealth: the Safevid
state based in Iran and the Moghul Empire in the Indian subcontinent.
In 1453 the Ottomans destroyed Byzantium: the Ottomans went from regional power
to world empire.
Its geopolitical position, at the crossroads of the Asian, European, and African continents,
thus gave the Ottoman state an important role to play in world history.
The Ottoman empire was also the last great Turco-Islamic state, following those of the
Seljuks and of Tamerlane, born of the migration of the Turkish peoples out of central Asia
westward into the Middle East and the Balkans.
The “Eastern Question” – was: who would inherit which territories once the Ottoman
state vanished – provoked strife among the Great Powers of the age and became a
leading issue of international diplomacy in the 19th century. In 1914, the failure to
resolve the Eastern Question helped bring on the first great catastrophe of the
contemporary age, World War I.
1922
Chapter 1: Why study Ottoman history?
Introduction
The Ottoman Empire was one of the most important non-Western states to survive from
medieval to modern times, and played a vital role in European and global history.
The Ottoman state had emerged, c. 1300, in western Asia Minor, not far from the
modern city of Istanbul. In a steady process of territorial accretion, this state had
expanded both west and east, defeating Byzantine, Serb, and Bulgarian kingdoms as well
as Turkish nomadic principalities in Anatolia (Asia Minor) and the Mamluk sultanate based
in Egypt.
The appellation “Turk” has some basis since the Ottoman family was ethnically Turkish in
its origins, as were some of its supporters and subjects. But, as we shall see, the dynasty
immediately lost this “Turkish” quality through intermarriage with many different
ethnicities.
Ottoman history in world history
The Ottoman Empire was one of the greatest, most extensive, and longest-lasting
empires in the history of the world. The Ottoman Empire was born before 1300 and
endured until after World War I.
In the 16th century the Ottoman Empire shared the world stage with a cluster of other
powerful and wealthy states. To their far west lay distant Elizabethan England, Habsburg
Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire as well as Valois France and the Dutch Republic.
Also the city states of Venice and Genoa exerted enormous political and economic
power.
To the east were two great empires, then at their peak of power and wealth: the Safevid
state based in Iran and the Moghul Empire in the Indian subcontinent.
In 1453 the Ottomans destroyed Byzantium: the Ottomans went from regional power
to world empire.
Its geopolitical position, at the crossroads of the Asian, European, and African continents,
thus gave the Ottoman state an important role to play in world history.
The Ottoman empire was also the last great Turco-Islamic state, following those of the
Seljuks and of Tamerlane, born of the migration of the Turkish peoples out of central Asia
westward into the Middle East and the Balkans.
The “Eastern Question” – was: who would inherit which territories once the Ottoman
state vanished – provoked strife among the Great Powers of the age and became a
leading issue of international diplomacy in the 19th century. In 1914, the failure to
resolve the Eastern Question helped bring on the first great catastrophe of the
contemporary age, World War I.
