In “Back to Napoleon?” Dror Zeevi explores the notion that it was not simply one event, like Napoleon invading Egypt in 1798 that sparked the process of modernization in the Middle Eastern region, but rather it was the result of many internal and external processes interacting together, such as colonialism, that led to the modern Middle East. Throughout his piece, as we discussed in lecture, Zeevi suggests that modernization stems from changes in both epistemology and institution, concluding that we must reconsider why 1798 is the beginning of modernity by instead regarding it as the beginning of the colonial encounter (Class). History is not nearly as simple or as smooth as the Napoleon argument suggests.
Frederick Anscombe builds on Zeevi’s
argument in “The Balkan Revolutionary Age,” not so much by discussing the colonial encounter, but rather by addressing several principle events throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that pushed the Ottoman Empire to its limits. Indeed, Anscombe examines several smaller, but nevertheless important revolutions and uprisings within the Ottoman region that occurred during this period, thus looking below the surface as Braudel insisted. During the 1790s-1830s, the Balkan region was experiencing great unrest that continuously weakened the empire; it was not one single force working against the empire, but many. For example, forces such as the Muslim military, and Serbian, Greek, and Bosnian uprisings helped lead to Istanbul’s reform. However Anscombe points out that although many European countries were at the time also changing, the “Ottoman version of this program of modernization was ‘homegrown’” (Anscombe 573). Unlike most of Europe, the Ottoman region adhered to Islam. Given that there were still many Christians living in the Balkans, there indeed existed peaceful, but fragile relations between the two religions. But while these two groups did not intermix a great deal, their uprisings throughout the revolutionary period often had similar motivations. Many uprisings resulted from local sentiments that the central government was failing to do its job to uphold law and order, for example. Moreover, uprisings in 1821 by Christians in Greece and Muslims in Bosnia were due to the fact that the central government was targeting anyone who appeared disloyal to its rule. Throughout the century, the Ottoman Empire also engaged in many deadly and costly wars that pushed it deeper into an economic crisis that led to high inflation and low salaries for janissaries. The rulers did not learn from their mistakes, however, and continued to fail to address serious weaknesses in the military after the wars. They instead tried to model their military after Christian European militaries with the unpopular New Order created by Sultan Selim III in 1792. Unfortunately, the Sultan did not account for additional funding necessary for his plan, and consequently put even more pressure on local economies. This led to many soldiers, who were also angry about the new Christian uniforms, leaving to form mountain bandit gangs. Indeed, soldiers no longer felt that they were “fighting for Islam.” Rulers in the provinces such as Pasvanog˘lu Osman Pasha in Vidin often went against Istanbul’s authority and had a substantial following. Osman Pasha, who had support from both Christians and Muslims, was strongly and openly against the New Order. Yet despite his threat to central rule, he stayed in power until his death in 1807, which “gave proof of Istanbul’s lack of power or will to crush a provincial rebel” (Anscombe 585). It is clear, then, according to Anscombe’s account, that the Ottoman Empire was experiencing great internal conflict that certainly pushed it toward reform.
It is approximated that the Australopithecus, a hominid, lived approximately four to one million years ago. From that point in time, the world history of humans has been an exhaustive, arduous task to document. With that in mind, world historians attempt to capture the events most important to the development of contemporary humanity. In fact, Tamim Ansary states that “World history, after all, is not a chronological list of every damn thing that ever happened; it’s a chain of only the most consequential events, selected to reveal the arc of the story-it’s the arc that counts.” Some have taken a European approach to the restrictions, but in response to such thought, Tamim Ansary’s Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes presents a sequential restating of history through an Islamic viewpoint. From the beginning of Islam with Muhammad to recent happenings, like 9/11, Ansary presents Islamic history in a larger context to commendably combine said history with world history. Furthermore, Ansary claims that Islamic history has often been seen as a side to Western history, as Western history has “prevailed and churned” Islamic history, although it has it is crucially significant in the larger context of world history. In the larger sense, Ansary proves his argument that Islamic history has developed independently and is important, but he does not project the importance of the Islamic history over European history.
Lewis, Bernard. The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years. New York: Scribner,
European colonialism laid the groundwork for the emergence of the Modern Middle East by influencing almost every Middle Eastern country through mandates and protectorates. The French and British greatly influenced the Middle East by using their power to help set the borders and create the Middle East we know today. Saudi Arabia was one of the only countries that was barely influenced by European colonialism. The Middle East was a crucial place throughout ancient history and continued to be important in modern times. Many great civilizations existed in the Middle East. The most prominent was the Ottoman Empire.
The French occupation is a confrontation between exported modernity and an old regime: the French revolutionaries and their dominance over the Ottoman social order that is markedly different in contrast; and, al-Jabarti reports on how it transfers cross-culturally. Levels of contestation, open and/or secretive acceptances give way to losses and gains driven by high emotion – even for this writer. He “describes very carefully every step in the negotiation of the organization of society, from administration to inheritance, from property to charity or from justice to deliberation.”
An Historiography Review of Napoleon failed invasion of Russia using Clausewitz and Theodore Evault Dodge books
Simmons, Melinda and Amanda Price. “British Imperialism of Egypt.” British Imperialism of Egypt and the Sudan. 4 March 1998. 29 January 2010. .
Yapp, Malcolm. The Near East since the First World War: A History to 1995. London: Longman, 1996. Print.
Gelvin, James L. The Modern Middle East: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
For hundreds of years before European intervention, the Ottoman Empire had controlled or annexed most of the Arabic people. However; few states did exist, mostly on the Saudi Arabian peninsula, they possessed minimal forms of government and rule, existing in small tribal states. Despite the immense territorial possessions of the Ottoman Empire, it began to decline with a series of military defeats beginning in the 16th century. Most of their fleet was wiped with a loss of 210 ships and 30,000 men killed1, and the event is often cited by Historians as the ‘end of Turkish supremacy in the Mediterranean’2, and the turning point of Ottoman conquest and rule. It wasn’t until the end of the 19th century that the Ottoman Empire became the ‘sick man’ of Europe. The dynasty had long suffered from corruption, inflation, and its territorial possessions began to reject Ottoman rule. One area where this is most relevant is in the Arabic peninsula. Following nationalist trends in Europe, and especially the Ottoman Empire, Arab nationalism grew in the beginning of the 20th century. The ideology believed ‘that nations from Morocco to the Arabian Peninsula are united by their common linguistic, cultural and historical heritage.’3 The growing anti-Ottoman rule sentiment grew,
This has caused an absence of a core state for the Islamic world. There have been individual revolutions in several countries such as Omar Al Mukhtar in Libya, the Million Martyrs Revolution in Algeria…against Western colonization but the strategic centre of gravity had already shifted.
Gardner provided an in depth account of the American involvement and foreign policy as it relates to post World War II Middle Eastern relations. I thoroughly enjoyed the comparisons to previous occupations of Middle Eastern countries by Russia and England that had previously gone poorly, and the perspective provided by Gardner that tied in directly to our class, involving the Arab Israeli war. Everything discussed on the war by Gardner was backed up by our discussions in class, therefore I believe he is certainly qualified to write about Middle Eastern politics and foreign relations. The American influence in the Middle East was not all negative witch is refreshing based on current relations with countries in the Middle East and the public perception on our involvement. Even with the positives discussed in this book I hope we can take the advice of Gardner and take care of our own relations before we try to “help others” I do not believe we are currently in a position to do so therefore we no longer have the luxury to stay. In closing remarks Gardner discusses the game of chess between super powers or as they are discussed in the text “the Three Kings” for domination of the world. I view this as an irresponsible habit that needs to end immediately, this can only result in a negative way, as history has shown unnecessary involvement in foreign affairs results in a
In his book Orientalism, Dr. Edward Said wrote about the influence of material culture – journalism, literature, art – on how people perceive the “Other”. Specifically, he focused on the way that people from the “West” view the “Orient.” He wrote, “The phenomenon of Orientalism as I study it here deals… with the internal consistency of Orientalism and its ideas about the Orient… despite or beyond any correspondence, or lack thereof, with a real “Orient” (Said 71). Dr. Said wrote about how Orientalism, through material culture, encouraged, legitimized and even enabled the British domination of great portions of the East by emphasizing, exaggerating and distorting differences between Arab peoples and the cultures of the North America and Europe (Said 69). Orientalism often portrays Arab culture as mysterious, exotic, backward, uncivilized, or dangerous, creating stereotypes that have been reinforced throughout recorded history.
While some of the enormous discrepancies between Babur’s Islam and James Scurry’s Islam can be ascribed to differences in age and role, the strongest cause of such dissimilarities is a very similar political instability. Admittedly, Babur’s position as conqueror and Scurry’s status as prisoner are the obvious differences that inform their vastly different experiences. Although centuries lay between Babur’s victories and Scurry’s capture, both times were dominated by insecurity and warfare. Local rulers in both eras turned to Islam as a justifying cornerstone of their regimes, and as a tool and rallying cry against their enemies. It is this particular guise of Islam, as political instrument, that ultimately gives us Babur’s privileged piety and Scurry’s painful conversion.
Political uprisings in the Middle East, especially in Muslim nation states have placed Arabian politics back on the focus point of international politics. Political events in certain Arab countries had an excessive impact on the political development of other neighboring states. Resistances and anxieties within different Arab countries triggered unpredictable actions, sometimes sorely to observe and believe. The authoritarian governments of Arabian countries led from various dictators have created a precarious situation for their people, especially in providing national security and maintaining peace in the region. Jack Goldstone argues that the degree of a sultan’s weakness has been often only visible in retrospect; due in part to the nature of the military-security complex common across Middle East states (Goldstone 1). In addition, the existence of various statesmen with political affiliation is concerned in faithfulness of its armed forces. Usually, the armed national forces of several states, mainly those in Arab countries are loyal and closely affiliated to their leaders, which have a major role in state regimes. Arab uprisings in their early spreading appeared legally responsible and with concrete demands from representatives’ peoples, calling for a more open democratic system and reasonable governance. Even though, the system in which popular frustration with government imposes alters considerably from one state to another. These public revolts against different authoritative governments didn’t halt just in Arab states, but they sustained also in the Far East and in the Eastern Europe. Can we say that the popular uprisings in Arab countries could be attributed to the term of globalization? In fact, globalization is a multi...
All throughout history, we see this dichotomy between tradition and modernity. On one hand, we have tradition, the force living perpetually in the past and refusing to change. On the other hand, modernity leaves tradition behind in favor of progress. These two concepts, much like oil and water, dare to divide but coexist as a debatable founding solution. Not only are the themes Western ideas, but they have been present and are found in literature all around the world, from China to Africa.