Military Transformation in the Ottoman Empire and Russia, 1500-1800
نویسنده
چکیده
By the early 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had emerged as a major military power in Southeastern Europe and the Middle East. The Ottomans were feared and admired by contemporaneous Europeans from Niccol6 Machiavelli to Ivan Peresvetov. The latter regarded the empire of Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1444-46, 1451-81) as a model to be emulated by his own ruler, Ivan IV of Muscovy (r. 1547-84), and indeed Ottoman (and Islamic, Mongol) methods of resource mobilization and warfare were taken into consideration during the military reforms of Ivan III (r. 1462-1505) and Ivan IV. Yet by 1783, the Ottomans had lost the northern Black Sea littoral and the Crimea, an Ottoman client state with a predominantly Muslim population, to the Russians. Writing his advice to Sultan Mahmud I (r. 1730-54) in 1732, Ibrahim Miiteferrika, the founder of the first Arabic-letter printing press in the empire and an ardent proponent of Ottoman reforms, cited the military reforms of Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725) as an example worthy of imitation. Ivan Peresvetov's and Ibrahim Miiteferrika's contrasting opinions reflect major shifts in Ottoman and Russian military fortunes, changes that await explanation. Military historians of Central and Eastern Europe have long been obsessed with the European "military revolution" as observed in certain parts of Western Europe and have tried to measure military developments in their regions against those in Western Europe.' This article argues that comparing and contrasting Ottoman, Austrian Habsburg, Polish-Lithuanian, and Muscovite/Russian military capabilities, performance, and transformations can be just as fruitful as
منابع مشابه
The Kurdish Stance on Political and Social Power Structure of the Region
In the war between Ottomans and Safavids Dynasty, two thirds of Kurdistan area was separated from Iran, and joined the Ottoman territories. The Ottoman empire was defeated in World War I and Kurdistan was divided among Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and a small part joined the Soviet Russia, i.e. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Concerning the Kurdish governments which were established in Iran being led...
متن کاملState formation and urbanization trajectories: state finance in the Ottoman Empire before 1800, as seen from a Dutch perspective
Looking at state finance in the Ottoman Empire from a Dutch perspective shows remarkable differences between the two systems. This article suggests that these differences were related to the fact that, in contrast to those in the Ottoman Empire, fiscal systems in western Europe, and especially in the Netherlands, developed within a context of economy-driven rather than state-driven trajectories...
متن کاملSports Lodges in the Ottoman Empire Depicted in the Travel Book (Seyahat-Name) of Evliya Çelebi
Background. Sport lodges are institutions that are responsible for providing athletes with accommodation, food and training. Sport lodges had the same tasks as today's sports clubs and played a vital role in the institutionalization and development of sports within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. Evliya Çelebi is a prominent 17th century traveler. During his lifetime, he traveled throughout ...
متن کاملNeo-Ottomanism; Turkish government’s new strategy to change the political geography of Middle East
After demonstrating Ottoman Empire and attempt of Turkish emperors in order to gain caliphate and government of all Muslims, World’s political geography witnessed the demonstration of great Ottoman Empire for six months. The formation of Ottoman Empire, on one hand, was converted to the main axis of the political geography of the region, and started competing with other political power district...
متن کامل