Legacies of the Early Modern Period

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Legacies of the Early Modern Period
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The Ottomans

• A Turkish dynasty, appears in early 14th century
  just east of Byzantine territory
• Establish base in Anatolia, in between Timurid
  Mongols and Byzantines
• Byzantine Emperors ask for help from Europe but
  Europe has its own problems
• Byzantine power is disintegrating

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Ottoman Society

• Ca. 1430, Ottoman sultans relied upon janissaries
  as their bodyguards
• Christian communities pay a yearly tithe in
  little boys
• Boys are converted, trained, educated
• A ready-made government based on Shariism
  judicial interpretation of the Shariah

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The Fall of Constantinople

• Ottomans continue to spread their region of
  influence during 14th and 15th centuries
• By 1380s all that was left of Byzantine empire
  was a tiny tip of land
• Under Sultan Mehmed II, Ottomans overrun
  Constantinople in 1453
• City becomes known as Istanbul

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Hagia Sophia
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Effects of the Fall of Constantinople

• Trade that has long gone through to the Middle
  East must now detour
• Spice trade
• Christopher Columbus
• Importation of cannon to Middle East and Europe
• Fall of Egypt, 1516

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The Safavids

• Radical Twelver Shiites run successful
  separatist movement in Iran, ca. 1500
• Original shah, Ismail, claims to be the Imam of
  the Seveners and the Mahdi
• Safavids forcibly convert area to Shiism
• Deadly enemies of the Ottomans

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Europes fascination with the Islamic World

• luxury items porcelain, rugs, tapestries
• exoticism
• reputation of the East as oversexed and Muslims
  as voluptuary
• literature like 1001 Nights
• rulership European rulers admired the absolute
  power of the Sultan

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Rembrandt, The Noble Slav (ca. 1632)
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Mariano Fortuny, Odalisque (1861)
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Odalisque Frederick, Lord Leighton (1830-1896)
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Suleyman the Magnificent, 1520-1566

• absolute ruler supported by Janissaries
• besieged Vienna in 1529
• the most powerful and wealthy of the Ottoman
  sultans
• Style of rule probably influenced Louis XIV of
  France

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The East becomes Strategic

• After death of Suleyman, Ottoman power begins to
  diminish
• European colonial powers begin to be interested
  in conquests in the East
• Want raw materials, trade goods and control of
  revenues
• Middle Easterners want modern weapons and
  training to use them

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The Ottomans in World War I

• Both Iran and the Ottomans were worried about
  Russia
• proximity
• Orthodox goal to re-take Istanbul
• When Russia goes to war with Germany in 1914,
  Ottomans and Iranians turn to Germany to protect
  them from Russia
• Fight Russians and British Egypt

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1921
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Forming the Middle East

• British had relied heavily on
• Hussain, sharif of Mecca
• Abd al-Aziz, head of the Saud family
• Settle borders of Lebanon, Syria and Palestine
  call the territory in between Iraq
• Place Hussains sons as kings of Jordan, Iraq,
  and Syria

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Revolts against the Western

• 1979 Iran throws out Shah, proclaims Islamic
  Revolution under Ayatollah
• 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War
• 1991 Gulf War
• Islamic fundamentalism or Islamism
• Arab nationalism
• strict Shariism