Ottoman Wars 1700 1870 An Empire Besieged

 

The Ottoman Empire had reached the peak of its power, presenting a very real threat to Western Christendom when in 1683 it suffered its first major defeat, at the Siege of Vienna.  Tracing the empire’s conflicts of the next two centuries, The Ottoman Wars: An Empire Besieged examines the social transformation of the Ottoman military system in an era of global imperialism

Spanning more than a century of conflict, the book considers challenges the Ottoman government faced from both neighbouring Catholic Habsburg Austria and Orthodox Romanov Russia, as well as - arguably more importantly – from military, intellectual and religious groups within the empire.  Using close analysis of select campaigns, Virginia Aksan first discusses the Ottoman Empire’s changing internal military context, before addressing the modernized regimental organisation under Sultan Mahmud II after 1826. 

Featuring illustrations and maps, many of which have never been published before, The Ottoman Wars draws on previously untapped source material to provide an original and compelling account of an empire near financial and societal collapse, and the successes and failures of a military system under siege.  The book is a fascinating study of the decline of an international power, raising questions about the influence of culture on warfare. 

Dr. Virginia Aksan is Associate Professor in the Department of History at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada.  She has written for numerous journals and is the author of An Ottoman Statesman in War and Peace: Ahmed Resmi Efendi, 1700-1783 (1995). 

 

The Ottoman Empire loomed over Western Christendom as a perennial and very real threat until the Siege of Vienna in 1683. This book traces the subsequent decline of the Ottoman Empire over the next two centuries, tracing the social transformation of the Ottoman military system at the time when the British Empire was establishing itself as a global power. It tells the story of a Muslim empire faced with challenges from neighbouring Catholic Habsburg Austria and Orthodox Romanov Russia, and with incorporation into the emerging global economic system of British-French rivalries.

From the fortresses of Vidin in Bulgaria to Kars in the Caucasus, the successes and failures of a military system under siege, and an empire near financial and societal collapse, are glimpsed through accounts of specific battles, through the observations of natives and foreigners alike, and through a sustained sympathy for the young recruit, caught up in the follies of war.

The first half of the book concerns Russo-Ottoman confrontations on the northern Ottoman frontier, and uses select campaigns to discuss the evolving internal military context.

The latter half of the book concentrates on the modernized regimental organization under Sultan Mahmud II after 1820.

Using neglected or unutilized texts and manuscripts, the focus throughout remains fixed on local contexts and motivations, and the narration strives for portraits and worldviews of significant Ottoman figures of the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The Ottoman Empire had reached the peak of its power, presenting a very real threat to Western Christendom when in 1683 it suffered its first major defeat, at the Siege of Vienna.  Tracing the empire’s conflicts of the next two centuries, The Ottoman Wars: An Empire Besieged examines the social transformation of the Ottoman military system in an era of global imperialism

Spanning more than a century of conflict, the book considers challenges the Ottoman government faced from both neighbouring Catholic Habsburg Austria and Orthodox Romanov Russia, as well as - arguably more importantly – from military, intellectual and religious groups within the empire.  Using close analysis of select campaigns, Virginia Aksan first discusses the Ottoman Empire’s changing internal military context, before addressing the modernized regimental organisation under Sultan Mahmud II after 1826. 

Featuring illustrations and maps, many of which have never been published before, The Ottoman Wars draws on previously untapped source material to provide an original and compelling account of an empire near financial and societal collapse, and the successes and failures of a military system under siege.  The book is a fascinating study of the decline of an international power, raising questions about the influence of culture on warfare. 

This book provides an account of the Ottoman Wars against the backdrop of local context and through the profiles of key figures.

·      Growing interest in the history of the Middle East and imperial history as people want to know about the historical background to current affairs

·      Brings to life the characters who actually fought in these wars, from significant Ottoman figures to the common recruit

·      Uses many previously neglected manuscripts, texts, illustrations and maps to provide a unique account of the wars

·       There are no other books on this subject

 

Virginia Aksan is Assistant Professor at McMaster University, Canada. She is passionate about recovering the lives and histories of the people who lived at the time of the Ottoman Empire and this was reflected in her first book, about an Ottoman ambassador, An Ottoman Statesman in War and Peace: Ahmed Resmi Efendi 1700-1783 (1995).

Contents

1. The Political Map of Eastern Europe circa 1700

2. The Ottoman System

3. From Prut to Belgrade:Illusions of Success & Failure

4. The Austrian-Russian-Ottoman Danube Waltz, 1768-1792

5. Selim III and the New Order

6. The Internal and External Challenges to Selim III

7. Mahmud II and the New Absolutism

8. The Auspicious Occasion and its Consequences

9. An Empire Returns to War

10. From Tanzimat to Crimean War

11. Completing the Northern Arc