OTTOMAN EMPIRE AND EUROPE

The compilation that is the subject of this evaluation is the Ottoman Empire and
Europe, written by Halil Inalcık, claiming that European and Ottoman History should
be studied comparatively.Ottoman Empire and Europe try to answer the questions
about how the Ottoman shaped Europe and how the Ottoman was affected by Western
culture in the light of nine articles.Although the interaction of Europe and the
Ottomans with each other is wanted to be explained through economic, socio-cultural,
and customs, it generally examines in the state structure, internal conflicts and
capitulations arising from wars.Max Weber's work on the Ottoman state system and
tradition is one of the book's valuable works.As a whole, in the article, we see
different methods outlined by exploring and explanatory features.After giving
information about the chapters, Although each of the arguments deserves special
criticism, I will be contented with touch on certain points in the article.

The first article begins with a brief analysis of the Ottoman empire, and then main
political developments from 1453 to 1600 focus on the policy of the Ottoman in
religious conflicts in the west.Towards the end of the 1700s, the entry of western
products into the Ottoman markets and the emergence of American and European
silver speaks of the damages brought to the Ottoman Empire.Economic disruptions,
war failures, attempts to abolish Janissaries, Celâli-rebels, execution of Osman II are
discussed in this article.It mentions about westernization process and the capitulations
that the Ottoman Empire gave to protect its territory.In the title of the question of the
Ottoman decline, it tries to explain the Feudal structure and the Asian style production
style.It focuses on the problems of the Suhte system and the influence of the Ulema
class on the state and the people.It talks about Bozahane and Coffeehouses, which are
popular meeting places and public entertainers.He describes written communication
through the Ulema class, communication rituals through ceremonies, religious
ceremonies and celebrations of Iranian or Islamic origin.In the last part of the chapter,
it talks about the Westernization process and the innovation made in the military field,
but that the innovations remain only by technique.
The second article focus on the struggle for power that emerged around the Ottoman
Sultan.It analyzes socio-political phenomenon, the rise of the provincial gentry, its
evolution and attempts at imposing their privileges on the central government in the
form of a covenant.It discusses and criticizes the absolutist structure of the Ottoman
Empire, the roles of the Ayan, Kâdi, Ulema, and Shaykh.It divides the Ottoman
society into two as military and re'aya class.It also emphasizes that the position of the
person in society is only at the will of the Sultan.Ulema and Ayan's class is the main
criticism of this article.Selim III's reforms are concerned with the consequences of
disturbing the Ayanis who use the Iltizam system strongly, the Ulema class who does
not consider Westernization appropriate, and the Janissaries who are dissatisfied with
the Nizam-ı Djedid army(NewOrder).The article focuses on the causes and
consequences of the formal written document(Senedi Ittifak) and the rebellion of the
governor of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasa.Lastly, It talks about the problems of Tanzimat
and the Young Ottomans, a progressive group that acted independently from the
administration for the first time and opposed the official reform program.

The third article is an evaluation of Max Weber's theory which depicts the Ottoman
state system as an ''arbitrary patrimonialism'' in comparison to the patrimonial states
of Europe.Max Weber examines "Sultanism", Status Groups and Estate-Type
Patrimonialism, Tradition and Traditional Groups, Ottoman Bureaucracy, and
Oriental Feudalism:Prebendalizm. Also, Sultanism is characterized by complete
reliance on military force and arbitrary power, or despotism.In general, he says, the
patrimonial state makes administrative and military organization 'purely personal
instrument of the master to broaden his arbitrary power'.Militarily, the Janissary and
Mamluk armies, consisting of slaves, were typical examples of such professional
armies.They served him with absolute loyalty.Their later transformation is explained
by Weber in terms of their having become a ''traditional status group'' enjoying
relative independence from the Sultan's patrimonial control.In Weber's sense, tradition
is both the source of patrimonial domination and a principle that validates it.The
Ottoman bureaucracy, with its title, mentions that bureaucrats are important in
reforms and the Ottoman bureaucracy has evolved from a pure 'patrimonial' structure
to an increasingly introverted and autonomous organization.Weber reveals the title of
Oriental Feudalism:Prebendalism around the Ottoman Timar system.Overall, Weber's
categorization reflects the overwhelming European biases concerning the Ottoman
states.

The fourth article addresses the issue of duality in the state and social institutions,
which emerged as Western and Islamic types emanating from the Westernization
reform movements of the nineteenth century.In the 18-19th centuries, the period of
Ottoman-Turkish modernization sees modernization as a precaution to protect the
state facing crises.Indeed, it accepts the Westernization as a model.The article, the
increasing reforms with the acceptance of Tanzimat, the Islamists divided on Western
Technology and Western Culture in 1860, those who saw the destructive outcome of
the Ottoman-Russian war in 1976-77 as Westernization, Young Turks who emerged
after the Young Ottomans, The emergence of The Committee of Union and Progress
(Ittihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti), Ziya gökalp and Mustafa Kemal's thoughts on
civilization and westernization, examines under this heading.

The fifth article discusses the Westernization-modernization concepts of the Atatürk

era by focusing on the question of the abolishment of the caliphate.It is dealt with in
the abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate and the Caliphate, from the viewpoint of the
European states, the views of Mustafa Kemal, who had an active role in this period,
and the perspectives of scholars and reformers.

Moving to the second section, the sixth article is a tour of the horizon from 1500 to
the emergence of Modern Turkey on interactions between Ottomans and Europe as
well as on the effects of the Ottoman Empire on the European state systems and their
evolution.The article begins with the claim that the Ottoman world power was one of
the main factors that determined in European political geography and economy in the
16th century.Then it talks about the So-called Eastern Question created by Russian
imperialism, the Metternich System, the advantages of the Western states on the
Ottoman lands, and lastly, civilization and cultural conflicts over Huntington.

The seventh article is a general evaluation of the impact of the Ottoman Empire as a
great power in the formation of Modern Europe.It tries to reveal the relations between
the Ottoman Empire and the Nation-states in the West within the balance of force in
Europe in the 16th century.This article ends revealing the Ottoman trade policies and
the relationship with the port cities.
The eighth article scrutinizes the rise of Russia in Eastern Europe and the struggles
against this parvenu by the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire.It deeply
examines the role of the Ottoman and Golden Horde in the settlement of Russia, the
factors in the Crimean Khanate's loss of power, and the policies pursued by the
Ottoman Empire.

The ninth article discusses culture and acculturation and places, and the role of the
Ottoman Empire in the European balance of power during the internecine Italian wars
between 1494 and 1559.It follows with an evaluation of cultural exchanges between
Europe and Ottoman society from the sixteenth century until the beginning of the
nineteenth century.It mentions that the Ottoman‘s attitude towards the West changes
after the Karhwitz agreement.It says that after the 19th century, the Ottoman started to
take the West as an example in administration, laws and even acculturation.The
travels of Yirmisekiz Mehmet Çelebi and his "Sefâretnâme",which describes the
embassy of France, scrutinize.This topic reveals that there were many cultural
interactions between the Ottoman and Italy as an artist, especially in the Mehmed II
period and it reveals that there are diplomatic, commercial and economic relations
between France and the Ottoman in the Suleyman I era.Barbarossa Pasha's Battle of
Preveza and Ottoman-French Cooperation in the Mediterranean are very important in
this period.The Ottomans sign a Capitulation agreement with France that opens its
market to French merchants and makes France its main Western ally.Merchants,
Forsa, scholarship, and Clergy that serve as a missionary, play an important role in
these cultural and political relations.The impact of Turkish carpets in Europe
mentioned.Disruptions in the military order and technique of the Ottoman Empire and
Europe’s Revolution in War Technology discusses.The last Article ends with
explaining the Coffee and Coffeehouse culture of the Ottomans in Europe.

In this context, the Author, contrary to the purpose of the book, evaluated the decline
of the Ottoman empire in terms of internal conflicts and state structure within the five
articles of the first section. Ulema, Ayan and Janissary's class shows the main
responsible in the modernization process of the Ottoman Empire.He directs the reader
for the second part.Also, the first part is full of Ottoman history information that is
generally known to everyone, so the book repeats itself in some chapters.What is
wanted to be explained with the Max Weber part is that the Ottoman state structure
and European state structure are partially incompatible.One of the flaws of the book is
that it examines the relationship between Ottoman and Europe from the 16th
century.At the time of the rise of the Ottoman Dynasty, scientists like Ali Kuşçu,
Takiyüddin, Cabir bin Hayyan, Bayramoğlu Ali Ağa, and Piri Reis and its developing
architecture should have been a point to be presented. In another aspect, the Author,
confirming with the purpose of the book, provided effective information on political,
commercial, military, and cultural exchange between the Ottoman Empire and Europe
in the second part.Weber's 'Sultanism' section adds different perspectives to the
book.Despite some flaws, the book reveals the two powers of the 16th century from
various perspectives and directs the reader to research and analysis.