Course Description
The history of the Middle East from 1453 to 1918, focusing on the Ottoman Empire and its provinces.
Athena Title
MID EAST 1453-1918
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
The Rise of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires The Ottomans in the Balkans The Ottoman conquest of the Middle East The Age of Suleyman the Magnificent The Ottomans and the European State System Religious and Ethnic Minorities The Sunni/Shi'i rivalry The Arab provinces Decentralization in the Seventeenth Century The Rise of the Notables Nationalism in the Balkans The Tanzimat Ottoman Constitutionalism From Young Ottomans to Young Turks
Syllabus