The Magnificent Century: History and Culture of the Ottoman Empire

Today Turkey is more popular than ever. We go to rest in Antalya, and when we return, we watch a Turkish TV series. Hagia Sophia is dearer and more important than it was in the 9th century. The store sells Turkish tomatoes and baklava, online stores sell Turkish coffee, an office colleague reads a Turkish novel, and the director flies to Istanbul for the weekend.

To dive deeper into the modern culture, we need to study the history first. Let’s get acquainted with the story of one of the most powerful and big empires of the history of mankind – with the history of the Ottoman Empire – from its start till the dawn.

About the Course

As an eastern, Muslim country, Turkey has always looked to the West openly and attentively. This was almost always the case: many Turkish sultans invited European architects, artists and musicians to the court; Turkish composers listened to European works, and modern Turkish writers and directors in the West are more popular than European ones.

The course «The Magnificent Century: History and Culture of the Ottoman Empire» will introduce students to the rich cultural and artistic tradition of the Ottoman Empire, with its history, and historical personalities.

You will learn about the cultural interconnections between the Ottoman Empire and the West, for example:

• the palaces of the Ottoman sultans and nobility are the work of the Europeans: Greeks and Italians; they bear the features of the Byzantine chambers, and the later ones – of the European Baroque, Rococo; there are also baroque mosques.
• the famous symbol of modern Turkey, the tulip, which came to Turkey together with the Seljuk dynasty from Iran and later became a symbol of the Ottoman dynasty, came from Turkey to Europe and also became a cultural symbol there.
• and, finally, the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, having become famous in the West, helped the European reader to look at the East «through the eyes of the West.»

This course is designed by:

• Dr.Sci. in Turkic Linguistics, professor for the specialty Turkic languages and literatures, director of the Center for Contemporary Turkey Studies, St. Petersburg State University Apollinaria Avrutina;
• Dr.Sci. in History, professor of the Faculty Of Humanities And Social Sciences, History Department, Department Of Early Modern History, University of Marmara Fehmi Yilmaz.

This course is designed for everyone who has once been to Turkey and fell in love with this country, who is fascinated with its history and culture and is eager to learn more about it, and, finally, for those who are fond of the culture of the Muslim world and simply the East.

Course Programme

Module 1

• Who Are the Turks and Where Did They Come From?
• The First Turkic States on the Territory of Asia Minor. Part 1
• The First Turkic States on the Territory of Asia Minor. Part 2
• Social and Political System of the Seljuk Sultanate
• Invasion of the Mongols
• Jimri’s Uprising and the Collapse of the Seljuk Sultanate

Module 2

• The Emergence and Meaning of the Ethnonym «Turks», the Turkic PreIslamic Culture, Religion and Mythology
• Culture of the Turkic Peoples Before Islam
• Art in the Seljuk Sultanate
• Language Situation in Asia Minor of the Seljuk and Later Periods
• Famous Literary Names of the Seljuk Period of Asia Minor: Rumi and Shams Tabrizi, Sultan Veled
• Literature of the Period of the Collapse of the Seljuk Sultanate: Yunus Emre

Module 3

• The Ottoman Tree Planted: Osman Bey and the Founding of the Ottoman Beylik
• The Ottoman Tree Is Rooted: Transition to Rumelia, Conquests, Settlement and Urbanization. Orhan Gazi Period (1337–1359)
• The Ottoman Tree Grows: The Birth of the Central State. Period of Murad I (1362–1389)
• The Ottoman Tree Is Pruned: The Period of the Interregnum, Defeat, Disintegration and Brotherhood Fight (1402–1413)
• The Ottoman Tree Now Has a Shadow: Transition from Beylik to Empire
• Pests and Diseases of the Ottoman Tree: Reaction Time and Internal Problems
• Great Branches and Wide Shadow of the Ottoman Tree: Achieving the Status of a World Power
• Mehmet the Conqueror: Domination and the Birth of the Institutional State in the Balkans, Anatolia, Crimea

Module 4

• Yavuz Sultan Selim: Conquest of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Arabia and Expansion of the Geographical and Political Power of the State
• Suleiman the Lawgiver or Suleiman the Magnificent: The Conquest of Hungary, Yemen and Iraq. The Hungarian Campaign, the Golden Age, and the Rise of the Empire
• Selim II: Conquest of Cyprus
• Murad III: Moroccan and Transcaucasian Domination of the Limits of Imperial Power. Moroccan Domination
• Mehmed IV: End of the Age of Enlargement, Final Blows on Europe: Capture of Crete, Siege of Vienna
• The Century of Crises in Ottoman History and the Sultanate of Women
• Janissary Quarry, Devshirme System

Module 5

• Ottoman Expansion Period Architecture: Mimar Sinan
• Applied Arts of the Expansion Period of the Ottoman Era
• Literature of the Period of Expansion of the Era of the Ottoman Empire. Part 1
• Literature of the Period of Expansion of the Era of the Ottoman Empire. Part 2
• Literature of the Period of Expansion of the Era of the Ottoman Empire. Part 3
• «Book of Dede Korkut»
• Khoja Nasreddin and Other Stories
• Karagöz, Orta Oyunu, Kukla Oyunu
• Ottoman miniature. Part 1
• Ottoman miniature. Part 2

Module 5

• The Ottoman Century of Crises: Internal Unrest, Child Sovereigns, and War
• Reforms in the Ottoman Empire: Trials and Failures
• Fundraising for Military Success: Köprülü Dynasty
• Withdrawal from Vienna and Defeat
• Half Victories in the West, Exhausting Wars in the East
• The Longest Period of Peace and the End of the “Great Calm»
• Slavery in the Ottoman Empire

Module 6

• Tulip Age in the Ottoman Empire
• Beginning of Book Printing in Turkey in the 18th Century
• Tanzimat Reforms and Culture
• Turkish Language Problem
• Turkish Theater
• Western-style Ottoman Architecture. Part 1
• Western-style Ottoman Architecture. Part 2

Module 7

• Transformations in the Abdulhamid Era
• The Transition of Crimea Under the Jurisdiction of Russia
• Tanzimat During the Reign of Selim III
• Ottoman Wars and Alliances with France, Russia, and England
• Enthronement of Mahmud II: Another Blow
• Serbian and Greek Uprisings
• The Egyptian Question
• Tanzimat Reforms of the Mahmud II Era
• Revolutions About Tanzimat and Firman
• The Solution of the Egyptian Problem, the Problem of the Straits and the Events in the Danube Principalities

Module 9

• Scientific and Technological Progress in the Ottoman Empire
• Art and Architecture in the Ottoman Empire of the Last Period. Part 1
• Art and Architecture in the Ottoman Empire of the Last Period. Part 2
• Formation of Periodicals in the Ottoman Empire. Part 1
• Formation of Periodicals in the Ottoman Empire. Part 2
• Literature in the Ottoman Empire at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries: Prose and Poetry. Part 1
• Literature in the Ottoman Empire at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries: Prose and Poetry. Part 2
• Literature in the Ottoman Empire at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries: Prose and Poetry. Part 3
• Literature in the Ottoman Empire at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries: Prose and Poetry. Part 4

Module 10

• The Reign of Abdul-Hamid II and the Fight Against Him
• Armenian Question
• Macedonian Question
• Events in Crete and the Cretan Events of the Turkish-Greek War of 1897
• Development of Arab Provinces
• The End of Abdulhamid II’s Reign
• Second Constitutional Period: The Collapse of the Empire
• Recent Land Loss in Africa and the Balkans
• World War I and the Ottoman Empire
• Armistice and Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire