The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power [Hardcover]

Colin Imber (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0333613864 | ISBN-13: 978-0333613863 | Publication Date: January 15, 2003

This stimulating and ground-breaking book surveys the history of the Ottoman Empire from its obscure origins in the early 1300s, through its rise to the status of a world power, and its "times of trouble" in the seventeenth century. Drawing both on existing scholarship and research as well as original source materials, The Ottoman Empire provides a preliminary narrative of key events and examines the internal structure and politics of the Ottoman dynasty, revealing the growth and development of the power, politics, and institutions through which the Sultans ruled the Empire. The Ottoman Empire draws from a wealth of multi-lingual sources, many of which are previously untranslated, and presents a fresh view on one of the most important, yet misunderstood, Empires of the pre-modern age.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this diligent and rather dry general history, Imber, a lecturer at the University of Manchester, charts the Ottoman Empire from its birth, circa 1300, through its zenith in the reign of Süleyman, to the end of its expansion in the mid-17th century. The first section of his book, a chronological narrative, begins with Osman, the founder who gave the Ottoman Empire his name, and ends, essentially, with the Sultan Ibrahim's descent into madness and his 1648 murder. Imber then moves into considerations of the structures and workings of power in the empire: the dynasty, which galvanized control around a sultan and his male progeny; the methods by which ministers and other officials were recruited; the physical and political structure of the palace, with its eunuchs, harems and grand viziers; the division of control in the provinces, the sacred and secular laws; and the branches of the military. His narrative, which makes great use of secondary sources but also employs newly translated primary ones as well, will introduce the lay reader to the complicated and often bloody history of the Empire, if not necessarily elegantly, then efficiently and thoroughly.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

For many laymen in the West, the Ottoman Empire is almost a pejorative term. High-school students learn about the "sick man of Europe" prior to World War I or are well versed in the massacres of Armenians within the empire. The successor state to the empire, Turkey, is poised to join the European Union; so it would be wise for general readers to receive a balanced account of the empire's growth and structure. Imber, senior lecturer in Turkish at the University of Manchester, has certainly provided that account. The first quarter of this well-written book is a chronological history ending in the mid-seventeenth century. The remainder of the book is devoted to topics such as the organization of the military, the legal system, and administrative control of the provinces. What emerges is a portrait of an imperial system that provided reasonably efficient government and surprising opportunities for both non-Turks and non-Muslims. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (January 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333613864
• ISBN-13: 978-0333613863
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to the institutions of the Ottoman state, September 13, 2009

By 

Mark Klobas (Tempe, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power (Hardcover)

For the past thirty-six years, readers seeking an introduction to the Ottoman empire have turned to Halil Inalcik's classic The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600. Written by the dean of Ottoman history, it provided an overview of its history and an examination of its components that has stood the test of time. Over the three and a half decades since its publication, however, a wealth of new scholarship has emerged that has refined and developed our knowledge. The fruits of this can be seen in Colin Imber's study, one that treads much of the same ground as Inalcik but does so with the benefit of an additional generation of study.

The layout of Imber's book is similar to that of Inalcik's (which Imber helped translate); an initial section chronicling the political and military history of the period followed by chapters providing an analytical overview of various aspects of the empire. But whereas Inalcik's book provided a broad-ranging survey that included its cultural and religious elements, Imber focuses more narrowly on the institutions of state: the palace, the bureaucracy, and the military. This allows him to provide a more detailed examination of the military state, one that describes its development and shows how it both conquered and governed the lands of three continents.

Clearly written and well grounded in the literature of the field, Imber's book is a detailed and up-to-date account of the factors underpinning Ottoman power in the first centuries of its existence. Anyone seeking an introduction to the Ottoman empire would do well to start with it. With its concentration on imperial institutions and its closer examination of such things as the Ottoman navy (which has received far more scholarly attention in recent decades than it had when Inalcik wrote his book), it complements rather than replaces Inalcik's longstanding survey, providing readers with a good foundation for exploring in more detail the last and greatest of the Muslim empires.

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good narrative of the Ottoman Empire, September 28, 2011

By 

Vineyard (MI, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power (European History in Perspective) (Paperback)

The book is unusual, for me at least, in its style. It has a flowing narrative, unlike many history books in academia, while containing many valuable references for most of the significant events and people. I got a sense of the chess power play that prevailed in the Balkans for almost a century before the Ottomans conquered it. All this information almost inexistent in most of the history books of the Balkan countries which, in my opinion, even today suffer from a national-romantic tone of the 19th century portraying the Ottomans as a dark chapter in their history that destroyed their otherwise earthly paradise.

The book also offers insights on the judicial and military organization of the empire and where the source of this organization came from. It combines cultural influences from Turkic, Arab, and Persian world, together with the presence of a former empire (Byzantium), offering a blend of rational explanations.

It is a book that I am going to read again.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was looking for, February 11, 2011

By 

Neannalina "Neannalina" (Iowa) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power (European History in Perspective) (Paperback)

This book suggests the structure of power in the Ottoman Empire, from 1300 to 1650. I did not get that information from reading this book. Of course, he mostly took the European perspective, as the book title suggests, but this book lacts more facts than most books on the Ottoman Empire. This book was lacking information for me. I would not have bought it if I would have been allowed to look inside the book first. (I did not have that feature when I purchased the book).