Ottoman Historiographies, 1860-1973

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Ottoman Historiographies, 1860-1973

21 August, 2022

Authors

Abderrahim Benhadda

Keywords

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Abderrahim Benhadda

Professor of History at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the historical studies journal Ostour since September 2014. Previously, he was professor at Mohammed V University in Rabat and visiting professor at several Arab and international universities. He has authored many studies and contributed to edited volumes, including Moroccan History: Timing and Construction (2011); Chronology of Moroccan History, History of the City of Fez, and Encyclopaedia of Morocco. He has supervised and edited several multiauthor volumes including Excavations and Reviews, From the Inaouen to Istanbul, Journey and Otherness, Traveling in the Arab-Islamic World, and The Maghreb Between Local and Mediterranean Archives. In Ottoman Studies, he has published Morocco and Sublime Porte Between the mid-17^th Century and the End of the 18^th Century (1998) and The Ottoman State: Institutions, Economics, and Culture (2008). He is also interested in travel literature, on which he has published two thorough studies: “A Moroccan Ambassador in Madrid” (2005) and “Paradise of the Infidels: An Ottoman Ambassador in Paris, 1721” (2018).

The Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies has published Ottoman Historiographies, 1860-1973 by Abderrahim Benhadda (479 pp.), with an introduction by Abdulrahim Abu-Husayn. The book offers a comprehensive perspective on Turkish identity, its transformations, and how Ottoman history has been deployed, among other instruments, in service of these transformations. It is the product of a close reading of the historiographical movements and writings that have characterised various historical periods. The book explores how Turks have written the history of the Ottoman Empire from the second half of the 19^th century until the early 1970s, addressing historiography during the tanzimat period (1860-1908), transformations under the Second Constitutional Era (1908-1924), and the early years of the Republic (1924-1938). Moreover, the book surveys the return of Ottoman Studies to the forefront of historical research between 1938 and 1973, following the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; the author argues that this kind of writing cannot be examined “in isolation from the political developments Turkey experienced after the death of Mustafa Kemal, particularly with regard to the state’s adoption of political pluralism” which made it possible to critique Atatürk’s ideas.

Beginning with the period of modernisation and tanzimat (1798-1908), the author notes that the 19^th century is regarded as an important turning point in the history of the Ottoman Empire, distinguished by a density of events that has led Ottoman Studies researchers to consider it “the long century” (en uzun yüzyıl). From the late 18^th to early 19^th century, during the reign of Selim III (1789-1807), the Empire began to carry out a series of reforms that paved the way for the major transformations it would experience throughout the 19^th century. Selim III’s reform projects were interconnected with major global transformations and corresponded with developments in the Mediterranean region, most importantly the French Revolution, which left its mark on French-Ottoman relations as well as the Ottoman Empire’s cultural history, and the 1798 French campaign against Egypt, which had obvious impacts on the course of modernisation in the Ottoman Empire and its cultural relationship with the European West.

Next, Benhadda considers transformations in historiography during Second Constitutional Era (1908-1924). This period saw a series of developments no less important than its 19^th century counterpart, and which was in fact an extension thereof, whence the “long century” characterisation. This period of Ottoman history began on 24 July 1908 when, faced with unprecedented political pressure, Sultan Abdülhamid II decided to resume work on the constitution, which had been suspended for more than 30 years. At the time, the spread of nationalisms had made significant progress in laying the foundations of states across the world, putting an end to a delusion among the sultan and his court: that Islam was capable of erasing national differences. Across the vast scope of the Ottoman Empire, there was an implicit awareness of Turkish identity, rooted primarily in the Turkish language. This perception was strengthened in the late 19^th century when a small cabal of Ottoman preachers and scholars, influenced by European Turkology, grew inclined toward imposing the Turkish language and instituting Turkish history.

During the Atatürk era, Ottoman historiography witnessed a decline. After Atatürk, it saw a major transformation as a result of the role played by Mehmet Fuat Köprülü in training a new generation that would work according to new instruments of historical research, shifting away from ideological inclinations, be they romantic or exclusionary toward the Ottoman Empire. Many researchers studied under Köprülü and adopted the same approach to historiography.

Benhadda identifies two strands among these historians. The first employed a positivist approach to historiography primarily concerned with having a basis in texts and narration. The second strand expanded on the Köprülü experience after its scholars continued their studies abroad, especially in Europe, and came into contact with new historical schools of thought. Commonalities between the two trends included the publication of historical documents accompanied by critical studies, moving from description to analysis, and writing a general history of the Ottoman Empire. However, while the first trend was primarily concerned with the Ottoman state’s political and institutional history, international relations, and placing Ottoman history within the European context, the second trend focused on economic and social history.