Having set the benchmark of a modern civilization due to economic and industrial superiority, Western European powers had contemptuous feelings toward the Ottomans’ primitive regimes and their internal strife. In fact, the 17th and 18th centuries in the Middle East were periods marked by severe financial crisis, increased decentralization, and stronger external control by western nations. It was clear that members of Ottoman and Persian military and bureaucratic organizations needed to prove themselves worthy in comparison to the European nations in order to shift the global balance of power back towards the East. As a result, drastic political, economic, and social reforms were implemented in the Middle East throughout the 19th century that aimed to both reverse the process of fragmentation within the empires and attempt to regain authority on a both local and global scale. Today, historians often describe this period of transformation as the beginning of the “modern” history of the Middle East as we are still living the consequences of the changes that took place during that period. Throughout this essay, I will demonstrate that on the one hand some of the social reforms that took place in the region helped modernize the educational and cultural affairs of Middle Eastern societies, while on the other hand, the failed establishment of new economic and political policies in the empires helped strengthen European control over the region and subsequently set the stage for the
The Ottoman and Safavid Empires share many similarities. Their courts were set-up alike, each empire advanced artistically, and both were deeply rooted within the Islam religion. Although these empires were alike in many ways, the form of Muslim each empire adopted were different. This paper will focus on the religion used by both empires as a pillar to governing its people, but also the differences between the sub-cultures adopted by each empire.
Gunpowder empires were one of the most successful empires in the Middle East thanks to an innovative war technology: gun powder. The Safavids and the Ottomans belonged to the category of “gun-powder empires” since their use of gunpowder weaponry prolonged their reign in the Middle East. Both of the empires’ success was occasioned by their centralization of power and reliance on elite groups of “outsiders” as a form of unifying their unconditional rule. Thus in the process of centralization, both the Ottomans and Safavids displayed similar patterns that paralleled their monarchy (Aslanian). In other words, the Safavids and the Ottomans displayed similarities through the consolidation of their government via recruitment methods and counteractions of power.
The Modernization efforts undertaken by the leadership of Iran and Turkey after World War I share numerous similarities across ideological, and social lines. Both countries shared and benefitted from strong social identities, and resistance to outside influence. While these countries were unified using comparable methods, they were also exploited to further the individual goals of both countries? respective leaders.
During the early modern period, two great Islamic states were created. One, covered most of the Middle East, while the Balkans covered the remaining majority of India. The two major Islamic Empires, the Ottomans and the Mughals, both brought major new influences to these regions as well. The Ottoman and Mughal Empires’ influences included great political and military strength, amongst other things. During the early modern period, these two empires established very large territories and new boundaries, resembling Russia’s rule. Also similarly to Russia, both of these empires included a diverse population made up of different linguistic, ethnic, and religious groups. Both the Ottoman and Mughal Empires, while similar, followed their own, separate paths during most of the early modern period. In doing so, they avoided Western civilization and the rest of the world, for the most part. However, contact with the West did increase with time as by the late 17th to early 18th century, “a more substantial Western presence began to affect internal developments”.
Throughout Middle Eastern, beginning in the 1800’s many changes and continuities have occurred and shaped what there national identity is in present day. Religion and literature have remained a continuous factor throughout this time period; where as a very successful oil discovery and currently changing government help shape the Middle Eastern national identity
Throughout history, Africa has been a vulnerable player in the eyes of the rest of the world. From the slave trade to various civil right injustices that have taken place over in every century, we have studied in this class, we have been able to see the lasting impact on the continent as a ramification of certain events occurring. Using sources from the text, I will attempt to prove how the western world, exercised their power to capitalize on the African continent, in addition to the exploitation of the African people and land.
In the retelling of “The Fall of the House of Usher'' that was originally written by Edgar Allen Poe, the narrator was invited to see an old friend of his, Roderick Usher, but little did he know that it would be the last time he would see Usher alive. The narrator's journey started off riding horseback to the House of Usher where the last remaining members of that family lived isolated for years. Our narrator will be there to comfort his dear friend as Roderick Usher will be dealing with the loss of his twin sister Lady Madeline. To their surprise, one night they both heard noises coming from the vault below, which seemed to be getting closer and closer. Mood, tortured characters, and symbolism function to enhance the gothic atmosphere in the
In this week’s chapter, it discusses a lot about the rise and fall of the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. In many dynasties, it is critically important to have a well balanced society and economy. Anderson displays many of the reasons why these two empires were so great during their time, but evidently loss of power and control of government can be a major turning point and, eventually, led to the decline of these empires. This specific chapter focus on the systems of governance that was established in each empire.
led by the Sons of Liberty: opened 342 chests of tea and dumped them into the Boston Harbor (dressed up as Native Americans)
While the aftermath of World War II is often referred to as one of the primary creators of deep rooted turmoil in the Middle East region, the effects of the Cold War and the United States often over-zealous battle against communism is just as much a contributor if not more. The Arab world and the Middle East region were clearly going through quite an extraordinary period throughout World War II and its conclusion, primarily with the creation of most of the states we recognize today and struggling with the continuation of colonialism. These factors set the stage for the emergence of strong nationalist sentiments and Pan-Arab movements across the Middle East. Unfortunately, and much to the detriment of the region, the leaders of these young
At the start of the 18th century, Middle Eastern countries witnessed their Eastern neighbors being overtaken by Western Europe and were faced with a choice: to pick apart or to be picked apart. It was from this dilemma that defensive developmentalism emerged in the Middle East. Empires such as the Ottomans, Persia, Tunisia, and Egypt began the process of centralizing their authority in order to assert effective control over their populations. The chief goal of defensive developmentalism for these empires was to assert their autonomy, whether that be autonomy from the Ottomans in the case of Egypt and Tunisia, or from outside imperialists in the Ottoman Empire and Persia. In order to accomplish these goals, defensive developmentalists undertook extensive reforms to establish their empires as relevant worldwide powers.
On February 12, 2015 president Obama signed an executive order with the intention to expand the Cybersecurity of the U.S. and to promote principles of collaboration not just in America but around the globe. Cybersecurity has been identified as one of the most challenging subjects of the 21st-century; moreover, cyber-attacks can further compromise the future of our economic development as much as our national security and the decrement of our civil rights and privacy. Since Obama initiate his administration, he has been working on establishing the framework to better balance the interaction between, government agencies, private sector, and the general public. The objective in this essay is to better understand the connotations from several
Middle East considers one of the most studied areas in the world due to its rich history of politics, social, economic, and its culture and civilization. Its borders are still arguable geographically, generally in the west it starts from morocco until Iran in the east, however, many scholars don’t agree on including Turkey either as a Middle Eastern or as a European country (Milton-Edwards, 2006. P: 4). The origin of the name was invented by the colonies as a necessity to describe the place geographically, which was the era of bringing “Middle East” the language of academic writings and political scientists. Changes, innovations, and new ideologies create gaps between the transformations of any perspectives to a different
Different regions in the Middle East have different experienced different levels of colonialism. Prior to the First World War some regions of the Ottoman Empire were already under the influence of European countries (Owen 2006, p. 23). Between the first and second world wars most of the empire was formally divided between, and under the control of, Britain and France (Owen 2006, p. 25) and even after the second world war European influence lingered. Cole and Kandiyoti describe these periods as 'informal imperialism
The modern era in literature occupied the late years of nineteenth and early years of twentieth century. The period was marked by a strong and intentional break with tradition. This break includes a strong reaction against established religious, traditional, political, and social views. It was an influential period that shaped the development of western civilization throughout the twentieth century. A thorough analysis of modern philosophy, culture, and art reveals the mindset of modernity and how the historical events of the era influenced life during the early 1900s.