Partners of the Empire: The Crisis of the Ottoman Order in the Age of Revolutions

by Ali Yaycıoğlu

Partners of the Empire offers a radical rethinking of the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Over this unstable period, the Ottoman Empire faced political crises, institutional shakeups, and popular insurrections. It responded through various reform options and settlements. New institutional configurations emerged; constitutional texts were codified—and annulled. The empire became a political theater where different actors struggled, collaborated, and competed on conflicting agendas and opposing interests.

This book takes a holistic look at the era, interested not simply in central reforms or in regional developments, but in their interactions. Drawing on original archival sources, Ali Yaycioglu uncovers the patterns of political action—the making and unmaking of coalitions, forms of building and losing power, and expressions of public opinion. Countering common assumptions, he shows that the Ottoman transformation in the Age of Revolutions was not a linear transition from the old order to the new, from decentralized state to centralized, from Eastern to Western institutions, or from pre-modern to modern. Rather, it was a condensed period of transformation that counted many crossing paths, as well as dead-ends, all of which offered a rich repertoire of governing possibilities to be followed, reinterpreted, or ultimately forgotten.

Genres: History, Middle East

364 pages, Hardcover

First published May 4, 2016

About the author

Ali Yaycioglu is Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University.

Reviews

[Eressea · Rating 4 out of 5]

本書講述十八十九世紀歐陸革命的年代
奧斯曼帝國的革命
頗為刷新我的對奧斯曼帝國的認識
之前讀的幾本通史都簡單帶過這段歷史

讓我以為塞利姆三世雖有心改革，卻優柔寡斷
空有一支新秩序軍卻不用，反被政變殺死
而繼位的馬哈茂德二世，繼承了改革理想
終於將此時一點也不新，尾大不掉的新軍屠光光
沒想到事情沒那麼簡單
實際上在數十年中
中央政府，地方派閥和外省社群，三方角力
使帝國發生質變，終於在推翻穆斯塔法四世的政變中
產生了奧斯曼憲政的雛型：同盟誓約
雖然這誓約有效的期限不長，精神卻為馬哈茂德二世繼承
在坦其麥特飭令開花結果，開啟了十九世紀一系列改革

這些過程本書寫的挺精彩
而我在讀奧斯曼史時總是想到同樣是病夫的大清
維新不如奧斯曼遠甚
早在乾隆爺統治的末期
塞利姆三世就已經體會到帝國吃了幾次土是體制有問題
於是蘇丹下詔求國是
要臣民暢所欲言，提出各式各樣改革
令我驚訝的是，提出維新建言的
也有一些主要的蘇菲教團或神職高官
想像中最為思想僵化的團體，
也會有身在高位的人
用伊斯蘭的意識型態，包裝西化的必要
這點真的跟大清差好多啊
而且不僅只是空言而已，蘇丹廣納建言之後
馬上開始籌措財源，改善外省統治制度，從頭練西式新軍
練出來的新秩序軍還頗有戰力的

對照一百多年後的大清
連番吃土統治菁英還是執迷不悟
到八國聯軍之後才比較認真
果然常年跟歐洲往來，眼界還是有差
而且奧斯曼帝國早在還沒吃土以前
就已經有專業外交官派駐歐洲各國了
反觀....怪不得清末民初時人特別關注土耳其維新

本書讓我知道了從大革命的年代
奧斯曼也有自己的革命
民族救星凱末爾能夠成事，其實已經努力了兩百多年啦