The Ottoman Empire

by Kenneth W. Harl

By understanding the dramatic story of the Ottoman Empire - from its early years as a collection of raiders and conquerors to its undeniable power in the 15th and 16th centuries to its catastrophic collapse in the wreckage of the First World War - one can better grasp the current complexities of the Middle East.

Over the course of these 36 enlightening lectures, investigate over 600 years of history that covers the nature of Ottoman identity, the achievements of the Sultan's court, and stories of confrontation and cooperation with the West.

Befitting a story of such epic scope and grandeur, every lecture is a treasure trove of historical insights into the people, events, themes, and locales responsible for shaping the story of this often-overlooked empire. You'll cover everything from Rumi, the whirling dervishes, and the importance of the sultan's grand viziers to the wars of Sultan Suleiman I, the shadowy politics of the Committee of Union and Progress, and the birth of the Turkish Republic under Kemal Atatürk.

Welcome to a fascinating story of the triumph and tragedy, war and peace, intellectual progress and civil insurrection of a great empire that, for all its glory and grandeur, has left an important legacy that will shape the future of the Balkan nation-states, the Turkish Republic, and the Arab world - and those of us in the West as well.

Genres: History, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Middle East, Religion, The World, Islam

Audio CD

First published May 26, 2017

About the author

Dr. Kenneth W. Harl is Professor of Classical and Byzantine History at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he teaches courses in Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader history. He earned his B.A. from Trinity College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.

Recognized as an outstanding lecturer, Professor Harl has received numerous teaching awards at Tulane, including the coveted Sheldon H. Hackney Award two times. He has earned Tulane's annual Student Body Award for Excellence in Teaching nine times and is the recipient of Baylor University's nationwide Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teachers.

In 2007, he was the Lewis P. Jones Visiting Professor in History at Wofford College. An expert on classical Anatolia, he has taken students with him into the field on excursions and to assist in excavations of Hellenistic and Roman sites in Turkey.

Professor Harl has also published a wide variety of articles and books, including his current work on coins unearthed in an excavation of Gordion, Turkey, and a new book on Rome and her Iranian foes. A fellow and trustee of the American Numismatic Society, Professor Harl is well known for his studies of ancient coinage. He is the author of Civic Coins and Civic Politics in the Roman East, A.D. 180–275 and Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 B.C. to A.D. 700.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this series of lectures but there were two major problems with it for me.

1. Harl heavily neglects cultural history. If you want a history of battles, leaders, politics, and diplomacy, you may enjoy this more than I did. I'm fine with having those things, but I also want to know what kinds of cultural works the people produced over time. He would periodically wave his hand in the direction of art by mentioning miniaturist painting, novels, and poetry but he would almost never name any artist or writer. Usually after listening to a Great Courses history series there are many additions to my "to-read" list that I had never heard of before. The only person I recall Harl mentioning by name is Orhan Pamuk and the 2006 winner of the Nobel Prize for literature is hardly unknown. So that was disappointing.

2. But even more problematic was Harl's clear pro-Ottoman bias. It's important to know that Harl is NOT an expert in Ottoman history. He is a classicist who studies Roman coins. Why the Teaching Company hired him for this topic is a mystery to me. But throughout he presents things from a clearly biased position. He regularly chastises the peoples who were subject to Ottoman domination for not being more grateful to the Ottoman Empire not forcing them to convert to Islam. His lecture on the Armenian Genocide was the worst. He insists he was being "objective" in this lecture but he devotes roughly five minutes to the genocide and 25 minutes to a lot of "both sides did bad things" and "it was war time so they had their reasons" types of arguments.

The Teaching Company owes us a Cultural History of the Ottoman Empire that does not spend so much time valorizing the Empire while trying to downplay any negative information about them.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic series of lectures about the Ottoman empire, presented enthusiastically by Professor Kenneth W. Harl of Tulane University. I've only just discovered these history courses on Audible, and what a wonderful way to enjoy history lessons presented by actual experts of the field, incredibly informative, interesting, and insightful. I'll be listening to these more often in the future.

[Diego Arredondo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masive amount of knowledge. The Ottoman empire unraveled in front of my eyes as a neverending snake. How deep are his legacy into the modern worl, hoy richness of culture, how much I wanna lay down my feet into those amazing places. Thank you Kenneth, this one for me was an eye opener.

[Ted Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harl competently covers the history of the Ottoman Empire and its many peoples. From the Öghuz to Ataturk, Harl presents a complex interplay of cultures, faiths, and patterns of life that is often flattened in Western perspectives. He has an obvious love for Turkish culture, but also stresses that the Ottoman Empire was not a Turkish enterprise alone, spending large amounts of time discussing the contributions of Greeks, Albanians, Jews, Armenians, Copts, Arabs, and Persians, among many, many more, to the Empire.

As others have pointed out, Harl has a pro-Turkish bias that he is unwilling to recognize in this course. In ancient history, which Harl specializes and usually covers, this sort of sentiment is less problematic; after all, few people will bemoan the destruction of the Dacian identity by Trajan these days. However, the Ottoman Empire extends well into the 20th century, and we must grapple with its legacy through a modern lens. The breakdown of the Empire led to many hideous actions by many parties. However, I hold that the actions of the Ottoman state towards the Armenians constitutes genocide; Harl is not only uncomfortable wrangling with such topics, he often engages in apologetics. I am absolutely for nuance, consideration, and context, but a spade is a spade.

There’s still a lot to learn here, and I think Harl does an admirable job on the whole. I recommend this series with a very strong caveat: always examine the source and yourself for bias.

[Sebastian Gebski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the Great Courses collection as it's a great opportunity to get maximally condensed knowledge (on a given topic) in a relatively short time. But frankly, TOE is the weakest installment in the series I've encountered so far. Why so?

1. I haven't expected the course lecturer to be strongly biased (pro-Ottoman) - at some point, it was simply irritating as clearly all the successes were due to clear brilliance & all the failures (that happened "out of the blue") were out of bad luck. I mean it: at times, this narration is simply grotesque.

2. I don't have enough knowledge to validate all the facts presented here (accuracy & correlations), but based on the number of misspelled names (e.g., Polodia-Podolia), it's hard to trust the author fully. I've also spotted at least one situation when he mixed two different characters (& presented them by one) just because they had a similar name (even when they came from different countries ...). That kind of undermines the credibility.

3. Speaking about credibility: for some reason, when the author has to speak about truths that are very inconvenient from the Turkish perspective (e.g., the Armenian genocide), he dashes through the facts & spends 80% of time on justifications & watering down the responsibility - frankly, I have no personal, emotional involvement with any of the sides, I know too little to make my own judgments, but it was simply hard NOT to notice the double standards here. I was very surprised.

4. These deficiencies can be partially justified by the fact that prof. Harl's specialty is NOT the Ottoman Empire - the majority of his career was focused on the ancient classical era - Greece, Rome & eventually Byzantium. But still, the reader doesn't care about excuses, right?

Ultimately, it's nice to have a single, comprehensive source on this interesting topic (esp. keeping in mind how much of today's conflicts & political tensions have their roots in the Ottoman Empire's history), but it's a shame that as a layman I had to apply a filter on what I was reading ;/

3.2-3.3 stars

[Nate · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ottoman Empire is a series of 36 lectures covering the full scope of the empire given by renowned scholar and historian, Kenneth Harl. Harl aptly covers a 700 year period including the Empire's beginning, apex, decline, and its context within the modern middle East and wider Islamic world. The Ottoman legacy is both troubled and rich as the Empire bridges the gap between the medieval and modern East and West. Harl details the Empire's Islamic foundations that ultimately crumbled with the onset of modernity, but also the struggle that continues today between the secular and the sacred in the modern Turkish republic.

Ottoman history begins with the slow decline of the Byzantine Empire and its erosion of control over the steppes of Anatolia (heart of modern Turkey today). Turkish influence started in the 11th century and reached critical mass in the 14th century in Anatolia. After a few brushes with the Mongols, Osman and his descendants began to unite the Turkish horse tribes around himself.
Sufism took hold in the area and resulted in many Orthodox conversions of the population... something you don't normally see with more strident versions of Sunni and Shia Islam. It is to this 14th century period when we see the 'whirling dervishes' of Sufism slowly woo the population to a deeper, emotional connection to their Islamic faith. Turkish tribes started to coalesce around Osman and his followers (where we get the word Ottoman)and began to expand outward to the Balkans and Caucuses (modern day Greece, Bulgaria to the west, and Iraq to the east).

The Empire came into own in the 15th century with the conquest of Constantinople, modern Istanbul. Mehmed the Conqueror achieved what no empire had done in 1000 years and breached the walls and permanently took over the ancient Roman city (the crusaders sacked it previously by trickery but were eventually overthrown). The Empire reached its zenith with the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century... it spanned almost to Vienna in Europe in the west, to the Persian Gulf in the East, and all the way to Libya in the South. The genius of the Ottomans were that they were able to use Byzantine infrastructure as a base for operations while also establishing a multi-layered stable government based on Sharia Law. The leader of the Empire was called both sultan and caliph uniting the state and the Islamic faith to his banner. Ottoman administrators and lawyers were very well educated and trained at the madrasa and communication of ideas was very easy and effective since the Empire controlled so much area. The empire was able to quell internal fractionalism by forming three different legal systems: one for Muslims, one for Jews, and one for Christians. This resulted in a relatively stable Ottoman population that was diverse, segregated, and relatively violence free for 300-400 years. Jews and Christians were permitted to keep their communities (called millets) but they had to be hidden and not interfere with Muslim affairs.

The Empire began to stagnate in the late 17th and early 18th century as the Ottoman advance was halted at Vienna and it began to lag technologically. The Empire lacked an industrial revolution that Europe had gone through resulting in lower levels of production and innovation vs its European counterparts. The Russian Empire's emergence in the early 18th century threatened internal stability as it looked to be the rightful leaders of the Ottoman Orthodox Christian population. This tension resulted in dozens of wars over several centuries that never ended until its collapse after World War I. The watershed event that triggered its decline was the invasion of Napolean in the early 19th century. With Napolean's fleet destroyed by the British, Napolean faced impossible odds yet still engineered a complete takeover of Cairo and Egypt while also successfuly quashing every rebellion they were able to muster. This event made the Ottomans start to take stock in their lack of technology and lack of innovative approaches to governing. This would ultimately result in several unsuccessful attempts at reform throughout the 19th century.

The Ottoman Empire finally dissolved in 1922 after a series of unsuccessful campaigns in World War I. Mustafa Kamal was the one bright spot as he led the Turkish defense of Gallipoli and successfully beat back the Greeks who were empowered by the allies to take parts of Turkey for their own. The death of the Empire was driven by the sultan signing the treaty of Sevres which allowed the occupation of Constaninople and the partioning of Turkey and the middle East to allied interests. Kamal rallied the people to his cause and established a national Turk identity that refused the demands of the treaty and forced renegotiation based on his defense of Anatolia and Constantinople. He is known as Attaturk, the father of Turkey.

One sad event that i was especially interested in was the Armenian genocide. Unfortunately, the ethnic tensions peaked in WWI as the Ottoman Christian Balkan client states revolted, spurred on by the lack of stability and control of the Ottomans. Millions of displaced Islamic immigrants were thrown out of the Balkans and were forced back into Anatolia proper. The Ottoman government called for the resettlement of the Armenian populations to make way for the displaced Muslim populations in the Balkans. The official order never called for mass murder of the ethnic population but it quickly turned into that as Russia pushed its offensive deeper into Turkey during its 1915 to 1916 campaigns. The Armenians were thought loyal to Russia so the Ottomans conveniently found a way to eliminate the threat. It is a sad end to the Ottoman legacy which had before enabled Christian and Jewish populations to flourish.

Overall, I found Dr. Harl an engaging speaker and able to digest complex topics into easy to understand concepts. I would recommend these lectures to anyone wanting to discover the rich and troubling history of Asia Minor and modern Turkey.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Video series hosted by the author.

Highly informative and not normally covered in most history classes in America. Wonderful overview of the Ottoman Empire.

Thank you, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificient, for pulling me into your world and making me want to learn more about the Ottomans.

MY GRADE: A minus to A.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had studied Ottoman history years ago at university, and purchased this course in order to brush up on the topic. Well, this lengthy course did serve that purpose, because it's quite comprehensive. Regretfully, however, I cannot say that I found anything new or original here. I think the professor is trying to operate outside his core competence. In fact, the course seems in long sections to resemble a Sparks Notes on the multi-volume Cambridge History of Turkey, and, indeed, fully one-fourth of the sources listed in the bibliography are chapters from that work. Most annoying to me, though, was the lecturer's mangling of Turkish words and names. He leads one on to believe he speaks and/or reads Turkish, but his knowledge of that language is clearly rudimentary at best. For anyone who knows basic Turkish, the lecturer's pronunciation of Turkish works is painful and cringe-producing throughout the course. And this is strange, because, as he mentions in passing several times, his wife is Turkish. Why didn't he ask her to help him? Frankly, he seems to be unaware of his mispronunciations of Turkish and other non-English words. To my mind, this fault is rather discrediting. Also distracting to the viewer are the lecturer's mannerisms (the constantly bouncing left hand, the clenching right hand, the constant ahs and ums, the heavy shuffling when the camera point-of-view changes). I would urge people to buy the "audio only" version of this course (rather than the dvd version, except for the fact that the animated maps are extremely informative. Overall though, I must say that the lecturer's heart is in the right place; he is commendably sympathetic to the Turkish point of view. Yet, as a good historian, he is even-handed on controversial topics such as the Armenian genocide ("excesses committed in defense of the Empire"). So, I think Great Courses should give him a do-over. As it stands, I don't think this course will be well received. Finally, I must comment on the Course Guidebook. Clearly, it was never edited or proofread before being printed, or only in a haphazard and hasty manner. It reads like the professor's reading notes from the Cambridge History of Turkey, and some of the sentences descent into nonsense statements. Moreover, a glossary of persons and terms should have been provided.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great history of The Ottoman Empire. It kind of expands upon and picks up after Harl's series on Asia Minor.

I came to see that understanding the history of the Ottoman Empire helps to understand the political situation between the Muslim countries currently. Also, the Ottoman Empire was strong for a long period. It wasn't some second-rate empire.

Also, that area had a much more diverse ethnic and religious background than currently exists. The nationalistic movements of the 18th and 19th century where each ethnicity wanted its own homeland has removed some of the diversity that existed previously.

This course also helped me to understand the makeup of the Baltic states. I hadn't understood before how European Muslim nationalities had come to be.

[Tina Doncheva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always thought that, if you claim to be an expert in the history, geography, literature, etc of any country, you have to know the language of that country pretty, pretty well. This, apparently, is not the case with Kenneth W. Harl (whose wife is even Turkish!), and it was a huge bug during the entire Audible course of the book. His grave mispronounciation of Turkish words, names (of people or places), and phrases was not only incredibly annoying but also created huge misunderstandings and, frankly, to some odd situations. As this was not enough, he even tried with Arabic words and names, which led to even more absurd parts.
This is why the pdf was my best friend. Due to the mispronounciations, due to some mistakes during the audio book, and due to the frequent "uuhh"-s and "aahh"-s of the lecturer, the audio book was not a pleasant experience at all. The pdf, albeit in brief and summarised version, presented the necessary information a bit more understandably.
Otherwise, the information during the entire course is interesting, especially because it is quick and concise. That being said, it misses large chunks of Ottoman history, important details of many characters or places or events, overlooks lots of facts. Instead, Harl focuses on what is apparently important to him (and he does not even hide it) - for instance, on Kanunî Sultan Süleyman, or on Enver Paşa, or (and here I am actually happy about it) on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The last one was the best conclusion possible, although spending one quarter of the book on "Ottoman Empire" talking about Mustafa Kemal is not the greatest choice but let it be.
The part I liked the most was the structured and rather objective narrative on the situation with the Ottoman Armenians between 1914 and 1923. He did not directly call it a "genocide" but he did not deny it being a "genocide" either. And he presented the facts as they were, from both sides (with both their guilt and innocence), although tried to be as brief as possible.
Harl also spent some time (surprisingly to me) on the Balkan nations too - Greece (of course), Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia (not "North" then ;)). Which led to a fairly good factology and description of the Balkan Wars and everyone involved in them.
In conclusion, it is an acceptable studybook for those who are interested in learning a bit about a small part of the major events in the Ottoman Empire from its creation to its dissolution. What it lacks is depth, amongst all the things I have already mentioned. But if you are just starting to learn about one of the greatest empires that had ever existed, it is a good course. If you just want to brush up on your knowledge, it could help you recall some facts. And that's it.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing. I expected a course on Ottoman history to be interesting however rather than talk about the entire Empire (like the title says), the instructor focused almost exclusively on a handful of leaders and some military campaigns. There was no discussion of things that actually were happening in the empire, and very little discussion of what was influencing the things the Emperors did. Just listing dates and facts and where the soldiers went. There was no "story" to the history.
Sometimes he would handwave any explanations with phrases like "so for reasons of external political factors". WTF.

Also, normally I would not include the instructor's "performance" in my review since this is a course and not an audiobook, but this one is worth mentioning. Others have said that there is a lot of "uh" an "um". It's actually worse than that because he raises his voice and draws out the "uh, um's while kind of making his throat rattle. U-U-U-H-H U-U-U-U-U-U-MMMMMMMMMM. His also has a peculiar way of yelling every utterance of the word "and" so that it sounds like a goose honking. Come to think of it, about 50% of the noises this guy makes sound like someone throttling a cartoon goose.

Another thing the instructor does is get really excited and start yelling about military stuff. Literally rage-ranting and waving his hands around because a hundred years ago supplies didn't get somewhere. Like, dude, calm down. Why are you yelling at me? Then he makes a big speech about how we should be dispassionate about genocide and just be academic about it. So that was weird.

[Abdulla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The course was perfect for what I needed. I knew plenty about the Middle East post-1914, and a decent amount prior to 1258 or so, but I wanted to get an overview of what happened in the interim. Obviously this course covers far more than that, with a specific focus on Asia Minor since it's the center of the Empire (and Harl's specific area of study.)

Professor Kenneth Harl is my favorite lecturer with The Great Courses, and I've enjoyed each of his other courses. He's always very passionate, and his wit is always appreciated. Harl's breadth of knowledge is very impressive: he's a Classicist by training, and this course should really be outside of his area of expertise. He generally does a solid job of it, but the course is missing some of the more original commentary in his other courses.

This was an excellent overview of a really important topic that hasn't been discussed nearly enough. The focus of the course is certainly on political and military events, though there are a number of lectures in the middle devoted to the arts, letters, and social history of the High Ottoman Empire. Some of the earlier lectures were a bit dry, but necessary to provide the background for how the Ottoman Empire came to exist.

This course completely changed my perspective on the Ottoman Empire and especially its so-called decline. I especially liked the lectures on the Late Empire, with the attempt and failure to adjust to the modern world, and Harl's explanation of why this was the case. The lecture on the Armenian Genocide was quite illuminating.

4.5 stars.

[Alex Kondrashin · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding work of history and narration, covering 6 centuries of Eastern Mediterranean civilization.

[John Mendez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. Topics covered include:

-It begins with the ancient history of the Ottomans, beginning with the Persian Empire of the -Seljuk Turks,
-Continues with the foundation of the Ottoman Sultanate under the Byzantine thumb, and the downfall of Byzantium
-Discusses the socio-cultural conditions of Greece and Anatolia (aka modern Turkey) in the -Sultanate of Rum
-Including an extended study of the Sufi order founded by Jalal al-Rumi, the still famous poet whose works I reviewed (and loved) a few months ago.
-How the non-Arab Ottoman Turks managed to claim the title of Khalif despite not being ethically Arab.
-The rise of the major Ottoman Sultans like 'Osman the Thunderbolt,' 'Mehmet the Conqueror' and 'Suliman the Lawgiver/Magnificent.'
-The ethnic conflicts and synergies between Muslim Turks and Apostolic/Syrian/Coptic/Greek Orthodox Christians, as well as the Spanish Jews banished from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, especially in the form of the jizya
-Palace intrigues, especially those involving the harem politics and the assassination of brothers, uncles and cousins- as well as the legalized murder of the Sultan's male rivals to the throne (!!!)
-The many aspects of the Janissary core, from creation to dissolution
-The West coming in and stealing Egypt, leading to a series of half-baked reforms seeking to modernize the Empire.
-The gradual dissolution of the Empire, as the West (especially Russia) nibbled around the edges
-The republic of Turkey, and making Christians and Jews equal citizens with Muslims.
-The tragedy of WW1, and the rise of Ataturk
-The Armenian genocide
-The collapse of the Empire, and the establishment of the Turkish state.
-The war with Greece
-The modern state of Turkey

[Stanislava · Rating 1 out of 5]

Distorted, selective, pro-Turkish propaganda. Shame on the author.

The book contains glaring factual errors and outright distortions. The author presents a one-sided, pro-Ottoman narrative that ignores evidence and passes off speculation as fact. It whitewashes Ottoman atrocities, skips over well-documented massacres, and even downplays the Armenian Genocide. If you want history, look elsewhere — this is propaganda dressed up as scholarship.

Let me give an example how the book deliberately omits the dark side of Ottoman rule: there is nothing about the Chios massacre (1822) or the Batak massacre (1876), nothing about the atrocities documented by Januarius MacGahan that shocked Europe. Instead, we’re told that Christians “lived very well” under Ottoman rule, and that independence movements were simply nationalist fads. That is not only simplistic, it’s deeply insulting to the memory of those who suffered!

The handling of the Armenian Genocide is equally troubling. The book acknowledges deportations but minimizes the death toll, frames it as a wartime “security measure,” and leans on excuses instead of confronting what every serious historian recognises as genocide.

On top of all that, the author heaps praise on the Ottomans throughout the book while sneering at their opponents. In the audiobook he even laughs out loud on some occasions when describing those who resisted Ottoman power. I found this not just biased, but downright unpleasant to listen to.

This book really shook my confidence in The Great Courses, I will not listen to other audiobooks by them. I now question the quality of the other book by them I listened to.

Note that I only finished this book, so that I can write a credible review.

[Corey Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't write many reviews.
I loved most of this Great Courses class, but the professors approach to the Armenian Genocide, is unacceptable. I am already familiar with the subject matter, so it doesn't upset me that much; but what of the people who listen to this coarse with no prior knowledge of the Armenian Genocide, they will come away thinking that Armenians are just looking for attention or grandstanding if they are upset about the genocide.
The professors apologism for the Turkish/Ottoman view is abhorrent. With ideas like; it's a war, people are killing other people, and the people in power didn't mean to do this, is sickening. When 80% of a people disappear within a year, at your direction, that is a genocide. You don't get to tell those people that it isn't.
When that chapter passed I calmed down, but then came the last lecture, the wrap-up. In the wrap up
he says something to the effect of, Armenians of today should recognize just how good they had it under the sultan and get over it. Excuse me. What?
His take on the genocide nearly ruins the other 18 hours of content. It makes me question his take on the things that I am not already knowledgeable on. Now I have to seek other sources to verify the historical items from this coarse, because I can't trust what he has told me.

[Kutsua · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, this guy really loves talking:)
It is a passionate retelling of the (hi)story of the Ottoman empire, from the time when first Turkic tribes arrive to the Middle East till Mustafa Kemal abolishes the empire. It does not go into a great detail, it is sort of repetitive (we all have some ideé fix and some parasitic words, don´t we?), but it is a very good introduction into the history of that time and place.
Mr. Harl is a wonderful, passionate lecturer. However, I don´t think I learned anything particularly new or surprising, unlike the course on The Barbarian Empires of the Steppes. It was a sort of quick summary of facts about the long history of the Ottoman empire + a lot of boasting by Mr. Harl. (OK, perhaps it is just the self-presentation strategy commonly used by the Americans, but I find it annoying anyway)
Also, I think that at times, Mr. Harl´s voice was hoarse. Perhaps more pauses during the recording would have been in order.

[Victor N · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish this was a bit more balanced when it comes to the border region between the Ottoman Empire and Central Europe and the conflicts within Islam. This lecture series has good information but it improperly represents the experience of peoples outside of the core of the Ottoman Empire or the minorities throughout the region.

This is not to say that Byzantium would have ruled the Balkans with less conflict or exploitation. And it can easily be assumed that the interactions with the Persian empire would have been barbarous but treating the Balkans, simply as Western European pawns who became entranced by French ideas of nationalism, is disingenuous.

It raises important challenges to the western classical narrative of history. It also has good coverage of The Young Turks and the Committee of Union and Progress. Though I greatly appreciate the attempt to remain objective and critical, I think it crudely covers the Armenian genocide in apologist fashion.

If not for the wealth of texts on Ottoman history, I would give this a higher rating, but I can’t recommend the lectures.

[Cyrus Samii · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful overview for someone trying to get the basic narrative of the empire under their belt. I also appreciated Harl's commentary on the likely strategic motivations behind various twists and turns in the epic of the empire. I see from other reviews that much of Harl's narrative is based on the research of others, and that Harl himself may not be a notable authority on the empire. Nonetheless, he does an admirable job of developing key moments in the empire's history, relating them to other developments around the world, and challenging many myths. I found the discussion of the 19th century especially interesting, including the encounter with the Napoleanic conquests, the ensuing efforts at reform to catch up to rapidly developing European competitors, and then the turmoil that this brought about. That part in particular is a great overview of a crucial period of political, economic, and social transformation, certainly of interest to any student of comparative politics.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from Dr Harl's rapid delivery and immense cast of characters, I found this course to be a fascinating look at a transitional time in history as well as a transitional place in the world...the crossroads between Europe and Asia. Turkey is often discounted as a not-quite-first-world country, yet it boasts of one of the most successful dominions, lasting nearly seven centuries...in some ways, extending even into modern times.
These lectures complement Harl's early sets, including Byzantium and Barbarians of The Steppes (also The Vikings) and help to mesh with lectures series dealing with Western European history. After listening to these lectures I have come to understand WHY the Ottoman Empire was considered the 'poor man of Europe', but understand more fully that, in many ways, its rich legacy has contributed greatly to the western civilization we enjoy today.
Recommended, especially when Suleiman The Magnificent and Mehmet the Conqueror agree on a sale and coupon.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of those courses where one could turn Harl's incessant interjections of "uh, uh, uhm" into a drinking game and be well and truly plastered after half a lecture.
The information presented was interesting though too narrowly focussed on leadership and military campaigns - where's the cultural history, the arts and sciences, the lives of ordinary people?
I didn't greatly care for his complete disregard for T.E. Lawrence. (Am I biased because I find the man fascinating? ...maybe.) I most definitely did't care for his hedging on calling the Armenian genocide what it was. That particular lecture had an unpleasant whiff of "good people on both sides" about it.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Ottoman Empire is part of the Great Course series, with 36 thirty-minute lectures. It covers the beginnings of the Ottomans in the late medieval times to World War I, when the Empire collapsed. It is an Empire that receives little attention in introductory courses to Western civilization. Lecturer Kenneth W Harl, of Tulane University, jumps right in with minimal prefatory remarks to what is happening at the time in late medieval Asia Minor and surrounding areas, an introduction I needed. He covers the major leaders, territories, cultural highlights, wars and events of the period. When I finished listening to all eighteen plus hours, I knew that I should go back to the beginning and start over, as I would understand the beginning better, but I didn’t. It was enough for now.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this lecturer, so I'm biased right off the bat, but I love how he presents his material. It's always interesting and you can tell he loves the subject matter. I already knew a moderate amount about the Ottoman Empire, but this lecture series was still fascinating to me. There were so many details I didn't know, and he really does a great job of talking about cause and effect, trends, and keeping you in the mindset of the time. I don't know why we don't teach more of this in school, this empire lasted forever and made a huge impact on the world. If you want something different, this is a great series to listen to.

[Stèf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great to hear about ottoman history in a non-Eurocentric context. I love when Kenneth W. Harl throws shade on Thucydides "writing about what you're not good at." to criticize armchair experts. Historical context is given over multiple disciplines; political, religious, cultural, military, economic, etc.

I will make one major correction; he says Australia and New Zealand celebrate the ANZAC invasion of Gallipoli as a major success. We commemorate it yearly as a tragic loss of life and senseless violence, definitely not a celebration.

Very respectful and thorough explanation of the Ottoman-Armenian catastrophe.

[SnarkyMoggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's. Great Course. One of the few that covers most of the Ottoman Empire's history, rather than its failing years. Unfortunately, this is ruined by the way the professor speaks. He has a strange habit of pausing in random parts of his sentences, and also repeating certain words, not necessarily important ones, that bothered me. I understand that lecturing is difficult, even with notes, but I had to 2x the speed to not be put off and give up. He is very good in his subject, but hard to listen to.

I give the actual subject matter 4.5 Stars.

The lecturer is only 2 Stars.

This is only my view. Please try the Great Course yourself and make up your own mind.

[Gene Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good survey course on the history of the Ottoman empire. It covers ~700 years of history from the pre ottoman Turkic states all the way to the collapse of the empire and the foundation of the modern republic of Turkey. With such a large scope the course does not have time to cover each topic in great depth, but what is presented gives you a good introduction to the history.

If you already have a good background in Ottoman history then this course might not cover anything new but I think that is to be expected from a survey course by the Great Courses.

[Hank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history about which I knew very little Delivery was a bit dry, which was especially difficult in the early lectures but less so towards the end.

First time I’ve heard someone downplay the Armenian genocide but he did so with a reasonable argument and in no way condoned it. Seemed a bit of a word mincing really. I’d have to look into it further to determine how reasonable. Which I’m not sure I’ll ever do. I see that he’s written and delivered many regional histories so that would point towards objectivity, I guess.

[Anthony Meaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great introduction to the history of the Ottoman empire. Covering over 6oo years means you do lose something since there is only so much you can cram into a course even one that is 36 hours long.

Really liked the section on the latter part of the Ottoman empire from about 1875 to post WWI which was endlessly fascinating.

And of course Professor Harl is one of my favorite lecturers. I just love his style.

[Kevin McClear · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is by no means one of the strongest of the Great Courses, but that is partially because the topic is so vast. It's a hard survey to pull off, especially without access to maps.

I recommend it if you, like me, found the Ottoman Empire a hole in your knowledge. It's too big a part of the modern world to ignore, and having gone through this course I do feel I understand the Middle East and North Africa much better, at least insofar as how we got here.

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should probably give this four stars given how much I learned but it was the most difficult course to follow of any that I've listened to from The Great Courses series. Everything was so unfamiliar to me that without maps, pictures (of buildings and places), and being able to see the names it was really difficult to keep everything straight. Because everything was so new to me, though, I really did learn a lot so three stars probably isn't fair.