by Summary:
Historical backgrounder. Largely a summary of God’s Shadow: The Ottoman Sultan Who Shaped the Modern World (Faber & Faber) by Alan Mikhail, chair of the Department of History at Yale.Most people in the West are only familiar with the history of Western civilization, ignoring what shaped its place in the world historically, including the Mongol empire and the Ottoman empire, which rivaled or surpassed the Hellenistic empire created by Alexander's conquests and the Roman empire. The British empire was the largest formal empire historically, and the remnant was taken over by the US as the informal "American empire" in which Britain is still a major player and active clandestinely through Five Eyes.Oh, and yes, "follow the money," as always. It was and is about controlling trade routes and
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Historical backgrounder. Largely a summary of God’s Shadow: The Ottoman Sultan Who Shaped the Modern World (Faber & Faber) by Alan Mikhail, chair of the Department of History at Yale.Historical backgrounder. Largely a summary of God’s Shadow: The Ottoman Sultan Who Shaped the Modern World (Faber & Faber) by Alan Mikhail, chair of the Department of History at Yale.Most people in the West are only familiar with the history of Western civilization, ignoring what shaped its place in the world historically, including the Mongol empire and the Ottoman empire, which rivaled or surpassed the Hellenistic empire created by Alexander's conquests and the Roman empire. The British empire was the largest formal empire historically, and the remnant was taken over by the US as the informal "American empire" in which Britain is still a major player and active clandestinely through Five Eyes.Oh, and yes, "follow the money," as always. It was and is about controlling trade routes and
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Most people in the West are only familiar with the history of Western civilization, ignoring what shaped its place in the world historically, including the Mongol empire and the Ottoman empire, which rivaled or surpassed the Hellenistic empire created by Alexander's conquests and the Roman empire. The British empire was the largest formal empire historically, and the remnant was taken over by the US as the informal "American empire" in which Britain is still a major player and active clandestinely through Five Eyes.
Oh, and yes, "follow the money," as always. It was and is about controlling trade routes and thereby trade, as Pepe explains. Why did Columbus sail West. The Ottomans controlled eastern trade routes, e.g. the Silk Road.
Most people in the West are also ignorant of the historical dialectic (conflict) between Christian civilization and Islamic civilization. Presently, events are required some catching up on history, which involves debunking some myths about it regrading Western exceptionalism, which stems from its rooting in Christianity as "the one, true faith." That is a very one-sided picture of history and it still shapes events under the American empire that is now dominant but cresting.
The old region of historical contest and conquest, the Near East Central Asia and the Caucus, is back on the front burner. The contest is now largely between the West (the "grand chessboard") and China (BRI), with the Russian empire, the Persian empire, the Ottoman empire, and the Moghul empire. These were the primary regional power prior to the rise of the concept of the nation-state in Europe that was institutionalized by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648). Previously, local organization and governance was largely tribal and remains so in many areas today.
This is the subject not only of history and international relations but also of political and economic geography.
The Vineyard of the Saker
So what if the Ottomans shaped the modern world?
The Saker