A Traveller's History of Turkey

This “traveler’s history” is more focused on history than on travel, which suits me just fine because I am a history buff and partial to UNESCO sites. The land Turkey covers now not only has a long history but it’s at the center of western history. This 200 plus pages book is only a summary of major events from the Neolithic period to the modern time. But it did provide an excellent “Historical Gazetteer” that gives a brief description of favorite tourist stops. And the maps are very helpful. I am giving this book 4 stars because I wish it had gone into more cultural details about the famous sites.Ancient civilizations all seem to start around rivers such as the Nile, the Yellow River, the Indus River, and the Tigris and Euphrates. Rivers in Anatolia flow in all directions, west towards the Aegean Sea, north towards the Black Sea, and south towards the Mediterranean Sea. No wonder people settled there early and stayed. Wave after wave of immigrants and conquerors left their marks. The triumphs and heartbreaks of each wave combined to create a rich culture. And the many layers of history made this region so fascinating. It’s of interest to those who seek prehistory, who prefer antiquities, who favor medieval ruins, and who thinks the world begins after WWII. It’s also part familiar Europeans and part exotic Orient because it is part Greek and part Roman, part pagan and part Christian, part Hittite and part 20th century, and part secular and part Islam. The history of the Anatolia was so rich and so many great men impacted the region, from Hattusili to Supiluliuma, from Priam to Darius, from Julius Caesar to Constantine, only Alexander the Great and Suleyman the Magnificent earned more than a mere mention and a few pages in this review.When Europe was building the megalithic culture, the Hittites were creating high civilization in Anatolia. As Celts fanned out in Europe, Asia Minor was taken over by the Greeks. For a few hundred years, the Roman Empire united the fate of Europe and western Asia. But then, as Europe descended into the Dark Age, the Byzantine Empire glowed. As the rapacious Crusaders devastated the Byzantine Empire, the knowledge they brought back revitalized Europe. As Europe engaged in religious persecutions killing heretics by the tens of thousands, the Ottoman Empire practiced tolerance albeit non-Muslims had to pay extra taxes. As Europe embarked on intellectual re-awakening, the Ottoman Empire was shrouded in oriental fables. As Europe emerged from the Industrial Revolution, the Ottoman Empire calcified under the weight of tradition. Thus fortune’s favor was reversed. As Europe triumphed in the 20th century, Anatolia felled into chaos.The Turkic people spread throughout Asia much the same way the Vikings spread throughout Europe. It is interesting that different Turkic governments have now formed a “Turkic Council” to explore their common interest in the modern world. However, part of modern Turkey’s problems is the name “Turkey”. It implies it is the land of the Turks. But it is not. It’s the land of many people. In the very long history of Anatolia, the Turks have only been there for about 1000 years and as the mainstay for only about 500 years. In the whole scheme of things, the Turks are the new comers. Until they accept this fact, they will continue to have problems with those who have been there longer. They will have the same problems the Jews have with the Palestinians within “Israel”.About “devsirme” – Actually this was a common ancient Turkic tradition practiced all across Asia. They demanded a certain number of children from the conquered people each year as slaves. In medieval northern China, it’s known as the “blood tax”. The Turkic soldiers would ride through the villages every spring to collect the children. As the people that the Ottoman Turks conquered were mostly Christians, Europeans thought they only rounded up children from Christian villages. Some of these slaves served the rich and powerful and became rich and powerful themselves. As it became the best and quickest way for advancement, some Muslims in the Ottoman Empire would pay Christians to adopt their children so they too would be scooped up by the devsirme system. For several hundreds of years, Muslims had used some of these devsirme slaves to form a special fighting force called the Mamluks. Orhan Gazi called his the Janissaries. What the Ottoman Turks failed to take note from the Mamluk history was that it only worked as a fighting machine as long as they were disenfranchised slaves. Once they established themselves as a privileged class, they would turn on their masters. Of course the Janissaries did the same. They became so formidable that they were the power behind the throne for most of Ottoman’s reigns. So, for the first 150 years, the Janissaries helped build the Ottoman Empire by terrifying its enemies, and for the next 250 years, they helped destroy the empire by terrifying its sultans and citizens.About “genocide” – Americans did a great job wiping out the natives and called it “manifest destiny”. The few remaining souls were rounded up and forced to march through the “trail of tears” to miserable “reservations” in desolate places to live in poverty. The result is that there was no fear of them rising up in rebellion to demand independence or to collaborate with the enemies. Clearly, the Turks didn’t do such a great job when they created their empire because they left plenty of Greeks and Armenians alive in their homeland to cause trouble later. The Greek and Armenian leaders were counting on help from Europe and Russia when they staged violent protests to provoke violent reactions from the Turks. What did the Americans do when the Confederate south rose up in violence and demanded independence? While no natives were accepted in the US government, many Greeks and Armenians rose to prominence in the Ottoman Empire. And the Turks rounded up the Armenians during WWI the same way Americans rounded up the Japanese and sent them to detention camps during WWII. The difference is that the poor and embattled Turks could not keep the millions of displaced Armenians alive the same way the rich and powerful Americans could for the Japanese.

(Note: This book has gone thru several editions, 2006 being the most recent. Thus, only one of the previous seven Amazon reviews --- the 2008 one [all the others are from the 1990s] --- is really pertinent for anyone currently considering a purchase).The first year mentioned in the book is 500,000BC. The last is 2005AD. That's a lot of time to cover in only 247 pages (including indices). Hence, some of it is about as interesting as a biblical begat: "Anitta of Kussara founded the Hittite kingdom, destroying Hattus and tranfering his capital to Kanesh, which now became known as Nesha.... Laberna moved the capital back to Hattus --- now to be called Hattuse or Hattusas --- and took the name Hattusili" and so on.There's specific mention in the text of practically all 37 of the Ottoman sultans, including (but not limited to) 4 Mustafas; 6 Mehmets; 5 Murats; Bayezit the Thunderbolt; Ibraheim the Mad; and, of course, Suleyman the Magnificent. An 9-page appendix provides the names, dates, and dynasties of almost 200 rulers of all or parts of what is now Turkey from the early 18th century BC onward (but not including the Persians and the Romans, although several of them do show up in the text). Another appendix (8 pages) is a chronology of major events from 8000BC until the above-referenced 2005 (the event that year being currency reform). Yet another appendix (again 9 pages)is an historical gazetteer beginning with Aezani (the site of the best preserved Roman temple) and ending with Zongudak (the Anatolian equivalent of Port Talbot).Truly mind-boggling. Also dry as a desert.One curiosity deserving comment is the noticeable revision of several pages of the text where the type and the space between lines have obviously been altered. Pages 165 and 183 are very obvious (and a couple of others are suspicious). Since the subject matter on 165 is the Armenian genocide and on 183 an introduction to Turkey since 1939 the changes are perhaps for political purposes. It would be interesting to see the pre-alteration texts. Maybe they are what so riled a couple of the book's reviewers from the 90s decade.In any case, if you want to become a scholar of Turkey, this book is probably a good first step toward your goal. On the other hand, if you're just an ordinary tourist/traveler, the history chapters should suffice in Steves or Cadogan or Lonely Planet or whatever other guidebook you choose.Bon voyage.

This is a relatively brief (200 page) and informative history of Turkey. I’m glad I read it before my trip there.

This is a book for travelers who would like to know about what they are going to see and how to put it into context. As a result, they condense a ton of material into a fairly short and readable book. When I go to Turkey I will be mostly interested in the ancient (Hittite, Lydian), Byzantine and Ottoman empires, but can certainly appreciate the info on modern Turkey and how it came to occupy the position it has in the middle east and world in general. Overall, a quick read that provides mostly decent information. The author tries (does he succeed?- who knows) to "tell it like it is" and is both condemning of the Turks at times and admires them at others. The book gets 4 stars because at times they will bring up a name or city from 5 pages ago that was only mentioned once, so a bit hard to track. A few times, they made references to things I don't think were previously explained. To a certain extent they could rectify this, but it would also make the book longer and didn't detract from the bulk of information. I have no wish to be an expert on the history of Turkey but feel much better prepared for my trip.

A very concise and well presented history of Turkey. Great background for those interested in Turkey or traveling to Turkey.

Terrific concise history for people traveling to that part of the world. Considering there is 5000 years of history to tell - Stoneman does a wonderful job giving you enough detail to feel knowledgeable without being burdened. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in a quick history lesson.

This book is an outstanding, in depth, summary of the internal and external religious, political and cultural factors that have shaped Turkey into its present government.

good book

Brief, interesting and comprehensive history of Turkey.We intend to visit Turkey in May and this book providesa very clear overview of the country.

This an excellent primer to fill your knowledge of Turkey particularly if you are travelling to the country.This gives a good account of the background to the history, culture and life of Turkey.

Nice enough.

I bought this book in preparation for a touristic visit to Turkey. I was somewhat disappointed in that it seemed to focus primarily on political history -- the succession of emperors and sultans, court intrigues and assassinations, battles and conquests by surrounding powers such as Persia, Greece and Rome as well as internal conflict between the various peoples of Anatolia. Certainly that is important, but I found the degree of detail bewildering and would have appreciated more of an overview which laid out the key themes and developments. The book is light on social and cultural history, the ethnicity of the peoples and like topics. A specific example: under the Ottoman regime, was social organization similar to that of feudalism in Western Europe with local nobles, indentured serfs, a purely local pattern of organization with little broader interaction or trade?