Connections to Other Classes

I am taking a class called "Modern Ireland:1601-Present." I have recently began making connections between our class with Professor Metcalf and this class about Ireland. In nineteenth century Ireland and the years before it, the Irish were persecuted by the British because the Irish were Catholic and the British were Protestant. For years, Catholics in Ireland fought for their religious freedom and the right to hold positions in Parliament. To me, this is similar to the Ottoman Empire's struggles with the janissaries.

The British enforced laws in Ireland in the seventeenth century that shed them of basic rights, such as the right to bear arms and the right to hold positions in government. The British wanted the Irish to convert their religion and become Protestant. Similarly, the Ottoman Empire also wanted the janissaries to become more European. For example, they repeatedly changed their uniforms to look more like the French, and they adopted weapons that were as modern as the Europeans' weapons were.

Irish Catholics and the janissaries wanted to maintain their identity and not become assimilated to other European ways. Catholics in Ireland wanted to maintain their Catholic identity and be able to hold positions in Parliament without becoming Protestant. Similarly, the janissaries in the Ottoman Empire wanted to maintain their Turkish appearance and not take on a European appearance.

Forgotten Fire

For our latest paper, we had to read a book called Forgotten Fire. This book has been my favorite book that we have read so far. From the moment I started reading it, I could not put it down. I think it was a good book as an introduction to the Armenian massacre because I had never heard about this massacre before in any other class I have taken even before college. I was even more shocked when I read that it was based on a true story. The things that humans are capable of doing to each other are unreal. This book was also a good portrayal of defensive developmentalism, which is what the bulk of my paper was about. The Ottomans wanted to strengthen their empire in order to keep the Europeans out. Since there were many laws in Turkey banning Armenians from basic rights such as the right to bear arms, Russians were becoming sympathetic with the Armenians in Turkey. Because of this, the Ottomans were afraid that the Russians would conspire with the Armenians and intervene in the empire. The Turks thought that the best solution to their fears was to wipe out the entire Armenian population.

Although I consider what happened to the Armenians to be a genocide, we learned in a DVD that we watched today that the Turks only consider it a Civil War and that the number of murdered Armenians is exaggerated. I cannot understand how they can say that those numbers are exaggerated when there are tons of pictures and videos that show countless bodies stacked on top of each other. This book makes it seem completely unfathomable that people would deny that such a massacre was as bad as it was. I think that this book was an excellent source in understanding the Armenian massacre.

My Opinion of the Janissary Tree

I have finally finished The Janissary Tree. Although I was liking this book when I first started reading it, I did not really enjoy it once I finished it. I felt that the book jumped around too much and had way too much detail. I feel that the author could have omitted many parts of the book such as the scenes where he goes into detail about what Yashim is cooking. The book jumped around so much that I began losing track of the plot and which characters played what role.

Although I did not like The Janissary Tree as a novel, I do believe it is a reliable source in learning about the Tanzimat. Jason Goodwin's scenes with the Janissaries rebelling match up perfectly to what we learned in class and what is in the textbook. For example, we had learned in class that the Janissaries turned their cauldrons upside down when they were rallying together to rebel. In the novel, Yashim connects the cauldrons with the dead bodies in them to the fact that Janissaries would turn their cauldrons upside down and bang on them when they wanted to rebel with violence. Although I did not enjoy the actual storyline of the book, I do feel that the author made excellent connections to historical fact and really made me understand this important time of the restructuring of the Ottoman Empire.

Another part that I enjoyed about the novel was when the author discussed Napoleon's invasion into Egypt. When we learned about this in class, I was fascinated because I had never known that the French at one time were in Egypt. Naturally, I was drawn into the book when the author spoke about it because it was a fact that was foreign to me. I did not enjoy The Janissary Tree as a novel, but I do feel that it is a good source in learning about the Janissaries in the Ottoman Empire and their eventual end.

The Janissary Tree

The book that we have been reading for the next colloquium is called The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin. So far, I am really enjoying this book. I love how the novel is a perfect combination of a what we are learning about in class and a good read. I have always loved mystery novels and mystery films, so this book is interesting to me. The way that the story is narrated reminds me of the format of a movie. Each chapter ends with a punch, and the next chapter usually begins with a completely different scene from the previous chapter. I think that Yashim is a great detective because of the way that he is investigating the crimes. He is researching cauldrons and drawing smart conclusions from what he gathers. I would never be able to be a detective because I don't think I would be able to make conclusions as quickly as he does. I have not finished the novel yet, so I am very interested in seeing how these murders and other crimes will tie together and be solved.

The Janissary Tree is a good reflection of what we are learning about in class and what we read in The Red Apple. In The Red Apple, we learned mostly about how young boys were chosen to become janissaries and how they fought in battle. In The Janissary Tree, we are learning more about how janissaries rebelled against their sultan to get their ways. The two books together are a great source of information about janissaries because they both teach different sides of what it was like to be a janissary.

Suleyman and Shah Abbas

For the snow day assignment, we had to compare Suleyman the Magnificient of the Ottoman Empire and Shah Abbas of the Sufavid Empire based on what we learned in the Youtube clips. In class on Thursday, we took an even closer look at Suleyman and Shah Abbas and were able to compare and contrast them even more. I thought it was interesting that two empires who were battling each other for centuries could have two rulers that were so similar. One of the biggest similarities that we learned about in class is that they were both warrior kings. When both rulers died, their respected empires became a little more eroded because they were great at keeping their empires together.

For me, I like learning about Shah Abbas more than Suleyman the Magnificient because I think his rule over the empire is more interesting. One fact that I found the most interesting about Shah Abbas is that he started his own army called the Qullar. The Qullar was a slave army made of Christians from Georgia and Armenia, and he payed them out of his own pocket. In order to be able to pay them, he created imperial lands in the interior of the country, which brought more area under direct rule. The Qullar is an idea similar to the janissaries of the Ottoman Empire. The janissaries were made up of young people who were originally Christians (like the Qullar), but they were converted to Islam. Shah Abbas was smart in paying the Qullar with his own money because by doing so, the Qullar had to remain completely loyal to him in order to get payed. I think that if the ruler of the Ottoman Empire thought to do this, then the Sultan and the janissaries would have gotten along more peacefully. Although the Sufavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire were different from each other, they both had rulers that had a lasting effect on the well-being of the empire.

Snow Day Assignment

This Thursday, class was cancelled due to a significant amount of snow we received. Just like everyone else, I was happy that class was cancelled, but I knew that we still had an assignment to do. This is one of the only assignments that I had to do for a class that was cancelled that I actually enjoyed. I thought that the clips we watched were interesting and were an excellent portrayal of the Middle East and a good reflection of what we have been learning in class. I thought that the videos made the Middle East look like a beautiful area even in the midst of the constant conflicts occurring over there. The architecture of the palaces that we got to see from the Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire were beautiful. It was fascinating to see how much thought went into the architecture of those buildings. For example, the walls were constructed so that when music would play, the sounds would bounce off the walls and make it sound even more beautiful than it would be in a room that was constructed differently. I liked to pay attention to how the Shah Abbas ruled and how Suleiman the Magnificent ruled to see what the differences and similarities between the two were. Although the two leaders were from different parts of the Middle East and had different beliefs, both leaders still had a huge impact on their empires. Both benefitted the empire greatly. Suleiman freed prisoners who were unjustly in prison, and he significantly improved the life of the slaves. Shah Abbas transformed the economic, religious, and social landscape of the country. This snow day assignment was great because it taught me more about the Middle East that I did not know and was therefore beneficial.

Janissaries

In the past two classes, we have been learning about janissaries. Janissaries made up the army of the Ottoman Empire, and they were mostly Christian. The members of the janissaries were chosen through the process of the devshirme, or "boy tax." The devshirme occurred every seven years, and it was when the Ottoman Empire would come to a village priest and ask him for the names of all the boys in town between the ages of seven and seventeen. These boys could not be taken if they were the only son, or if their mother was a widow. These young boys would be traine for another seven years before they joined a troop. Janissaries could retire at the age of forty five and only then could they get married. When a janissary died, the wealth that he accumulated would go back to the Sultan. Every boy who became a janissary was converted to Islam, but if you were born a Muslim, you could not become a janissary.

There are many connections between what we are covering in class and what I have read so far in The Red Apple, by Jonathan Levitan. The book is about a young boy who is taken from his mother to become a janissary. The interesting thing about the book though is that even though the boy, Ibrahim, is the only son of a widowed woman, the Ottomans still take him to become a janissary even though that is not allowed. The novel gives a very detailed description about the life of a janissary and the hardships they face. There were two scenes that I found difficult to read in the pages that I have read so far. They were the scene when Ibrahim had to say goodbye to his mother and when he was circumcised. Although these scenes were difficult to get through, it made the novel seem more realistic, and it really put into perspective what these young janissaries had to endure.

As we continue learning in this class, I expect to make more connections between my class notes and The Red Apple.