Ottoman Wars 1700-1870: An Empire Besieged (Modern Wars In Perspective)

£25.43

A fine book, well worth the long wait - For whatever reason, this has been a long time coming: its arrival has been rumoured for years. Finally it is here, and the result amply fulfils the anticipation. Professor Aksan s scholarship in journal articles and detailed archival work provides a sure foundation for a study with a great range, over both time and space. At no point does the quality or insight of the narrative falter, and reaching the author s conclusion in 1870, this reader s feelng is: what a pity it could not extend for another two decades to take in the events of the 1870s and 1880s. Few books of six hundred pages read so easily and with such assurance.At last, students will have a reliable and usable text that will fill the vast gaps that hitherto existed in the study of Ottoman warfare. It redresses the imbalance created by the plethora of good work on the 16th and 17th centuries. Now the Ottoman military role and campaigning in the later period can be properly assessed, as Aksan provides a corrective to earlier (and sometimes mistaken) views of the military and Ottoman society. She shows how a number of western reformers hired by the Ottomans presented a skewed and usually egotistical view of Ottoman capacity. By contrast, Habsburg commanders who experienced the sharp edge of Ottoman tenacity, speed, and courage in battle had a rather less dismissive view. The author has synthesised a huge body of published material (although the coverage of German language sources is quite slender). The MODERN WARS IN PERSPECTIVE series has produced a series of remarkable books: this ranks with the very best.

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