jjares reviewed A Concise History of Turkey: The History and Legacy of Turkey from Antiquity to Today on + 3262 more book reviews
This book really needs some maps. Americans, in general, are not great with geography. Turkish lands have evolved and changed over the generations. It would have been helpful to see how the Turkish lands involved in the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Empires. Next, a map of the Ottoman lands would have been useful.
The subject of how religions rose, bloomed and were overridden by other religions was well-explained. I checked on the religious preference of Turkey today and found that it is almost totally Sunni Muslim.
It was interesting to learn that the Bulgars were an offshoot of the Huns. With all the languages that swept across Turkish lands, it was a surprise to see that by the 1400s, Asia Minor was Turkish speaking.
The Crusades were lightly touched upon in this book, but it certainly explained the damage the Crusades did to the Empire of Byzantium. In fact, the 4th Crusade caused that Empire to cease to exist.
The later chapters showed how pieces of the Ottoman Empire were chipped off. Because the Ottoman Empire was still using camels and animal-drawn conveyances at the beginning of the first World War, they were in a poor position to participate in the war and their participation only hastened their demise.
This book does a good job of outlining Mustafa Kemal's leadership from the end of the Ottoman Empire, through the Turkish War for Independence and through his leadership of Turkey until his death. I thought the explanation of what he did for the country (separating church from state, etc.,) was a tad skimpy.
In the last few pages, the book talks about Turkey's president going into Syria to rescue a Turkish man who just happened to be a Prince from the old Ottoman Empire. There seems to be a rift between the secularists (of Mustafa Kemal) and the Ottomans (who would like to see a return to Islamic law over the country.
The subject of how religions rose, bloomed and were overridden by other religions was well-explained. I checked on the religious preference of Turkey today and found that it is almost totally Sunni Muslim.
It was interesting to learn that the Bulgars were an offshoot of the Huns. With all the languages that swept across Turkish lands, it was a surprise to see that by the 1400s, Asia Minor was Turkish speaking.
The Crusades were lightly touched upon in this book, but it certainly explained the damage the Crusades did to the Empire of Byzantium. In fact, the 4th Crusade caused that Empire to cease to exist.
The later chapters showed how pieces of the Ottoman Empire were chipped off. Because the Ottoman Empire was still using camels and animal-drawn conveyances at the beginning of the first World War, they were in a poor position to participate in the war and their participation only hastened their demise.
This book does a good job of outlining Mustafa Kemal's leadership from the end of the Ottoman Empire, through the Turkish War for Independence and through his leadership of Turkey until his death. I thought the explanation of what he did for the country (separating church from state, etc.,) was a tad skimpy.
In the last few pages, the book talks about Turkey's president going into Syria to rescue a Turkish man who just happened to be a Prince from the old Ottoman Empire. There seems to be a rift between the secularists (of Mustafa Kemal) and the Ottomans (who would like to see a return to Islamic law over the country.
jjares reviewed A Concise History of Turkey: The History and Legacy of Turkey from Antiquity to Today on + 3262 more book reviews
This book really needs some maps. Americans, in general, are not great with geography. Turkish lands have evolved and changed over the generations. It would have been helpful to see how the Turkish lands involved in the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Empires. Next, a map of the Ottoman lands would have been useful.
The subject of how religions rose, bloomed and were overridden by other religions was well-explained. I checked on the religious preference of Turkey today and found that it is almost totally Sunni Muslim.
It was interesting to learn that the Bulgars were an offshoot of the Huns. With all the languages that swept across Turkish lands, it was a surprise to see that by the 1400s, Asia Minor was Turkish speaking.
The Crusades were lightly touched upon in this book, but it certainly explained the damage the Crusades did to the Empire of Byzantium. In fact, the 4th Crusade caused that Empire to cease to exist.
The later chapters showed how pieces of the Ottoman Empire were chipped off. Because the Ottoman Empire was still using camels and animal-drawn conveyances at the beginning of the first World War, they were in a poor position to participate in the war and their participation only hastened their demise.
This book does a good job of outlining Mustafa Kemal's leadership from the end of the Ottoman Empire, through the Turkish War for Independence and through his leadership of Turkey until his death. I thought the explanation of what he did for the country (separating church from state, etc.,) was a tad skimpy.
In the last few pages, the book talks about Turkey's president going into Syria to rescue a Turkish man who just happened to be a Prince from the old Ottoman Empire. There seems to be a rift between the secularists (of Mustafa Kemal) and the Ottomans (who would like to see a return to Islamic law over the country.
The subject of how religions rose, bloomed and were overridden by other religions was well-explained. I checked on the religious preference of Turkey today and found that it is almost totally Sunni Muslim.
It was interesting to learn that the Bulgars were an offshoot of the Huns. With all the languages that swept across Turkish lands, it was a surprise to see that by the 1400s, Asia Minor was Turkish speaking.
The Crusades were lightly touched upon in this book, but it certainly explained the damage the Crusades did to the Empire of Byzantium. In fact, the 4th Crusade caused that Empire to cease to exist.
The later chapters showed how pieces of the Ottoman Empire were chipped off. Because the Ottoman Empire was still using camels and animal-drawn conveyances at the beginning of the first World War, they were in a poor position to participate in the war and their participation only hastened their demise.
This book does a good job of outlining Mustafa Kemal's leadership from the end of the Ottoman Empire, through the Turkish War for Independence and through his leadership of Turkey until his death. I thought the explanation of what he did for the country (separating church from state, etc.,) was a tad skimpy.
In the last few pages, the book talks about Turkey's president going into Syria to rescue a Turkish man who just happened to be a Prince from the old Ottoman Empire. There seems to be a rift between the secularists (of Mustafa Kemal) and the Ottomans (who would like to see a return to Islamic law over the country.
