History 121:  the Middle East since 1453                                  SL 212, TR 11:40-1:05

Binghamton University, State University of New York   Fall 2005

Professor Donald Quataert

LT 609

Office Hours: T 1:30-4:30, or by appointment

 

Grading Assistant:  Ms Devrim Altinoz

Office Hours:  To be announced

 

The goal of this course is to trace the history of the Middle East since 1453, in the hopes of understanding its peoples and the current situation.  After all, since September 11, 2001, relations between the United States and most Middle Eastern countries, already poor, have deteriorated still further.  The U.S. currently is in military occupation of Iraq while Middle Easterners who live in the U.S. are routinely singled out as terrorists or are targeted for discrimination. 

 

            The first part of the course will deal with region during the era of the Ottoman Empire, which endured until 1922.  We then turn to the Middle East during the 20th and 21st centuries.  The goal is to offer overviews of political, economic, social, and cultural history.

 

Textbooks for the course:

Donald Quataert, The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922, second edition.  Cambridge UP, 2005.

 

            Akram Fouad Khater, ed., Sources in the History of the Modern Middle East.

Houghton Mifflin, 2004.

 

Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli  Conflict, fifth edition.  St.

Martin’s, 2004.

 

William L. Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, third edition. Westview, 2004.

 

 

 

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Course Mechanics:

Each 85 minute class will be broken into two parts.  I will lecture for the first part of each class, for about 50-55 minutes.  Then, for the remainder of the time, we together will participate in a discussion.  This discussion might be of the lecture just presented, or of a reading that I have assigned.  Since I sometimes will assign this reading only the class before we discuss it, it is important that you attend class on a regular basis. 

 

All exams are essay in format.

Exam 1—25% of final course grade.

Exam 2—25 % of final course grade.

Exam 3—25% of final course grade.

Class Participation—25%.  Class participation consists of attending class and constructively joining in the class discussions.

 

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Schedule of Lectures

 

1 introduction to course.

Read:  Quataert, pp. 1-12.

 

2 the Middle East in 1500:  its demography, politics, religions.

Read:  Cleveland, Chapters 1 and 2.

 

3 rise of the Ottoman Empire: what history writing tells us about the present.

 

4 Ottoman expansion and success, 1300-1683:  state and society.

Read:  Quataert, pp. 13-36.

 

5 Ottoman expansion and success, 1300-1683: state and society.

Read:  Quataert, pp. 90-110.

 

6 The Safevid and Moghul states—why these simultaneous peaks?

Read:  Cleveland, Chapter 3.

 

7 hourly EXAM #1

 

8 continuing Ottoman transformation:  the 18th century. 

Read:  Quataert, pp. 37-53; 111-141.

 

9 continuing Ottoman transformation:  the 18th century.

Read:  Quataert, pp. 75-89.

     

10 Ottoman modernity in the 19th century:  state and society.

Read:   Quataert, pp. 54-74.

            Khater, pp.1-6; 10-18; 29-35.

 

11  the Sait Bey phenomenon.

Read:  Quataert, pp. 142-173.

            Khater, pp.83-91.

 

12 Ottoman loss of the Balkans: nations or states?

Read:  Quataert, pp. 174-194.

 

13 World War I and the reshaping of the Middle East.

Read:  Quataert, pp. 195-202.

            Khater, pp. 200-209.

 

14 World War I and the reshaping of the Middle East.

Read:  Cleveland, Chapter 9.

 

15 hourly EXAM  #2

 

16 Authoritarian reformism: Turkey and Iran.

Read:  Cleveland, Chapter 10.

Khater, pp. 271-275.

 

17 Zionism and Palestine.

Read:   Smith, pp. 34-45, 120-150; 176-207, and discuss pp. 46-49.

Cleveland, Chapter 13.

 

18 Colonial rule:  Egypt, Iraq and Transjordan.

Read:  Cleveland, Chapter 11.

 

19 Colonial rule:  Syria and Lebanon.

Read:  Cleveland, Chapter 12.

Khater, pp. 211-219.

 

20 Cold War in Turkey and Iran:  the U.S. and the Mossadeq crisis.

Read:  Cleveland, Chapter 14.

 

21 Cold War in Lebanon and Egypt.

Read:  Cleveland, Chapter 15 and 16.

Khater, pp. 384-389.

 

22 The significance of Saddam Hussein’s career.

Read:  Cleveland, Ch. 19.

Khater, pp. 263-267.

 

23 The rise of political Islam and the Iranian Revolution.

Read:  Cleveland, Chapter 20.

Khater, pp. 252-263, 286-289.

 

24 War and the search for peace, from Intifada to Intifada.

Read: Smith, pp. 277-282; 393-419; 494-510.

Khater, pp. 397-402.

Cleveland, Chapter 22.

 

25 From Gulf War to Gulf War.

Read:   Smith, pp. 510-520.

Khater, pp.359-371, 402-409.

Cleveland, Chapter 23, 24 and Epilogue.

 

26  Review session.

 

EXAM     #3 during the examination period.