A Thwarted Modernity? Ottoman Princes in the Nineteenth Century

In: Transforming Southeast Europe During the Long 19th Century
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Edhem Eldem
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Abstract

The Tanzimat period (1839–76) and the reign of Abdülhamid II are generally associated with the modernization of the Ottoman political system. However, most of our understanding of this political modernization stems from sources emanating either from Western observers or from the most prominent Ottoman actors engaged in this process: members of the ruling elite and bureaucracy, as well as representatives of the opposition, from the Young Ottomans to the Young Turks. As a result, scholarship has tended to concentrate on the ‘usual suspects’, with little to offer on less prominent and visible individuals and their take on modernity. This study tries to innovate by focusing on a very particular category of individuals who stand in an awkward limbo between prominence and anonymity: namely, the princes of the Ottoman dynasty. Close to the centre of power, yet secluded from public space; symbols of tradition, yet eager to espouse modernity; exposed to the impact of change, yet lacking proper education; these men constitute a fascinating sample of ‘innocent’ witnesses of a modernity they yearn for, yet often fail to understand. Ironically, these exceptional characters come closest to the mundane anonymity of a mass of individuals left aside by the scholarship on Ottoman modernization.

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Transforming Southeast Europe During the Long 19th Century

Persons and Personalities as Agents of Modernization in the Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Space

Series:  Balkan Studies Library, Volume: 35
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