“The history of Europe and the history of the Ottomans are two parallel histories; for this reason, the history of the two worlds should be studied comparatively.” Halil İnalcık From the middle of the fifteenth century on, the Ottoman Empire played a crucial role in shaping European history. This factor has not been weaved into Western historiography to its detriment, because explaining concepts such as raison d’etat, realpolitik, balance of power or even European identity remain somewhat short changed without the role of the Ottoman Empire in the evolution as well as functioning of these concepts. The Ottoman Empire is generally depicted and perceived as the adversary and antithesis of Europe and Europeanness in Western historiography because of certain historic reasons such as the Christian crusading tradition, public hostility due to long lasting warfare, cultural estrangement and perhaps because the Ottomans remained outside the Enlightenment process. However, there is much more to it than struggle. Our research findings presented in this compilation point to the impact of the Ottoman Empire in shaping modern Europe, specifically as of the sixteenth century and socio-cultural exchanges between the two realms through five hundred years of encounter.
Author
He was born in Istanbul to a Crimean Tatar family, which left Crimea for Constantinople in 1905. His birthday is unknown but İnalcık chose 26 May 1916 for his birthday. He attended Balıkesir Teacher Training School, and then Ankara University, Faculty of Language, History and Geography, Department of History where he graduated from in 1940. He completed his PhD in 1943 in the same department. His PhD thesis was on the Bulgarian question in the late Ottoman Empire. He entered the same school as an assistant, then he became assistant professor in 1946 and after his return from lecturing in the University of London for a while, he became a professor in the same department in 1952. He lectured in various universities in the United States as a guest professor. In 1972, he was invited by the University of Chicago. Between 1972 and 1993 he taught Ottoman history at the University of Chicago. In 1994, he returned to Turkey and founded history department at Bilkent University where he is still teaching. In 1993, he donated his valuable collection of books, journals and off-prints on the history of Ottoman Empire to the library of Bilkent University. He has been member president of many international foundations. He is a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Department of Historical Sciences. He is also a member of the Institute of Turkish Studies.
