Producer’s
write-up:
‘Rageh Omaar traces the history of the Ottoman empire.
A super-power of a million square miles, it matched the glories of Ancient Rome
and collapsed less than a hundred years ago.’
This is a
documentary produced by the BBC in 2013 – presented by the British journalist
Rageh Omaar. Ottoman Empire was in existence for nearly seven centuries and its
height, stretched from Budapest to Baghdad – this covers the rise of the
Ottoman Empire and also its eventual fall over three hours split into three
different episodes.
The documentary
starts with Rageh Omaar exploring Istanbul and introduce us to the empire
founded by a group of nomadic horsemen that stretched three continents for
nearly 700 years. An emphasis was also placed on the fact that regions that
were historically seen as Christian strongholds such as Constantinople (present
day Istanbul), Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc. fell under Muslim rule
and that there was a Muslim empire right at the doorstep of Central Europe –
being Austria. So, how did the empire begin? How did they a Muslim dynasty manage
an empire whose majority population was not from a religion of their own? How
are they going to establish their authority to rule? All these questions are
explored as Omaar interviews historians and an Eastern Orthodox Church priest,
the latter who puts forth the views of the Christians who lived in the Ottoman
Empire.
The producers
certainly got their visuals right, be it the Hagia Sophia, the Bosphorus
Bridge, Topkapi Palace, Semiliye Mosque – all of them were captured brilliantly.
However, this focus on visuals occasionally digressed from the theme, wherein, clips
of modern day Turkey made it seem more like a travelogue. The architectural
aspects that were being talked about for each of these monuments was
interesting, especially the Semiliye Mosque – where the architect was in fact
said to be a conscripted Orthodox Christian who was converted to Islam. The Janissaries
are quite known to even those who are not Ottoman aficionados – wherein the
Turks took Christian boys when they were young and were converted and trained
to be powerful soldiers, government officials, etc. How the Ottomans ran that
system and how it ensured the stability of the kingdom was explained well and
both perspectives were presented, the historians as well as the priest’s.
However, it is
to be said that it lacked detail in how administration was carried out in the
kingdom. I do agree that they covered how the empire managed to balance the
religious laws and civil laws and how they had a parallel court system. It was
certainly not the case where the Sultan ruled the entire empire residing at
Istanbul – even Machiavelli in his book The
Prince had explained how Ottomans split their empire into Sanjaks and how
the Ottomans established a system different from the European hereditary
feudalism, ensuring stability in the kingdom. None of it was even mentioned
here and was focused entirely on the glory of the empire.
The fall was
covered extremely well, starting with their defeat at Vienna and how from being
feared, they ended up being ridiculed in Europe as the sick man. The final half an hour was entirely about modern day
Turkey and the aggressive reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk which brought about
the recovery of the country post the First World War. Atatürk’s aggressive secular
stance, pro-Western stance drew supporters and dissidents alike. However, this
is where the series missed out – wherein, what was presented was a highly one
sided picture of Atatürk. With regards Atatürk, I myself stand for every value
that he stood for but with that said, I am sure that there would have been a
lot of residents who would have been against the aggressive reforms, such as
completely removing religion from public life, banning traditions they have
been following for centuries, changing the script of the language, banning
every Ottoman symbol, etc. They could have taken the views of people who were
against Atatürk as well. If everyone were so pro-Atatürk even today as they
project (this documentary is from 2013), we would never have seen the rise of Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) who are hard-line Islamists
who strongly believe that the empire was glory
days; AKP have been holding power for nearly 15 years now.
Overall, I would
say that this is a good watch – in a totally unintended manner, this
documentary has created an interest in a Turkish soap opera - Muhteşem Yüzyıl – a story where a lot of
modern Turks feel the empire was unnecessarily glorified but still, is one of
the most watched shows in Turkey.
This show has
tried to appeal to all audiences – the history enthusiasts, the travel enthusiasts
and in that attempt to please everyone, this show missed out on a few important
details for which I would pull down the rating to six on ten.
Rating
– 6/ 10
Have
a nice day,
Andy
Andy
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