This course explores the modern history of the Middle East, from North Africa to Turkey to the Arabian peninsula, in order to provide students with a robust background in the making of each component of the historical Middle Eastern society, state, community, and individual. We begin with the Islamization of the region and move through various state formations, including the Ottoman Empire. The long 19th century of intense imperial modernization and nationalism sets the stage for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, independence, and European colonialism in the region. The course finishes with the post-Ottoman national and post-colonial states in the Cold War and post-Cold era, tackling themes such as regional conflict, Islamism and mass politics, and military interventions. |