The Ottoman Empire and Turkey facing the West

During the long nineteenth century, faced with an increasingly powerful and arrogant West, the Ottoman Empire modernised itself with the objective of dealing with an increasingly precarious situation. The history of this modernity, strongly marked by Westernisation, must be freed from many of the political and ideological influences that have burdened it so far, including Euro-centric orientalism, Kemalist nationalism, Islamising Ottomanism. The study of a wide variety of sources – most of which are still unexploited – will inform critical reflection on this highly important and complex period.