Course Information
SemesterCourse Unit CodeCourse Unit TitleT+P+LCreditNumber of ECTS CreditsLast Updated Date
2HIST 102History of Modern Turkey II2+2+03504.11.2025

 
Course Details
Language of Instruction English
Level of Course Unit Bachelor's Degree
Department / Program Rectorate Service
Type of Program Formal Education
Type of Course Unit Compulsory
Course Delivery Method Face To Face
Objectives of the Course The aim of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the major political, social, and ideological transformations that shaped modern Turkey from the Second Constitutional Period to the late twentieth century. It explores the transition from empire to republic, the consolidation of the Kemalist revolution, the evolution of state-society relations, and Turkey’s search for democracy and modernization. Through lectures, readings, and discussions, students will engage critically with the dynamics of nationalism, secularism, and modernization, and situate the Turkish experience within broader comparative and global contexts.
Course Content This course examines the transformation of the Ottoman Empire into the Republic of Turkey from the early twentieth century to the present. Beginning with the Second Constitutional Period (1908), it analyzes the Young Turk movement, the impact of the Balkan Wars and World War I, the War of Independence, and the founding of the Republic in 1923. It then focuses on the Kemalist reforms of the 1920s and 1930s, the establishment of a one-party state, and the construction of a new national identity through education, history, and culture. The course also discusses the shift to multi-party democracy after 1946, the political and economic developments of the Cold War era, and the challenges of modernization, military interventions, and political Islam in the late twentieth century. Throughout, it situates the Turkish experience within comparative and global frameworks, exploring themes such as nationalism, secularism, and state-building.
Course Methods and Techniques The course combines lectures, assigned readings, and discussion sections led by teaching fellows. Students are expected to actively participate in weekly discussions, complete quizzes and short written assignments, and engage critically with the readings and lectures. Visual materials such as maps, photographs, and documentary excerpts are used to enhance historical understanding. Comparative and analytical approaches are emphasized to help students connect historical events to broader global and theoretical frameworks. Assessment is based on section work (quizzes and short papers), a midterm exam, and a comprehensive final exam.
Prerequisites and co-requisities ( HIST 101 )
Course Coordinator None
Name of Lecturers Associate Prof.Dr. Ali Aslan
Assistants None
Work Placement(s) No

Recommended or Required Reading
Resources https://canvas.ihu.edu.tr/courses/1099
Erik J. Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History, London: I.B. Tauris.
Carter V. Findley, Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity: A History, 1789–2007, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ayşe Gül Altınay, The Myth of the Military Nation
Course Notes Prof. Dr. Halil Berktay
Office: North Building K201
E-mail: halil.berktay@ihu.edu.tr

Venue: Cihannüma
Class Hours: Tue/Thu 09:00-10:00, Fri 09:00-11:00
Office Hours: by appointment
Documents https://canvas.ihu.edu.tr/courses/1099
Assignments https://canvas.ihu.edu.tr/courses/1099
Exams https://canvas.ihu.edu.tr/courses/1099

Course Category
Social Sciences %100

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods
Activities are given in detail in the section of "Assessment Methods and Criteria" and "Workload Calculation"

Assessment Methods and Criteria
In-Term Studies Quantity Percentage
Mid-terms 1 % 30
Assignment 1 % 40
Final examination 1 % 30
Total
3
% 100

 
ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload
Activities Quantity Duration Total Work Load
Course Duration 14 4 56
Hours for off-the-c.r.stud 14 5 70
Assignments 1 14 14
Mid-terms 1 5 5
Final examination 1 5 5
Total Work Load   Number of ECTS Credits 5 150

 
Course Learning Outcomes: Upon the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
NoLearning Outcomes
1 Grasp the basic chronology and factual framework of Turkey’s twentieth-century history.
2 Acquire an understanding of the vastness and complexity of the country’s historical transformation.
3 Appreciate the non-linear and multi-dimensional nature of Turkey’s modernization process.
4 Identify and analyze the interplay of often-contradictory ideological forces such as modernism, nationalism, and Islam.
5 Understand the historical choices and trade-offs between empire and liberty, modernization and democracy.

 
Weekly Detailed Course Contents
WeekTopicsStudy MaterialsMaterials
1 1a Revolution and modernization: a myth of painless progress [reviewing the “long” 19th century background] Zurcher, Introduction (1-6) Zurcher, Maps Zurcher, ch 1 The Ottoman Empire at the end of the 18th century (9-20) Zurcher, ch 2 Selim III and the New Order, 1789-1807 (21-29) Zurcher, ch 3 The early years of Mahmud II (30-35) Zurcher, ch 4 The later years of Mahmud II (36-49) [visual materials] 1b A quick survey from Ottoman beginnings to the onset of the Empire’s “long” 19th century [reviewing the “long” 19th century background] Findley, Introduction (1-22) Findley, ch 1 The return toward centralization (23-75) [visual materials]
2 2a From the Ottoman Empire’s “long” 19th to Turkey’s “short” 20th century [reviewing the “long” 19th century background] Zurcher, ch 5 The Tanzimat Era, 1839-71 (50-70) Zurcher, ch 6 The crisis of 1873-78 (71-75) Zurcher, ch 7 The reign of Abdülhamid II (76-90) [visual materials] 2b Just a new army or a new class? Caught unprepared: Liberty or Empire? [reviewing the “long” 19th century background] Findley, ch 2.The Tanzimat (76-132) Findley, ch 3.The reign of Abdülhamid (133-191)
3 3a From Ottomanism to Turkism; from constitutionalism to dictatorship Zurcher, ch 8.The Second Constitutional Period, 1912-18 (93-132) Findley, ch 4 Imperial demise, national struggle (192-246) 3b Bismarck and the Prussian example: from German to Turkish nationalism Zurcher, ch 8.The Second Constitutional Period, 1912-18 (93-132) Findley, ch 4 Imperial demise, national struggle (192-246) optional: Ayşe Gül Altınay, The Myth of the Military Nation
4 4a World War I in Europe and the Ottoman Empire Zurcher, ch 8.The Second Constitutional Period, 1912-18 (93-132) Findley, ch 4 Imperial demise, national struggle (192-246) [maps: the European and Ottoman fronts of World War I] 4b Victory at Gallipoli, defeat in Mesopotamia Zurcher, Between Death and Desertion Zurcher, Little Mehmet in the Desert [maps: the European and Ottoman fronts of World War I] [primary source] Ömer Seyfeddin, After Gallipoli [primary source] Mehmed Âkif, Hymn to the Martyrs of Gallipoli [primary source] (anonymous) Song of Gallipoli [primary source] Nâzım Hikmet, the story of the man with a Tartar face
5 5a Forging a grand alliance: leaders, factions, and the people in the National Struggle Zurcher, ch 9.The struggle for independence (133-165) Findley, ch 4 Imperial demise, national struggle (192-246) [primary source] Mehmed Âkif, Independence Anthem [visual materials: iconography of two revolutions] 5b 1920, 21, 22 or 23: Just when was the Republic? [primary sources: the National Oath] [primary sources: the Erzurum and Sivas Congresses] [primary sources: the opening of the Grand National Assembly] [primary sources: the 1921 Constitution]
6 6a Breach of promise? The crisis of 1925-27; the Independence Tribunals; the consolidation of Kemalist power Zurcher, ch 10.The emergence of the one-party state, 1923-27 (166-175) Findley, ch 5.The Early Republic (247-304) 6b The road not taken: modernization versus democracy: the 1930s and the One Party state Zurcher, ch 11.The Kemalist one-party state, 1925-45 (176-205) Findley, ch 5.The Early Republic (247-304) [primary sources: Recep Peker, Mahmut Esat Bozkurt]
7 7a Building official ideology, making a cultural revolution Zurcher, ch 11.The Kemalist one-party state, 1925-45 (176-205) Findley, ch 5.The Early Republic (247-304) [primary sources: the Turkish Thesis of History] [primary sources: from a Fourth Grade textbook] 7b The price of homogenization: Dersim and the Kurdish question Zurcher, ch 11.The Kemalist one-party state, 1925-45 (176-205) Findley, ch 5.The Early Republic (247-304)
8 8a Turkey in the world: between the West, the Axis, and Stalin’s Soviet Union Zurcher, ch 11.The Kemalist one-party state, 1925-45 (176-205) Findley, ch 5.The Early Republic (247-304) [primary sources: Mustafa Kemal in 1921-22] 8b Before and after 1942: a precarious and shifting neutrality Zurcher, ch 11.The Kemalist one-party state, 1925-45 (176-205) Findley, ch 5.The Early Republic (247-304)
9 9a From Postwar to Cold War Zurcher, ch 12.The transition to democracy, 1945-50 (206-218) Zurcher, ch 13.The rule of the Democratic Party, 1950-60 (221-240) Findley, ch 6.Turkey's widening political spectrum (305-349) 9b Turkey’s 1946-50 threshold Zurcher, ch 12.The transition to democracy, 1945-50 (206-218) Findley, ch 6.Turkey's widening political spectrum (305-349)
10 10a The old and the new: Elections and parliament versus army takeovers and military tutelage Zurcher, ch 14.The Second Turkish Republic, 1960-80 (241-277) Findley, ch 6.Turkey's widening political spectrum (305-349) 10b The old and the new: Presidents and prime ministers; civilians and generals Zurcher, ch 14.The Second Turkish Republic, 1960-80 (241-277) Findley, ch 6.Turkey's widening political spectrum (305-349)
11 11a The rise and fall of the Democrat Party Zurcher, ch 13.The rule of the Democratic Party, 1950-60 (221-240) Findley, ch 6.Turkey's widening political spectrum (305-349) 11b The Left and the Right in the 60s and 70s Zurcher, ch 14.The Second Turkish Republic, 1960-80 (241-277) Findley, ch 6.Turkey's widening political spectrum (305-349)
12 12a The mainstream center-right and the rise of political Islam Zurcher, ch 14.The Second Turkish Republic, 1960-80 (241-277) Findley, ch 6.Turkey's widening political spectrum (305-349) 12b Confrontationism, maximalism, annihilationism: playing into the hands of the 1980 coup Zurcher, ch 14.The Second Turkish Republic, 1960-80 (241-277) Findley, ch 6.Turkey's widening political spectrum (305-349)
13 13a Özal vs the establishment: the limits of technocratic reform Zurcher, ch 15.The Third Republic - Turkey since 1980 (278-337) Findley, ch 7.Turkey and the world (350-403) 13b The 1990s, a lost decade: Turkey in the doldrums Zurcher, ch 15.The Third Republic - Turkey since 1980 (278-337) Findley, ch 7.Turkey and the world (350-403)
14 14a The AKP and its three ages: 2002-2007, 2007-2012, 2012 to the present Zurcher, ch 15.The Third Republic - Turkey since 1980 (278-337) Findley, Conclusion - reflecting on the present and the past (405-421) 14b Sailing the rough seas of a new world without order Zurcher, ch 15.The Third Republic - Turkey since 1980 (278-337) Findley, Conclusion - reflecting on the present and the past (405-421)

 
Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5

  Contribution: 1: Very Slight 2:Slight 3:Moderate 4:Significant 5:Very Significant

  
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