ADVANCES IN MILITARY TECHNOLOGY AND MIDDLE EASTERN SOCIETY

This research paper discusses the impact of advances in military technology on the organization of society in the pre-modern, early modern and modern Middle East. Pre-modern Middle Eastern states accommodated as they needed to developments in military technology through the 16th century. As, however, the preeminent military power in the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire thereafter fell behind the West in important areas of military technology in the early modern period, the resulting reforms profoundly reshaped the bases of the empire's power and led, together with other factors, ultimately to its disintegration. One advance in military technology, the conversion of navies from coal to oil power increased the importance of the Middle East; however, the new regimes that emerged in the region after the colonial period found themselves ill-equipped to catch up with advances in military technology elsewhere and their largely futile attempts to reduce the shortfall distorted the political organization of their societies and weakened their economies.

Military Technology in Pre-Modern Times

Prior to the invention of gunpowder and its widespread use by armies in the 16th century, the technology of land warfare changed only interstitially over time. These improvements included the switch from stone to metal weapons, the development of disciplined infantry tactics, the use of cavalry and reforms in military doctrine. Accor

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rity of Western military technology on land and sea was apparent. The Sultan's armies gave ground even to Russia, the least industrialized of the European powers, and were no match for western navies which put the obsolete Turkish oared vessels to fight. According to Lapidus, "at the end of the eighteenth century the Ottoman Empire could no longer defend itself against the growing military power of Europe" (593). A more immediate example of Middle Eastern military weakness was Napoleon Bonaparte's defeat of the Mamluks in Egypt in 1798. According to Hourani, "the wars of the French Revolution generated a greater military power, based on new kinds of organization and military technique" (7). The reforming Ottoman sultans, Selim III (1789-1807) and Mahmud II (1808-1839), "were impressed with European military and technological efficiency" (Lapidus 275). They sought to import Western military advisers, methods and weapons, but they and their successors during the period of the Tanzimat reforms (1839-1876) encountered considerable conservative opposition. The effects of such reforms on the organization of society in general were initially to increase the power of the central government and to shift power away from the Janissaries wh
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Middle East, Heyd Muslims, According Cleveland, Ottoman Empire, Iraq Israel, Mahmud II, Middle Eastern, Times Prior, Military Superiority, Syria Egypt, military technology, middle east, modern middle, modern middle east, middle eastern, khoury mary wilson, berkeley california, mary wilson, western military, california 1993, advances military, advances military technology, berkeley california 1993, philip khoury mary, khoury mary,
Approximate Word count = 1391
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)