Reviewed by Norrie Sanders
The area occupied by Turkey (Türkiye since 2022) has a very long human history. Palaeolithic cave dwellers were succeeded by settlements that are some of the oldest in the world – around 12,000 years. As part of the ancient fertile crescent, the area gave rise to a succession of great civilisations and the lands were settled by Ancient Greeks and became part of the Persian and Roman Empires.
Professor Fortna’s “shortest” (sic) history begins during the middle ages, with the arrival of Turkic people in the 11th century. The Seljuk (aka Saljuk) Turks were eventually displaced by the Ottomans and the first half of the book is mainly about the 900 years from the Seljuks to the end of the Ottoman empire. The second half is the politically turbulent period from the end of World War I until 2023, marking 100 years of the country of Turkey.
The Ottoman history has long been a preferred topic of many historians (including Fortna himself) and the format of this book makes for a brief overview. For example, the landmark capture of Constantinople in 1453 is covered in just two paragraphs. Professor Fortna has opted to put more content into the declining years of empire in the 19th century, presumably because it has more relevance to how Turkey became a nation and how the Ottoman history and values continued to play out among politicians and the populace.
The book’s second half is considerably more detailed and provides a fascinating, though at times exhausting, analysis of Turkey’s complex political machinations. The post-war single party state, initially under the iron grip of Mustafa Kemal, lasted several decades. Subsequently, there has been a profusion of political parties and a gradual, but by no means linear, resurgence of Islam in daily life and governance. The great narratives of the sultanate and Kemal have been constantly reworked to suit those in power or aspiring to it.
The books succinct account of the Seljuks and Ottomans is a useful introduction to a significant period of human history. Most of all, this is a book about understanding the modern Turkish state in the context of a millennium of Turkic occupation.
Benjamin C. Fortna is a professor of history and director of the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona. He has published numerous books on the Ottoman Empire, the early Turkish Republic and modern Turkey, and has appeared on the BBC programs Who Do You Think You Are? and The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors.
The Shortest History of Turkey
by Benjamin C. Fortna
(July 2025)
Black Inc
ISBN: 9781760644659
$27.99 (Paperback); 265pp