History

Institute of Social Sciences Department of History Master’s Program Curriculum

With Thesis:

Minimum total number of credits required for the MA degree: 21, ECTS: 63 + 8 + 60

Required compulsory courses: 3 courses

Required elective courses: 4 courses

Courses offered in other master’s programs within the Institute of Social Sciences may be taken with advisor approval.

REQUIRED COURSES FOR GRADUATE STUDIES IN HISTORY

TAR 503 Historical Methodology and Scientific Ethics

This course introduces the methods and techniques employed in historical research. It also covers access to and review of historical sources, collaboration with auxiliary disciplines, the principles of scientific ethics, their significance, and the issues to be considered in their application.

TAR 513 Seminar on Turkish-Islamic History and Civilization

Conducted in a seminar format, this course examines the emergence of the Turks on the historical stage, their transformation into great empires and powerful states, the political, military, and economic structures of these states, their domestic and foreign policies, their relations and conflicts with China, their social and cultural organization, achievements in science, art, and civilization, the causes of their decline and migrations, the emergence and spread of Islam, the Islamic states, the Turkish states established after the adoption of Islam, and the characteristics of Islamic civilization.

TAR 546 Seminar on Contemporary World History

Conducted in a seminar format, this course provides a chronological and regional analysis of the major events that have shaped today’s political map of the world since the French Revolution. Particular emphasis is placed on European diplomacy, the examination of conflicts based on geopolitical blocs that have persisted for more than two centuries, the phases and consequences of these conflicts, and the developments that have shaped the contemporary political and diplomatic order.

HISTORY MASTER'S PROGRAM ELECTIVE COURSES

TAR 504 Seminar on European History

Conducted in a seminar format, this course examines European history as a whole and evaluates its major periods and events within a structured framework.

TAR 505 History of the Balkans

Owing to its strategic location and abundant economic resources, the Balkans has been the scene of numerous conflicts throughout history and possesses a rich historical heritage. This course examines the history of the Balkans from political, social, economic, and cultural perspectives.

TAR 506 Byzantine History

This course examines the Byzantine Empire—one of the longest-lasting states in history—from multiple perspectives. Particular emphasis is placed on its military, political, and economic structures, diplomatic relations, culture, and civilization as a major imperial power that endured for centuries.

TAR 515 Society, Culture, and Politics in the Middle East

This course analyzes the cultural, ethnic, and religious structures of Middle Eastern societies, the impact of politics on these societies and its underlying dynamics, forms of political organization, and the influence and consequences of politics on international relations.

TAR 516 History of Political Thought

This course examines the profound influence of political thought on societies and systems of government. It explores how political ideas have at times contributed to social progress and, at other times, led to social unrest, rebellion, and revolutionary movements, evaluating these developments from both positive and negative perspectives.

TAR 523 Historical Sources and Historiography

This course focuses on historical sources, their identification and analysis, and their use in historical writing. It also examines the use of sources and the techniques of historical writing through the analysis of research conducted on specific historical topics.

TAR 525 History of Ottoman Diplomacy

This course examines the diplomatic relations established by the Ottoman state throughout its transformation from a principality into an empire. It explores diplomacy in the contexts of warfare, defense, and relations with neighboring states, with particular emphasis on its institutions, practices, and significance alongside military and economic power.

TAR 526 Empires and Nation-States

This course examines the characteristics of empires as a form of political organization, their social impact, and their influence on international relations through historical examples. It also evaluates the emergence and structural features of nation-states, which became increasingly prominent following the French Revolution of 1789.

TAR 534 History of North America

This course examines the historical development of the states established in North America, the process of colonization, the American War of Independence and the founding of the United States, as well as the role and significance of Canada in North American history.

TAR 535 Ottoman Paleography I

This course introduces the various styles of Ottoman script encountered in historical sources and archival documents and their distinguishing characteristics. Students will also undertake reading exercises based on selected archival documents.

TAR 536 Ottoman Paleography II

As a continuation of Ottoman Paleography I, this course focuses on advanced examples.

TAR 537 History of Ottoman Non-Muslims

This course examines the history of Ottoman non-Muslims within the framework of the Ottoman world of which they were a part. Topics include their religious organization, relations with the Ottoman administration, economic activities, place in social life, and points of contact with Europe.

TAR 538 Transition from Byzantium to the Ottoman Empire

This course examines the relationship between the Byzantine world and the Ottoman state, society, and civilization, which interacted in various ways before eventually extending its rule over the entirety of former Byzantine territories. Topics include the interaction, continuity, and discontinuities between Byzantine and Ottoman institutions, the acceptance and rejection of the Byzantine legacy in the Ottoman world, and major historical issues such as the foundation of the Ottoman state.

TAR 539 Ottomans in Europe, Europeans in the Ottoman Empire

This course examines the historical foundations of the ways in which the Ottoman and European worlds perceived one another. It explores how Ottomans who traveled to Europe for purposes such as diplomacy, travel, trade, and education, and Europeans who came to Ottoman lands for similar reasons, understood and represented each other's civilizations.

TAR 540 Sources of Medieval History

This course examines Byzantine and Seljuk sources that constitute the corpus of medieval historical sources. It focuses on the study of these sources, the methodological challenges they present, and their place within historiography.

TAR 541 Seminar on Ottoman History

Conducted in a seminar format, this course examines the major issues in the transformation of the Ottoman Empire during the classical, post-classical, and modernization periods, together with the ways in which these issues have been interpreted by the principal schools of historiography.

TAR 543 Ottoman Socio-Economic History

This course examines the structure of Ottoman society and the institutions that formed the foundation of the Ottoman economy, including the land tenure system, provincial administration, waqfs, sources of taxation, the fiscal administration, maritime affairs, the customs administration, and artisan guilds. It also explores the historical development of these institutions, the reform movements introduced in response to the demands of the modern era, and compares these developments with broader global trends up to the twentieth century.

TAR 544 Seminar on the History of Turkish Modernization

Conducted in a seminar format, this course examines the Turkish modernization movement, the state's efforts to transform and develop social life, attempts to attain European standards in the economic, military, and political spheres, and the various forms of social resistance to these reforms within their historical context.

TAR 545 Urban History

This course examines historical events and periods from the perspective of the city. It analyzes the socio-economic, cultural, and geographical characteristics of cities and explores their historical significance and influence on historical developments.

TAR 547 History of Asia and the Far East

This course examines the major states that emerged in Asia and the Far East, with particular emphasis on their socio-economic and cultural characteristics, political, economic, and military structures, as well as their contributions to and influence on world history.

TAR 548 History of Turkish Administration

This course examines the historical development of the Turkish administrative tradition. It explores the influence of the state structures of the Central Asian steppe peoples, the Turkish–Mongol concept of sovereignty, and their role in shaping rulership, legitimacy, and political authority up to the Republican period. It also addresses the impact of dynastic succession on administrative institutions, the philosophy underlying these concepts, the formation and functioning of administrative mechanisms, and their transformation throughout history. Particular emphasis is placed on the administrative institutions inherited from the early Turkish states and further developed under the Seljuks and the Ottomans in Anatolia. The course also considers institutional influences from Byzantium and ancient Iran, as well as the adoption of selected administrative practices. It concludes with the nineteenth-century replacement of traditional Ottoman institutions by Western models.

TAR 549 Turks and Islam

This course examines the Turks' encounter with Islam, their contributions to Islamic civilization, and the transformations they experienced through their interactions with the Islamic world.

TAR 550 Historical Geography

This course aims to reconstruct the physical, human-economic, and regional geographical characteristics of a particular place in the past in accordance with the methodology of geography. Historical geography is commonly defined either as the study of the influence of geography on historical events or as the study of historical place names and settlements.

TAR 551 Turkish Intellectual Movements

This course examines the intellectual foundations of Ottoman modernization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It aims to analyze major intellectual movements from the Tanzimat to the Republican period—including Ottomanism, Islamism, Westernism, and Turkism—introduce their leading representatives, and evaluate their influence on the Republic of Türkiye.

TAR 553 History of Science and Technology

This course explores fundamental questions such as the nature of science and its contributions to social change and human development. It also examines the history of technology from a broad historical perspective.

TAR 554 Women from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic

This course examines the position and role of women in social life from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, women's rights, the transformation of Turkish women, their contributions to social development, and their roles in science, art, politics, the economy, and literature.

TAR 561 Sources of Ottoman and Modern History

This course introduces the principal sources of Ottoman and modern history, with particular emphasis on materials preserved in the Ottoman archives. It also examines the methodological issues associated with these sources and the ways in which they have been utilized by different schools of historiography.

TAR 562 Seminar on the History of the Anatolian Seljuks

Conducted in a seminar format, this course examines the history of the Anatolian Seljuk State, which constitutes the historical foundation of the modern Republic of Türkiye, with particular emphasis on its political, social, and cultural relations within the historical context of its time.

TAR 563 Political Developments in Contemporary Türkiye (1908–1960)

This course examines the political developments and transformations of the late Ottoman and early Republican periods, beginning with the proclamation of the Second Constitutional Era by the Committee of Union and Progress in 1908 and continuing through the military intervention of 27 May 1960.

TAR 564 History of the World Wars

This course provides a comprehensive examination of World War I (1914–1918), the Interwar Period (1919–1939), and World War II (1939–1945), three of the most significant turning points in modern history.

TAR 573 Russian Foreign Policy and Türkiye

This course examines the impact of the policy of "reaching the warm seas," pursued from the reign of Tsar Peter I throughout the imperial period and subsequently adopted by the Soviet Union, on Turkish–Russian relations from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Türkiye.

TAR 574 History of Colonialism

This course examines the emergence of colonialism, its contribution to the development of states and empires, the economic and cultural structures of colonies, their relations with colonial powers, the impact of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution on colonial societies, as well as independence movements in the colonies and their consequences.

TAR 581 Seminar on Turkish History

Conducted in a seminar format, this course examines the prehistory of Central Asia, the Hun Empire, the European Huns and Attila, the Göktürks, the Uighurs, the Cumans, the Uzes, the Kipchaks, the Pechenegs, and the religion, culture, and civilization of the early Turks.

TAR 584 Anatolian Civilizations

This course examines the civilizations and cultures that have flourished in Anatolia from antiquity to the present. Owing to its strategic location and economic significance, Anatolia—where human communities began to adopt a settled way of life in the eighth millennium BCE—has been home to successive civilizations for nearly 10,000 years.

TAR 593 Ottoman Cultural History

This course examines the cultural characteristics of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled across three continents for centuries, as well as the influence of Ottoman culture throughout its territories. Particular emphasis is placed on its impact on social life, science, and social institutions.

TAR 594 History of the Mediterranean

This course examines the history of the Mediterranean region as a whole. Beginning with antiquity, it explores the civilizations that developed around the Mediterranean, the major states established there, and their relations with other regions and states of the world.