The Ottomans in Syria : A History of Justice and Oppression

The Ottoman Empire administered vast and complex territories and its primary task was the maintenance of order by dispensing justice - the key concept of government in the Ottoman view of society and state. Rulers who stepped beyond the bounds of the law were often judged guilty of tyranny. By the late eighteenth century, this huge empire was under severe pressure, its capabilities were limited and its resources and manpower scarce. Consequently the Ottoman Empire relied increasingly on a policy of coercion. In no province of the empire was this more marked than in Syria. In this book, Dick Douwes examines the administration of the Syrian interior from 1785 to 1841 and shows how the Ottomans established independent local power bases and how their rule over the peasantry was based on oppression and extortion. This reached its apogee under the reformist governor of Egypt, Muhammad 'Alî Pasha, who rebelled against the Sultan and occupied all Syria. Douwes investigates the local administration of the time, its political instability and factionalism, the exploitive nature of Ottoman taxation of rural communities and the financial problems extending through the region and explores the emergence of military households. The Ottomans in Syria is essential to historians of the Ottoman Empire and of the Middle East in general. Book jacket.