HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 1st degree (Bachelor)

Responsible Department: Islamic & Middle East Stud.

Semester: Yearly

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Prof. Reuven Amitai

Coordinator Email: reuven.amitai@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: During the time of Zoom: by appointment via email

Teaching Staff:
Prof Reuven Amitai

Course/Module description:
The seminar will deal mainly with different aspects of the military history of the period from the beginning of the 7th century until the beginning of the 16th century, i.e. from the start beginnings of the Islamic state of the penetration until the Ottoman conquest of Syria and Egypt. Among the subjects that will be discussed: the armies of the Arab conquest and the Muslim empires, the coming of the Turks to the Middle East, the formation of the Mamluk Sultanate and the war against the Mongols, and the early Ottoman army. In each period strategic, tactical, logistical, economic, social and ideological aspects will be discussed. There were also be preliminary discussions of the problem of military history in general, and about the formative period of the armies of the Muslims, before the year 1000 CE.

Course/Module aims:
Aspects of military history are an essential part of the medieval Islamic world, so the first aim is to give a comprehensive overview of these important aspects of pre-modern Muslim life. Secondly, we will learn about the connection between armies and warfare and other aspects of Muslim societies: economics, politics, culture. Finally, we will delve into sources, learning to read them critically and analysis them, as well as modern historiography.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
The student will have a good comprehensive view of fundamental issues in the pre-modern history of the Middle East. S/he will have strengthened their ability to read critically primary sources and modern studies. We can assume that they will write better and perhaps even have better oral presentation skills.

Attendance requirements(%):
80%

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Weekly readings; lectures of teacher; discussions, also in small groups; studying translations from the sources; oral reports of students; excursion at end of year; essays at the end of both semesters; excursion at end of year, seminar paper for those who chose to submit one.

Course/Module Content:
1. Organization of course; on warfare in the pre-modern period, and the study of warfare.
2. More on the study of warfare; the army in the early Islamic state
3. From the Arab state to the Muslim Empire
4. The emergence of the Mamluk institution
5. The idea of Jihad, and the law of war in Islam
6. The situation in the Middle East at the beginning of the 11th century; military theory; non-Mamluk elements in the region’s armies
7. The coming of the Turkish tribes to the Middle East, and the Seljuq empire; the battle of Manzikert (1071)
8. The Crusades: the Muslim response to a Western Christian challenge
9. The Crusades: the battle of Hattin (1187) and the battle of al-Harbiyya (1244)
10. The establishment of the Mongol empire, and the Mongols entrance into the Middle East; the battle of Köse Dagh (1244)
11. The Mamluk revolution (1250)
12. Hülegü and the foundation of the Ilkhanate; the battle of `Ayn Jalut (1260)
13. The institutionalization of the Mamluk army
14. The ongoing war with the Mongol Ilkhanate; problems with logistics; the battle of Hims (1281)
15. Ghazan’s campaigns into Syria (1299-1303)
16. Fortifications in the time of the Mamluks
17. Espionage and communications
18. Infantry and other auxiliaries under the Mamluks
19. Tamerlane and his armies: another wave of Mongols?
20. Mamluk strategy vis-à-vis the sea.
21. The decline of the Mamluk state army
22. The rise of the Ottomans and the beginning of their army
23. The beginnings of the Mamluk-Ottoman conflict
24. Gunpowder weapons and the Mamluk State; the battle of Marj Dabiq (1516)
25. The question of technology
26. Conclusions
27. Excursion to sites in the north.

Required Reading:
John Keegan, The Face of Battle (New York, 1976), pp. 15-36. [D 25 K43]
גירסה עברית: ג'ון קיגן, פני הקרב (תל-אביב, תשמ"א), עמ' 33-11. [D 25 K431]

Claude Cahen, “Harb, ii.-The Caliphate,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 3:181-184. [Access either to the printed volumes on the 5th floor or the online version, via the Library catalog.]


Claude Cahen, “Djaysh, i.-Classical,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 2:504-508.
[Access either to the printed volumes on the 5th floor or the online version, via the Library catalog.]

David Ayalon, “Preliminary Remarks on the Mamlūk Military Institution in Islam,” in V.J. Parry and M.E. Yapp (editors), War, Technology and Society in the Middle East (London, 1975), pp. 44-58 [U 43 N33 P26]. Reprinted in D. Ayalon, The Mamlūk Military Society (London, 1979), article no. IX [DT 96 A85]. [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Hugh Kennedy, The Prophet and the Age of the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century (London, 1986), pp. 158-161. [DS 38.5 K38]
[Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

גירסה עברית: היו קנדי, מחמד והח'ליפות: המזרח התיכון המוסלמית מהמאה השישית עד המאה האחת-עשר (ירושלים ובאר-שבע, 1998), עמ' 147-144. [DS 38.5 K381]

Carole Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives (Edinburgh, 1999), pp. 89-103. [DS 38.6 H53] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Claude Cahen, “Harb, ii.-The Caliphate,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 3:181-184.
[Access either to the printed volumes on the 5th floor or the online version, via the Library catalog.]

Claude Cahen, Pre-Ottoman Turkey, tr. J. Jones-Williams (London, 1968), pp. 19-32. [DR 481 C3313] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Carole Hillenbrand, “Malāzgird, 2. The battle,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 6:243-244. [Access either to the printed volumes on the 5th floor or the online version, via the Library catalog.]

עמנואל סיון, "המזרח התיכון בתקופת מסעי הצלב", בתוך חוה לצרוס-יפה (עורכת), פרקים בתולדות הערבים והאסלאם (תל אביב, 1967), עמ' 261-233. [BP 20 L32 1967]

מומלץ: עמנואל סיון, "העולמא והשלטון בסוריה במאה הי"א והי"ב", בתוך גבריאל בר (עורך), העולמא ובעיות דת בעולם המוסלמי (ירושלים, 1971), עמ' 50-41. [BP 185.5 U4 U43]

Paul Cobb, The Race for Paradise: An Islamic History of the Crusaders (Oxford, 2014), 271-279. [D 157 C62 2014] [Also available as eBook.]

ב"ז קידר, "קרני חטין – מבט אחר", קתדרה, 61 (תשנ"ב), עמ' 112-95.

David Morgan, The Mongols, first edition (Oxford, 1986), pp. 55-96; second edition (Oxford and Malden MA, 2007), pp. 49-83. [DS 19 M67] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Timothy May, “The Mongol Art of War and the Tsunami Strategy,” Golden Horde Civilization, 8 (2015), 31-37. [Open access on Internet.]

Robert Irwin, The Middle East in the Middle East: The Early Mamluk Sultanate 1250-1382 (London, 1986), pp. 26-36 (recommended also: pp. 1-26). [DT 96.4 I78] [Also available as eBook.]

Peter Thorau, “The Battle of `Ayn Jālūt: A Re-examination,” in Peter Edbury (editor), Crusade and Settlement (Cardiff, 1985), pp. 236-241. [D 160 S63] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

ראובן עמיתי, "קרב עין ג'אלות (1260 לספה"נ)", בתוך זירת הקרב: קרבות הכרעה בארץ-ישראל, בעריכת אריה שמואלביץ (תל-אביב, 2007), עמ' 167-147. [DS 119.2 S55 2007]

דוד נוישטדט [איילון], "הערות בדבר בתי-הספר הצבאיים במדינה הממלוכית", ידיעות החברה העברית לחקירת ארץ-ישראל ועתיקותיה, י"ב (תש"ו / 1945-1946), עמ' 132-140. [5X]

David Ayalon, “Mamlūk,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 6:314-321. [Access either to the printed volumes on the 5th floor or the online version, via the Library catalog.]

Reuven Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-I‏lkh‏anid War 1260-1281 (Cambridge, 1995), 71-77. [DS 38.7 A47 M6] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

David Morgan, “The Mongols in Syria, 1260-1300,” in Edbury, Crusade and Settlement, pp. 229-235. [D 160 S63] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

David Ayalon, “Ḥimṣ, Battle of,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 3:402-403. [Access either to the printed volumes on the 5th floor or the online version, via the Library catalog.]

Morgan, The Mongols, pp. 158-170 (1st edition) [D 160 S63]; pp. 139-148 (2nd edition). [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Kate Raphael, “Mighty Towers and Feeble Walls: Ayyubid and Mamluk Fortifications in the Light of the Decline of Crusader Siege Warfare,” Crusades, 9 (2010), 147–158. [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Kate Raphael, Muslim Fortresses in the Levant: Between Crusaders and Mongols (London and New York, 2011), 206-213. [DS 97.4 R36 2011] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Reuven Amitai, “Mamlu‏k Espionage among Mongols and Franks,” Asian and African Studies, 22 (1988), 173-181. [X5] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Claude Cahen, “Ahdāth,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 1:256. [Access either to the printed volumes on the 5th floor or the online version, via the Library catalog.]

Reuven Amitai, “Foot Soldiers, Militiamen and Volunteers in the Early Mamluk Army,” in Chase F. Robinson (editor), Texts, Documents and Artifacts: Islamic Studies in Honour of D.S. Richards (Leiden, 2003), pp. 232-249. [DS 36.85 T49 2003] [Available as eBook, accessible via Library catalog.]

דוד איילון, הממלוכים והעצמה הימית, פרשה במאבק בין האסלאם לבין אירופה הנוצרית," דברי האקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים, כרך א', חוברת 8 (תשכ"ו), עמ' 10-1. [X5]

David Morgan, Medieval Persia (London, 1988), pp. 83-100. [DS 288 M67] [eBook of 2nd edition (2016) available via Library catalog.]

Metin Kunt, “State and Sultan up to the Age of Süleyman: Frontier Principality to World Empire,” in Metin Kunt and C. Woodhead (editors), Süleyman the Magnificent and His Age: The Ottoman Empire in the Early Modern Age (London, 1995), pp. 3-29. [DS 506 S73] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Carl F. Petry, Twilight of Majesty: The Reigns of the Mamlūk Sultans al-Ashraf Qāytbāy and Qānṣūh al-Ghawrī (Seattle, 1995), pp. 88-103. [DT 96.7 P48] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

דוד איילון, אבק שרפה ונשק חם בסולטאנות הממלוכית (ירושלים, תשנ"ד), עמ' 152-141

Charles Issawi, “Technology, Energy, and Civilization: Some Historical Observations,” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 23 (1991), 282-289. [Available online via the Library catalog.]

David Ayalon, “Some Remarks on the Economic Decline of the Mamlūk Sultanate,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 16 (1993), 108-124. [X5] Reprinted in D. Ayalon, Islam and the Abode of War (Aldershot, 1994). [DR 96 A92 I8] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Ira M. Lapidus, “Confrontation with Europe,” in ibid., A History of Islamic Societies (Cambridge, 1988), 268-275. [DS 35.63 L37] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

David Ayalon, “The European Asiatic Steppe: A Major Reservoir of Power for the Islamic World,” Proceedings of 25th Congress Orientalists (Moscow, 1960) (Moscow, 1963), 2:47-52. Reprinted in D. Ayalon, The Mamlūk Military Society (London, 1979), article no. VIII. [DT 96 A85] [Available at eReserves; accessible via Moodle page.]

Additional Reading Material:
Majid Khadduri, “Harb, i.-Legal Aspect,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 3:180-181.

C. E. Bosworth, “ARMY ii. Islamic, to the Mongol period,” Encyclopædia Iranica, II/5, pp. 499-503, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-ii

Carole Hillenbrand, Turkish Myth and Muslim Symbol: The Battle of Manzikert (Edinburgh, 2007), 3-25. [DS 27 H54 2007]

Hillenbrand, The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, pp. 103-170.

H.A.R. Gibb, “The Armies of Saladin,” in H.A.R. Gibb, Studies in the Civilization of Islam (Boston, 1962), pp. 74-90. [BP 163 G5 S8]

יהושע פראוור [פרור], תולדות ממלכת הצלבנים בא"י, מהדורה שלישית (ירושלים, תשל"א/1971), כרך א', עמ' 561-526; כרך ב', עמ' 302-292. [DS 123.32 P73]

מומלץ: עמנואל סיון, "העולמא והשלטון בסוריה במאה הי"א והי"ב", בתוך גבריאל בר (עורך), העולמא ובעיות דת בעולם המוסלמי (ירושלים, 1971), עמ' 50-41. BP 185.5 U4 U43]]

Michal Biran, Chinggis Khan (Oxford, 2007), pp. 47-71. [DS 22 B57 2007]

עמליה לבנוני, עליית הממלוכים לשלטון במצרים (חיפה, 1987). [DT 96 L39]

פראוור, ממלכת הצלבנים בא"י, כרך ב', עמ' 435-406.

David Ayalon, “Harb, iii.-The Mamluk Sultanate,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, 3:184-190.

John M. Smith, Jr., “`Ayn Jālūt: Mamlūk Success or Mongol Failure,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 44 (1984), 307-45.

Reuven Amitai, “Whither the Ilkhanid Army? Ghazan's First Campaign into Syria (1299-1300),” in Nicola Di Cosmo (editor), Warfare in Inner Asian History (Leiden, 2002), pp. 221-264. [DS 329.4 W37 2002]

Paul E. Chevedden, “Fortifications and the Development of Defensive Planning during the Crusader Period,” in Donald Kagay and L.J. Andrew Villalon (editors), The Circle of War in the Middle Ages: Essays in Medieval and Naval History (Sulffolk, 1999), pp. 33-43. [D 128 C57 1999]

David Ayalon, “The Auxiliary Forces of the Mamluk Sultanate,” Der Islam, 65 (1988), 13-37. Reprinted in D. Ayalon, Islam and the Abode of War (Aldershot: Variorum/Ashgate, 1994). [DT 96 A92 I8]

Albrecht Fuess, “Rotting Ships and Razed Harbors: The Naval Policy of the Mamluks,” Mamlūk Studies Review, 5 (2001), 45-71. [open access via internet]

Beatrice F. Manz, “Military Manpower in Late Mongol and Timurid Iran,” in L’Héritage timouride, Iran-Asie centrale-Inde Xve-XVIIIe siècles &eq; Cahiers d’Asie centrale, no. 3-4 (1997), 43-55.

Eliyahu Ashtor, “The Economic Decline of the Middle East during the Later Middle Ages: An Outline,” Asian and African Studies, 15 (1981), 253-286. Available on JSTOR accessible via Library site.

Jean-Claude Garcin, “The Mamluk Military System and the Blocking of the Medieval Moslem Society,” in J. Baechler, J.A. Hall and M. Mann (editors.), Europe and the Rise of Capitalism (London, 1988), pp. 113-130. [HC 240.9 C3 E97]

Michael Cook, “Islam: A Comment,” in Beachler et al., pp. 131-135.

Halil Inalcik, “Ghulām, iv.-Ottoman Empire,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition, 2:1085-1095.

Rhoads Murphey, “Military Manpower and Military Spending: An Attempt at Realistic Assessment,” in R. Murphey, Ottoman Warfare, 1500-1700 (London and New Brunswick, NJ, 1999), 35-49.

Shai Har-El, The Struggle for Domination in the Middle East: The Ottoman-Mamluk War, 1485-1491 (Leiden, 1995), pp. 27-59. [DR 503 H37]

Robert Irwin, “Gunpowder and Firearms in the Mamluk Sultanate Reconsidered,” in Michael Winter and Amalia Levanoni (editors), The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society (Leiden, 2004), pp. 117-139. [DT 96 M37 2004]



2) חומר רקע (לתלמידים שלא למדו במבוא לתולדות האסלאם והמזה"ת – חלק א')
ברנרד לואיס, הערבים בהיסטוריה, מהדורה שניה (תל-אביב, 1995). [DS 37.7 L461 1995]

אלברט חוראני, ההיסטוריה של העמים הערבים (תל-אביב, תשנ"ו). [DS 37.7 H691]

קלוד כאהן, האסלאם מלידתו עד תחילת האימפריה העות'מאנית (תת-אביב, תשנ"א)
[DS 38.3 C33 I861]

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 60 %
Presentation 10 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 30 %
Assignments 0 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
There will be a mandatory excursion at the end of the academic year, that will last a full day.

The "Final examination" will be a final essay, worth 60 % of final gradeץ