Breaking the Spell of the Baron de Tott: Reframing the Question of Military Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1760–1830

Migration and innovation in early modern Islamic societies. The case for firearms

“…In these studies, the emphasis was on the collaborative process that contributed to the development of firearms industries in Asia and the Middle East (Ágoston, 2014; Eaton and Wagoner, 2014). A representative example of this collaborative process, framed as technological dialogue instead of technological transfer, lies in the mutual appreciation that, on the one hand, Europeans had for Indian and Ottoman barrels, and on the other hand, Indian and Ottoman had for European mechanical parts (Aksan, 2002, pp. 264–265; Pacey & Bray, 2021, p. 96) In this vein, Ágoston had a decisive impact.…”

“…Little is known about the trajectories and lives of these migrants, whether individual or groups. Several names, such as Jorg of Nuremberg, Urban, Hemu, the Hindu General of the Suri Sultanate, François baron de Tott, or Ali‐Quli, reappear throughout recent analyses (Ágoston, 2019, p. 103; Aksan, 2002; Philippides & Hannak, 2011, pp. 387–396; Roy, 2015, pp.…”

Knowledge Transaction and State Making from Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic

“…He published his memoirs in four volumes compiling his ideas on the colonisation of the Ottoman Empire and observations on its social and political system that he framed based on Montesquieu's theory of oriental despotism (Tott 1784). According to Aksan (2002), Tott was an example of the military adventurers who crowded into Istanbul in the late 18 th century and served as "self-appointed cultural Transnational private actors also participated in transactions of expertise between European centres and the Ottoman state. An example was the French captains, businessmen and entrepreneurs Bernard Collas and Marius Michel (aka Michel Pacha) who established the Société Collas & Michel in 1860 acquiring important concessions from the Ottoman state for assuring lighthouse services.…”