The long era of Muslim political ascendancy that began in a
small region of western Arabia reached its pinnacle some nine
hundred years later with the siege of Vienna by Suleiman the
Magnificent in 1529. Suleiman then concluded that, given the
increasingly volatile geopolitical environment, Muslim expansionism
in Eurasia had run its course. The subsequent decline of Ottoman
power also meant, in effect, the decline of political Islam, which
had been intimately bound to it for centuries.
As Sicker shows, the problems faced by the Ottoman Empire were
also faced by the Persian Empire and both underwent an extended
period of political decline and territorial retrenchment in the
face of imperialist pressures from Europe and Asia. The greatest
challenge to the world of political Islam came from Western Europe,
especially France and Great Britain. The Ottoman and Persian
empires assumed a global importance in the 19th century, not
because of anything in them of intrinsic economic value, but
because of their geopolitical and geostrategic significance. They
became, in effect, a buffer zone separating Europe from the wealth
of the East, at a time when European imperialism was on the march
in Asia. It thus came about that the rivalries of the Great Powers,
most especially those of Great Britain, France, and Russia, were
played out in the Middle East. This book will serve as a vital
resource for students, scholars, and other researchers involved
with Middle East History, Political Islam, and Modern European
History.
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