49 episodes
The Turkish History Podcast The Turkish History Podcast
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- History
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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A biweekly podcast telling the story of the Turks, from the Göktürk Khanate through the Turkish Republic. turkishhistorypodcast.com
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48 - Merzifon
The Sultanate of Rum lies in ruins following the destruction of the First Crusade and the loss of Western Anatolia to the Byzantine Empire. The Danishmend Beylik led by Gümüştegin Ghazi takes up the mantle of the leading Turkish state in Anatolia, and scores a key victory against the Norman Crusaders in Outremer. And yet more crusaders arrive from the West - both threatening the Sword Lion and providing him with an opportunity to restore his reputation and renew his leadership...
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47 - The White City
In the aftermath of the catastrophic Crusader invasion of Anatolia, while the Turks are in crisis, Emperor Alexios Komnenos launches a reconquest. An army led by John Doukas retakes the Aegean coast and Western Anatolia, an army led by Theodore Gabras retakes the Black Sea coast, and the Emperor himself marches out of Pelakanon and into the center of Anatolia. But the Turks rebound and begin to mobilize a response. And the Emperor stops at Akşehir, then called Philomelion, t...
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46 - Dorylaeum
Following the fall of İznik, Kılıç Arslan regroups his forces, belatedly calling for aid from across Turkish Anatolia. The Crusaders depart from İznik and begin their march to the Holy Land. Kılıç Arslan springs an ambush near Eskişehir on the Plains of Dorylaeum, leading to disaster yet again. In the aftermath of the great defeat, the Sword Lion is unable to oppose the Crusaders head on, but the war continues as a wide swathe of destruction is cut across Anatolia - and the ...
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45 - The Fall of İznik
The crusading army marches into a completely undefended Anatolia and right up to the walls of İznik, the capital of the Sultanate of Rum. Finally waking up to the danger, Kılıç Arslan makes a deal with the Danishmends and begins racing back West. Kılıç Arslan fights the Crusaders in front of the walls of İznik and the Turks resist. Meanwhile, as one of the greatest defeats in Turkish history unfolds, tensions continue to rise between Constantinople and the Crusading army.
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44 - The Pyramid of Bones
The People's Crusade invades Anatolia, and the chaotic army of undisciplined peasants is easily destroyed by the forces of the Sultanate of Rum under Ilhan Bey as Kılıç Arslan besieges Malatya. But the chaos and ineptitude of the People's Crusade proves to be a boon to both the Byzantine Emperor and even the now-assembling First Crusade. In Constantinople, Emperor Alexios uses the chaos and the ineptitude of the People's Crusade to bind the arriving First Crusaders to him. A...
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43 - Deus Vult
As Turkish power is entrenched across Anatolia and Kılıç Arslan consolidates the power of the Sultanate of Rum, in Constantinople Emperor Alexios Komnenos calls for aid from the West. The Emperor envisions a relatively large, but still manageable, army of experienced Latin knights of the type that have fought for Byzantium in the past in order to retake Anatolia. But his call for aid coincides with a papal reform movement in Rome seeking to entrench the power of the Papacy, and Po...
Customer Reviews
Very much subjective perspectives
I kept listening to the podcast until the episode on Seljuks: Culture. The host examines history from biased Arabian or Persian perspectives rather than from an impartial and objective standpoint. He just reads, references old books about the Turks. A true historical perspective requires reading these sources and forming an impartial conclusion of your own, not merely adopting the views of past writers.
Naturally, Arabs and Persians often wrote negative comments about the Turks. While it's true that nomadic Turks were brutal, the negative portrayal of those writer also stemmed from feelings of inferiority and being under control of lesser educated clans.
Additionally, I acknowledge the scarcity of written sources about the Turks in Middle Ages. However, historians must always critically assess the views of the writers they reference. For instance, the host debunked Marco Polo’s negative portrayal of the Persian Hashashins but consistently accepts Arabian or Persian sources regarding the Turks without similar scrutiny.
In one of his episodes, he mentioned "Turkish slave soldiers" over 50 times! Turks founded a state in Egypt and the Levant and were leaders, so how can he still describe them as slaves? One is only a slave when they take orders from a master.
The host seems to view history through the eyes of 10th-century Arabs and Persians rather than from a modern perspective. Although I liked to learn more about ancient Turks, I prefer more objective people. We can only be subjective within objective standards.