296. Ottoman Gaza: Gunpowder Conquests & Rising Nationalism (Part 6)

The hot summer sun beat down upon Al-Ashraf Khansu al-Ghouri, 49th Sultan of the Mamluk dynasty, as he reviewed his troops for battle. Since the founding of the dynasty in 1250, the Mamluks had ruled over the oldest and most powerful Islamic state of its day. The Cairo based empire spanned Egypt, Syria, and Arabia. Kansu, a man in his seventies, had ruled the empire for 15 years.

He was now in Marjdabik, a field outside the Syrian city of Aleppo, at the northernmost point of his empire. to confront the greatest danger the Mamluks had ever faced. He would fail, and his failure would set in motion the demise of his empire, paving the way for the conquest of the Arab lands by the Ottoman Turks. The date was august twenty fourth, fifteen sixteen. Hello and welcome to Empire.

And that was a reading from the opening passages of The Arabs by Eugene Rogan, very good friend of this show and professor of modern Middle Eastern history at the University of Oxford. Welcome to you, Eugene, and thanks for coming back. Thanks, Anita. It's great to be with you. What we're going to concentrate on in this episode is the Ottoman era in Gaza.

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