#1224 - Frederick F. Anscombe

Frederick F. Anscombe is a Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History at Birkbeck, University of London. Fred's research interest lie in the history of the Ottoman empire and post-Ottoman territories, ranging from the late seventeenth to twentieth centuries and from the Middle East to the Balkans. While having a strong interest in Ottoman imperial history, Fred found it helpful to break away from the traditional focus upon the Centre, looking instead at social and political orders in European and Asian provinces.  Provincial history offers a useful way to gauge what it meant to be 'Ottoman', to see if and how the sultan's subjects were affected by, and reacted to, politics and policies of the Centre.