An example of writing history from the East, not the West: A History of the Germans from an Asian perspective - The Nationalization of the Germanic Peoples - (*)

It can be said that the orientalist perspective remains dominant in the historiography that still relatively persists in the Western world today. 

As is known, the term “Orientalism” is rooted in the Latin word “oriens,” which means the sunrise. Geographically, it defines the East and refers to the pursuit of knowledge about the East. 

The West has always shown an interest in the East and Eastern civilization; this interest was built over time on the opposition and difference between East and West. In Orientalism, Western identity has been considered superior by comparing it to all non-Western people, that is, the “others.” 

Precisely for this reason, the East was transformed into an object suitable for detailed examination by the West, and the West’s systematic desire and curiosity to possess knowledge about the East have continuously fueled Orientalism(**).

The foundation of the West’s knowledge about the East was laid with an orientalist perspective. Moreover, orientalist travelers traveled to the East and penned their travelogues, adding what they saw, experienced, and sometimes their own guesses or fabrications. 

Travelogues, which were one of the most important mass communication tools until a few centuries ago, became direct sources for orientalist studies. Travelogues describing journeys to the East showed an increase, especially after the 15th and 16th centuries. There is no doubt that this increase stemmed from the curiosity about the Ottomans, who conquered Istanbul, or in other words, destroyed the Eastern Roman Empire. 

The fact that Western countries, whose industries developed rapidly with the Industrial Revolution in Europe, began searching for colonies in Eastern countries that were more backward than themselves also triggered the West’s curiosity about the East and paved the way for its systematization in the West under the name of “Oriental Studies.”

It is observed that the orientalist perspective is reflected in every area of life in the West, from philosophy to political economy, from literature to music.

In Western philosophy, it can be said that Orientalism is the West’s way of defining, interpreting, and constructing the East (and specifically the Turkish and Islamic world) as an "other" according to its own central position. Enlightenment philosophers such as Leibniz, Voltaire, Kant, and Herder produced various assumptions and prejudices regarding the East and especially the Turkish/Islamic image in their works(***).

As for political economy, let alone imperial economists, for example, the discourse or thought expressed by Marx in his early periods, specifically regarding India, that “advanced civilization dissolves backward civilization and recreates it in its own image” can be interpreted in this direction.(****) Is this approach not pure Orientalism? 

Thinkers like Edward Said have criticized this early Eurocentric or orientalist perspective of Marx on the grounds that it carries a tone that could legitimize Western colonialism. However, let us note that in his later writings, Marx also emphasized that the cost of this transformation was heavily borne by the exploited people and that true salvation could only be possible with the overthrow of the British yoke or a working-class revolution in the West. 

Among the orientalists in literature, poets and writers such as Lord Byron, Victor Hugo, and Goethe during the Romantic Period of the West, and Rudyard Kipling during the rampant period of colonialism can be counted. They defined the East through their own cultural filters, usually as exotic, mysterious, irrational, or backward.

In music, Orientalism has been reproduced through lasting judgments as the "Other" constructed by the West in its own mind. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio” opera and “Turkish March,” and the “Turkish March” section in the stage music of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “The Ruins of Athens,” as well as some mehter (Janissary band) timbres in the choral finale of the 9th Symphony, are two examples that the Turkish public might also know. 

Historiography originating from Orientalism is also a narrative that starts world history from Ancient Greece and Rome, places Europe at the center, and defines the East as a “periphery” or a “delayed” civilization. The orientalist historian best known to Turkish readers in our time is Bernard Lewis. Others include Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, Louis Massignon, Carl Brockelmann, Marshall Hodgson, and Albert Hourani.

It can be said that objective works are increasingly being produced against the historical narratives of Orientalism. 

One of these is Alp Hamuroğlu’s book, ”An example of writing history from the East, not the West; “A History of the Germans from an Asian perspective - The Nationalization of the Germanic Peoples -”.

Alp Hamuroğlu has been living in Germany for a period spanning forty years. His first book, published under the title “German Islam,” was about the German state’s policies and practices regarding Turkey, Turks, and Islam. This work won the 2001 “Turan Dursun Research Award,” given in the name of Turan Dursun. Later, a book of his was published under the title “Christianity, Islam and Europe / Gates of Civilization from East to West (Andalusia, Sicily, Crusades).” He also has a study titled “Deutsche, Türken und Frankfurt” on Frankfurt and its history in a German compilation about the foreigners issue in Germany titled Doppelte Heimat / Türkische Migrantenberichten.

In his book “A History of the Germans from an Asian perspective - The Nationalization of the Germanic Peoples -,” Alp Hamuroğlu states the following: 

“…After the emergence of the “West” as a concept, the fact that history also emerged as belonging to a direction, a region, and a place, and that it is defined, structured, and formed according to a culture, is known and expressed because; Western history and Westernist history. This history, which began to be written in Europe, after a while became history written from the European/European perspective, and when the world was the subject or when it was the history of another place in the world, it became history written by looking from Europe. Later, when Europe evolved into becoming the “West,” the histories written in Europe, which were histories written from the European perspective, would later become histories written from the Western perspective.

“The eye and perspective of Europe and the West were for Europe and the West.

”After historiography began, every society, every region, every country, every nation, and every institution wrote its own history according to itself and for itself. It is very easy to give examples from the West (because it is concrete); for example, the history written by Rome for Rome, the history written by Europeans in Europe for Europe, French history for France, the history written by Christianity for Christianity, etc. However, when these are evaluated as a whole, it is seen that “special histories” are related to centralisms; it is understood that histories are Rome-centered, Europe-centered, Christianity-centered, and country-centered histories.”

Alp Hamuroğlu continues in his book by stating that this approach is not a coincidence, that when Europe entered the colonial period as a result of discoveries(*****), it began to write the history of other and distant societies, countries, lands, continents, and therefore the world, and that while Western history was wrapped in unknowns, it was written as desired, with omissions, alterations, distortions, additions, thefts, shading, hiding, concealing, etc. And more accurately, he stated that the West created a history for themselves and according to themselves; in short, that history was produced.

The views expressed in the book are gathered in the sections: “History: Where is Europe from?; ”Europe’s “Middle Ages: Ignorance, Brutality and Rebellion”; ”Reformation, Peasants’ Wars in Germany and the Division of Christianity in Europe”; ”Advancing History: The Emerging Germany”; ”The Great French Revolution and Germany”; “History Starts Fast in the 19th Century”; “Revolutions, Disappointments and “Empire”; ”How Did Germany Become Imperialist?”; ”Turks in Germany’s Nationalization Process”; ”When We Come to the Century of Great Wars”; ”Germany Today,” and it is further enriched with a “Chronology,” “Index of Names,” and “References Used.”

In my opinion, Alp Hamuroğlu’s view of historiography is actually an extension of Atatürk’s view on history and historiography.

Atatürk expressed that history and historiography should be done with a scientific and objective approach by saying, “Writing history is as important as making history. If the writer does not remain loyal to the maker, the unchanging truth takes on a nature that will confuse humanity.”

As a requirement of this, was the fundamental purpose of the Turkish Historical Society (first named the Turkish History Research Society), which Atatürk founded, not to “oppose the prejudiced, false claims about Turkish history in European history, and to examine Turkish and Turkish history not from foreign or biased sources, but directly from primary sources; original documents, inscriptions, and archaeological findings with scientific methods”?

I think Alp Hamuroğlu’s book is important in many respects.

First; it is a book that is a candidate to make a remarkable contribution to the History of the Germans in the European bibliography as well as the Turkish bibliography.

Second is this; as a writer coming from an applied profession, I can say that Alp Hamuroğlu is trying to understand history, or rather the world, in terms of wholeness. 

I value this. 

Because today, the science (and education) produced in the universities of the Western World and in public and private research institutions has entered a process that serves the interests of monopoly capital, not the needs of society and sectors. It is a known reality that in these places, applied “natural scientists” to a large extent and applied “social scientists” to a smaller extent conduct research in accordance with the academic capitalism approach.

Naturally, the mentioned changes have also been reflected in peripheral countries in line with the breezes and even impositions coming from the center.

I think that Alp Hamuroğlu’s book “A History of the Germans from an Asian perspective - The Nationalization of the Germanic Peoples -” is a work that provides useful information, evaluation, and guidance for everyone from historians to those in international relations, from the world of politics to those trying to grasp the world, and I wish it many readers.

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(*)Hamuroğlu, A., 2025, A History of the Germans from an Asian perspective - The Nationalization of the Germanic Peoples -, Dağarcık Türkiye Publications. The book can be obtained from the address: Yakın Kitabevi, Alsancak Mah., 1464 Sok., 6A Konak-İzmir.

(**)Amin, S., 2018, Eurocentrism/Critique of an Ideology (L’eurocentrisme Critique d’une idéologie), Translation: Mehmet Sert, Yordam Kitap, Istanbul.

Said, E.W., 2010, Orientalism, Western Conceptions of the Orient, 5th Edition (Translation: Ülner, B.), Metis/Kültür Publications, Istanbul.

Hobson, J. M., 2020, The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization, 7th Edition (Translation: Ermert, E.), Yapı Kredi Publications, Istanbul, pp. 222-229.

(***)Kula, O. B., 2018, Orientalism and the Turkish Image in Western Philosophy, Türkiye İş Bankası Cultural Publications, Istanbul.

(****)Marx, K., 1853, His articles titled "British Rule in India" and "The Future Results of British Rule in India," New York Daily Tribune Newspaper.

(*****)Discoveries, as in Turkish textbooks, is perhaps one of the many distortions and lies of Orientalism that is adopted in the West without even realizing it. The correct term should be “invasion.” 

The preference for the term discoveries is to hide and cover up the invasion and occupation carried out by the European. The academic who realized the Lie of Discoveries instead of invasion was Cihan Dura. I also think, “How can the invasion of America and other regions of the world by colonial pioneers like Columbus, Cortes, and Pizarro be a discovery? How can a place where people live be considered discovered by someone who came for plunder and robbery?” As is known, people like Christopher Columbus did not discover America; they invaded it. Because when they set foot in America, there were communities with advanced levels of civilization like the Aztecs and Mayans. I know that Alp Hamuroğlu will agree with this assessment of mine. (See: Kaymakçı, M., 2012, Anti-Globali(zation) Science-Politics Writings, İklim Ozan Publications, Antalya, pp. 220-221)