Савремена Историографија и Тумачење Настанка Османске Државе
Modern Historiography and Explanations of Emergence of The Ottoman State

Summary/Abstract: Although not equally treated, modern historiography offers several different theories about the origin of the Ottoman Empire. The most predominant is P. Wittek’s so-called ghazi-theory. It states that the Ottoman Empire established itself on the idea of Holy War (jihad) against Christians. This theory is still widely acknowledged, although historical critique showed that its basis is not in accordance with historical facts. The intent of this article is to summarize the development and problems of modern historiography regarding the origins of the Ottoman Empire, with special regard to the ghazi-theory. Having analyzed the most important scientific literature, it has been shown in this article that this theory is still the most predominant, and that the results of historical critique are not properly used. Although the question of the origin of the Ottoman Empire is still left open, modern historiography has detached itself from the theoretical approach and returned to the analyzing of historical sources.

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