Ernst von Shork: Das Volk und Reich der Osmanen in besonderer Darstellung ihrer Kriegs versassung und Kriegswesens. Pirna 1829 First edition, in 8v0,contemporary leather over boards,head of spine pressed,text clean and bright,complete 302p.,overall in very good condition. Das Volk und Reich der Osmanen,The People and Empire of the Ottomans, is a fascinating military and sociological study.Ernst von Skork was a former military officer,he wrote with the analytical precision of a soldier studying a formidable opponent.The book is famous for its detailed breakdown of the Ottoman administrative and military machine. Published in 1829, it is one of the first Western books to analyze the Nizam-ı Cedid reforms of Sultan Mahmud II. Skork was interested in whether the Ottomans could successfully modernize their army to stop the Russian advance. It contains a professional assessment of how the Turks defended their fortresses, a subject of great interest to European generals following the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829.Second part includes a very detailed account on the multinational population of the Ottoman Empire focusing on the Greeks and the rise of the Greek state. It is one among very few Germans who offers a surprisingly nuanced,and for the time, relatively positive view of the Turkish people. He looked at the Volk as well as the Reich, trying to understand the social fabric that kept the empire together despite its military decay..In a period of plenty Philhellenism,specially in the German society,a very moderate and neutral, almost alternative, voice.An extremely rare account.