The
growing number of leaders around the world wanting to turn their countries
into stagnant ponds filled with frightened xenophobes should take a careful
look at two of the two of the longest-lived empires the world has ever seen.
They would learn that one of the main reasons for the 1,600-year collective longevity
of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires in what was then, as now, a very troubled
part of the world was their willingness to incorporate outsiders into the very
fabric of the empire.
Unlike
today’s leaders they saw the value, the necessity, of bringing fresh ideas,
different experiences into the empire. Not for them the narrow-minded fear of
‘Johnny foreigner.’
The
Byzantine Empire lasted about 1,000 years from the mid-4th century
AD to the mid-15th
century. During that time, it was surrounded by threats on all sides such as
Persians, Avars, Russians, Bulgars, Latins, Visogoths, Arabs, Mongols,
Turkic tribes, and finally the Ottoman Turks. The Byzantines are too easily
dismissed in much of today’s history books as effete, unreliable, and more
obsessed with bloody palace intrigue than true statesmanship. That simplistic
characterization obscures their ability to adjust to rapidly changing
circumstances. The 1,000-year run didn’t happen by chance alone.
Byzantine Emperors Justinian and Constantine presenting Haghia Sophia and city to the Virgin Mary |
When
strong enough, resort to military measures. When weaker, resort to diplomacy
and what we call today ‘soft power.’ Compared to much of the rest of the region
the Byzantine Empire, more particularly the glories of Constantinople, was so splendid
that many foreigner rulers were gladly co-opted into that splendour and, in
some cases, the Orthodox faith. The period was highlighted by strategic
inter-marriages, alliances, financial tribute, trading privileges and much
more. Jonathan Harris put it very nicely in his recent book The Lost World of Byzantium.
“Thus if Byzantium has one outstanding legacy
it is not perhaps Orthodox Christianity or its preservation of classical Greek
literature. Rather it is the lesson that the strength of a society lies in its
ability to adapt and incorporate outsiders in even the most adverse
circumstances.”
The Byzantine Empire finally and
totally collapsed one spring day in 1453 when the Ottoman Turks succeeded where
so many others had failed and breached the formidable walls that had protected
Constantinople since the 5th century. The Byzantine Empire may have
disappeared as a political and military entity, but the early Ottoman leaders
were smart enough to maintain the essential characteristics of religious
tolerance and using talent wherever they found it. Far from being frightened by
religious or ethnic diversity these Moslem leaders valued the strength that
diversity gave the Empire.
In a new book, Aleppo, The Rise and Fall of
Syria’s Great Merchant City, Philip Mansel recounts some advice that
Suleyman the Magnificent gave to his council that was considering expelling
Jews from the province in the mid-16th century.
“The more sorts of nations I have in my dominion under
me as Turks, Moors, Grecians, etc. the greater the authority they bring to my
kingdoms and make them more famous. And that nothing may fall off from my
greatness, I think it convenient that all that have been together long
hitherto, may be kept and tolerated so still for the future.”
The Jews stayed put in Aleppo and
continued to contribute to Suleyman’s greatness. It is no coincidence that the
ultimate decline of the Ottoman Empire was hastened when its rulers ignored
Suleyman’s advice on the value of diversity. The greatest of Ottoman sultans
must be looking on modern Turkey with great despair as the current rulers do
their best to eradicate all traces of that tolerance and diversity.
But Turkey is far from being alone
in its headlong retreat from those two values. One need only to look at some of
the countries in the European Union where walls and barbed wire have replaced
Welcome signs. And then there’s Donald Trump in the United States. He not only
has pledged to build a gigantic wall along the Mexican border but to expel more
than 10 million immigrants now living in the U.S. The famous Statue of Liberty
must be blushing at the thought of that happening.
The shameful immigration ‘debate’ in Britain is so far a debate
without any facts or even a real discussion. The anti-immigrant rantings of
UKIP and many Tory members of parliament are taken at face value without a
shred of proof that foreigners – specifically those from the European Union --
are taking over the country. The actual, official, numbers on immigration into
Britain tell quite a different story – one that demonstrates clearly that
crust-less watercress sandwiches and tea are not about to be replaced by kielbasa and vodka. But bringing this
reality into the debate would require an act of statesmanship and political
courage – two qualities completely lacking in the entire Brexit discussion up
to now. Those two long-gone empires have a great deal to teach modern
politicians.