5.As a result of such social and geographical realities and the negotiations they necessitated, these frontier areas remained semiautonomous buffer zones between Iran and the Ottoman Empire. Hence, when a Kurdish or Arab tribe defended its territory, it simultaneously defended the border of the sultan’s or shah’s power.Such tribes also played primary and secondary roles in complex diplomatic maneuvers aimed at establishing links with prospective anti-Safavid or anti-Ottoman allies and clients,including securing the frontier, scouting, intelligence gathering, and providing transportation. Even though some historians, following the lead of the official chroniclers, describe the shifting alliances of borderlanders as indicative of their fickle nature, such moves were in fact as calculated as those of any agent seeking alliances and security. Thus, as Rhoads Murphey maintains, “they retained sufficient fluidity and dynamism to defend their own interests and in exceptional circumstances, especiallyduring wartime, even to extend their sphere of influence within thosestates.”Because tribal confederations – for example, the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq – were the guardians of the marches, periods of war put them on equal terms with provincial governors and “extended their territorial jurisdiction for the most influential and strategically located tribal confederations who took enhanced responsibilities far beyond their traditional peacetime role as guardians of the border.”Consequently,in contrast to what happened in Anatolia or the Balkans, the slaves (kul or ghulam) of the sultan did not replace the native aristocracy in the Ottoman-Iranian frontier region.
翻译:由于这样的社会和地理现实以及由此产生的谈判妥协,这些边境地区仍然是伊朗和奥斯曼帝国之间的半自治缓冲区。因此,当一个库尔德或阿拉伯部落保卫其领土时,它同时保卫了苏丹或沙阿政权的边界。这些部落在复杂的外交策略中也发挥了主要或次要的作用,这些策略旨在与潜在的反萨法维或反奥斯曼的盟友和客户建立联系,包括确保边境安全、侦察、情报收集和提供运输。尽管一些历史学家跟随官方编年史学家的脚步,将边疆居民的联盟变化描述为他们善变的本性,但事实上,这些举动与任何寻求联盟和安全的代理人一样经过精心策划。因此,正如Rhoads Murphey所言,“他们保持了足够的流动性和活力来捍卫自己的利益,并在特殊情况下,尤其是在战争期间,甚至扩大了他们在这些国家的势力范围。”因为部落联盟-例如伊拉克南部的阿拉伯人-是边境的守护者,战争时期使他们与省长处于平等地位,并“扩大了他们对最具影响力和战略位置的部落联盟的领土管辖权,这些部落联盟承担的责任远远超出了他们在和平时期作为边境守护者的传统角色。”因此,与安纳托利亚或巴尔干半岛的情况相反,苏丹的奴隶(kul或ghulam)并没有取代奥斯曼-伊朗边境地区的本地贵族。
这段话感觉很有意思,很精辟。这些库尔德、阿拉伯部落有点滇缅土司夹在中缅之间的感觉了。