History of the Middle East (Part 4: Ottoman Empire)
Birth (1299-1453)
Rise (1453-1566)
Beylik (1299-1354)
Stagnation (1566-1807)
Suleiman I (1520-1566)
Mehmed II (r. 1444-1481)
Crusade of Varna (1443-1444)
His early reign was marked by dispute with the Habsburgs (mostly Charles V) over Hungary. He even died of old age in his first campaign to the West in 23 years, being succeeded by his son, Selim II (1566-1574).
Created by Osman Ghazi (1258-1326) in 1299, the Ottoman beylik, as the principalities in Anatolia were called, stood amidst many other beyliks and the collapsing Byzantine empire.
When Orhan became Bey in 1324 and then Sultan in 1354, he organized the tax system and the military, capturing young boys and training them to become Janissaries, elite soldiers loyal, in theory, only to the Sultan. Plus, he set the foundations for Ottoman multiculturalism when he took Thrace, the first Ottoman conquest in Europe.
An extremely pragmatic ruler, Osman expanded through political maneuvering and the use of mercenaries, who liked his reputation of winning very often.
The Janissaries could rise to the prestigious position of Vizier (counselor), and conquered provinces could convert to Islam to increase their influence, or simply maintain their religion while paying the Jizye tax and suffering from other restrictions such as not being allowed to join the army.
In 1333, Byzantine and Ottoman emperors met for the first time, and the Byzantines agreed to pay the Ottomans for an end of aggressions.
Kara Halil Hayreddin (1330-1387) was the first Grand Vizier of the Ottoman empire, serving Murad I, showing how the Ottomans had evolved from a small beylik to an empire with complex bureocracy.
Interregnum (1402-1413)
Mehmed I won, but because of the chaos caused by the Interregnum, his son, Murad II, started the practice of killing one's siblings in order to prevent infighting.
Under the rule of Bayezid I (r. 1389-1402), the Ottomans solidified the Balkan conquests of Murad I, his predecessor, and expanded east of Anatolia, but he and his heir were eventually captured in battle by Tamerlane and died in captivity, beginning the Ottoman Interregnum.
Osman took Bursa from the Byzantines and made it the new capital of the Beylik, but died in the same year and was succeeded by his son, Orhan (r. 1324-1362).
Fall (1807-1922)
In 1439, one of the last Byzantine emperors agreed with several points of the Catholic church in order to gather support for a crusade, despite the Christians having a truce with the Ottomans.
Mehmed was still too young (12) to fight the crusaders, so his viziers told him to recall his father, Murad. In the battle of Varna, Bulgaria (1444), Władysław III, king of Poland and Hungary, was killed, and the crusade ended.
Conquest of Constantinople (1453)
In 1453, Mehmed led a massive campaign against the Byzantines, conquering Constantinople, thus succeeding where 13 of his predecessors had failed and making it the new capital of the empire.
During the reign of Mehmed, high positions in the sultanate became more diverse, often being occupied by non-Turks.
When it was taken, the city was only a shadow of its former glory, but the Ottomans made it flourish again, with multiculturalism, great architects such as Sinan (1490-1588), trade and culture from all over the known world.
Later reign
Mehmed focused the rest of his reign in conquering the Balkans, annexing Serbia in 1458, and fighting Venice (1463-1479) and Uzun Hasan.
To fight Venice and even take Rhodes to launch a campaign on Egypt, Mehmed considerably strengthened the Ottoman navy.
The Sword of Osman was an important sword of state used during the enthronement ceremony of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire.
Bayezid II (r. 1481-1512) and Selim I (r. 1512-1520)
Bayezid II got a lot of talented Jewish immigrants after the end of the Reconquista in 1492.
Although the first Ottoman-Mamluk war (1485-1491) ended in a stalemate, he annexed Karaman in 1487 while the Mamluks were weakened, finally getting rid of the buffer state.
Selim is known to posterity as ‘Yavuz’, ‘the Stern’: he came to power violently, and violence marked his reign.
Selim became Sultan by overthrowing his father and beating his brothers with the support of the janissaries, who were growing more influent and corrupt.
In 1517, the Ottomans easily conquered the Mamluk empire, as they had barely started embracing gunpowder. Now with access to the Red Sea, a rivalry with the Portuguese began.
Suleiman’s reign was marked by disputes between his wife, Roxelana, and his first Grand vizier, Ibrahim Pasha, with Roxelana coming out on top.
Great at exploring European rivalries, he took Rhodes from the knights (1522) and made an alliance with the French to oppose the Habsburgs in 1536.
With the of his admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa (s. 1533-1546), he made the Ottomans a naval power in the Mediterranean.
Rather than expanding, Suleiman spent his later years focused on the internal affairs of the empire.
Suleiman started the Ottoman practice of not appearing much in public, which might have decreased the power of the Sultans.
Sultanate of women (1533-1656)
A period of extraordinary influence of the wives and mothers of the Sultans, the Sultanate of women is said to have started with Roxelana in 1533.
Selim's concubine, Nurbanu Sultan, ruled as queen-mother instead of her son, Murad III.
The women often competed with the janissaries and religious class over influence.
As the practice of fratricide became more uncommon, the princes started being used as political tools by the ambitious.
Sokollu Mehmed (r. 1541-1579) served as Grand Vizir for Suleiman, Selim and Murad. With the absence of the Sultan, he kept balance in the empire, and his death marked the beginning of factional struggle.
Crisis (1566-1683)
Afraid of janissary mutinies, Selim II never led his troops on campaign, simply letting his Grand Vizir do most of the work.
Rhodes would eventually became a place of exile to those who narrowly escaped execution.
Wars against Persia and Austria at the end of the 16th century led to economic and social instability.
In order to get cheap soldiers, the unhappy peasantry was drafted, but this made revolts broke out across the empire, notably the Celali rebellions.
In the middle of a crisis, the Ottomans began suffering from Cossack raids.
As the crisis dragged on, religious intolerance grew inside the empire.
Murad IV (1623-1640) made many important reforms and made peace with the Safavids, which lasted until they collapsed. He was, however, religious intolerant.
Mustafa I, reigned for 3 months before becoming the first Sultan to suffer a coup from his officials rather than brothers. His nephew, Osman II, became the first Sultan to be killed in a coup. Mustafa was deposed 16 months later by the same janissaries that put him in power. Thus, it became too common for Sultans to be deposed.
Austria, Russia and France
After the Great Northern War (1700-1721), King Charles of Sweden took refuge in the Ottoman empire, worsening their relationship with Russia.
After the Great Turkish war (1683-1699), the weakened Ottomans started solving disputes through diplomacy rather than conflict. Also, territorial loses resulted in a displaced population, leading to the Patrona Halil rebellion (1730).
Under Ahmed III (1703-1730), the Ottomans experienced the Tulip Period (1718-1730), a period of peace and stability leading to a flourishing of culture and infrastructure. It all ended with The Patrona Halil rebellion (1730)
After the war of 1735 to stop Russian expansion, the Ottomans enjoyed 3 decades of peace. It ended with another war of 1768 to dethrone Catherine the Great's lover from Poland.
In this war, the Ottomans lost the vassalage of Crimea, and thus the Black sea, to Russia. It also made Russia protector of the Orthodox Christians in the empire.
With the loss of Crimea, the empire became poorer. They also had to cut relations with France, their main trade partner, when Napoleon invaded Egypt (1798)
Napoleon’s invasion stopped Selim III’s (1789-1807) reforms to westernize the empire, such as his New Order army to replace the now not-Christian Ottomans.
Bonaparte's campaign on Egypt made the Arabs question Ottoman capacity to protect holy places.
Decentralization
Now that Orthodox Christians had Russia to protect then, they no longer needed the Ottomans. Britain thus sided with the Ottomans to prevent Russian expansion.
Moldavia was lost to Russia in 1806 and Greece, with their help, became independent in 1829.
Westernization
The Auspicious Incident (1826) was the final Janissary revolt, after which Mahmud II replaced them with a more modern military.
The Tanzimat reforms (1839-1876) intended to modernize the empire, but were unpopular among Christians for introducing non-Muslim conscription. They banned black slaves, but kept other types.
Throughout the 19th century, under governors Muhammad Ali Pasha and Isma'il Pasha, Egypt became industrialized and basically self governing, and the Suez Canal was viewed with jealously by the emperor.
Republic
The Macelle (1876-1878) was briefly the first Ottoman constitution before being abolished.
British faith in the Ottomans diminished, allowing Russia to attack in 1876, taking a third of the empire and making almost the entire Balkans independent. Thus, the Ottomans turned to Germany for help.
The Young Turks (CPU) desired a constitutional monarchy, and got one after revolution in 1908, the Second Constitutional Era.
Abdülaziz (r. 1861-1876) was the first and last Sultan to visit foreign countries, traveling in 1867 to Britain, France, Germany, etc.
By the 20th century, a large portion of the administration was controlled by European powers.
World War I
The Ottoman performed terribly WW1, with the defence of Gallipoli being their only major success. Fearing revolts, persecutions were made, resulting in the Arab revolt (1916-1918) and the loss of the middle-east.
Armenian separatists were armed by Russia, resulting in the Ottoman government forcefully displacing their population, causing millions of deaths (Armenian genocide).
After the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, Anatolia was disarmed, occupied (despite allied promises) and the first war-crimes trial happened there, ending the CPU.
Making use of the population that was armed during the war, Mustafa Kemal led the Turkish war of independence (1919-1923), mostly fought against Greece and Armenia, as the allies were satisfied with the territory they got. The Soviet Union eventually took Armenia.
The empire ended in 1922 and its members were exiled in 1924 to Switzerland. The Republic was established in 29 October, 1923.
Ataturk abolished all forms of slavery in the republic and established a secular state.
Tripoli was lost to Italy (1911-1912) and almost all of the Balkans in the First Balkan war (1912-1913), though Adrianople was recovered in the second (1913) Balkan war.
The Allies couldn't agree on what to do with the Ottoman empire, and eventually Greece occupied Smyrna to strengthen their claims, with tensions and resistance eventually leading to war.