Answer: the Siege of Güns

Question: In what siege was Suleiman the Magnificent stopped when attacking Vienna in 1532?


Answer: Habsburg rule

Context: France and the Ottoman Empire, united by mutual opposition to Habsburg rule, became strong allies. The French conquests of Nice (1543) and Corsica (1553) occurred as a joint venture between the forces of the French king Francis I and Suleiman, and were commanded by the Ottoman admirals Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha and Turgut Reis. A month prior to the siege of Nice, France supported the Ottomans with an artillery unit during the 1543 Ottoman conquest of Esztergom in northern Hungary. After further advances by the Turks, the Habsburg ruler Ferdinand officially recognized Ottoman ascendancy in Hungary in 1547.

Question: France and the Ottoman Empire united against what?


Answer: Corsica

Question: Where did the French lay conquest in 1553?


Answer: Francis I

Question: The conquest of Nice was an effort by Suleiman and what French king?


Answer: Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha and Turgut Reis

Question: What were the names of the Ottoman admirals who commanded the conquest of Nice?


Answer: Ferdinand

Question: What ruler recognized the Ottomans in 1547?


Answer: Stephen Lee

Context: The stagnation and decline, Stephen Lee argues, was relentless after the death of Suleiman in 1566, interrupted by a few short revivals or reform and recovery. The decline gathered speed so that the Empire in 1699 was, "a mere shadow of that which intimidated East and West alike in 1566." Although there are dissenting scholars, most historians point to "degenerate Sultans, incompetent Grand Viziers, debilitated and ill-equipped armies, corrupt officials, avaricious speculators, grasping enemies, and treacherous friends." The main cause was a failure of leadership, as Lee argues the first 10 sultans from 1292 to 1566, with one exception, had performed admirably. The next 13 sultans from 1566 to 1703, with two exceptions, were lackadaisical or incompetent rulers, says Lee. In a highly centralized system, the failure at the center proved fatal. A direct result was the strengthening of provincial elites who increasingly ignored Constantinople. Secondly the military strength of European enemies grew stronger and stronger, while the Ottoman armies and arms scarcely improved. Finally the Ottoman economic system grew distorted and impoverished, as war caused inflation, world trade moved in other directions, and the deterioration of law and order made economic progress difficult.

Question: Who argues that there was steep decline and stagnation after the death of Suleiman?


Answer: 1566

Question: In what year did Suleiman die?


Answer: 1699

Question: By what year was it argued that the Ottoman empire was merely "a shadow" of what it was in 1566?


Answer: 1566 to 1703

Question: Beginning and ending with what years does Lee argue that the rules of the Empire were incompetent?


Answer: war

Question: What factor caused inflation in the Ottoman empire?


Answer: Sultans

Context: The effective military and bureaucratic structures of the previous century came under strain during a protracted period of misrule by weak Sultans. The Ottomans gradually fell behind the Europeans in military technology as the innovation that fed the Empire's forceful expansion became stifled by growing religious and intellectual conservatism. But in spite of these difficulties, the Empire remained a major expansionist power until the Battle of Vienna in 1683, which marked the end of Ottoman expansion into Europe.

Question: Poor rule by what class of people strained the empire?


Answer: military technology

Question: Europeans gained on the Ottoman empire in what type of technology?


Answer: religious and intellectual

Question: What types of conservative beliefs slowed the expansion of the empire?


Answer: Battle of Vienna

Question: What battle took place in 1683?


Answer: Europe

Question: The empire ceased its expansion into what area after a battle in 1683?


Answer: new maritime trade routes

Context: The discovery of new maritime trade routes by Western European states allowed them to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly. The Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 initiated a series of Ottoman-Portuguese naval wars in the Indian Ocean throughout the 16th century. The Somali Muslim Ajuran Empire, allied with the Ottomans, defied the Portuguese economic monopoly in the Indian Ocean by employing a new coinage which followed the Ottoman pattern, thus proclaiming an attitude of economic independence in regard to the Portuguese.

Question: Avoiding the strength of Ottoman trade was accomplished with the discovery of what?


Answer: the Cape of Good Hope

Question: What did the Portuguese discover in 1488?


Answer: the Indian Ocean

Question: Where did the Ottoman and Portuguese have Naval wars in the 16th century?


Answer: The Somali Muslim Ajuran Empire

Question: Who did the Ottomans ally with in the Indian Ocean?


Answer: the Portuguese

Question: New coins were a proclamation of independence by the Somali Muslim Ajuran Empire from whom?


Answer: Philip II

Context: In southern Europe, a Catholic coalition led by Philip II of Spain won a victory over the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). It was a startling, if mostly symbolic, blow to the image of Ottoman invincibility, an image which the victory of the Knights of Malta against the Ottoman invaders in the 1565 Siege of Malta had recently set about eroding. The battle was far more damaging to the Ottoman navy in sapping experienced manpower than the loss of ships, which were rapidly replaced. The Ottoman navy recovered quickly, persuading Venice to sign a peace treaty in 1573, allowing the Ottomans to expand and consolidate their position in North Africa.

Question: Which Spaniard led a battle in 1571?


Answer: Battle of Lepanto

Question: What battle did the Spanish win in 1571?


Answer: Siege of Malta

Question: What siege occurred in 1565?


Answer: 1573

Question: In what year did Venice sign a peace treaty with the Ottomans?


Answer: North Africa

Question: After signing a peace treaty with Venice, in what region did the Ottoman empire expand?


Answer: The Long War

Context: By contrast, the Habsburg frontier had settled somewhat, a stalemate caused by a stiffening of the Habsburg defences. The Long War against Habsburg Austria (1593–1606) created the need for greater numbers of Ottoman infantry equipped with firearms, resulting in a relaxation of recruitment policy. This contributed to problems of indiscipline and outright rebelliousness within the corps, which were never fully solved. Irregular sharpshooters (Sekban) were also recruited, and on demobilization turned to brigandage in the Jelali revolts (1595–1610), which engendered widespread anarchy in Anatolia in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. With the Empire's population reaching 30 million people by 1600, the shortage of land placed further pressure on the government . In spite of these problems, the Ottoman state remained strong, and its army did not collapse or suffer crushing defeats. The only exceptions were campaigns against the Safavid dynasty of Persia, where many of the Ottoman eastern provinces were lost, some permanently. This 1603–1618 war eventually resulted in the Treaty of Nasuh Pasha, which ceded the entire Caucasus, except westernmost Georgia, back into Iranian Safavid possession. Campaigns during this era became increasingly inconclusive, even against weaker states with much smaller forces, such as Poland or Austria.

Question: What was the late 16th century war against Habsburg Austria known as?


Answer: 1593–1606

Question: During what years did the Ottoman war against Habsburg Austria occur?


Answer: Sekban

Question: What were ottoman irregular sharpshooters known as?


Answer: 30 million people

Question: What was the population of the Ottoman empire at the beginning of the 17th century?


Answer: Treaty of Nasuh Pasha

Question: A war occurring from 1603 to 1618 resulted in what treaty?


Answer: Murad IV

Context: During his brief majority reign, Murad IV (1612–1640) reasserted central authority and recaptured Iraq (1639) from the Safavids. The resulting Treaty of Zuhab of that same year decisively parted the Caucasus and adjacent regions between the two neighbouring empires as it had already been defined in the 1555 Peace of Amasya. The Sultanate of women (1648–1656) was a period in which the mothers of young sultans exercised power on behalf of their sons. The most prominent women of this period were Kösem Sultan and her daughter-in-law Turhan Hatice, whose political rivalry culminated in Kösem's murder in 1651. During the Köprülü Era (1656–1703), effective control of the Empire was exercised by a sequence of Grand Viziers from the Köprülü family. The Köprülü Vizierate saw renewed military success with authority restored in Transylvania, the conquest of Crete completed in 1669, and expansion into Polish southern Ukraine, with the strongholds of Khotyn and Kamianets-Podilskyi and the territory of Podolia ceding to Ottoman control in 1676.

Question: Who recaptured Iraq in 1639?


Answer: the Safavids

Question: Who had control over Iraq before it was recaptured in 1639?


Answer: 1651

Question: When was Kösem murdered?


Answer: 1656–1703

Question: What years define the Köprülü Era?


Answer: Crete

Question: What territory was conquered by the Köprülü Vizierate in 1669?


Answer: Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha

Context: This period of renewed assertiveness came to a calamitous end in May 1683 when Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha led a huge army to attempt a second Ottoman siege of Vienna in the Great Turkish War of 1683–1687. The final assault being fatally delayed, the Ottoman forces were swept away by allied Habsburg, German and Polish forces spearheaded by the Polish king Jan III Sobieski at the Battle of Vienna. The alliance of the Holy League pressed home the advantage of the defeat at Vienna, culminating in the Treaty of Karlowitz (26 January 1699), which ended the Great Turkish War. The Ottomans surrendered control of significant territories, many permanently. Mustafa II (1695–1703) led the counterattack of 1695–96 against the Habsburgs in Hungary, but was undone at the disastrous defeat at Zenta (in modern Serbia), 11 September 1697.

Question: Which Grand Vizier attempted a siege of Vienna in 1683?


Answer: the Great Turkish War

Question: What was the war that took place from 1683 to 1687 known as?


Answer: Jan III Sobieski

Question: Which polish king led the fight against the Ottoman empire in the Battle of Vienna?


Answer: the Holy League

Question: What was the alliance against the late 17th century Ottoman empire known as?


Answer: Treaty of Karlowitz

Question: What treaty was signed 26 January 1699?


Answer: Little Walachia

Context: After the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718 the Treaty of Passarowitz confirmed the loss of the Banat, Serbia and "Little Walachia" (Oltenia) to Austria. The Treaty also revealed that the Ottoman Empire was on the defensive and unlikely to present any further aggression in Europe. The Austro-Russian–Turkish War, which was ended by the Treaty of Belgrade in 1739, resulted in the recovery of Serbia and Oltenia, but the Empire lost the port of Azov, north of the Crimean Peninsula, to the Russians. After this treaty the Ottoman Empire was able to enjoy a generation of peace, as Austria and Russia were forced to deal with the rise of Prussia.

Question: Oltenia is also known as what?


Answer: 1716–1718

Question: The Austro-Turkish war took place over what years?


Answer: Treaty of Passarowitz

Question: The Austro Turkish War culminated in the signing of what treaty?


Answer: Austro-Russian–Turkish War

Question: The Treaty of Belgrade was the result of a war known as what?


Answer: port of Azov

Question: What port was lost by the Ottoman empire as a result of the Treaty of Belgrade?


Answer: Istanbul Technical University

Context: Educational and technological reforms came about, including the establishment of higher education institutions such as the Istanbul Technical University. In 1734 an artillery school was established to impart Western-style artillery methods, but the Islamic clergy successfully objected under the grounds of theodicy. In 1754 the artillery school was reopened on a semi-secret basis. In 1726, Ibrahim Muteferrika convinced the Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha, the Grand Mufti, and the clergy on the efficiency of the printing press, and Muteferrika was later granted by Sultan Ahmed III permission to publish non-religious books (despite opposition from some calligraphers and religious leaders). Muteferrika's press published its first book in 1729 and, by 1743, issued 17 works in 23 volumes, each having between 500 and 1,000 copies.

Question: What is one university that was formed in the early 18th century of the empire?


Answer: an artillery school

Question: What type of school was established in the empire in 1734?


Answer: Ibrahim Muteferrika

Question: In 1754 what man convinced the Grand Vizier to allow the use of the printing press?


Answer: Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha

Question: Who was the Ottoaman Grand Vizier in 1726?


Answer: 1729

Question: In what year did an Ottoman press produce its first book?


Answer: Ukrainian Haidamaks

Context: In 1768 Russian-backed Ukrainian Haidamaks, pursuing Polish confederates, entered Balta, an Ottoman-controlled town on the border of Bessarabia in Ukraine, and massacred its citizens and burned the town to the ground. This action provoked the Ottoman Empire into the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca of 1774 ended the war and provided freedom to worship for the Christian citizens of the Ottoman-controlled provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia. By the late 18th century, a number of defeats in several wars with Russia led some people in the Ottoman Empire to conclude that the reforms of Peter the Great had given the Russians an edge, and the Ottomans would have to keep up with Western technology in order to avoid further defeats.

Question: Which group supported by Russia entered Balta in 1768?


Answer: Bessarabia

Question: Near what region was Balta bording?


Answer: 1768–1774

Question: During what years was the Russo-Turkish war?


Answer: Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca

Question: The Russo-Turkish War resulted in what treaty?


Answer: freedom to worship

Question: The culmination of the Russo-Turkish war granted what to the citizens of Ottoman controlled Provinces in Moldavia?


Answer: 1804–1815

Context: The Serbian revolution (1804–1815) marked the beginning of an era of national awakening in the Balkans during the Eastern Question. Suzerainty of Serbia as a hereditary monarchy under its own dynasty was acknowledged de jure in 1830. In 1821, the Greeks declared war on the Sultan. A rebellion that originated in Moldavia as a diversion was followed by the main revolution in the Peloponnese, which, along with the northern part of the Gulf of Corinth, became the first parts of the Ottoman Empire to achieve independence (in 1829). By the mid-19th century, the Ottoman Empire was called the "sick man" by Europeans. The suzerain states – the Principality of Serbia, Wallachia, Moldavia and Montenegro – moved towards de jure independence during the 1860s and 1870s.

Question: During what years did the Serbian Revolution occur?


Answer: Suzerainty of Serbia

Question: What Serbian monarchy was acknowledged in 1830?


Answer: the Greeks

Question: There was a war proclaimed against the Ottoman Sultan in 1821, who declared it?


Answer: 1829

Question: Some parts of the Ottoman Empire gained independence in what year?


Answer: the "sick man"

Question: What did Europeans refer to the Ottoman empire as in the 19th century?


Answer: 571

Context: The Christian population of the empire, owing to their higher educational levels, started to pull ahead of the Muslim majority, leading to much resentment on the part of the latter. In 1861, there were 571 primary and 94 secondary schools for Ottoman Christians with 140,000 pupils in total, a figure that vastly exceeded the number of Muslim children in school at the same time, who were further hindered by the amount of time spent learning Arabic and Islamic theology. In turn, the higher educational levels of the Christians allowed them to play a large role in the economy. In 1911, of the 654 wholesale companies in Istanbul, 528 were owned by ethnic Greeks. Of course, it would be a mistake to ignore the geopolitical dimensions of this dynamic. The preponderance of Christian merchants owed not to any innate business sense on their part, although plenty of European observers were keen on making this point. In fact, in many cases, Christians and also Jews were able to gain protection from European consuls and citizenship, meaning they were protected from Ottoman law and not subject to the same economic regulations as their Muslim comrades.

Question: How many primary schools existed for Christians in the Ottoman empire in 1861?


Answer: 140,000

Question: How many Christian pupils were in ottoman schools in 1861?


Answer: 528

Question: Greeks in Istanbul owned how many wholesale companies in 1911?


Answer: 654

Question: There were how many wholesale companies in Istanbul in 1911?


Answer: consuls and citizenship

Question: Jews and Christians were offered protection in the form of what assistance by Europe?


Answer: 1853–1856

Context: The Crimean War (1853–1856) was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. The financial burden of the war led the Ottoman state to issue foreign loans amounting to 5 million pounds sterling on 4 August 1854. The war caused an exodus of the Crimean Tatars, about 200,000 of whom moved to the Ottoman Empire in continuing waves of emigration. Toward the end of the Caucasian Wars, 90% of the Circassians were ethnically cleansed and exiled from their homelands in the Caucasus and fled to the Ottoman Empire, resulting in the settlement of 500,000 to 700,000 Circassians in Turkey.[page needed] Some Circassian organisations give much higher numbers, totaling 1–1.5 million deported or killed.

Question: During what years did the Crimean War take place?


Answer: 4 August 1854

Question: On what date did the Ottoman empire issue foreign loans to deal with the cost of the war?


Answer: Crimean Tatars

Question: Roughly 200,000 individuals of what group left Crimea during the war?


Answer: Circassians

Question: Roughly 90% of what group were pushed from their homes or ethnically cleansed during the Caucasian Wars?


Answer: Turkey

Question: Where did Circassians settle to when leaving their homes in the Caucasus?


Answer: Eugene Rogan

Context: As the Ottoman state attempted to modernize its infrastructure and army in response to threats from the outside, it also opened itself up to a different kind of threat: that of creditors. Indeed, as the historian Eugene Rogan has written, "the single greatest threat to the independence of the Middle East" in the nineteenth century "was not the armies of Europe but its banks." The Ottoman state, which had begun taking on debt with the Crimean War, was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1875. By 1881, the Ottoman Empire agreed to have its debt controlled by an institution known as the Ottoman Public Debt Administration, a council of European men with presidency alternating between France and Britain. The body controlled swaths of the Ottoman economy, and used its position to insure that European capital continued to penetrate the empire, often to the detriment of local Ottoman interests.

Question: What historian wrote that banks were the single greatest threat to mid-east independence?


Answer: 1875

Question: In what year did the Ottoman Empire declare bankruptcy?


Answer: Ottoman Public Debt Administration

Question: What was the administration that the empire used to control its debt called?


Answer: European men with presidency alternating between France and Britain.

Question: Who served on the debt controlling administration of the Ottoman Empire?


Answer: the detriment of local Ottoman interests

Question: European capital in the Ottoman empire resulted in what?


Answer: Ottoman bashi-bazouks

Context: The Ottoman bashi-bazouks brutally suppressed the Bulgarian uprising of 1876, massacring up to 100,000 people in the process. The Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) ended with a decisive victory for Russia. As a result, Ottoman holdings in Europe declined sharply; Bulgaria was established as an independent principality inside the Ottoman Empire, Romania achieved full independence. Serbia and Montenegro finally gained complete independence, but with smaller territories. In 1878, Austria-Hungary unilaterally occupied the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Novi Pazar.

Question: Who held back the Bulgarian uprising in 1876?


Answer: Russo-Turkish War

Question: What war occurred from 1877 to 1878?


Answer: The Russo-Turkish War

Question: Bulgaria became independent within the Empire as the result of what war?


Answer: Romania

Question: What nation attained full independence as a result of the Russo-Turkish war?


Answer: Anatolia and Eastern Thrace

Context: As the Ottoman Empire gradually shrank in size, some 7–9 million Turkish-Muslims from its former territories in the Caucasus, Crimea, Balkans, and the Mediterranean islands migrated to Anatolia and Eastern Thrace. After the Empire lost the Balkan Wars (1912–13), it lost all its Balkan territories except East Thrace (European Turkey). This resulted in around 400,000 Muslims fleeing with the retreating Ottoman armies (with many dying from cholera brought by the soldiers), and with some 400,000 non-Muslims fleeing territory still under Ottoman rule. Justin McCarthy estimates that during the period 1821 to 1922 several million Muslims died in the Balkans, with the expulsion of a similar number.

Question: Millions of Muslims left the empire and migrated to what places?


Answer: 1912–13

Question: When did the Balkan Wars take place?


Answer: East Thrace (European Turkey)

Question: What was the sole territory that the empire kept in the Balkans after 1913?


Answer: 400,000

Question: How many Muslims fled the Balkans with the Ottoman armies?


Answer: Justin McCarthy

Question: Which individual estimated millions of Muslim deaths in the Balkans in the late 19th and early 20th century?


Answer: Second Constitutional Era

Context: The defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) began with the Second Constitutional Era, a moment of hope and promise established with the Young Turk Revolution. It restored the Ottoman constitution of 1876 and brought in multi-party politics with a two-stage electoral system (electoral law) under the Ottoman parliament. The constitution offered hope by freeing the empire’s citizens to modernize the state’s institutions, rejuvenate its strength, and enable it to hold its own against outside powers. Its guarantee of liberties promised to dissolve inter-communal tensions and transform the empire into a more harmonious place. Instead, this period became the story of the twilight struggle of the Empire. Young Turks movement members once underground (named committee, group, etc.) established (declared) their parties. Among them “Committee of Union and Progress,” and “Freedom and Accord Party” were major parties. On the other end of the spectrum were ethnic parties which included; Poale Zion, Al-Fatat, and Armenian national movement organized under Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Profiting from the civil strife, Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. The last of Ottoman censuses was performed with the 1914 census. Ottoman military reforms resulted with the Ottoman Modern Army which engaged with Italo-Turkish War (1911), Balkan Wars (1912–1913), and continuous unrest (Counter coup followed by restoration and Saviors followed by Raid on Porte) in the Empire up to World War I.

Question: What era kicked off the end of the Ottoman empire?


Answer: the Young Turk Revolution

Question: What was the revolution that sparked the end of the Ottoman Empire?


Answer: the Ottoman constitution

Question: The restoration of what happened in 1876?


Answer: Committee of Union and Progress,” and “Freedom and Accord Party”

Question: What were two major parties established by Young Turk members?


Answer: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Question: What territories were annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908?


Answer: Middle Eastern theatre

Context: The history of the Ottoman Empire during World War I began with the Ottoman engagement in the Middle Eastern theatre. There were several important Ottoman victories in the early years of the war, such as the Battle of Gallipoli and the Siege of Kut. The Arab Revolt which began in 1916 turned the tide against the Ottomans on the Middle Eastern front, where they initially seemed to have the upper hand during the first two years of the war. The Armistice of Mudros was signed on 30 October 1918, and set the partition of the Ottoman Empire under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres. This treaty, as designed in the conference of London, allowed the Sultan to retain his position and title. The occupation of Constantinople and İzmir led to the establishment of a Turkish national movement, which won the Turkish War of Independence (1919–22) under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (later given the surname "Atatürk"). The sultanate was abolished on 1 November 1922, and the last sultan, Mehmed VI (reigned 1918–22), left the country on 17 November 1922. The caliphate was abolished on 3 March 1924.

Question: Where did the Ottoman empire begin its part in the first world war?


Answer: Ottoman victories

Question: The Battle of Gallipoli and the Siege of Kut resulted in what?


Answer: 1916

Question: The Arab Revolt began in what year?


Answer: 30 October 1918

Question: What was the date that the Armistice of Mudros came to be signed?


Answer: 1919–22

Question: When did the Turkish War of Independence take place?


Answer: In 1915

Context: In 1915, as the Russian Caucasus Army continued to advance into eastern Anatolia, the Ottoman government started the deportation of its ethnic Armenian population, resulting in the death of approximately 1.5 million Armenians in what became known as the Armenian Genocide. The genocide was carried out during and after World War I and implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to forced labour, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly and infirm on death marches leading to the Syrian desert. Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and systematic massacre. Large-scale massacres were also committed against the Empire's Greek and Assyrian minorities as part of the same campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Question: When did the Russian Caucasus Army advance into eastern Anatolia?


Answer: ethnic Armenian

Question: What ethnic group was deported by the Ottoman Government from eastern Anatolia?


Answer: 1.5 million

Question: How many ethnic Armenians are believed to have died in the Armenian Genocide?


Answer: the Syrian desert

Question: Armenian women and children were deported on death marches through what desert?


Answer: Greek and Assyrian minorities

Question: Two other ethnic minorities were massacred during Ottoman ethnic cleansing, what were they?


Answer: Sultan was the highest position

Context: Before the reforms of the 19th and 20th centuries, the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire was a simple system that had two main dimensions, which were the military administration and the civil administration. The Sultan was the highest position in the system. The civil system was based on local administrative units based on the region's characteristics. The Ottomans practiced a system in which the state (as in the Byzantine Empire) had control over the clergy. Certain pre-Islamic Turkish traditions that had survived the adoption of administrative and legal practices from Islamic Iran remained important in Ottoman administrative circles. According to Ottoman understanding, the state's primary responsibility was to defend and extend the land of the Muslims and to ensure security and harmony within its borders within the overarching context of orthodox Islamic practice and dynastic sovereignty.

Question: What was the highest ranked person in the Ottoman Empire until the 19th century?


Answer: local administrative units based on the region's characteristics

Question: On type of system were the civil administrations of the empire based on?


Answer: the state

Question: Who had control over the clergy in the Ottoman empire?


Answer: to defend and extend the land of the Muslims

Question: What was the main responsibility of the Ottoman state as it relates to lands?


Answer: orthodox Islamic practice

Question: What type of practice guided the Ottoman state in its responsibilities?


Answer: House of Osman

Context: The Ottoman Empire or, as a dynastic institution, the House of Osman was unprecedented and unequaled in the Islamic world for its size and duration. In Europe, only the House of Habsburg had a similarly unbroken line of sovereigns (kings/emperors) from the same family who ruled for so long, and during the same period, between the late 13th and early 20th centuries. The Ottoman dynasty was Turkish in origin. On eleven occasions, the sultan was deposed (replaced by another sultan of the Ottoman dynasty, who were either the former sultan's brother, son or nephew) because he was perceived by his enemies as a threat to the state. There were only two attempts in Ottoman history to unseat the ruling Ottoman dynasty, both failures, which suggests a political system that for an extended period was able to manage its revolutions without unnecessary instability. As such, the last Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI (r. 1918–1922) was a direct patrilineal (male-line) descendant of the first Ottoman sultan Osman I (r. 1299–1326), which was unparallelled in both Europe (e.g. the male line of the House of Habsburg became extinct in 1740) and in the Islamic world. The primary purpose of the Imperial Harem was to ensure the birth of male heirs to the Ottoman throne and secure the continuation of the direct patrilineal (male-line) descendance of the Ottoman sultans.

Question: What was another name for the Ottoman Empire?


Answer: House of Habsburg

Question: What was the other longest ruling House in Europe known as?


Answer: Turkish

Question: From what origin did the Ottoman empire come to be?


Answer: eleven occasions

Question: How many times was the the sitting sultan in the House of Osman removed?


Answer: 1918–1922

Question: When was the reign of sultan Mehmed VI?


Answer: The highest position

Context: The highest position in Islam, caliphate, was claimed by the sultans starting since Murad I, which was established as Ottoman Caliphate. The Ottoman sultan, pâdişâh or "lord of kings", served as the Empire's sole regent and was considered to be the embodiment of its government, though he did not always exercise complete control. The Imperial Harem was one of the most important powers of the Ottoman court. It was ruled by the Valide Sultan. On occasion, the Valide Sultan would become involved in state politics. For a time, the women of the Harem effectively controlled the state in what was termed the "Sultanate of Women". New sultans were always chosen from the sons of the previous sultan. The strong educational system of the palace school was geared towards eliminating the unfit potential heirs, and establishing support among the ruling elite for a successor. The palace schools, which would also educate the future administrators of the state, were not a single track. First, the Madrasa (Ottoman Turkish: Medrese) was designated for the Muslims, and educated scholars and state officials according to Islamic tradition. The financial burden of the Medrese was supported by vakifs, allowing children of poor families to move to higher social levels and income. The second track was a free boarding school for the Christians, the Enderûn, which recruited 3,000 students annually from Christian boys between eight and twenty years old from one in forty families among the communities settled in Rumelia or the Balkans, a process known as Devshirme (Devşirme).

Question: The Ottoman Caliphate claimed by Murad Ir epresented what in Islam?


Answer: pâdişâh or "lord of kings"

Question: The person with this what title was believed to be the embodiment of the Ottoman government?


Answer: one of the most important powers of the Ottoman court

Question: What was the importantance of the imperial Harem?


Answer: eliminating the unfit potential heirs, and establishing support among the ruling elite for a successor

Question: What was the purpose of the palace educational system?


Answer: Enderûn

Question: What was the name of the boarding school for Christians during the Ottoman Caliphate?


Answer: the supreme monarch

Context: Though the sultan was the supreme monarch, the sultan's political and executive authority was delegated. The politics of the state had a number of advisors and ministers gathered around a council known as Divan (after the 17th century it was renamed the "Porte"). The Divan, in the years when the Ottoman state was still a Beylik, was composed of the elders of the tribe. Its composition was later modified to include military officers and local elites (such as religious and political advisors). Later still, beginning in 1320, a Grand Vizier was appointed to assume certain of the sultan's responsibilities. The Grand Vizier had considerable independence from the sultan with almost unlimited powers of appointment, dismissal and supervision. Beginning with the late 16th century, sultans withdrew from politics and the Grand Vizier became the de facto head of state.

Question: The sultan of the ottoman empire had what honorific?


Answer: Divan

Question: What was the council that handled state politics named?


Answer: elders of the tribe

Question: What type of people were initially in the Divan?


Answer: military officers and local elites

Question: At a later point other groups were admitted into the Divan, what groups?


Answer: 1320

Question: A Grand Vizar began to be appointed in what year?


Answer: Qanun (or Kanun)

Context: The Ottoman legal system accepted the religious law over its subjects. At the same time the Qanun (or Kanun), a secular legal system, co-existed with religious law or Sharia. The Ottoman Empire was always organized around a system of local jurisprudence. Legal administration in the Ottoman Empire was part of a larger scheme of balancing central and local authority. Ottoman power revolved crucially around the administration of the rights to land, which gave a space for the local authority to develop the needs of the local millet. The jurisdictional complexity of the Ottoman Empire was aimed to permit the integration of culturally and religiously different groups. The Ottoman system had three court systems: one for Muslims, one for non-Muslims, involving appointed Jews and Christians ruling over their respective religious communities, and the "trade court". The entire system was regulated from above by means of the administrative Qanun, i.e. laws, a system based upon the Turkic Yassa and Töre, which were developed in the pre-Islamic era.[citation needed]

Question: What was the name of the secular legal system under the Ottoman Caliphate?


Answer: Sharia

Question: What was religious law known as?


Answer: central and local authority

Question: What did the Ottoman Empire attempt to balance in its legal policies?


Answer: three court systems

Question: How many court systems did the Ottoman empire have?


Answer: Turkic Yassa and Töre

Question: What were the laws of the court system based upon?


Answer: Islamic courts

Context: These court categories were not, however, wholly exclusive: for instance, the Islamic courts—which were the Empire's primary courts—could also be used to settle a trade conflict or disputes between litigants of differing religions, and Jews and Christians often went to them to obtain a more forceful ruling on an issue. The Ottoman state tended not to interfere with non-Muslim religious law systems, despite legally having a voice to do so through local governors. The Islamic Sharia law system had been developed from a combination of the Qur'an; the Hadīth, or words of the prophet Muhammad; ijmā', or consensus of the members of the Muslim community; qiyas, a system of analogical reasoning from earlier precedents; and local customs. Both systems were taught at the Empire's law schools, which were in Istanbul and Bursa.

Question: What were the primary courts of the empire?


Answer: the Qur'an; the Hadīth

Question: From what works was Sharia developed?


Answer: the prophet Muhammad

Question: Whose words contributed to the Islamic Sharia law system?


Answer: in Istanbul and Bursa.

Question: Where were the empire's law schools?


Answer: Jews and Christians

Question: What other religious groups went to Islamic courts?


Answer: Qadi

Context: The Ottoman Islamic legal system was set up differently from traditional European courts. Presiding over Islamic courts would be a Qadi, or judge. Since the closing of the ijtihad, or Gate of Interpretation, Qadis throughout the Ottoman Empire focused less on legal precedent, and more with local customs and traditions in the areas that they administered. However, the Ottoman court system lacked an appellate structure, leading to jurisdictional case strategies where plaintiffs could take their disputes from one court system to another until they achieved a ruling that was in their favor.

Question: Who was the one that presided over the empire's Islamic Courts?


Answer: closing of the ijtihad, or Gate of Interpretation

Question: At what juncture did the Qadi focus less on precedent?


Answer: an appellate structure

Question: What was one thing the Ottoman legal system lacked?


Answer: local customs and traditions

Question: What did Qadis focus on in some areas?


Answer: judge

Question: What is another word for Qadi?


Answer: French models

Context: These reforms were based heavily on French models, as indicated by the adoption of a three-tiered court system. Referred to as Nizamiye, this system was extended to the local magistrate level with the final promulgation of the Mecelle, a civil code that regulated marriage, divorce, alimony, will, and other matters of personal status. In an attempt to clarify the division of judicial competences, an administrative council laid down that religious matters were to be handled by religious courts, and statute matters were to be handled by the Nizamiye courts.

Question: Reforms in the Ottoman court system were based on what model?


Answer: three

Question: How many tiers did the Ottoman court system adopt?


Answer: Nizamiye

Question: What was the new Ottoman court system known as?


Answer: the Mecelle

Question: What code regulated marriage?


Answer: 13th century

Context: The first military unit of the Ottoman State was an army that was organized by Osman I from the tribesmen inhabiting the hills of western Anatolia in the late 13th century. The military system became an intricate organization with the advance of the Empire. The Ottoman military was a complex system of recruiting and fief-holding. The main corps of the Ottoman Army included Janissary, Sipahi, Akıncı and Mehterân. The Ottoman army was once among the most advanced fighting forces in the world, being one of the first to use muskets and cannons. The Ottoman Turks began using falconets, which were short but wide cannons, during the Siege of Constantinople. The Ottoman cavalry depended on high speed and mobility rather than heavy armour, using bows and short swords on fast Turkoman and Arabian horses (progenitors of the Thoroughbred racing horse), and often applied tactics similar to those of the Mongol Empire, such as pretending to retreat while surrounding the enemy forces inside a crescent-shaped formation and then making the real attack. The decline in the army's performance became clear from the mid-17th century and after the Great Turkish War. The 18th century saw some limited success against Venice, but in the north the European-style Russian armies forced the Ottomans to concede land.

Question: In what century did the first Osman I organized military unit form?


Answer: the hills of western Anatolia

Question: From where did tribesmen that formed a unit organized by Osman I originate?


Answer: Janissary, Sipahi, Akıncı and Mehterân

Question: There were four corps of the Ottoman Army, what were they?


Answer: muskets and cannons

Question: The Ottoman army was among the first to use what two pieces of weapons technology?


Answer: Siege of Constantinople

Question: In what conflict did the Ottoman Turks use falconets?


Answer: European continent

Context: The Ottoman Navy vastly contributed to the expansion of the Empire's territories on the European continent. It initiated the conquest of North Africa, with the addition of Algeria and Egypt to the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Starting with the loss of Greece in 1821 and Algeria in 1830, Ottoman naval power and control over the Empire's distant overseas territories began to decline. Sultan Abdülaziz (reigned 1861–1876) attempted to reestablish a strong Ottoman navy, building the largest fleet after those of Britain and France. The shipyard at Barrow, England, built its first submarine in 1886 for the Ottoman Empire.

Question: On what continent did the Ottoman Navy contribute most?


Answer: North Africa

Question: What region did the Ottoman Navy conquer in the early 16th century?


Answer: 1517

Question: Egypt was added to the Ottoman Empire in what year?


Answer: 1821

Question: In what year did the Ottoman empire lose Greece?


Answer: Algeria

Question: The Ottoman empire lost what territory in 1830?


Answer: Sultan Abdülhamid II

Context: However, the collapsing Ottoman economy could not sustain the fleet's strength for too long. Sultan Abdülhamid II distrusted the admirals who sided with the reformist Midhat Pasha, and claimed that the large and expensive fleet was of no use against the Russians during the Russo-Turkish War. He locked most of the fleet inside the Golden Horn, where the ships decayed for the next 30 years. Following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Committee of Union and Progress sought to develop a strong Ottoman naval force. The Ottoman Navy Foundation was established in 1910 to buy new ships through public donations.

Question: Which sultan distrusted his admirals during the Russo-Turkish war?


Answer: Midhat Pasha

Question: Who was the reformist that had the backing of Ottoman admirals during the Russo-Turkish war?


Answer: the Golden Horn

Question: Where was the Ottoman fleet left to decay?


Answer: 1908

Question: When was the Young Turk Revolution?


Answer: the Committee of Union and Progress

Question: What Ottoman group wanted to form a stronger navy in the early 20th century?


Answer: June 1909

Context: The establishment of Ottoman military aviation dates back to between June 1909 and July 1911. The Ottoman Empire started preparing its first pilots and planes, and with the founding of the Aviation School (Tayyare Mektebi) in Yeşilköy on 3 July 1912, the Empire began to tutor its own flight officers. The founding of the Aviation School quickened advancement in the military aviation program, increased the number of enlisted persons within it, and gave the new pilots an active role in the Ottoman Army and Navy. In May 1913 the world's first specialized Reconnaissance Training Program was started by the Aviation School and the first separate reconnaissance division was established.[citation needed] In June 1914 a new military academy, the Naval Aviation School (Bahriye Tayyare Mektebi) was founded. With the outbreak of World War I, the modernization process stopped abruptly. The Ottoman aviation squadrons fought on many fronts during World War I, from Galicia in the west to the Caucasus in the east and Yemen in the south.

Question: What was the first date that the Ottoman empire had an air-based military unit?


Answer: Yeşilköy

Question: Where was the first Ottoman Aviation school?


Answer: 3 July 1912

Question: On what date was the Aviation School founded?


Answer: the world's first specialized Reconnaissance Training Program was started

Question: What happened at the aviation school in May 1913?


Answer: the Naval Aviation School (Bahriye Tayyare Mektebi)

Question: What new military academy was formed in June 1914?


Answer: commercial and industrial centres

Context: Ottoman government deliberately pursued a policy for the development of Bursa, Edirne, and Istanbul, successive Ottoman capitals, into major commercial and industrial centres, considering that merchants and artisans were indispensable in creating a new metropolis. To this end, Mehmed and his successor Bayezid, also encouraged and welcomed migration of the Jews from different parts of Europe, who were settled in Istanbul and other port cities like Salonica. In many places in Europe, Jews were suffering persecution at the hands of their Christian counterparts, such as in Spain after the conclusion of Reconquista. The tolerance displayed by the Turks was welcomed by the immigrants.

Question: The goal of developing Bursa and Istanbul was an intentional act to create what?


Answer: Bayezid

Question: Who was Mehmed's successor?


Answer: the Jews from different parts of Europe

Question: Who did Mehmed and Bayezid encourage to come to Istanbul?


Answer: their Christian counterparts

Question: What group were Jews being persecuted by in Europe?


Answer: the conclusion of Reconquista

Question: Persecution of Jews in Spain occurred after what event concluded?


Answer: consolidation and extension of the ruler's power

Context: The Ottoman economic mind was closely related to the basic concepts of state and society in the Middle East in which the ultimate goal of a state was consolidation and extension of the ruler's power, and the way to reach it was to get rich resources of revenues by making the productive classes prosperous. The ultimate aim was to increase the state revenues without damaging the prosperity of subjects to prevent the emergence of social disorder and to keep the traditional organization of the society intact.

Question: The economic goal of the state was to serve as what for the ruler?


Answer: the Middle East

Question: In what regions concepts was the Ottoman economic system based on?


Answer: making the productive classes prosperous

Question: What was a way to reach the economic goals of the Ottoman economic system?


Answer: to increase the state revenues without damaging the prosperity of subjects

Question: What was the final goal of the state economic system?


Answer: the emergence of social disorder

Question: What did the state economic system hope to avoid?


Answer: the treasury and chancery

Context: The organization of the treasury and chancery were developed under the Ottoman Empire more than any other Islamic government and, until the 17th century, they were the leading organization among all their contemporaries. This organization developed a scribal bureaucracy (known as "men of the pen") as a distinct group, partly highly trained ulama, which developed into a professional body. The effectiveness of this professional financial body stands behind the success of many great Ottoman statesmen.

Question: Two of the most developed economic organizations under the Ottoman Empire were what?


Answer: men of the pen

Question: What were the scribes of the chancery known as?


Answer: ulama

Question: Part of the scribal bureaucracy were trained what?


Answer: a professional body

Question: What did the scribal bureaucracy become?


Answer: the 17th century

Question: The Ottoman Empire had the most developed economic organizations among Islamic Governments until which century?


Answer: its geopolitical structure

Context: The economic structure of the Empire was defined by its geopolitical structure. The Ottoman Empire stood between the West and the East, thus blocking the land route eastward and forcing Spanish and Portuguese navigators to set sail in search of a new route to the Orient. The Empire controlled the spice route that Marco Polo once used. When Vasco da Gama bypassed Ottoman controlled routes and established direct trade links with India in 1498, and Christopher Columbus first journeyed to the Bahamas in 1492, the Ottoman Empire was at its zenith.

Question: What serviced as the foundation for the structure of the economy of the Ottoman empire?


Answer: Spanish and Portuguese

Question: The Ottoman Empire caused navigators from which two nations to find another route to the Orient?


Answer: Marco Polo

Question: Who once used the spice route that the Ottoman Empire controlled?


Answer: 1498

Question: When were direct trade links established with India?


Answer: 1492

Question: When did Christopher Columbus sail to the Bahamas?


Answer: change in relations between the Ottoman Turks and central Europe

Context: Modern Ottoman studies think that the change in relations between the Ottoman Turks and central Europe was caused by the opening of the new sea routes. It is possible to see the decline in the significance of the land routes to the East as Western Europe opened the ocean routes that bypassed the Middle East and Mediterranean as parallel to the decline of the Ottoman Empire itself. The Anglo-Ottoman Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Balta Liman that opened the Ottoman markets directly to English and French competitors, would be seen as one of the staging posts along this development.

Question: What is believed to have caused the opening of new sea routes during the Ottoman Empire?


Answer: the Ottoman Empire itself

Question: The formation of sea routes bypassing the Middle East may have led to the decline of what?


Answer: The Anglo-Ottoman Treaty

Question: What is another name for the Treaty of Balta Liman?


Answer: opened the Ottoman markets directly to English and French competitors

Question: What did the Treaty of Balta Liman do for Ottoman markets?


Answer: East

Question: In what direction did land routes lose their importance?


Answer: commercial centres and routes

Context: By developing commercial centres and routes, encouraging people to extend the area of cultivated land in the country and international trade through its dominions, the state performed basic economic functions in the Empire. But in all this the financial and political interests of the state were dominant. Within the social and political system they were living in Ottoman administrators could not have comprehended or seen the desirability of the dynamics and principles of the capitalist and mercantile economies developing in Western Europe.

Question: The development of what caused people to expand areas of cultivation in the Ottoman Empire?


Answer: interests of the state

Question: What dominated all economic and political interests?


Answer: capitalist and mercantile economies

Question: What were the types of economies that were being developed in western Europe?


Answer: developing commercial centres and routes

Question: The expansion of international trade through the Empire was the result of what?


Answer: the clustering of populations

Context: The rise of port cities saw the clustering of populations caused by the development of steamships and railroads. Urbanization increased from 1700 to 1922, with towns and cities growing. Improvements in health and sanitation made them more attractive to live and work in. Port cities like Salonica, in Greece, saw its population rise from 55,000 in 1800 to 160,000 in 1912 and İzmir which had a population of 150,000 in 1800 grew to 300,000 by 1914. Some regions conversely had population falls – Belgrade saw its population drop from 25,000 to 8,000 mainly due to political strife.

Question: The rise of ports caused what in populations?


Answer: The rise of port cities

Question: Steamships and railroads rose with what else?


Answer: 1700

Question: In what year did urbanization in the Ottoman empire begin to increase?


Answer: Improvements in health and sanitation

Question: What were two improvements that made cities more desirable to live in?


Answer: 55,000

Question: What was the population of Salonica in 1800?


Answer: the Crimean and Balkan regions

Context: Economic and political migrations made an impact across the empire. For example, the Russian and Austria-Habsburg annexation of the Crimean and Balkan regions respectively saw large influxes of Muslim refugees – 200,000 Crimean Tartars fleeing to Dobruja. Between 1783 and 1913, approximately 5–7 million refugees flooded into the Ottoman Empire, at least 3.8 million of whom were from Russia. Some migrations left indelible marks such as political tension between parts of the empire (e.g. Turkey and Bulgaria) whereas centrifugal effects were noticed in other territories, simpler demographics emerging from diverse populations. Economies were also impacted with the loss of artisans, merchants, manufacturers and agriculturists. Since the 19th century, a large proportion of Muslim peoples from the Balkans emigrated to present-day Turkey. These people are called Muhacir. By the time the Ottoman Empire came to an end in 1922, half of the urban population of Turkey was descended from Muslim refugees from Russia.

Question: The annexation of what two regions resulted in large groups of Muslim refugees coming into the empire?


Answer: Crimean Tartars

Question: Muslims representing 200,000 of what group fled to Dobruja?


Answer: 3.8 million

Question: How many refugees fled Russia to the Ottoman Empire from 1783 to 1913?


Answer: Muhacir

Question: What are the people from the Balkans who emigrated to Turkey called?


Answer: 1922

Question: In what year did the Ottoman Empire end?


Answer: Ottoman Turkish

Context: Ottoman Turkish was the official language of the Empire. It was an Oghuz Turkic language highly influenced by Persian and Arabic. The Ottomans had several influential languages: Turkish, spoken by the majority of the people in Anatolia and by the majority of Muslims of the Balkans except in Albania and Bosnia; Persian, only spoken by the educated; Arabic, spoken mainly in Arabia, North Africa, Iraq, Kuwait, the Levant and parts of the Horn of Africa; and Somali throughout the Horn of Africa. In the last two centuries, usage of these became limited, though, and specific: Persian served mainly as a literary language for the educated, while Arabic was used for religious rites.

Question: What was the official language of the Ottoman Empire?


Answer: Persian and Arabic

Question: What were the main influences of the official language of the Empire?


Answer: Turkish

Question: What language was spoken by most people in Anatolia?


Answer: Arabic

Question: Which languages influenced by the empire was spoken in Iraq?


Answer: Arabic

Question: What language was used for religious uses in the Empire?


Answer: about 2–3%

Context: Because of a low literacy rate among the public (about 2–3% until the early 19th century and just about 15% at the end of 19th century),[citation needed] ordinary people had to hire scribes as "special request-writers" (arzuhâlcis) to be able to communicate with the government. The ethnic groups continued to speak within their families and neighborhoods (mahalles) with their own languages (e.g., Jews, Greeks, Armenians, etc.). In villages where two or more populations lived together, the inhabitants would often speak each other's language. In cosmopolitan cities, people often spoke their family languages; many of those who were not ethnic Turks spoke Turkish as a second language.

Question: What was the public's literacy rate in leading up to the early 19th century in the empire?


Answer: 15%

Question: At the end of the 19th century what was the literacy rate for the public in the Empire believed to be?


Answer: people had to hire scribes

Question: What did people resort to when they needed to communicate with the government?


Answer: "special request-writers" (arzuhâlcis)

Question: What were hired scribes known as?


Answer: Turkish

Question: What was the second language of those that weren't ethnically Turkish?


Answer: the second half of the 15th century

Context: Until the second half of the 15th century the empire had a Christian majority, under the rule of a Muslim minority. In the late 19th century, the non-Muslim population of the empire began to fall considerably, not only due to secession, but also because of migratory movements. The proportion of Muslims amounted to 60% in the 1820s, gradually increasing to 69% in the 1870s and then to 76% in the 1890s. By 1914, only 19.1% of the empire's population was non-Muslim, mostly made up of Christian Greeks, Assyrians, Armenians, and Jews.

Question: The Empire had a Christian majority until what time?


Answer: a Muslim minority

Question: What group ruled the empire until the 15th century?


Answer: the non-Muslim population

Question: What group began to decline within the Empire in the late 19th century?


Answer: 60%

Question: Muslims accounted for what amount of the population of the Empire in the 1820s?


Answer: 19.1%

Question: In 1914 what portion of the Empire weren't Muslims?


Answer: heretical

Context: Muslim sects regarded as heretical, such as the Druze, Ismailis, Alevis, and Alawites, ranked below Jews and Christians. In 1514, Sultan Selim I, nicknamed "the Grim" because of his cruelty, ordered the massacre of 40,000 Anatolian Alevis (Qizilbash), whom he considered heretics, reportedly proclaiming that "the killing of one Alevi had as much otherworldly reward as killing 70 Christians."[page needed] Selim was also responsible for an unprecedented and rapid expansion of the Ottoman Empire into the Middle East, especially through his conquest of the entire Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, which included much of the region. With these conquests, Selim further solidified the Ottoman claim for being an Islamic caliphate, although Ottoman sultans had been claiming the title of caliph since the 14th century starting with Murad I (reigned 1362 to 1389). The caliphate would remain held by Ottoman sultans for the rest of the office's duration, which ended with its abolition on 3 March 1924 by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the exile of the last caliph, Abdülmecid II, to France.

Question: The Muslim sect known as the Druze is considered what?


Answer: the Grim

Question: What was Sultan Selim I's nickname?


Answer: 1514

Question: In what year did Sultan Selim I order the massacre of 40,000 people whom he considered heretics?


Answer: Anatolian Alevis (Qizilbash)

Question: What group did Sultan Selim I consider heretics and subsequently slaughter?


Answer: Mamluk Sultanate

Question: Under Sultan Selim I the empire swallowed what sultanate in Egypt?


Answer: the millet system

Context: Under the millet system, non-Muslim people were considered subjects of the Empire, but were not subject to the Muslim faith or Muslim law. The Orthodox millet, for instance, was still officially legally subject to Justinian's Code, which had been in effect in the Byzantine Empire for 900 years. Also, as the largest group of non-Muslim subjects (or zimmi) of the Islamic Ottoman state, the Orthodox millet was granted a number of special privileges in the fields of politics and commerce, and had to pay higher taxes than Muslim subjects.

Question: What system deemed non-Muslims subjects of the empire but unbound by Muslim law?


Answer: Justinian's Code

Question: What code had been active for 900 years in the Byzantine empire?


Answer: zimmi

Question: What were non-Muslims also known as in the Islamic Ottoman State?


Answer: higher taxes

Question: Being a non-muslim in the Empire resulted in what as it related to taxes?


Answer: The Orthodox millet

Question: What millet was subject to Justinian's Code?


Answer: Sultanate of Rum

Context: The Ottomans absorbed some of the traditions, art and institutions of cultures in the regions they conquered, and added new dimensions to them. Numerous traditions and cultural traits of previous empires (in fields such as architecture, cuisine, music, leisure and government) were adopted by the Ottoman Turks, who elaborated them into new forms, which resulted in a new and distinctively Ottoman cultural identity. Despite newer added amalgamations, the Ottoman dynasty, like their predecessors in the Sultanate of Rum and the Seljuk Empire, were thoroughly Persianised in their culture, language, habits and customs, and therefore, the empire has been described as a Persianate empire. Intercultural marriages also played their part in creating the characteristic Ottoman elite culture. When compared to the Turkish folk culture, the influence of these new cultures in creating the culture of the Ottoman elite was clear.

Question: The Ottoman dynasty was preceded by what sultanate?


Answer: Persianate empire

Question: What is one way that the Empire was described as it related to culture?


Answer: some of the traditions, art and institutions of cultures

Question: When the Ottoman empire conquered a region what also became a part of the empire?


Answer: Persianised

Question: The Seljuk Empire was influenced by the cultures of others resulting in it being referred to as what?


Answer: Divan poetry

Context: Ottoman Divan poetry was a highly ritualized and symbolic art form. From the Persian poetry that largely inspired it, it inherited a wealth of symbols whose meanings and interrelationships—both of similitude (مراعات نظير mura'ât-i nazîr / تناسب tenâsüb) and opposition (تضاد tezâd) were more or less prescribed. Divan poetry was composed through the constant juxtaposition of many such images within a strict metrical framework, thus allowing numerous potential meanings to emerge. The vast majority of Divan poetry was lyric in nature: either gazels (which make up the greatest part of the repertoire of the tradition), or kasîdes. There were, however, other common genres, most particularly the mesnevî, a kind of verse romance and thus a variety of narrative poetry; the two most notable examples of this form are the Leyli and Majnun of Fuzûlî and the Hüsn ü Aşk of Şeyh Gâlib.

Question: What type of Ottoman poetry is ritualized?


Answer: Persian poetry

Question: What kind of poetry inspired Ottoman Divan Poetry?


Answer: a strict metrical framework

Question: What type of framework was Divan poetry based on?


Answer: mesnevî

Question: What was the romance genre of Divan poetry known as?


Answer: gazels (which make up the greatest part of the repertoire of the tradition), or kasîdes.

Question: What make up the largest portion of Divan poetry?


Answer: the 19th century

Context: Until the 19th century, Ottoman prose did not develop to the extent that contemporary Divan poetry did. A large part of the reason for this was that much prose was expected to adhere to the rules of sec (سجع, also transliterated as seci), or rhymed prose, a type of writing descended from the Arabic saj' and which prescribed that between each adjective and noun in a string of words, such as a sentence, there must be a rhyme. Nevertheless, there was a tradition of prose in the literature of the time, though exclusively non-fictional in nature. One apparent exception was Muhayyelât ("Fancies") by Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi, a collection of stories of the fantastic written in 1796, though not published until 1867. The first novel published in the Ottoman Empire was by an Armenian named Vartan Pasha. Published in 1851, the novel was entitled The Story of Akabi (Turkish: Akabi Hikyayesi) and was written in Turkish but with Armenian script.

Question: Prose in the Ottoman empire did not develop to a higher level until which century?


Answer: the rules of sec (سجع, also transliterated as seci), or rhymed prose

Question: What rules did Ottoman prose have to follow?


Answer: between each adjective and noun in a string of words, such as a sentence, there must be a rhyme

Question: What did the rules of sec require?


Answer: Giritli Ali Aziz Efendi

Question: Who wrote Muhayyelât?


Answer: 1796

Question: When was Muhayyelât written?


Answer: French literature

Context: Due to historically close ties with France, French literature came to constitute the major Western influence on Ottoman literature throughout the latter half of the 19th century. As a result, many of the same movements prevalent in France during this period also had their Ottoman equivalents: in the developing Ottoman prose tradition, for instance, the influence of Romanticism can be seen during the Tanzimat period, and that of the Realist and Naturalist movements in subsequent periods; in the poetic tradition, on the other hand, it was the influence of the Symbolist and Parnassian movements that became paramount.

Question: What was the biggest influence from the west on Ottoman literature?


Answer: the latter half of the 19th century

Question: During what time period was Ottoman literate most influenced by the west?


Answer: the influence of Romanticism

Question: During the Tanzimat what western influence could be seen?


Answer: the Symbolist and Parnassian movements

Question: The poetic tradition had its biggest influence on what Ottoman literary movements?


Answer: Naturalist

Question: Romanticism, and Realism were two movements from the west that influenced the Ottoman literary scene, what was the third?


Answer: İntibâh ("Awakening")

Context: Many of the writers in the Tanzimat period wrote in several different genres simultaneously: for instance, the poet Namik Kemal also wrote the important 1876 novel İntibâh ("Awakening"), while the journalist İbrahim Şinasi is noted for writing, in 1860, the first modern Turkish play, the one-act comedy "Şair Evlenmesi" ("The Poet's Marriage"). An earlier play, a farce entitled "Vakâyi'-i 'Acibe ve Havâdis-i Garibe-yi Kefşger Ahmed" ("The Strange Events and Bizarre Occurrences of the Cobbler Ahmed"), dates from the beginning of the 19th century, but there remains some doubt about its authenticity. In a similar vein, the novelist Ahmed Midhat Efendi wrote important novels in each of the major movements: Romanticism (Hasan Mellâh yâhud Sırr İçinde Esrâr, 1873; "Hasan the Sailor, or The Mystery Within the Mystery"), Realism (Henüz On Yedi Yaşında, 1881; "Just Seventeen Years Old"), and Naturalism (Müşâhedât, 1891; "Observations"). This diversity was, in part, due to the Tanzimat writers' wish to disseminate as much of the new literature as possible, in the hopes that it would contribute to a revitalization of Ottoman social structures.

Question: What 1876 Novel did Namik Kemal write?


Answer: the one-act comedy "Şair Evlenmesi" ("The Poet's Marriage").

Question: What did İbrahim Şinasi write in 1860?


Answer: Ahmed Midhat Efendi

Question: Who wrote Hasan Mellâh yâhud Sırr İçinde Esrâr?


Answer: Henüz On Yedi Yaşında

Question: What Realist novel did Ahmed Midhat Efendi write in 1881?


Answer: contribute to a revitalization of Ottoman social structures

Question: What did writers of the Tanzimat period hope to accomplish with their publications?


Answer: traditional Byzantine art

Context: Examples of Ottoman architecture of the classical period, besides Istanbul and Edirne, can also be seen in Egypt, Eritrea, Tunisia, Algiers, the Balkans and Romania, where mosques, bridges, fountains and schools were built. The art of Ottoman decoration developed with a multitude of influences due to the wide ethnic range of the Ottoman Empire. The greatest of the court artists enriched the Ottoman Empire with many pluralistic artistic influences: such as mixing traditional Byzantine art with elements of Chinese art.

Question: Ottoman artists mixed Chinese art with the art of what else?


Answer: fountains and schools

Question: The ottoman empire built structures in Romania that included Mosques, and Bridges, what else was built?


Answer: the wide ethnic range of the Ottoman Empire

Question: Why did the art of the Ottoman empire develop the way it did?


Answer: Eritrea, Tunisia, Algiers, the Balkans and Romania

Question: Beside Edirne, Istanbul, and Egypt what other locations can one find the influence of the Ottoman classical period?


Answer: muraqqa

Context: Ottoman illumination covers non-figurative painted or drawn decorative art in books or on sheets in muraqqa or albums, as opposed to the figurative images of the Ottoman miniature. It was a part of the Ottoman Book Arts together with the Ottoman miniature (taswir), calligraphy (hat), Islamic calligraphy, bookbinding (cilt) and paper marbling (ebru). In the Ottoman Empire, illuminated and illustrated manuscripts were commissioned by the Sultan or the administrators of the court. In Topkapi Palace, these manuscripts were created by the artists working in Nakkashane, the atelier of the miniature and illumination artists. Both religious and non-religious books could be illuminated. Also sheets for albums levha consisted of illuminated calligraphy (hat) of tughra, religious texts, verses from poems or proverbs, and purely decorative drawings.

Question: Were would one find the sheets where Ottoman's created illuminated decorations?


Answer: taswir

Question: What is another name for an Ottoman miniature?


Answer: hat

Question: Ottoman calligraphy can also be referred to as what?


Answer: the Sultan or the administrators of the court

Question: Who commissioned illustrated manuscripts in the Ottoman empire?


Answer: Topkapi Palace

Question: What palace was the place of creation for illustrated manuscripts?


Answer: carpet weaving

Context: The art of carpet weaving was particularly significant in the Ottoman Empire, carpets having an immense importance both as decorative furnishings, rich in religious and other symbolism, and as a practical consideration, as it was customary to remove one's shoes in living quarters. The weaving of such carpets originated in the nomadic cultures of central Asia (carpets being an easily transportable form of furnishing), and was eventually spread to the settled societies of Anatolia. Turks used carpets, rugs and kilims not just on the floors of a room, but also as a hanging on walls and doorways, where they provided additional insulation. They were also commonly donated to mosques, which often amassed large collections of them.

Question: Which art was important in religious symbolism and as a decoration in the Ottoman empire?


Answer: it was customary to remove one's shoes

Question: What was the custom for those wearing shoes indoors in the Ottoman empire?


Answer: the nomadic cultures of central Asia

Question: Where did carpet weaving in the Empire originate?


Answer: Anatolia

Question: Where did carpet weaving initially spread to inside of the Empire?


Answer: walls and doorways

Question: Kilims were used by Turks to provide insulation where?


Answer: Ottoman classical music

Context: Ottoman classical music was an important part of the education of the Ottoman elite, a number of the Ottoman sultans were accomplished musicians and composers themselves, such as Selim III, whose compositions are often still performed today. Ottoman classical music arose largely from a confluence of Byzantine music, Armenian music, Arabic music, and Persian music. Compositionally, it is organised around rhythmic units called usul, which are somewhat similar to meter in Western music, and melodic units called makam, which bear some resemblance to Western musical modes.

Question: The elites of the Ottoman empire found what type of music important?


Answer: musicians and composers

Question: Many of the Sultans of the Ottoman empire were accomplished at being what?


Answer: Selim III

Question: The sultan known by what name has compositions which are still performed today?


Answer: units called usul

Question: What rhythmic units does Ottoman classical music use?


Answer: makam

Question: What are the melodic units used by Ottoman classical music?


Answer: the saz, the bağlama, the kemence

Context: The instruments used are a mixture of Anatolian and Central Asian instruments (the saz, the bağlama, the kemence), other Middle Eastern instruments (the ud, the tanbur, the kanun, the ney), and—later in the tradition—Western instruments (the violin and the piano). Because of a geographic and cultural divide between the capital and other areas, two broadly distinct styles of music arose in the Ottoman Empire: Ottoman classical music, and folk music. In the provinces, several different kinds of folk music were created. The most dominant regions with their distinguished musical styles are: Balkan-Thracian Türküs, North-Eastern (Laz) Türküs, Aegean Türküs, Central Anatolian Türküs, Eastern Anatolian Türküs, and Caucasian Türküs. Some of the distinctive styles were: Janissary Music, Roma music, Belly dance, Turkish folk music.

Question: What are the three most used Anatolian and central asian instruments in Ottoman Classical music?


Answer: the ud, the tanbur, the kanun, the ney

Question: Which Middle Eastern instruments can be heard in Ottoman classical music?


Answer: the violin and the piano

Question: In late Ottoman classical music one can find Western instruments, what were they?


Answer: classical music, and folk music

Question: There were two main style of music in the Ottoman empire, what were they?


Answer: Janissary Music, Roma music, Belly dance, Turkish folk music

Question: What were the most distinctive style of music in the Ottoman provinces?


Answer: the capital, Istanbul, and the regional capital cities

Context: Ottoman cuisine refers to the cuisine of the capital, Istanbul, and the regional capital cities, where the melting pot of cultures created a common cuisine that most of the population regardless of ethnicity shared. This diverse cuisine was honed in the Imperial Palace's kitchens by chefs brought from certain parts of the Empire to create and experiment with different ingredients. The creations of the Ottoman Palace's kitchens filtered to the population, for instance through Ramadan events, and through the cooking at the Yalıs of the Pashas, and from there on spread to the rest of the population.

Question: The cuisine known as Ottoman cuisine is in reference to the food eaten where?


Answer: the Imperial Palace's kitchens

Question: In what kitchen's was Ottoman cuisine perfected?


Answer: Ramadan

Question: What is one type of religious event that the general public may come to experience the creations of the Imperial Palace?


Answer: the population

Question: Preparing food at the Yalıs of the Pashas was one way Ottoman Cuisine might spread to whom?


Answer: create and experiment

Question: What did the chefs ingredients in the Imperial Palace's kitchens?


Answer: a shared Ottoman cuisine

Context: Much of the cuisine of former Ottoman territories today is descended from a shared Ottoman cuisine, especially Turkish cuisine, and including Greek cuisine, Balkan cuisine, Armenian cuisine, and Middle Eastern cuisine. Many common dishes in the region, descendants of the once-common Ottoman cuisine, include yogurt, döner kebab/gyro/shawarma, cacık/tzatziki, ayran, pita bread, feta cheese, baklava, lahmacun, moussaka, yuvarlak, köfte/keftés/kofta, börek/boureki, rakı/rakia/tsipouro/tsikoudia, meze, dolma, sarma, rice pilaf, Turkish coffee, sujuk, kashk, keşkek, manti, lavash, kanafeh, and more.

Question: Turkish cuisine originates from what source?


Answer: former Ottoman territories

Question: The cuisine of what territories are descended from Ottoman cuisine?


Answer: Balkan cuisine, Armenian cuisine, and Middle Eastern cuisine

Question: Turkish and Greek cuisine are descended from Ottoman Cuisine, along with the food of what other regions?


Answer: Ottoman cuisine

Question: Turkish coffee is descended from what?


Answer: Ottoman cuisine

Question: Pita bread descends from what type of cuisine?


Answer: 15th Century

Context: Over the course of Ottoman history, the Ottomans managed to build a large collection of libraries complete with translations of books from other cultures, as well as original manuscripts. A great part of this desire for local and foreign manuscripts arose in the 15th Century. Sultan Mehmet II ordered Georgios Amiroutzes, a Greek scholar from Trabzon, to translate and make available to Ottoman educational institutions the geography book of Ptolemy. Another example is Ali Qushji -an astronomer, mathematician and physicist originally from Samarkand- who became a professor in two madrasas, and influenced Ottoman circles as a result of his writings and the activities of his students, even though he only spent two or three years before his death in Istanbul.

Question: In what century did the Ottoman's start to desire foreign manuscripts?


Answer: Sultan Mehmet II

Question: Which sultan ordered a Greek scholar to do translations of work by Ptolemy?


Answer: Georgios Amiroutzes

Question: Who did an Ottoman sultan order to translate work by Ptolemy?


Answer: two or three years

Question: How many years did Ali Qushji spend in Istanbul?


Answer: originally from Samarkand

Question: Where was Ali Qushji from?


Answer: 19th century

Context: The main sports Ottomans were engaged in were Turkish Wrestling, hunting, Turkish archery, horseback riding, Equestrian javelin throw, arm wrestling, and swimming. European model sports clubs were formed with the spreading popularity of football matches in 19th century Constantinople. The leading clubs, according to timeline, were Beşiktaş Gymnastics Club (1903), Galatasaray Sports Club (1905) and Fenerbahçe Sports Club (1907) in Istanbul. Football clubs were formed in other provinces too, such as Karşıyaka Sports Club (1912), Altay Sports Club (1914) and Turkish Fatherland Football Club (later Ülküspor) (1914) of İzmir.

Question: When did European sport clubs begin to form in the Ottoman empire?


Answer: Constantinople

Question: Where did football matches become to be popular in the Ottoman empire?


Answer: Galatasaray Sports Club

Question: What was the leading sport club in 1905?


Answer: 1914

Question: In what year did the Altay Sports Club form?