Ottoman Empire

The **Ottoman Empire** (in Turkish: *Osmanlı İmparatorluğu*), officially the **Sublime State of Ottomania** (in Ottoman Turkish: دولت عالیه عثمانیه, in Latinized Ottoman Turkish: *Devlet-i Aliyye-i Osmâniyye*) was a multinational state that lasted from 1299 to 1923. It was centred on Constantinople, in northwestern Anatolia, and controlled the eastern and the southern lands around the Mediterranean Sea. The empire was founded by Osman I around 1299, and was at its peak from 1400 to 1600, when it controlled trade and politics in Southeastern Europe, Southwest Asia, and Northern Africa. Suleiman the Magnificent was one of its most powerful rulers.

The empire was a group of conquered countries. The Sultan sent governors to rule the countries or provinces, with titles such as Pasha or Bey. The most famous one in the early 19th century was Muhammad Ali Pasha. Besides provinces, the empire also had tributary states.

In later years, the Ottoman Empire began to weaken. In the later part of the 19th century, it became known as "the sick man of Europe". The empire was defeated in World War I and fell apart.

**RISE**

The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I in 1299. His son, Orhan, captured its first capital, Bursa, from the Byzantine Empire. In the late 1300s, the Ottomans began consolidating power, especially in the Balkans, where Serbia was defeated in 1389 at the Battle of Kosovo Polje by Sultan Murad I. He died at the battle, and Bayezid I took control. At the 1396 Battle of Nicopolis, a large crusade of the powers if Western Europe was defeated. Despite the victory, Bayezid was deposed by Tamerlane at the Battle of Ankara in 1402. His absence led to a civil war, which is referred to as the *Ottoman Interregnum*. Mehmed Çelebi won and became Mehmed I. His son, Murad II had to battle pretenders to the throne who were supported by the Byzantine Empire. He fought back with an attack on Constantinople, and Venice helped the Byzantines. Murad defeated them at Thessaloniki. He also defeated the Karamanid *beylik* (principality), Hungary, Poland, and Wallachia at the Battle of Varna in 1444. John Hunyadi, a Hungarian general, tried his hand at defeating the Ottomans but lost in 1448.

**PEAK**

Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453. He also subjugated Albania and expanded tolerance for the Orthodox Church. Mehmed continued his expansion, followed by his son Bayezid II. Selim I conquered Egypt and the Levant, which were ruled by the Mamluks, in early 1517. He also defeated the Safavid Persians at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. The Ottomans were at odds with Portugal over their expansion as well. Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim's son, captured Belgrade and most of Hungary after the Battle of Mohács in 1526. His Siege of Vienna was repulsed by the Holy Roman Empire in 1529 despite the Protestant Reformation's deep divisions. Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia became tributary states to the Ottoman Empire soon afterwards. In the east, the Ottomans captured Baghdad from the Safavids and partitioned the Caucasus with them. Meanwhile, Suleiman allied Francis I of France over their mutual hatred of the Habsburgs. That led to Ottoman activity in the Mediterranean, where Rhodes, Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli would eventually be captured. Barbarossa Hayreddin led the Ottoman advance. In 1566, Suleiman died, and many historians consider that to be the start of the Ottoman stagnation. The Ottomans lost the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 by Philip II of Spain and his Holy League. The Ottomans quickly recovered by capturing Cyprus from the Republic of Venice. However, the defeat shattered the myth of Ottoman invincibility. The Ottomans suffered many defeats under Murad III in the next 30 years. The Long War with the Austrian Empire ended a in stalemate, and the Safavids invaded the eastern Ottoman provinces. Murad IV recaptured Iraq and the Caucasus from Persia. The "Sultanate of Women" became an nickname for the Ottoman Empire after the consorts Kösem Sultan and Turhan Sultan became important in the empire and sometimes made even economic decisions in the Sultan's place. The Grand Vizier also took a greater role under the leadership of the Köprülüs. Crete was captured from Venice, and southern Ukraine was captured from Poland. However, Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha carelessly opened up the empire to attack when he attacked Vienna and laid siege to the city. The Austrians, Poles, Russians, and Venetians all attacked the Ottomans back in the Great Turkish War. Austria and Poland attacked the overstretched Turks in Hungary and Transylvania while Russia hammered Crimea and eventually captured it from the Turks. Venice settled to attack Greece, which was entirely under Ottoman Turkish occupation. The warring sides signed the Treaty of Karlowitz, which ceded Hungary and Transylvania to Austria, Podolia (southern Ukraine) to Poland, Morea (southern Greece) to Venice, and Azov (a Black Sea port) to Russia. Russia and Sweden went to war, and the Ottomans got involved by retaking Azov and then making peace. Austria, Russia, Venice, and the Ottomans would go to war several times. By 1739, the Ottomans had actually retaken the Morea and Serbia. In the 1740s and the 1750s, the Ottomans began to modernize their military, but in the 1760s, the Ottomans went to war with Russia again. Russia took over Crimea in 1783 and claimed that Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman Empire were under Russian protection. Selim III continued modernising the military, but the elite Janissary corps troops revolted. Napoleon attacked Egypt but was repulsed by the British. Serbia revolted and gained nominal independence in 1815, but it was still a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Greece won its independence after a long war of independence from 1821 to 1829. The al-Saud family revolted in 1811 with the support of the Wahhabi sect. Egypt under Muhammad Ali then almost captured Constantinople, but the Russians repulsed them. The Egyptians settled with the Levant, and the Ottomans tried to retake it but were soundly defeated. The Ottomans was dubbed the "sick man of Europe" because of their incompetence in international affairs.

**DECLINE AND FALL**

The Ottoman Tanzimat period brought reform since conscription was introduced, a central bank was formed, homosexuality was decriminalised, the law was secularised, and the guilds were replaced with factories. The Christian part of the empire became much more advanced than the Muslim part, and that divide created tension. In the 1850s, the British and the French helped the Ottomans during the Crimean War. The Ottoman debts led to a state of bankruptcy, and the European countries began providing loans and controlling the finances of the empire. Worse yet, the Ottomans began war against Russia over Bulgarian independence. At the 1878 Congress of Berlin, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro gained complete independence. Bulgaria remained a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. The British took Cyprus, followed by Egypt in 1882. In 1908, the Ottomans underwent a revolution by the Young Turks. Abdul Hamid II abdicated, and Mehmed V was instated. Bulgaria gained independence, and Austria invaded Bosnia that same year. In 1912, the Ottomans lost Libya to the Italians. The ensuing Balkan Wars saw the Ottomans lose all of their European territories except eastern Thrace to a combined force of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria. The Second Balkan War allowed the Ottomans to attack Bulgaria in conjunction with Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. Their victory meant little since the unrest continued, with a 1909 countercoup to the Young Turk coup, followed by three countercoups. In 1914, although they were utterly disorganised, the Ottomans attacked Russia and declared war. Britain and France went to war with the Ottomans, and World War I had come to Turkey. The Ottomans performed better than had been expected early in the war. They won the Battle of Gallipoli, partly because of the incompetence of the British commanders. The Ottomans also won the Battle of Kut though Iraq was lost later. In 1915, Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, and others were targeted, and many as 1.5 million people were killed. The Ottoman Empire fell soon after the Arabs revolted in 1916 with British help. The empire fell after the Sinai, Palestine, Iraq, Syria, and eventually Anatolia itself fell. The Ottomans surrendered in 1918. The Turkish War of Independence was military campaign by the Turkish National Movement, which led to the foundation of the modern Republic of Turkey. In 1923, the Ottoman Empire formally ceased to exist.

**SUCCESSION POLICIES**

The empire was a hereditary monarchy and followed a Turco-Mongol tradition in which all men in the leader's family could become rulers. The ruler's title was *Sultan* and was used in front of the name (for example, "*Sultan* Süleyman"). The title of *Sultan* was also used for the wives and the daughters of the monarchs. In this case, it was used at the end of the name (for example, Hürrem *Sultan*"). In the early years of the empire, shahzadahs, the sons of the Sultan, were sent to different parts of the empire (Sanjaks) to get experience of governing. Later, they might be candidates for the Sultanate and the Caliphate.

After Ahmed, the system changed. In the new system, the Sultan would keep his male family members locked in a small apartment called a *kafes* from which they would never be able to see the outside world and take power from him. Sometimes, a new Sultan would kill his male family members to make sure that no one else could be leader.

**ROLE OF MOTHERS IN SUCCESSION**

However, the women in his harem often sought greater status and influence, and the Sultan's mother might become a powerful political force in the Empire. Each mother in the harem would try to make her own son the next Sultan since they knew that he would probably be killed otherwise.

**CAPITAL**

Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. Edirne, in Thrace, became the capital city of the Ottoman Empire in 1365. After Constantinople was conquered by the empire in 1453, it became the final capital.

**VASSALS**

Many places were vassal states to the empire, rather than being directly ruled by it. They included Transylvania, Moldavia, Wallachia (all of which later joined to form Romania, and the Caucasus (Georgia, Dagestan, and Chechnya). Their rulers received a degree of independence and autonomy from the empire but had to pay more money (tax or tribute) to the sultan.

**GALLERY**

**SOURCE**

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman\_Empire