Here's what she was like:

Ottoman Empire: from dawn to dusk

The Ottoman Empire arose in 1299 in the northwest of Asia Minor and lasted 624 years, having managed to conquer many peoples and become one of the greatest powers in the history of mankind.

From the spot to the quarry

The position of the Turks at the end of the 13th century looked unpromising, if only because of the presence of Byzantium and Persia in the neighborhood. Plus the sultans of Konya (the capital of Lycaonia - regions in Asia Minor), depending on which, albeit formally, the Turks were.

However, all this did not prevent Osman (1288-1326) from expanding and strengthening his young state. By the way, by the name of their first sultan, the Turks began to be called the Ottomans.
Osman was actively engaged in the development of internal culture and carefully treated someone else's. Therefore, many Greek cities located in Asia Minor preferred to voluntarily recognize his supremacy. Thus, they "killed two birds with one stone": they both received protection and preserved their traditions.
Osman's son Orkhan I (1326-1359) brilliantly continued his father's work. Declaring that he was going to unite all the faithful under his rule, the Sultan set off to conquer not the countries of the East, which would be logical, but the western lands. And Byzantium was the first to stand in his way.

By this time, the empire was in decline, which the Turkish Sultan took advantage of. Like a cold-blooded butcher, he "chopped off" area after area from the Byzantine "body". Soon the entire northwestern part of Asia Minor came under the rule of the Turks. They also established themselves on the European coast of the Aegean and Marmara Seas, as well as the Dardanelles. And the territory of Byzantium was reduced to Constantinople and its environs.
Subsequent sultans continued the expansion of Eastern Europe, where they successfully fought against Serbia and Macedonia. And Bayazet (1389-1402) was "marked" by the defeat of the Christian army, which King Sigismund of Hungary led on a crusade against the Turks.

From defeat to triumph

Under the same Bayazet, one of the most severe defeats of the Ottoman army happened. The Sultan personally opposed Timur's army and in the Battle of Ankara (1402) he was defeated, and he himself was taken prisoner, where he died.
The heirs by hook or by crook tried to ascend the throne. The state was on the verge of collapse due to internal unrest. Only under Murad II (1421-1451) did the situation stabilize, and the Turks were able to regain control of the lost Greek cities and conquer part of Albania. The Sultan dreamed of finally cracking down on Byzantium, but did not have time. His son, Mehmed II (1451-1481), was destined to become the murderer of the Orthodox empire.

On May 29, 1453, the hour of X came for Byzantium. The Turks besieged Constantinople for two months. Such a short time was enough to break the inhabitants of the city. Instead of everyone taking up arms, the townspeople simply prayed to God for help, not leaving churches for days. The last Emperor Constantine Palaiologos asked for help from the Pope, but he demanded in return the unification of churches. Konstantin refused.

Perhaps the city would have held out even if not for the betrayal. One of the officials agreed to the bribe and opened the gate. He did not take into account one important fact - in addition to the female harem, the Turkish Sultan also had a male harem. That's where the comely son of a traitor got.
The city fell. The civilized world has stopped. Now all the states of both Europe and Asia have realized that the time has come for a new superpower - the Ottoman Empire.

European campaigns and confrontations with Russia

The Turks did not think to stop there. After the death of Byzantium, no one blocked their way to rich and unfaithful Europe, even conditionally.
Soon, Serbia was annexed to the empire (except for Belgrade, but the Turks would capture it in the 16th century), the Duchy of Athens (and, accordingly, most of all of Greece), the island of Lesbos, Wallachia, and Bosnia.

In Eastern Europe, the territorial appetites of the Turks intersected with those of Venice. The ruler of the latter quickly enlisted the support of Naples, the Pope and Karaman (Khanate in Asia Minor). The confrontation lasted 16 years and ended with the complete victory of the Ottomans. After that, no one prevented them from "getting" the remaining Greek cities and islands, as well as annexing Albania and Herzegovina. The Turks were so carried away by expanding their borders that they successfully attacked even Crimean Khanate.
Panic broke out in Europe. Pope Sixtus IV began to make plans for the evacuation of Rome, and at the same time hastened to announce a Crusade against the Ottoman Empire. Only Hungary responded to the call. In 1481, Mehmed II died, and the era of great conquests ended temporarily.
In the 16th century, when internal unrest in the empire subsided, the Turks again directed their weapons at their neighbors. First there was a war with Persia. Although the Turks won it, the territorial acquisitions were insignificant.
After success in North African Tripoli and Algiers, Sultan Suleiman invaded Austria and Hungary in 1527 and laid siege to Vienna two years later. It was not possible to take it - bad weather and mass diseases prevented it.
As for relations with Russia, for the first time the interests of states clashed in Crimea.
The first war took place in 1568 and ended in 1570 with the victory of Russia. Empires fought each other for 350 years (1568 - 1918) - one war fell on average for a quarter of a century.
During this time, there were 12 wars (including the Azov, Prut campaign, Crimean and Caucasian fronts during the First World War). And in most cases, the victory remained with Russia.

Dawn and sunset of the Janissaries

The last Janissaries, 1914

Talking about the Ottoman Empire, one cannot fail to mention its regular troops - the Janissaries.
In 1365, on the personal order of Sultan Murad I, the Janissary infantry was formed. It was completed by Christians (Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, and so on) at the age of eight to sixteen years. Thus worked devshirme - a blood tax - which was imposed on the unbelieving peoples of the empire. It is interesting that at first the life of the Janissaries was quite difficult. They lived in monasteries-barracks, they were forbidden to start a family and any household.
But gradually the Janissaries from the elite branch of the military began to turn into a highly paid burden for the state. In addition, these troops were less and less likely to take part in hostilities.
The beginning of decomposition was laid in 1683, when, along with Christian children, Muslims began to be taken as Janissaries. Wealthy Turks sent their children there, thus solving the issue of their successful future - they could make a good career. It was the Muslim Janissaries who began to start families and engage in crafts, as well as trade. Gradually, they turned into a greedy, impudent political force that interfered in state affairs and participated in the overthrow of objectionable sultans.
The agony continued until 1826, when Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissaries.

The death of the Ottoman Empire

Frequent troubles, inflated ambitions, cruelty and constant participation in any wars could not but affect the fate of the Ottoman Empire. The 20th century turned out to be especially critical, in which Turkey was increasingly torn apart by internal contradictions and the separatist mood of the population. Because of this, the country fell behind the West in technical terms, so it began to lose the once conquered territories.
The fateful decision for the empire was its participation in the First World War. The allies defeated the Turkish troops and staged a division of its territory. On October 29, 1923, a new state appeared - the Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal became its first president (later, he changed his surname to Atatürk - "father of the Turks"). Thus ended the history of the once great Ottoman Empire.

The content of the article

OTTOMAN (OTTOMAN) EMPIRE. This empire was created by the Turkic tribes in Anatolia and existed since the decline of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th century. until the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1922. Its name comes from the name of Sultan Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman dynasty. The influence of the Ottoman Empire in the region began to gradually disappear from the 17th century, it finally collapsed after the defeat in the First World War.

Rise of the Ottomans.

The modern Republic of Turkey traces its origins to one of the Ghazi beyliks. The creator of the future mighty state, Osman (1259–1324/1326), inherited from his father Ertogrul a small border inheritance (uj) of the Seljuk state on the southeastern border of Byzantium, not far from Eskisehir. Osman became the founder of a new dynasty, and the state received his name and went down in history as the Ottoman Empire.

In the last years of Ottoman power, a legend appeared that Ertogrul and his tribe arrived from Central Asia just in time to save the Seljuks in their battle with the Mongols, and their western lands were rewarded. However, modern research does not confirm this legend. Ertogrul was given his inheritance by the Seljuks, to whom he swore allegiance and paid tribute, as well as to the Mongol khans. This continued under Osman and his son until 1335. It is likely that neither Osman nor his father were ghazis until Osman fell under the influence of one of the dervish orders. In the 1280s, Osman managed to capture Bilecik, İnönü and Eskisehir.

At the very beginning of the 14th century. Osman, together with his ghazis, annexed to his inheritance the lands that stretched up to the coasts of the Black and Marmara Seas, as well as most of the territory west of the Sakarya River, up to Kutahya in the south. After the death of Osman, his son Orkhan occupied the fortified Byzantine city of Brusa. Bursa, as the Ottomans called it, became the capital of the Ottoman state and remained so for more than 100 years until Constantinople was taken by them. In almost one decade, Byzantium lost almost all of Asia Minor, and such historical cities as Nicaea and Nicomedia were named Iznik and Izmit. The Ottomans subjugated the beylik of Karesi in Bergama (former Pergamum), and Gazi Orhan became the ruler of the entire northwestern part of Anatolia: from the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles to the Black Sea and the Bosphorus.

conquests in Europe.

The rise of the Ottoman Empire.

In the period between the capture of Bursa and the victory in Kosovo, the organizational structures and management of the Ottoman Empire were quite effective, and already at that time many features of the future huge state loomed. Orhan and Murad were not interested in whether the new arrivals were Muslims, Christians or Jews, whether they were listed as Arabs, Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Italians, Iranians or Tatars. State system board was based on a combination of Arab, Seljuk and Byzantine customs and traditions. In the occupied lands, the Ottomans tried to preserve, as far as possible, local customs, so as not to destroy the established social relations.

In all newly annexed areas, military leaders immediately allocated income from land allotments as a reward to valiant and worthy soldiers. The owners of these kind of fiefs, called timars, were obliged to manage their lands and from time to time participate in campaigns and raids on remote territories. From the feudal lords, called sipahs, who had timars, cavalry was formed. Like the ghazis, the sipahis acted as Ottoman pioneers in the newly conquered territories. Murad I distributed many such inheritances in Europe to Turkic clans from Anatolia who did not have property, resettling them in the Balkans and turning them into a feudal military aristocracy.

Another notable event of that time was the creation of a corps of Janissaries in the army, soldiers who were included in the military units close to the Sultan. These soldiers (Turkish yeniceri, lit. new army), called Janissaries by foreigners, later began to be recruited among captured boys from Christian families, in particular in the Balkans. This practice, known as the devshirme system, may have been introduced under Murad I, but did not fully take shape until the 15th century. under Murad II; it continued uninterrupted until the 16th century, with interruptions until the 17th century. Being slaves of the sultans in status, the Janissaries were a disciplined regular army, consisting of well-trained and armed foot soldiers, superior in combat capability to all similar troops in Europe until the advent of the French army of Louis XIV.

The conquests and fall of Bayezid I.

Mehmed II and the capture of Constantinople.

The young sultan received an excellent education at the palace school and as governor of Manisa under his father. He was undoubtedly more educated than all the other monarchs of the then Europe. After the murder of his minor brother, Mehmed II reorganized his court in preparation for the capture of Constantinople. Huge bronze cannons were cast and troops were gathered to storm the city. In 1452, the Ottomans built a huge fort with three majestic fortress castles in the narrow part of the Bosphorus about 10 km north of the Golden Horn harbor of Constantinople. Thus, the Sultan was able to control shipping from the Black Sea and cut off Constantinople from supplies from the Italian trading posts located to the north. This fort, called Rumeli Hisary, together with another Anadolu Hisary fortress built by the great-grandfather of Mehmed II, guaranteed reliable communication between Asia and Europe. The most spectacular move of the Sultan was the ingenious crossing of part of his fleet from the Bosphorus to the Golden Horn through the hills, bypassing the chain stretched at the entrance to the bay. Thus, the cannons from the ships of the Sultan could bombard the city from the inner harbor. On May 29, 1453, a breach was made in the wall, and the Ottoman soldiers broke into Constantinople. On the third day, Mehmed II was already praying in Ayasofya and decided to make Istanbul (as the Ottomans called Constantinople) the capital of the empire.

Owning such a well-located city, Mehmed II controlled the position in the empire. In 1456, his attempt to take Belgrade ended unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, Serbia and Bosnia soon became provinces of the empire, and before his death, the Sultan managed to annex Herzegovina and Albania to his state. Mehmed II captured all of Greece, including the Peloponnese, with the exception of a few Venetian ports, and the largest islands in the Aegean. In Asia Minor, he finally managed to overcome the resistance of the rulers of Karaman, seize Cilicia, annex Trebizond (Trabzon) on the Black Sea coast to the empire and establish suzerainty over the Crimea. The Sultan recognized the authority of the Greek Orthodox Church and worked closely with the newly elected patriarch. Previously, for two centuries, the population of Constantinople was constantly declining; Mehmed II moved many people from various parts of the country to the new capital and restored traditionally strong crafts and trade in it.

The heyday of the empire under Suleiman I.

The power of the Ottoman Empire reached its peak in the middle of the 16th century. The reign of Suleiman I the Magnificent (1520-1566) is considered the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman I (previous Suleiman, son of Bayezid I, never ruled all of its territory) surrounded himself with many capable dignitaries. Most of them were recruited according to the devshirme system or captured during army campaigns and pirate raids, and by 1566, when Suleiman I died, these "new Turks", or "new Ottomans", already firmly held power over the entire empire in their hands. They formed the backbone of the administrative authorities, while the highest Muslim institutions were headed by the indigenous Turks. From their midst, theologians and jurists were recruited, whose duties included interpreting laws and performing judicial functions.

Suleiman I, being the only son of a monarch, never faced any claims to the throne. He was an educated man who loved music, poetry, nature, and also philosophical discussions. And yet the military forced him to adhere to a militant policy. In 1521 the Ottoman army crossed the Danube and captured Belgrade. This victory, which Mehmed II could not achieve at one time, opened the way for the Ottomans to the plains of Hungary and to the basin of the upper Danube. In 1526 Suleiman took Budapest and occupied all of Hungary. In 1529, the sultan began the siege of Vienna, but was unable to capture the city before the onset of winter. Nevertheless, a vast territory from Istanbul to Vienna and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea formed the European part of the Ottoman Empire, and Suleiman during his reign carried out seven military campaigns on the western borders of the state.

Suleiman fought in the east as well. The borders of his empire with Persia were not defined, and the vassal rulers in the border regions changed their masters, depending on which side the power was on and with whom it was more profitable to conclude an alliance. In 1534, Suleiman took Tabriz, and then Baghdad, including Iraq in the Ottoman Empire; in 1548 he regained Tabriz. The Sultan spent the entire 1549 in pursuit of the Persian Shah Tahmasp I, trying to fight him. While Suleiman was in Europe in 1553, Persian troops invaded Asia Minor and captured Erzurum. Having expelled the Persians and devoted most of 1554 to the conquest of the lands east of the Euphrates, Suleiman, according to the official peace treaty concluded with the shah, received a port in the Persian Gulf at his disposal. The squadrons of the naval forces of the Ottoman Empire operated in the waters of the Arabian Peninsula, in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez.

From the very beginning of his reign, Suleiman paid great attention to strengthening the maritime power of the state in order to maintain the superiority of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. In 1522 his second campaign was directed against Fr. Rhodes, lying 19 km from the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. After the capture of the island and the eviction of the Joannites who owned it to Malta, the Aegean Sea and the entire coast of Asia Minor became Ottoman possessions. Soon french king Francis I turned to the Sultan for military assistance in the Mediterranean and with a request to oppose Hungary in order to stop the advance of the troops of Emperor Charles V, advancing on Francis in Italy. The most famous of Suleiman's naval commanders, Khairaddin Barbarossa, supreme ruler of Algeria and North Africa, devastated the coasts of Spain and Italy. Nevertheless, Suleiman's admirals failed to capture Malta in 1565.

Suleiman died in 1566 in Szigetvar during a campaign in Hungary. The body of the last of the great Ottoman sultans was transferred to Istanbul and buried in a mausoleum in the courtyard of the mosque.

Suleiman had several sons, but his beloved son died at the age of 21, two others were executed on charges of conspiracy, and the only remaining son, Selim II, turned out to be a drunkard. The conspiracy that destroyed Suleiman's family can be partly attributed to the jealousy of his wife, Roxelana, a former slave girl of either Russian or Polish origin. Another mistake of Suleiman was the elevation in 1523 of his beloved slave Ibrahim, who was appointed chief minister (grand vizier), although there were many other competent courtiers among the applicants. And although Ibrahim was a capable minister, his appointment violated the long-established system of palace relations and aroused the envy of other dignitaries.

Mid 16th century was the heyday of literature and architecture. More than a dozen mosques were erected in Istanbul under the guidance and designs of the architect Sinan, the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, dedicated to Selim II, became a masterpiece.

Under the new Sultan Selim II, the Ottomans began to lose their positions at sea. In 1571, the united Christian fleet met the Turkish in the battle of Lepanto and defeated it. During the winter of 1571-1572, the shipyards in Gelibolu and Istanbul worked tirelessly, and by the spring of 1572, thanks to the construction of new warships, the European naval victory was nullified. In 1573, the Venetians were defeated, and the island of Cyprus was annexed to the empire. Despite this, the defeat at Lepanto was an omen of the coming decline of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean.

Decline of the empire.

After Selim II, most of the Ottoman sultans were weak rulers. Murad III, Selim's son, reigned from 1574 to 1595. His tenure was accompanied by turmoil caused by palace slaves led by Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokolki and two harem factions: one led by the Sultan's mother Nur Banu, a Jewish convert to Islam, and the other by a beloved Safi's wife. The latter was the daughter of the Venetian governor of Corfu, who was captured by pirates and presented to Suleiman, who immediately gave her to his grandson Murad. However, the empire still had enough strength to move east to the Caspian Sea, as well as to maintain its position in the Caucasus and Europe.

After the death of Murad III, 20 of his sons remained. Of these, Mehmed III ascended the throne, strangling 19 of his brothers. His son Ahmed I, who succeeded him in 1603, tried to reform the system of government and get rid of corruption. He departed from the cruel tradition and did not kill his brother Mustafa. And although this, of course, was a manifestation of humanism, but since that time all the brothers of the sultans and their closest relatives from the Ottoman dynasty began to be imprisoned in a special part of the palace, where they spent their lives until the death of the ruling monarch. Then the eldest of them was proclaimed his successor. Thus, after Ahmed I, few of those who reigned in the 17th-18th centuries. Sultans had sufficient intellectual development or political experience to manage such a huge empire. As a result, the unity of the state and the central government itself began to weaken rapidly.

Mustafa I, brother of Ahmed I, was mentally ill and ruled for only one year. Osman II, the son of Ahmed I, was proclaimed the new sultan in 1618. Being an enlightened monarch, Osman II tried to transform state structures, but was killed by his opponents in 1622. For some time, the throne again went to Mustafa I, but already in 1623 Osman's brother Murad ascended the throne IV, who ruled the country until 1640. His reign was dynamic and reminiscent of the reign of Selim I. Having reached the age of majority in 1623, Murad spent the next eight years in relentless attempts to restore and reform the Ottoman Empire. In an effort to improve state structures, he executed 10,000 officials. Murad personally led his armies during the eastern campaigns, banned the consumption of coffee, tobacco and alcoholic beverages, but he himself showed a weakness for alcohol, which led the young ruler to death at the age of only 28 years.

Murad's successor, his mentally ill brother Ibrahim, managed to largely destroy the state he inherited before he was deposed in 1648. The conspirators put Ibrahim's six-year-old son Mehmed IV on the throne and actually led the country until 1656, when the Sultan's mother achieved the appointment of Grand Vizier with unlimited powers talented Mehmed Köprülü. He held this position until 1661, when his son Fazıl Ahmed Koprulu became vizier.

The Ottoman Empire nevertheless managed to overcome the period of chaos, extortion and crisis of state power. Europe was divided by religious wars and Thirty Years' War, while Poland and Russia experienced troubled period. This made it possible for both Köprül, after the purge of the administration, during which 30,000 officials were executed, to capture the island of Crete in 1669, and in 1676 Podolia and other regions of Ukraine. After the death of Ahmed Koprulu, his place was taken by a mediocre and corrupt palace favorite. In 1683, the Ottomans laid siege to Vienna, but were defeated by the Poles and their allies, led by Jan Sobieski.

Leaving the Balkans.

The defeat at Vienna was the beginning of the retreat of the Turks in the Balkans. First, Budapest fell, and after the loss of Mohacs, all of Hungary fell under the rule of Vienna. In 1688 the Ottomans had to leave Belgrade, in 1689 Vidin in Bulgaria and Nish in Serbia. Thereafter Suleiman II (r. 1687–1691) appointed Mustafa Köprülü, Ahmed's brother, as grand vizier. The Ottomans managed to retake Nis and Belgrade, but they were utterly defeated by Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1697 near Senta, in the far north of Serbia.

Mustafa II (r. 1695–1703) attempted to recapture lost ground by appointing Hussein Köprülä as grand vizier. In 1699, the Karlovitsky Peace Treaty was signed, according to which the Peloponnese and Dalmatia peninsulas retreated to Venice, Austria received Hungary and Transylvania, Poland - Podolia, and Russia retained Azov. The Treaty of Karlovtsy was the first in a series of concessions that the Ottomans were forced to make as they left Europe.

During the 18th century The Ottoman Empire lost most of its power in the Mediterranean. In the 17th century The main opponents of the Ottoman Empire were Austria and Venice, and in the 18th century. – Austria and Russia.

In 1718, Austria, according to the Pozharevatsky (Passarovitsky) treaty, received a number of territories. Nevertheless, the Ottoman Empire, despite the defeats in the wars that it waged in the 1730s, according to the treaty signed in 1739 in Belgrade, regained this city, mainly due to the weakness of the Habsburgs and the intrigues of French diplomats.

Surrenders.

As a result of behind-the-scenes maneuvers of French diplomacy in Belgrade, in 1740 an agreement was concluded between France and the Ottoman Empire. Called "Surrenders", this document was for a long time the basis for the special privileges received by all states in the territory of the empire. The formal beginning of the agreements was laid as early as 1251, when the Mamluk sultans in Cairo recognized Saint Louis IX, King of France. Mehmed II, Bayezid II and Selim I confirmed this agreement and used it as a model in relations with Venice and other Italian city-states, Hungary, Austria and most other European countries. One of the most important was the agreement of 1536 between Suleiman I and the French king Francis I. In accordance with the agreement of 1740, the French received the right to move freely and trade on the territory of the Ottoman Empire under the full protection of the Sultan, their goods were not taxed, with the exception of import and export duties, French envoys and consuls acquired judicial power over compatriots who could not be arrested in the absence of a representative of the consulate. The French were given the right to erect and freely use their churches; the same privileges were reserved within the Ottoman Empire and for other Catholics. In addition, the French could take under their protection the Portuguese, Sicilians and citizens of other states who did not have ambassadors at the Sultan's court.

Further decline and attempts at reform.

The end of the Seven Years' War in 1763 marked the beginning of new attacks against the Ottoman Empire. Despite the fact that the French king Louis XV sent Baron de Totta to Istanbul to modernize the Sultan's army, the Ottomans were defeated by Russia in the Danube provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia and were forced to sign the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty in 1774. Crimea gained independence, and Azov went to Russia, which recognized the border with the Ottoman Empire along the Bug River. The Sultan promised to provide protection for the Christians living in his empire, and allowed the presence of a Russian ambassador in the capital, who received the right to represent the interests of his Christian subjects. Starting from 1774 and up to the First World War, the Russian tsars referred to the Kyuchuk-Kaynardzhi agreement, justifying their role in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire. In 1779 Russia received rights to the Crimea, and in 1792 the Russian border was moved to the Dniester in accordance with the Iasi peace treaty.

Time dictated change. Ahmed III (r. 1703–1730) brought in architects who built him palaces and mosques in the style of Versailles and opened a printing press in Istanbul. The closest relatives of the Sultan were no longer kept in strict imprisonment, some of them began to study the scientific and political heritage of Western Europe. However, Ahmed III was killed by the conservatives, and Mahmud I took his place, during which the Caucasus was lost, passed to Persia, and the retreat in the Balkans continued. One of the prominent sultans was Abdul-Hamid I. During his reign (1774-1789), reforms were made, French teachers and technical specialists were invited to Istanbul. France hoped to save the Ottoman Empire and keep Russia out of the Black Sea straits and the Mediterranean.

Selim III

(reigned 1789–1807). Selim III, who became sultan in 1789, formed a 12-member cabinet of ministers in the style of European governments, replenished the treasury and created a new military corps. They created new educational establishments, designed to educate civil servants in the spirit of the ideas of the Enlightenment. Printed publications were again allowed, and the works of Western authors began to be translated into Turkish.

In the early years of the French Revolution, the Ottoman Empire was left alone with its problems by the European powers. Napoleon considered Selim as an ally, believing that after the defeat of the Mamluks, the sultan would be able to strengthen his power in Egypt. Nevertheless, Selim III declared war on France and sent his fleet and army to defend the province. Saved the Turks from defeat only the British fleet, located off Alexandria and off the coast of the Levant. This step of the Ottoman Empire involved it in the military and diplomatic affairs of Europe.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, after the departure of the French, Muhammad Ali, a native of the Macedonian city of Kavala, who served in the Turkish army, came to power. In 1805 he became governor of the province, which opened a new chapter in the history of Egypt.

After the conclusion of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, relations with France were restored, and Selim III managed to keep the peace until 1806, when Russia invaded its Danubian provinces. England helped her ally Russia by sending her fleet through the Dardanelles, but Selim managed to speed up the restoration of defensive structures, and the British were forced to sail into the Aegean Sea. The French victories in Central Europe strengthened the position of the Ottoman Empire, but a rebellion began in the capital against Selim III. In 1807, during the absence of Bayraktar, the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, the sultan was deposed, and his cousin Mustafa IV took the throne. After the return of Bayraktar in 1808, Mustafa IV was executed, but before that, the rebels strangled Selim III, who was imprisoned. Mahmud II remained the only male representative of the ruling dynasty.

Mahmoud II

(reigned 1808–1839). Under him, in 1809, the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain concluded the famous Dardanelles Peace, which opened the Turkish market for British goods on the condition that Great Britain recognized the closed status of the Black Sea straits for military ships in peacetime for the Turks. Earlier, the Ottoman Empire agreed to join the continental blockade created by Napoleon, so the agreement was perceived as a violation of previous obligations. Russia began hostilities on the Danube and captured a number of cities in Bulgaria and Wallachia. Under the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812, significant territories were ceded to Russia, and she refused to support the rebels in Serbia. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Ottoman Empire was recognized as a European power.

National Revolutions in the Ottoman Empire.

During the French Revolution, the country faced two new problems. One of them has been ripening for a long time: as the center weakened, the separated provinces eluded the power of the sultans. In Epirus, Ali Pasha Yaninsky, who ruled the province as sovereign and maintained diplomatic relations with Napoleon and other European monarchs, revolted. Similar performances also took place in Vidin, Sidon (modern Saida, Lebanon), Baghdad and other provinces, which undermined the power of the Sultan and reduced tax revenues to the imperial treasury. The strongest of the local rulers (pashas) eventually became Muhammad Ali in Egypt.

Another intractable problem for the country was the growth of the national liberation movement, especially among the Christian population of the Balkans. At the height of the French Revolution, Selim III in 1804 faced an uprising raised by the Serbs led by Karageorgiy (George Petrovich). The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) recognized Serbia as a semi-autonomous province within the Ottoman Empire, led by Miloš Obrenović, a rival of Karađorđe.

Almost immediately after the defeat of the French Revolution and the fall of Napoleon, Mahmud II faced the Greek national liberation revolution. Mahmud II had a chance to win, especially after he managed to convince the nominal vassal in Egypt, Muhammad Ali, to send his army and navy to support Istanbul. However, the Pasha's armed forces were defeated after the intervention of Great Britain, France and Russia. As a result of the breakthrough of Russian troops in the Caucasus and their offensive against Istanbul, Mahmud II had to sign the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, which recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Greece. A few years later, the army of Muhammad Ali, under the command of his son Ibrahim Pasha, captured Syria and found itself dangerously close to the Bosphorus in Asia Minor. Rescued Mahmud II only Russian amphibious assault who landed on the Asian shore of the Bosporus as a warning to Muhammad Ali. After that, Mahmud never managed to get rid of Russian influence until he signed the humiliating Unkiyar-Iskelesi Treaty in 1833, which gave the Russian Tsar the right to “protect” the Sultan, as well as to close and open the Black Sea straits at his discretion for the passage of foreign military courts.

Ottoman Empire after the Congress of Vienna.

Period after Congress of Vienna, probably proved to be the most destructive for the Ottoman Empire. Greece seceded; Egypt under Muhammad Ali, which, moreover, by capturing Syria and South Arabia, became virtually independent; Serbia, Wallachia and Moldavia became semi-autonomous territories. During the Napoleonic Wars, Europe significantly strengthened its military and industrial power. The weakening of the Ottoman state is attributed to a certain extent to the massacre of the Janissaries organized by Mahmud II in 1826.

By signing the Treaty of Unkiyar-Isklelesiy, Mahmud II hoped to buy time to transform the empire. His reforms were so tangible that travelers visiting Turkey in the late 1830s noted that more changes had taken place in the country in the last 20 years than in the previous two centuries. Instead of the Janissaries, Mahmud created a new army, trained and equipped according to the European model. Prussian officers were hired to train officers in the new military art. Fezzes and frock coats became the official attire of civil officials. Mahmoud tried to introduce into all areas of government latest methods developed in the young European states. It was possible to reorganize the financial system, streamline the activities of the judiciary, and improve the road network. Additional educational institutions were created, in particular, military and medical colleges. Newspapers began to be published in Istanbul and Izmir.

In the last year of his life, Mahmud again entered the war with his Egyptian vassal. Mahmud's army was defeated in northern Syria, and his fleet in Alexandria went over to the side of Muhammad Ali.

Abdul Mejid

(reigned 1839–1861). The eldest son and successor of Mahmud II, Abdul-Majid, was only 16 years old. Without an army and navy, he was helpless in the face of the superior forces of Muhammad Ali. He was saved by the diplomatic and military assistance of Russia, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia. France initially supported Egypt, but the concerted action of the European powers made it possible to find a way out of the deadlock: the pasha received the hereditary right to rule Egypt under the nominal suzerainty of the Ottoman sultans. This provision was legalized by the London Treaty of 1840 and confirmed by Abdul-Mejid in 1841. In the same year, the London Convention of the European Powers was concluded, according to which military ships were not to pass through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus in peacetime for the Ottoman Empire, and the powers that signed it took to the obligation to assist the Sultan in maintaining sovereignty over the Black Sea straits.

Tanzimat.

During the struggle with his powerful vassal, Abdulmejid in 1839 promulgated the khatt-i sherif (“sacred decree”), announcing the beginning of reforms in the empire, with which the chief minister Reshid Pasha spoke to the highest state dignitaries and invited ambassadors. The document abolished the death penalty without trial, guaranteed justice for all citizens regardless of their racial or religious affiliation, established a judicial council to adopt a new penal code, abolished the farming system, changed the methods of recruiting the army and limited the length of military service.

It became apparent that the empire was no longer capable of defending itself in the event of a military attack by any of the great European powers. Reshid Pasha, who previously served as ambassador to Paris and London, understood that certain steps must be taken to show the European states that the Ottoman Empire was capable of self-reformation and manageable, i.e. deserves to be preserved as an independent state. Hatt-i sheriff seemed to be the answer to the doubts of the Europeans. However, in 1841 Reshid was removed from office. In the next few years, his reforms were suspended, and only after his return to power in 1845 did they begin to be put into practice again with the support of the British ambassador, Stratford Canning. This period in the history of the Ottoman Empire, known as the tanzimat ("ordering"), included the reorganization of the system of government and the transformation of society in accordance with the ancient Muslim and Ottoman principles of tolerance. At the same time, education developed, the network of schools expanded, sons from famous families began to study in Europe. Many Ottomans began to lead a Western way of life. The number of published newspapers, books and magazines increased, and the younger generation professed new European ideals.

At the same time, foreign trade grew rapidly, but the influx of European industrial products had a negative impact on the finances and economy of the Ottoman Empire. Imports of British factory-made textiles disrupted artisanal textile production and siphoned gold and silver out of the state. Another blow to the economy was the signing in 1838 of the Balto-Liman Trade Convention, according to which import duties on goods imported into the empire were frozen at the level of 5%. This meant that foreign merchants could operate in the empire on an equal footing with local merchants. As a result, most of the trade in the country was in the hands of foreigners, who, in accordance with the "Surrenders", were released from the control of officials.

Crimean War.

The London Convention of 1841 abolished the special privileges which Russian emperor Nicholas I received a secret annex to the Unkiyar-Iskelesi Treaty of 1833. Referring to the Kyuchuk-Kainarji Treaty of 1774, Nicholas I launched an offensive in the Balkans and demanded special status and rights for Russian monks in holy places in Jerusalem and Palestine. After the refusal of Sultan Abdulmejid to satisfy these demands, the Crimean War began. Great Britain, France and Sardinia came to the aid of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul became a forward base for the preparation of hostilities in the Crimea, and the influx of European sailors, army officers and civil officials left an indelible mark on Ottoman society. The Paris Treaty of 1856, which ended this war, declared the Black Sea a neutral zone. The European powers again recognized Turkish sovereignty over the Black Sea Straits, and the Ottoman Empire was admitted to the "Union of European States". Romania gained independence.

Bankruptcy of the Ottoman Empire.

After the Crimean War, the sultans began to borrow money from Western bankers. Back in 1854, having practically no external debt, the Ottoman government very quickly became bankrupt, and already in 1875 Sultan Abdulaziz owed almost one billion dollars in foreign currency to European bondholders.

In 1875 the Grand Vizier declared that the country was no longer able to pay the interest on its debts. Noisy protests and pressure from the European powers forced the Ottoman authorities to raise taxes in the provinces. Unrest began in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The government sent troops to "appease" the rebels, during which unprecedented cruelty was shown that amazed the Europeans. In response, Russia sent volunteers to help the Balkan Slavs. At this time, a secret revolutionary society of "New Ottomans" appeared in the country, advocating constitutional reforms in their homeland.

In 1876, Abdul-Aziz, who succeeded his brother Abdul-Mejid in 1861, was deposed for incompetence by Midhat Pasha and Avni Pasha, leaders of the liberal organization of the constitutionalists. On the throne they put Murad V, the eldest son of Abdul-Mejid, who turned out to be mentally ill and was removed in just a few months, and Abdul-Hamid II, another son of Abdul-Mejid, was placed on the throne.

Abdul Hamid II

(reigned 1876–1909). Abdul-Hamid II visited Europe, and many pinned great hopes on him for a liberal constitutional regime. However, at the time of his accession to the throne, Turkish influence in the Balkans was in danger despite the fact that the Ottoman forces managed to defeat the Bosnian and Serbian rebels. This development of events forced Russia to come out with the threat of open intervention, which was sharply opposed by Austria-Hungary and Great Britain. In December 1876, a conference of ambassadors was convened in Istanbul, at which Abdul-Hamid II announced the introduction of the constitution of the Ottoman Empire, which provided for the creation of an elected parliament, a government responsible to it, and other attributes of European constitutional monarchies. However, the brutal suppression of the uprising in Bulgaria nevertheless led in 1877 to a war with Russia. In this regard, Abdul-Hamid II suspended the operation of the Constitution for the period of the war. This situation continued until the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.

Meanwhile, at the front, the military situation was developing in favor of Russia, whose troops were already encamped under the walls of Istanbul. Great Britain managed to prevent the capture of the city by sending a fleet to the Sea of ​​Marmara and presenting an ultimatum to St. Petersburg demanding to stop hostilities. Initially, Russia imposed on the sultan the extremely disadvantageous Treaty of San Stefano, according to which most of the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire became part of a new autonomous entity - Bulgaria. Austria-Hungary and Great Britain opposed the terms of the treaty. All this prompted the German Chancellor Bismarck to convene the Berlin Congress in 1878, at which the size of Bulgaria was reduced, but the complete independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania was recognized. Cyprus went to Great Britain, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary. Russia received the fortresses of Ardahan, Kars and Batum (Batumi) in the Caucasus; to regulate navigation on the Danube, a commission was created from representatives of the Danubian states, and the Black Sea and the Black Sea straits again received the status provided for by the Treaty of Paris of 1856. The Sultan promised to equally fairly govern all his subjects, and the European powers considered that the Berlin Congress had solved the difficult Eastern problem forever.

During the 32-year reign of Abdul-Hamid II, the Constitution actually did not come into effect. One of the most important unresolved issues was the bankruptcy of the state. In 1881, under foreign control, the Office of the Ottoman Public Debt was created, which was made responsible for the payments on European bonds. Within a few years, confidence in the financial stability of the Ottoman Empire was restored, which contributed to the participation of foreign capital in the construction of such large projects as the Anatolian Railway, which connected Istanbul with Baghdad.

Young Turk Revolution.

During these years, national uprisings took place in Crete and Macedonia. In Crete, bloody clashes took place in 1896 and 1897, which led to the empire's war with Greece in 1897. After 30 days of fighting, the European powers intervened to save Athens from capture by the Ottoman army. Public opinion in Macedonia leaned towards either independence or union with Bulgaria.

It became obvious that the future of the state was connected with the Young Turks. The ideas of national upsurge were propagated by some journalists, the most talented of whom was Namik Kemal. Abdul-Hamid tried to suppress this movement with arrests, exiles and executions. At the same time, secret Turkish societies flourished in military headquarters around the country and in places as far away as Paris, Geneva, and Cairo. The most effective organization turned out to be the secret committee "Unity and Progress", which was created by the "Young Turks".

In 1908, the troops stationed in Macedonia rebelled and demanded the implementation of the Constitution of 1876. Abdul-Hamid was forced to agree to this, unable to use force. Elections to parliament followed, and the formation of a government of ministers responsible to that legislative body. In April 1909, a counter-revolutionary rebellion broke out in Istanbul, which, however, was quickly suppressed by armed units that arrived in time from Macedonia. Abdul-Hamid was deposed and sent into exile, where he died in 1918. His brother Mehmed V was proclaimed Sultan.

Balkan wars.

The Young Turk government soon faced internal strife and new territorial losses in Europe. In 1908, as a result of the revolution that took place in the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria proclaimed its independence, and Austria-Hungary seized Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Young Turks were powerless to prevent these events, and in 1911 they found themselves embroiled in a conflict with Italy, which had invaded the territory of modern Libya. The war ended in 1912 when the provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenaica became an Italian colony. In early 1912, Crete allied itself with Greece, and later that year, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria launched the First Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire.

Within a few weeks, the Ottomans lost all their possessions in Europe, with the exception of Istanbul, Edirne and Ioannina in Greece and Scutari (modern Shkodra) in Albania. The great European powers, anxiously watching how the balance of power in the Balkans was being destroyed, demanded a cessation of hostilities and a conference. The Young Turks refused to surrender the cities, and in February 1913 the fighting resumed. In a few weeks, the Ottoman Empire completely lost its European possessions, with the exception of the Istanbul zone and the straits. The Young Turks were forced to agree to a truce and formally give up the already lost lands. However, the victors immediately began an internecine war. The Ottomans entered into a clash with Bulgaria in order to return Edirne and the European regions adjacent to Istanbul. The Second Balkan War ended in August 1913 with the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest, but a year later the First World War broke out.

World War I and the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Developments after 1908 weakened the Young Turk government and isolated it politically. It tried to correct this situation by offering alliances to the stronger European powers. On August 2, 1914, shortly after the start of the war in Europe, the Ottoman Empire entered into a secret alliance with Germany. On the Turkish side, the pro-German Enver Pasha, a leading member of the Young Turk triumvirate and Minister of War, participated in the negotiations. A few days later, two German cruisers "Goeben" and "Breslau" took refuge in the straits. The Ottoman Empire acquired these warships, sailed them into the Black Sea in October and fired at Russian ports, thus declaring war on the Entente.

In the winter of 1914–1915, the Ottoman army suffered huge losses when Russian troops entered Armenia. Fearing that local residents would come out on their side there, the government authorized the massacre of the Armenian population in eastern Anatolia, which many researchers later called the Armenian genocide. Thousands of Armenians were deported to Syria. In 1916, the Ottoman rule in Arabia came to an end: the uprising was raised by the sheriff of Mecca, Hussein ibn Ali, supported by the Entente. As a result of these events, the Ottoman government finally collapsed, although Turkish troops, with German support, achieved a number of important victories: in 1915 they managed to repel the Entente attack on the Dardanelles, and in 1916 they captured the British corps in Iraq and stopped the advance of the Russians in the east. During the war, the Capitulation regime was canceled and customs tariffs were raised to protect domestic trade. The Turks took over the business of the evicted national minorities, which helped create the nucleus of a new Turkish commercial and industrial class. In 1918, when the Germans were withdrawn to defend the Hindenburg Line, the Ottoman Empire began to suffer defeat. On October 30, 1918, Turkish and British representatives concluded a truce, according to which the Entente received the right to "occupy any strategic points" of the empire and control the Black Sea straits.

The collapse of the empire.

The fate of most of the provinces of the Ottoman state was determined in the secret treaties of the Entente during the war. The Sultanate agreed to the separation of regions with a predominantly non-Turkish population. Istanbul was occupied by forces that had their own areas of responsibility. Russia was promised the Black Sea straits, including Istanbul, but the October Revolution led to the annulment of these agreements. In 1918, Mehmed V died, and his brother Mehmed VI took the throne, who, although he retained the government in Istanbul, actually became dependent on the Allied occupying forces. Problems were growing in the interior of the country, far from the places of deployment of the Entente troops and government institutions subordinate to the Sultan. Detachments of the Ottoman army, wandering around the vast outskirts of the empire, refused to lay down their arms. British, French and Italian military contingents occupied various parts of Turkey. With the support of the Entente fleet in May 1919, Greek armed formations landed in Izmir and began to advance deep into Asia Minor in order to protect the Greeks in Western Anatolia. Finally, in August 1920, the Treaty of Sevres was signed. Not a single area of ​​the Ottoman Empire remained free from foreign supervision. An international commission was created to control the Black Sea Straits and Istanbul. After riots broke out in early 1920 as a result of the growth of national sentiment, British troops entered Istanbul.

Mustafa Kemal and the Lausanne Peace Treaty.

In the spring of 1920, Mustafa Kemal, the most successful Ottoman commander of the war period, convened a Grand National Assembly in Ankara. He arrived from Istanbul in Anatolia on May 19, 1919 (the date on which the Turkish national liberation struggle began), where he united patriotic forces around him, striving to preserve Turkish statehood and the independence of the Turkish nation. From 1920 to 1922 Kemal and his supporters defeated the enemy armies in the east, south and west and made peace with Russia, France and Italy. At the end of August 1922, the Greek army retreated in disorder to Izmir and the coastal regions. Then the detachments of Kemal went to the Black Sea Straits, where the British troops were located. After the British Parliament refused to support the proposal to start hostilities, British Prime Minister Lloyd George resigned, and the war was averted by the signing of a truce in the Turkish city of Mudanya. The British government invited the Sultan and Kemal to send their representatives to a peace conference, which opened in Lausanne (Switzerland) on November 21, 1922. However, the Grand National Assembly in Ankara abolished the Sultanate, and Mehmed VI, the last Ottoman monarch, left Istanbul on a British warship on November 17.

On July 24, 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, which recognized the complete independence of Turkey. The Office of the Ottoman Public Debt and Capitulations were abolished, and foreign control over the country was abolished. At the same time, Turkey agreed to demilitarize the Black Sea straits. The province of Mosul, with its oil fields, went to Iraq. It was planned to carry out an exchange of population with Greece, from which the Greeks living in Istanbul and the West Thracian Turks were excluded. On October 6, 1923, British troops left Istanbul, and on October 29, 1923, Turkey was proclaimed a republic, and Mustafa Kemal was elected its first president.



The Ottoman Empire (in Europe it was traditionally called the Ottoman Empire) is the largest Turkish state-sultanate, the successor of the Muslim Arab Caliphate and Christian Byzantium.

The Ottomans are a dynasty of Turkish sultans that ruled the state from 1299 to 1923. The Ottoman Empire was formed in the 15th-16th centuries. as a result of Turkish conquests in Asia, Europe and Africa. For 2 centuries, a small and little-known Ottoman emirate has become a huge empire, pride and strength of the entire Muslim world.

The Turkish Empire lasted 6 centuries, occupying the period of its highest prosperity, from the middle of the 16th century. to the last decade of the 18th century, vast lands - Turkey, the Balkan Peninsula, Mesopotamia, North Africa, the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, the Middle East. Within these borders, the empire existed for a long historical period, posing a tangible threat to all neighboring countries and distant territories: the armies of the sultans were feared by all of Western Europe and Russia, and Turkish fleet reigned supreme in the Mediterranean.

Having turned from a small Turkic principality into a strong military-feudal state, the Ottoman Empire fought fiercely against the "infidels" for almost 600 years. The Ottoman Turks, continuing the work of their Arab predecessors, captured Constantinople and all the territories of Byzantium, turning the former powerful state into a Muslim land and linking Europe with Asia.

After 1517, having established his power over the holy places, the Ottoman sultan became the minister of two ancient shrines - Mecca and Medina. The assignment of this rank endowed the Ottoman ruler with a special duty - to protect the holy Muslim cities and promote the well-being of the annual pilgrimage to the shrines of the faithful Muslims. Since this period of history, the Ottoman state has almost completely merged with Islam and is trying in every possible way to expand the territories of its influence.

Ottoman Empire, to the XX century. having already lost its former greatness and power, it finally disintegrated after the defeat in the First World War, which became fatal for many states of the world.

At the origins of civilization

The beginning of the existence of the Turkish civilization should be attributed to the period of the Great Migration, when in the middle of the 1st millennium the Turkic settlers from Asia Minor found refuge under the rule of the Byzantine emperors.

At the end of the 11th century, when the Seljuk sultans persecuted by the crusaders moved to the borders of Byzantium, the Oghuz Turks, being the main people of the sultanate, assimilated with the local Anatolian population - Greeks, Persians, Armenians. Thus, a new nation was born - the Turks, representatives of the Turkic-Islamic group, surrounded by a Christian population. The Turkish nation was finally formed in the 15th century.

In the weakened state of the Seljuks, they adhered to traditional Islam, and the central government, which had lost its power, relied on officials consisting of Greeks and Persians. During the XII-XIII centuries. the power of the supreme ruler became less and less noticeable simultaneously with the strengthening of the power of local beys. After the invasion of the Mongols in the middle of the XIII century. the Seljuk state practically ceases to exist, torn apart from the inside by the unrest of religious sectarians. By the XIV century. of the ten beyliks located on the territory of the state, the western beylik rises noticeably, which was first ruled by Ertogrul, and then by his son Osman, who later became the founder of a huge Turkish state.

Birth of an empire

The founder of the empire and his successors

Osman I, Turkish Bey of the Ottoman dynasty, is the founder of the Ottoman dynasty.

Becoming the ruler of a mountainous region, Osman in 1289 received the title of Bey from the Seljuk Sultan. Having come to power, Osman immediately went to conquer the Byzantine lands and made the first captured Byzantine town of Melangia his residence.

Osman was born in a small mountainous place in the Seljuk Sultanate. Osman's father, Ertogrul, received neighboring Byzantine lands from Sultan Ala-ad-Din. The Turkic tribe, to which Osman belonged, considered the seizure of neighboring territories to be a sacred affair.

After the escape of the overthrown Seljuk Sultan in 1299, Osman created independent state based on your own beylik. During the first years of the XIV century. the founder of the Ottoman Empire managed to significantly expand the territory of the new state and moved his headquarters to the fortress city of Epishehir. Immediately after this, the Ottoman army began to raid the Byzantine cities located on the Black Sea coast, and the Byzantine regions in the area of ​​the Dardanelles.

The Ottoman dynasty was continued by the son of Osman Orhan, who began his military career from the successful capture of Bursa, a powerful fortress in Asia Minor. Orhan declared the prosperous fortified city the capital of the state and ordered the minting of the first coin of the Ottoman Empire, the silver akce, to begin. In 1337, the Turks won several brilliant victories and occupied territories as far as the Bosporus, making the conquered Ismit the main shipyard of the state. At the same time, Orhan annexed the neighboring Turkish lands, and by 1354, under his dominion were the northwestern part of Asia Minor to the eastern shores of the Dardanelles, part of its European coast, including the city of Galliopolis, and Ankara, recaptured from the Mongols.

Orhan's son Murad I (Fig. 8) became the third ruler of the Ottoman Empire, who added territories near Ankara to its possessions and set off on a military campaign in Europe.

Rice. 8. Ruler Murad I

Murad was the first sultan of the Ottoman dynasty and a true champion of Islam. The first schools in Turkish history began to be built in the cities of the country.

After the very first victories in Europe (the conquest of Thrace and Plovdiv), a stream of Turkic settlers poured onto the European coast.

The sultans fastened the decrees-firmans with their own imperial monogram - the tughra. The complex oriental pattern included the Sultan's name, his father's name, title, motto, and the epithet "always victorious."

New conquests

Murad paid much attention to the improvement and strengthening of the army. For the first time in history, a professional army was created. In 1336, the ruler formed a Janissary corps, which later turned into the personal guard of the Sultan. In addition to the Janissaries, the Sipah cavalry was created, and as a result of these fundamental changes, the Turkish army became not only numerous, but also unusually disciplined and powerful.

In 1371, on the Maritsa River, the Turks defeated the united army of the South European states and captured Bulgaria and part of Serbia.

The next brilliant victory was won by the Turks in 1389, when the Janissaries took up firearms for the first time. In that year, a historic battle took place on the Kossovo field, when, having defeated the crusaders, the Ottoman Turks annexed a significant part of the Balkans to their lands.

Murad's son Bayazid continued his father's policy in everything, but unlike him, he was distinguished by cruelty and indulged in debauchery. Bayazid completed the defeat of Serbia and turned it into a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, becoming the absolute master in the Balkans.

For the rapid movement of the army and energetic actions, Sultan Bayazid received the nickname Ilderim (Lightning). During the lightning campaign in 1389-1390. he subjugated Anatolia, after which the Turks took possession of almost the entire territory of Asia Minor.

Bayazid had to fight simultaneously on two fronts - with the Byzantines and the Crusaders. On September 25, 1396, the Turkish army defeated a huge army of crusaders, having received all the Bulgarian lands into submission. On the side of the Turks, according to the description of contemporaries, more than 100,000 people fought. Many noble European crusaders were captured, later they were ransomed for a lot of money. To the capital Ottoman Sultan caravans of beasts of burden stretched out with gifts from Emperor Charles VI of France: gold and silver coins, silk fabrics, carpets from Arras with paintings from the life of Alexander the Great woven on them, hunting falcons from Norway and many others. True, Bayazid did not make further trips to Europe, distracted by the eastern danger from the Mongols.

After the unsuccessful siege of Constantinople in 1400, the Turks had to fight the Tatar army of Timur. On July 25, 1402, one of the greatest battles of the Middle Ages took place, during which an army of Turks (about 150,000 people) and an army of Tatars (about 200,000 people) met near Ankara. Timur's army, in addition to well-trained soldiers, was armed with more than 30 war elephants - a fairly powerful weapon in the offensive. The Janissaries, showing extraordinary courage and strength, were nevertheless defeated, and Bayazid was captured. Timur's army plundered the entire Ottoman Empire, exterminated or captured thousands of people, burned the most beautiful cities and towns.

Muhammad I ruled the empire from 1413 to 1421. Throughout his reign, Muhammad was on good terms with Byzantium, turning his main attention to the situation in Asia Minor and making the first campaign in the history of the Turks to Venice, which ended in failure.

Murad II, son of Muhammad I, ascended the throne in 1421. He was a just and energetic ruler, who devoted much time to the development of arts and urban planning. Murad, coping with internal strife, made a successful campaign, capturing the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. No less successful were the battles of the Turks against the Serbian, Hungarian and Albanian armies. In 1448, after the victory of Murad over the united army of the crusaders, the fate of all the peoples of the Balkans was sealed - Turkish rule hung over them for several centuries.

Before the start of the historic battle in 1448 between the united European army and the Turks, a letter was carried on the tip of a spear with a ceasefire agreement violated once again through the ranks of the Ottoman army. Thus, the Ottomans showed that peace treaties they are not interested, only battles and only offensive.

From 1444 to 1446, the Turkish sultan Muhammad II, son of Murad II, ruled the empire.

The rule of this sultan for 30 years turned the state into a world empire. Starting his reign with the already traditional execution of relatives who potentially claimed the throne, the ambitious young man showed his strength. Muhammad, nicknamed the Conqueror, became a tough and even cruel ruler, but at the same time he had an excellent education and spoke four languages. The Sultan invited scholars and poets from Greece and Italy to his court, allocated a lot of funds for the construction of new buildings and the development of art. The sultan set the conquest of Constantinople as his main task, and at the same time he treated its implementation very thoroughly. Opposite the Byzantine capital, in March 1452, the Rumelihisar fortress was founded, in which the latest cannons were installed and a strong garrison was placed.

As a result, Constantinople was cut off from the Black Sea region, with which it was connected by trade. In the spring of 1453, a huge land army of the Turks and a powerful fleet approached the Byzantine capital. The first assault on the city was unsuccessful, but the Sultan ordered not to retreat and to organize the preparation of a new assault. After being dragged into the Bay of Constantinople along a deck of ships specially built over iron barrage chains, the city found itself in the ring of Turkish troops. Battles went on daily, but the Greek defenders of the city showed examples of courage and perseverance.

The siege was not a strong point of the Ottoman army, and the Turks won only due to the careful encirclement of the city, the numerical superiority of forces by about 3.5 times and due to the presence of siege weapons, cannons and powerful mortars with 30 kg cannonballs. Before the main assault on Constantinople, Muhammad invited the inhabitants to surrender, promising to spare them, but they, to his great amazement, refused.

The general assault was launched on May 29, 1453, and selected Janissaries, supported by artillery, broke into the gates of Constantinople. For 3 days, the Turks plundered the city and killed Christians, and the Hagia Sophia was later turned into a mosque. Turkey has become a real world power, proclaiming the ancient city as its capital.

In subsequent years, Muhammad made conquered Serbia his province, conquered Moldova, Bosnia, a little later - Albania and captured all of Greece. At the same time, the Turkish sultan conquered vast territories in Asia Minor and became the ruler of the entire Asia Minor peninsula. But he did not stop there: in 1475, the Turks captured many Crimean cities and the city of Tanu at the mouth of the Don on the Sea of ​​Azov. The Crimean Khan officially recognized the authority of the Ottoman Empire. Following this, the territories of Safavid Iran were conquered, and in 1516 Syria, Egypt and Hijaz with Medina and Mecca were under the rule of the Sultan.

At the beginning of the XVI century. the conquering campaigns of the empire were directed to the east, south and west. In the east, Selim I the Terrible defeated the Safavids and annexed the eastern part of Anatolia and Azerbaijan to his state. In the south, the Ottomans suppressed the warlike Mamluks and took control of the trade routes along the Red Sea coast to the Indian Ocean, in North Africa they reached Morocco. In the west, Suleiman the Magnificent in the 1520s. captured Belgrade, Rhodes, Hungarian lands.

At the peak of power

The Ottoman Empire entered its peak at the very end of the 15th century. under Sultan Selim I and his successor Suleiman the Magnificent, who achieved a significant expansion of territories and established a reliable centralized government of the country. The reign of Suleiman went down in history as the "golden age" of the Ottoman Empire.

Starting from the first years of the 16th century, the empire of the Turks turned into the most powerful power in the Old World. Contemporaries who visited the lands of the empire, in their notes and memoirs, enthusiastically described the wealth and luxury of this country.

Suleiman the Magnificent

Sultan Suleiman is the legendary ruler of the Ottoman Empire. During his reign (1520-1566), the huge power became even larger, the cities became more beautiful, the palaces became more luxurious. Suleiman (Fig. 9) also went down in history under the nickname of the Legislator.

Rice. 9. Sultan Suleiman

Having become a sultan at the age of 25, Suleiman significantly expanded the borders of the state, capturing Rhodes in 1522, Mesopotamia in 1534, and Hungary in 1541.

The ruler of the Ottoman Empire was traditionally called Sultan, a title of Arabic origin. It is considered correct to use such terms as “shah”, “padishah”, “khan”, “caesar”, which came from different peoples under Turkish rule.

Suleiman contributed to the cultural prosperity of the country; under him, beautiful mosques and luxurious palaces were built in many cities of the empire. The famous emperor was a good poet, leaving his writings under the pseudonym Muhibbi (In love with God). During the reign of Suleiman, the wonderful Turkish poet Fuzuli lived and worked in Baghdad, who wrote the poem "Leyla and Majun". The nickname Sultan Among the Poets was given to Mahmud Abd al-Baqi, who served at the court of Suleiman, who reflected life in his poems. high society states.

The Sultan entered into a legal marriage with the legendary Roksolana, nicknamed Mishlivaya, one of the slaves of Slavic origin in the harem. Such an act was at that time and according to Sharia an exceptional phenomenon. Roksolana gave birth to the Sultan's heir, the future Emperor Suleiman II, and devoted a lot of time to patronage. The wife of the Sultan also had great influence on him in diplomatic affairs, especially in relations with Western countries.

In order to leave a memory of himself in stone, Suleiman invited the famous architect Sinan to create mosques in Istanbul. The emperor's associates also erected large religious buildings with the help of a famous architect, as a result of which the capital was noticeably transformed.

Harems

Harems with several wives and concubines, allowed by Islam, could only be afforded by wealthy people. Sultan's harems became an integral part of the empire, its hallmark.

Harems, in addition to the sultans, were possessed by viziers, beys, emirs. The vast majority of the population of the empire had one wife, as it should be in the entire Christian world. Islam officially allowed a Muslim to have four wives and several slaves.

The Sultan's harem, which gave rise to many legends and traditions, was in fact a complex organization with strict internal orders. This system was run by the Sultan's mother, the Valide Sultan. Her main assistants were eunuchs and slaves. It is clear that the life and power of the ruler of the Sultan directly depended on the fate of her high-ranking son.

The harem was inhabited by girls captured during wars or acquired in slave markets. Regardless of their nationality and religion, before entering the harem, all the girls became Muslim women and studied the traditional Islamic arts - embroidery, singing, conversation, music, dance, and literature.

Being in the harem for a long time, its inhabitants passed several steps and ranks. At first they were called jariye (beginners), then pretty soon they were renamed shagart (apprentices), over time they became gedikli (companions) and usta (craftswomen).

There were isolated cases in history when the Sultan recognized the concubine as his lawful wife. This happened more often when the concubine gave birth to the ruler of the long-awaited son-heir. A striking example is Suleiman the Magnificent, who married Roksolana.

Only girls who reached the stage of craftswomen could gain the attention of the Sultan. From among them, the ruler chose his permanent mistresses, favorites and concubines. Many representatives of the harem, who became the mistresses of the Sultan, were awarded their own housing, jewelry and even slaves.

Legal marriage was not provided for by Sharia, but the Sultan chose four wives from all the inhabitants of the harem, who were in a privileged position. Of these, the main one became the one who gave birth to the Sultan's son.

After the death of the Sultan, all his wives and concubines were sent to the Old Palace, located outside the city. The new ruler of the state could allow retired beauties to marry or join his harem.

Imperial capital

great city Istanbul, or Istanbul (formerly Byzans and then Constantinople), was the heart of the Ottoman Empire, its pride.

Strabo reported that the city of Byzance was founded by Greek colonists in the 7th century. BC e. And named after their leader, Byzas. In 330, the city, which became a major commercial and cultural center, was turned into the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine. New Rome was renamed Constantinople. The Turks named the city for the third time, capturing the long-desired capital of Byzantium. The name Istanbul literally means "towards the city".

Having captured Constantinople in 1453, the Turks made this ancient city, which they called the "threshold of happiness", a new Muslim center, erected several majestic mosques, mausoleums and madrasahs, and in every possible way contributed to the further flourishing of the capital. Most of the Christian churches were converted into mosques, a large oriental bazaar was built in the center of the city, around it were caravanserais, fountains, and hospitals. The Islamization of the city, begun by Sultan Mehmed II, continued under his successors, who sought to radically change the former Christian capital.

For the grandiose construction, workers were required, and the sultans in every possible way contributed to the resettlement of both the Muslim and non-Muslim population to the capital. Muslim, Jewish, Armenian, Greek, Persian quarters appeared in the city, in which crafts and trade developed rapidly. A church, mosque or synagogue was built in the center of each quarter. The cosmopolitan city treated any religion with respect. True, the allowed height of the house among Muslims was somewhat higher than among representatives of other faiths.

At the end of the XVI century. more than 600,000 inhabitants lived in the Ottoman capital - it was the largest city in the world. It should be noted that all other cities of the Ottoman Empire, except for Istanbul, Cairo, Aleppo and Damascus, could rather be called large rural settlements, the number of inhabitants in which rarely exceeded 8,000 people.

Military organization of the empire

The social system of the Ottoman Empire was completely subordinated to military discipline. As soon as a new territory was captured, it was divided into fiefs between military leaders without the right to transfer land by inheritance. With such land use in Turkey, the institution of the nobility did not appear, there was no one to claim the division of supreme power.

Every man of the empire was a warrior and began his service with a simple soldier. Each owner of an earthly allotment (timara) was obliged to give up all peaceful affairs and join the army at the outbreak of war.

The orders of the Sultan were exactly transmitted to two beys of the same Berlik, as a rule, a European and a Turk, they transmitted the order to the governors of the regions (sanjaks), and they, in turn, conveyed information to the petty rulers (aliybeys), from whom the orders passed to the leaders of small military detachments and to the chiefs of the group of detachments (timarlits). After receiving orders, everyone was going to war, mounted horses, and the army was immediately ready for new conquests and battles.

The army was supplemented by mercenary detachments and Janissary guards, recruited among captured youths from other countries of the world. In the first years of the existence of the state, the entire territory was divided into sanjaks (banners), headed by a sanjak-bey. Bey was not only a manager, but also the leader of his own small army, which consisted of relatives. Over time, having turned from nomads into a settled population of the empire, the Turks created a regular army of horsemen-sipahs.

Each sipah warrior received a land allotment for his service, for which he paid a certain tax to the treasury and which he could inherit only to one of the successors who entered the army.

In the XVI century. In addition to the land army, the Sultan created a large modern fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, which mainly consisted of large galleys, frigates, galliots and rowboats. Since 1682, there has been a transition from sailing ships to rowing. Both prisoners of war and criminals served as rowers in the fleet. strike force there were special gunboats on the rivers, which participated not only in major military battles, but also in the suppression of uprisings.

Over the 6 centuries of the existence of the Ottoman Empire, its powerful army changed radically 3 times. At the first stage (from the 14th to the 16th centuries), the Turkish army was considered one of the most combat-ready in the whole world. His power was based on the strong authority of the Sultan, supported by local rulers, and on the most severe discipline. The guard of the Sultan, which consisted of Janissaries, well-organized cavalry also significantly strengthened the army. In addition, it was, of course, a well-armed army with numerous artillery pieces.

At the second stage (in the 17th century), the Turkish army experienced a crisis due to a significant reduction in conquest campaigns and, consequently, a decrease in military booty. Janissaries from a combat-ready unit of a large army turned into the personal guard of the Sultan and took part in all internal strife. New troops of mercenaries, supplied worse than before, constantly raised uprisings.

The third stage, which began at the beginning of the 18th century, is closely connected with attempts to rebuild the weakened army in order to restore its former power and strength. The Turkish sultans were forced to invite Western instructors, which caused a sharp reaction from the Janissaries. In 1826, the sultan had to disband the Janissary corps.

The internal structure of the empire

main role agriculture, agriculture and animal husbandry played in the economy of the vast empire.

All the lands of the empire were in state ownership. Warriors - the commanders of the sipahs - became the owners of large land plots (zeamets), on which hired peasants-rays worked. Zaims and the Timariots under their leadership were the basis of a huge Turkish army. In addition, the militia and Janissaries-guards served in the army. The military schools in which future warriors were brought up were subordinate to the monks of the Bektashi Sufi order.

The treasury of the state was constantly replenished at the expense of military booty and taxes, as well as as a result of the development of trade. Gradually, a bureaucratic stratum developed in the militarized state, which had the right to own land plots such as timars. Around the Sultan were people close to him, large landowners from among the relatives of the ruler. All leading positions in the state apparatus of government were also occupied by representatives of the clan to which the Sultan belonged; later, it was this state of affairs that served as one of the reasons for the weakening of the empire. The Sultan had a huge harem, and after his death, many heirs claimed the throne, which caused constant disputes and strife within the Sultan's entourage. During the heyday of the state, a system of murder by one of the heirs of all potential rivals to the throne was almost officially developed.

The supreme body of the state, completely subject to the Sultan, was the Supreme Council (Divan-i-Humayun), which consisted of viziers. The legislation of the empire was subject to Islamic law, Sharia and adopted in the middle of the 15th century. code of laws. All power was divided into three large parts - military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious.

Suleiman I the Magnificent, who ruled in mid-sixteenth century, received a second nickname - Kanuni (Legislator) due to several of his successful bills that strengthened the central government.

At the beginning of the XVI century. There were 16 large regions in the country, each of which was headed by a beylerbey governor. In turn, large areas were divided into small counties-sanjaks. All local rulers were subordinate to the Grand Vizier.

A characteristic feature of the Ottoman Empire was the unequal position of the Gentiles - Greeks, Armenians, Slavs, Jews. Turks, who were in a minority, and a few Muslim Arabs were exempted from additional taxes and occupied all the leading positions in the state.

Empire population

According to rough estimates, the entire population of the empire during the heyday of the state was about 22 million people.

Muslims and non-Muslims are two large groups in the population of the Ottoman Empire.

Muslims, in turn, were divided into askers (all military personnel and officials of the state) and raya (literally - "herds", rural farmers and ordinary townspeople, and in some periods of history - merchants). Unlike the peasants of medieval Europe, the rayas were not attached to the land and in most cases could move to another place or become artisans.

Non-Muslims made up three large religious parts, which included Orthodox Christians (Rum, or Romans) - Balkan Slavs, Greeks, Orthodox Arabs, Georgians; Eastern Christians (Ermeni) - Armenians; Jews (Yahudis) - Karaites, Romaniotes, Sephardim, Ashkenazi.

The position of Christians and Jews, i.e., non-Muslims, was determined by Islamic law (Sharia), which allowed representatives of other peoples and religions to live on the territory of the empire, adhere to their beliefs, but obliged them to pay a soul tax as subjects who were one step lower than all Muslims.

All representatives of other religions had to differ in appearance, wear different clothes, refraining from bright colors in it. The Koran forbade a non-Muslim to marry a Muslim girl, and in court, in resolving any issues and disputes, priority was given to Muslims.

The Greeks were mainly engaged in petty trade, crafts, kept taverns or devoted themselves to maritime affairs. The Armenians controlled the silk trade between Persia and Istanbul. Jews found themselves in the smelting of metals, jewelry, usury. The Slavs were engaged in crafts or served in Christian military units.

According to Muslim tradition, a person who mastered a profession and benefited people was considered a happy and worthy member of society. All inhabitants of a huge power received some kind of profession, supported in this by the example of the great sultans. So, the ruler of the empire, Mehmed II, mastered gardening, and Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent were high-class jewelers. Many sultans wrote poetry, mastering this art perfectly.

This state of affairs continued until 1839, when all the subjects of the empire, according to the adopted law, during the beginning of the period of reforms (tanzimat) received equal rights.

The position of a slave in Ottoman society was much better than in ancient world. Special articles of the Qur'an ordered to provide the slave with medical care, feed him well and help him in his old age. For a cruel attitude towards a Muslim slave, a serious punishment threatened.

A special category of the population of the empire were slaves (kele), disenfranchised people, as in the rest of the world of slave owners. In the Ottoman Empire, a slave could not have a house, property, did not have the right to inherit. A slave could marry only with the permission of the owner. A slave concubine who gave birth to a child to her master became free after his death.

Slaves in the Ottoman Empire helped to run the household, served as watchmen in mausoleums, madrasahs and mosques, as eunuchs who guarded the harem and their master. Female slaves in the majority became concubines and servants. In the army and agriculture, slaves were used much less.

Arab states under empire

Baghdad, which flourished under the Abbasids, fell into complete decline after the invasion of Timur's army. The rich Mesopotamia also became empty, first turning into a sparsely populated region of Safavid Iran, and in the middle of the 18th century. became a remote part of the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey gradually increased its political influence over the territories of Iraq and developed colonial trade in every possible way.

Arabia, inhabited by Arabs, formally submitting to the power of the sultans, retained considerable independence during internal affairs. In Central Arabia during the XVI-XVII centuries. the Bedouins, led by sheikhs, were in charge, and in the middle of the 18th century. on its territory, an emirate of Wahhabis was created, which extended its influence to almost the entire territory of Arabia, including Mecca.

In 1517, having conquered Egypt, the Turks almost did not interfere in the internal affairs of this state. Egypt was ruled by a pasha appointed by the sultan, while the Mamluk beys still had significant local influence. During the crisis period of the XVIII century. Egypt withdrew from the empire and the Mamluk rulers pursued an independent policy, as a result of which Napoleon easily captured the country. Only pressure from Great Britain forced the ruler of Egypt, Mahummed Ali, to recognize the sovereignty of the Sultan and return to Turkey the territories of Syria, Arabia and Crete, captured by the Mamluks.

An important part of the empire was Syria, which submitted to the Sultan almost completely, with the exception of the mountainous regions of the country.

Eastern question

Capturing Constantinople in 1453 and renaming it Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire established power over European lands for several centuries. Once again, the eastern question was on the agenda for Europe. Now it sounded like this: how far can Turkish expansion go and how long can it last?

It was about organizing a new Crusade against the Turks, but the church and the imperial government, which had weakened by this time, could not muster the strength to organize it. Islam was at the stage of its prosperity and had a huge moral advantage in the Muslim world, which, thanks to the cementing property of Islam, the strong military organization of the state and the authority of the power of the sultans, allowed the Ottoman Empire to gain a foothold in the southeast of Europe.

Over the next 2 centuries, the Turks managed to annex even more vast territories to their possessions, which greatly frightened the Christian world.

Pope Pius II made an attempt to curb the Turks and convert them to Christianity. He wrote a letter to the Turkish sultan, in which he suggested that he accept Christianity, arguing that baptism would glorify the ruler of the Ottomans. The Turks did not even bother to send an answer, starting new conquests.

For many years, the European powers had to reckon with the policy of the Ottoman Empire in the territories inhabited by Christians.

The crisis of the empire began from within, along with the accelerated growth of its population in the second half of the 16th century. A large number of landless peasants appeared in the country, and the Timars, decreasing in size, brought income that decreased every year.

In Syria, popular riots broke out, and in Anatolia, peasants rebelled against exorbitant taxes.

Researchers believe that the decline of the Ottoman state dates back to the reign of Ahmed I (1603–1617). His successor, Sultan Osman II (1618–1622), was removed from the throne and executed for the first time in the history of the Ottoman state.

Loss of military power

After the defeat of the Turkish fleet at Lepanto in 1571, the undivided maritime dominance of the empire ends. To this were added failures in battles with the Habsburg army, battles lost to the Persians in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

At the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. For the first time in the history of the empire, Turkey lost several battles in a row. It was no longer possible to hide the noticeable weakening of the military power of the state and its political power.

From the middle of the XVIII century. The Ottoman Empire had to hand out so-called capitulations for supporting it in military clashes.

Capitulations are special privileges first granted by the Turks to the French for their help in the war with the Habsburgs in 1535. In the 18th century. several European powers, including the mighty Austria, achieved similar privileges. Since that time, capitulations began to turn into unequal trade agreements that provided Europeans with advantages in the Turkish market.

According to the Treaty of Bakhchisaray in 1681, Turkey was forced to abandon the territory of Ukraine in favor of Russia. In 1696, the army of Peter I recaptured the Azak (Azov) fortress from the Turks, as a result of which the Ottoman Empire lost land on the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov. In 1718 the Ottoman Empire left Western Wallachia and Serbia.

Began at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. the weakening of the empire led to the gradual loss of its former power. In the XVIII century. Turkey, as a result of the battles lost to Austria, Russia and Iran, lost part of Bosnia, the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov with the fortress of Azov, Zaporozhye lands. The Ottoman sultans could no longer exert political influence on neighboring Georgia, Moldova, Wallachia, as it was before.

In 1774, the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty was signed with Russia, according to which the Turks lost a significant part of the northern and eastern coast of the Black Sea. The Crimean Khanate gained independence - for the first time the Ottoman Empire lost Muslim territories.

By the 19th century the territories of Egypt, the Maghreb, Arabia and Iraq came out from under the influence of the Sultanate. Napoleon dealt a serious blow to the prestige of the empire, having made a successful Egyptian military expedition for the French army. Armed Wahhabis recaptured most of Arabia from the empire, which came under the rule of the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali.

At the beginning of the XIX century. Greece fell away from the Ottoman Sultanate (in 1829), then the French in 1830 captured Algeria and made it their colony. In 1824, there was a conflict between the Turkish sultan and Mehmed Ali, the Egyptian pasha, as a result of which Egypt achieved autonomy. Lands and countries fell away from the once great empire with incredible speed.

The decline of military power, the collapse of the land tenure system led to a cultural, economic and political slowdown in the development of the country. The European powers did not fail to take advantage of this circumstance, putting on the agenda the question of what to do with a huge power that had lost most of its power and independence.

Rescue Reforms

The Ottoman sultans, who ruled throughout the 19th century, tried to strengthen the military-agricultural system through a series of reforms. Selim III and Mahmud II attempted to improve the old timar system, but they realized that it was impossible to restore the empire to its former power.

Administrative reforms were aimed mainly at creating a new type of Turkish army, an army that included artillery, a strong fleet, guards detachments, and specialized engineering units. Consultants were brought from Europe to help rebuild the army and minimize the old attitudes among the troops. In 1826, by a special decree of Mahmud, the Janissary corps was disbanded, as the latter rebelled against innovations. Along with the former greatness of the corps, the influential Sufi order, which occupied a reactionary position during this period of history, also lost its power. In addition to fundamental changes in the army, reforms were carried out that changed the system of government and introduced European borrowings into it. The entire period of reforms in the empire was called tanzimat.

Tanzimat (translated from Arabic - "ordering") - a series of progressive reforms in the Ottoman Empire from 1839 to 1872. The reforms contributed to the development of capitalist relations in the state and the complete reorganization of the army.

In 1876, as a result of the reform movement of the "new Ottomans", the first Turkish Constitution was adopted, however, suspended by the despotic ruler Abdul Hamid. Reforms XIX in. turned Turkey from a backward Eastern power by this time into a self-sufficient European country with modern system taxation, education and culture. But Turkey could no longer exist as a powerful empire.

On the ruins of the former greatness

Berlin Congress

The Russian-Turkish wars, the struggle of numerous enslaved peoples against the Muslim Turks significantly weakened the huge empire and led to the creation of new independent states in Europe.

According to the San Stefano Peace Agreement of 1878, which consolidated the results of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the Berlin Congress was held with the participation of representatives of all the major powers of Europe, as well as Iran, Romania, Montenegro, and Serbia.

According to this treaty, Transcaucasia retreated to Russia, Bulgaria was declared an autonomous principality, in Thrace, Macedonia and Albania, the Turkish sultan was to carry out reforms aimed at improving the situation of the local population.

Montenegro and Serbia gained independence and became kingdoms.

Decline of an empire

IN late XIX in. The Ottoman Empire turned into a country dependent on several states of Western Europe, which dictated its terms of development to it. A movement of the Young Turks was formed in the country, striving for the political freedom of the country and for liberation from the despotic power of the sultans. As a result of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, nicknamed the Bloody for his cruelty, was overthrown, and a constitutional monarchy was established in the country.

In the same year, Bulgaria declared itself an independent state from Turkey, proclaiming the Third Bulgarian Kingdom (Bulgaria was under Turkish rule for almost 500 years).

In 1912–1913 Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro in the united Balkan Union defeated Turkey, which lost all European possessions except Istanbul. New independent state-kingdoms were created on the territory of the former majestic power.

The last Ottoman sultan was Mehmed VI Vahideddin (1918–1922). After him, Abdul-Mejid II ascended the throne, replacing the title of Sultan with the title of Caliph. The era of a huge Turkish Muslim power is over.

The Ottoman Empire, located on three continents and possessing enormous power over hundreds of peoples, left behind a great legacy. On its main territory, Turkey, in 1923 the supporters of the revolutionary Kemal (Ataturk) proclaimed the Republic of Turkey. The Sultanate and the Caliphate were officially abolished, the regime of capitulations and privileges of foreign investment were cancelled.

Mustafa Kemal (1881-1938), nicknamed Atatürk (literally - "father of the Turks"), is a major Turkish politician, leader of the national liberation struggle in Turkey after the First World War. Kemal after the victory of the revolution in 1923 became the first president in the history of the state.

On the ruins of the former sultanate, a new state was born, which turned from a Muslim country into a secular power. On October 13, 1923, Ankara, the center of the national liberation movement of the Turks in 1918–1923, became its capital.

Istanbul has remained a legendary historical city with unique architectural monuments, a national treasure of the country.

Turks are a relatively young people. His age is only 600 years old. The first Turks were a bunch of Turkmens, fugitives from Central Asia who fled from the Mongols to the west. They reached the Konya Sultanate and asked for land for a settlement. They were given a place on the border with the Empire of Nicaea near Bursa. The fugitives began to settle there in the middle of the 13th century.

The main among the fugitive Turkmens was Ertogrul-bey. He called the territory allotted to him the Ottoman beylik. And taking into account the fact that the Konya Sultan lost all power, he became an independent ruler. Ertogrul died in 1281 and power passed to his son Osman I Ghazi. It is he who is considered the founder of the dynasty of the Ottoman sultans and the first ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 to 1922 and played a significant role in world history.

Ottoman sultan with his warriors

An important factor contributing to the formation of a powerful Turkish state was the fact that the Mongols, having reached Antioch, did not go further, as they considered Byzantium their ally. Therefore, they did not touch the lands on which the Ottoman beylik was located, believing that it would soon become part of the Byzantine Empire.

And Osman Gazi, like the crusaders, declared a holy war, but only for the Muslim faith. He began to invite everyone to take part in it. And seekers of fortune began to flock to Osman from all over the Muslim East. They were ready to fight for the faith of Islam until their swords became dull and until they got enough wealth and wives. And in the east it was considered a very big achievement.

Thus, the Ottoman army began to be replenished with Circassians, Kurds, Arabs, Seljuks, Turkmens. That is, anyone could come, pronounce the formula of Islam and become a Turk. And on the occupied lands, such people began to allocate small plots of land for farming. Such a site was called "timar". He represented a house with a garden.

The owner of the timar became a rider (spagi). It was his duty to appear at the first call to the Sultan in full armor and on his own horse in order to serve in the cavalry. It was noteworthy that spagi did not pay taxes in the form of money, since they paid the tax with their blood.

With such internal organization the territory of the Ottoman state began to expand rapidly. In 1324, Osman's son Orhan I captured the city of Bursa and made it his capital. From Bursa to Constantinople, a stone's throw, and the Byzantines lost control over the northern and western regions of Anatolia. And in 1352, the Ottoman Turks crossed the Dardanelles and ended up in Europe. After this, the gradual and steady capture of Thrace began.

In Europe, it was impossible to get by with one cavalry, so there was an urgent need for infantry. And then the Turks created a completely new army, consisting of infantry, which they called Janissaries(yang - new, charik - army: it turns out Janissaries).

The conquerors took by force from the Christian nations boys aged 7 to 14 years old and converted to Islam. These children were well fed, taught the laws of Allah, military affairs and made foot soldiers (Janissaries). These warriors turned out to be the best foot soldiers in all of Europe. Neither the knightly cavalry, nor the Persian Qizilbash could break through the line of the Janissaries.

Janissaries - infantry of the Ottoman army

And the secret of the invincibility of the Turkish infantry was in the spirit of camaraderie. Janissaries from the first days lived together, ate delicious porridge from the same cauldron, and, despite the fact that they belonged to different nations, they were people of the same fate. When they became adults, they got married, started families, but continued to live in the barracks. Only during the holidays they visited their wives and children. That is why they did not know defeat and represented the faithful and reliable force of the Sultan.

However, having reached the Mediterranean Sea, the Ottoman Empire could not confine itself to the Janissaries alone. Since there is water, ships are needed, and a need arose for a navy. The Turks began to recruit pirates, adventurers and vagabonds from all over the Mediterranean for the fleet. Italians, Greeks, Berbers, Danes, Norwegians went to serve them. This public had no faith, no honor, no law, no conscience. Therefore, they willingly converted to the Muslim faith, since they did not have any faith at all, and it did not matter to them who they were, Christians or Muslims.

From this motley crowd, a fleet was formed that looked more like a pirate than a military one. He began to rage in the Mediterranean, so much so that he horrified the Spanish, French and Italian ships. The very same navigation in the Mediterranean began to be considered a dangerous business. Turkish corsair squadrons were based in Tunisia, Algeria and other Muslim lands that had access to the sea.

Ottoman navy

Thus, from completely different peoples and tribes, such a people as the Turks was formed. And the connecting link was Islam and a single military destiny. During successful campaigns, Turkish soldiers captured captives, made them their wives and concubines, and children from women of different nationalities became full-fledged Turks born on the territory of the Ottoman Empire.

A small principality that appeared on the territory of Asia Minor in the middle of the XIII century, very quickly turned into a powerful Mediterranean power, called the Ottoman Empire after the first ruler Osman I Gazi. The Ottoman Turks also called their state the High Port, and they called themselves not Turks, but Muslims. As for the real Turks, they were considered to be the Turkmen population living in the interior regions of Asia Minor. The Ottomans conquered these people in the 15th century after the capture of Constantinople on May 29, 1453.

European states could not resist the Ottoman Turks. Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople and made it his capital - Istanbul. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire significantly expanded its territories, and with the capture of Egypt, the Turkish fleet began to dominate the Red Sea. By the second half of the 16th century, the population of the state reached 15 million people, and the Turkish Empire itself began to be compared with the Roman Empire.

But by the end of the 17th century, the Ottoman Turks suffered a series of major defeats in Europe.. The Russian Empire played an important role in weakening the Turks. She always beat the warlike descendants of Osman I. She took Crimea and the Black Sea coast from them, and all these victories became a harbinger of the decline of the state, which in the 16th century shone in the rays of its power.

But the Ottoman Empire was weakened not only by endless wars, but also by ugly farming. Officials squeezed all the juice out of the peasants, and therefore they ran the economy in a predatory way. This led to the emergence of a large number of waste lands. And this is in the "fertile crescent", which in ancient times fed almost the entire Mediterranean.

Ottoman Empire on the map, XIV-XVII centuries

It all ended in disaster in the 19th century, when the state treasury was empty. The Turks began to borrow loans from the French capitalists. But it soon became clear that they could not pay their debts, since after the victories of Rumyantsev, Suvorov, Kutuzov, Dibich, the Turkish economy was completely undermined. The French then brought a navy into the Aegean and demanded customs in all ports, mining as concessions, and the right to collect taxes until the debt was repaid.

After that, the Ottoman Empire was called the "sick man of Europe." She began to quickly lose the conquered lands and turn into a semi-colony of European powers. The last autocratic sultan of the empire, Abdul-Hamid II, tried to save the situation. However, under him the political crisis worsened even more. In 1908, the Sultan was overthrown and imprisoned by the Young Turks (a political movement of the pro-Western republican persuasion).

On April 27, 1909, the Young Turks enthroned the constitutional monarch Mehmed V, who was the brother of the deposed sultan. After that, the Young Turks entered the First World War on the side of Germany and were defeated and destroyed. There was nothing good in their reign. They promised freedom, but ended up with a terrible massacre of Armenians, saying that they were against the new regime. And they really were against it, since nothing has changed in the country. Everything remained the same as before it was 500 years under the rule of the sultans.

After the defeat in the First World War, the Turkish Empire began to agonize. Anglo-French troops occupied Constantinople, the Greeks captured Smyrna and moved inland. Mehmed V died on July 3, 1918 from a heart attack. And on October 30 of the same year, the Mudros truce, shameful for Turkey, was signed. The Young Turks fled abroad, leaving the last Ottoman sultan, Mehmed VI, in power. He became a puppet in the hands of the Entente.

But then the unexpected happened. In 1919, in the distant mountainous provinces, a national freedom movement. It was headed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He led the common people. He very quickly expelled the Anglo-French and Greek invaders from his lands and restored Turkey within the borders that exist today. On November 1, 1922, the Sultanate was abolished. Thus, the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. On November 17, the last Turkish sultan, Mehmed VI, left the country and went to Malta. He died in 1926 in Italy.

And in the country on October 29, 1923, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey announced the creation of the Republic of Turkey. It exists to this day, and its capital is the city of Ankara. As for the Turks themselves, they have been living quite happily for the last decades. In the morning they sing, in the evening they dance, and in between they pray. May Allah protect them!

In the XVI-XVII centuries Ottoman state reached its highest point of influence during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. In this period Ottoman Empire was one of the most powerful countries in the world - a multinational, multilingual state, stretching from the southern borders of the Holy Roman Empire - the outskirts of Vienna, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Commonwealth in the north, to Yemen and Eritrea in the south, from Algeria in the west, to the Caspian Sea in the east. Under its dominion was most of Southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. At the beginning of the 17th century, the empire consisted of 32 provinces and numerous vassal states, some of which were later captured by it - while others were granted autonomy [approx. 2]. Capital of the Ottoman Empire was moved to the city of Constantinople, which was previously the capital of the Byzantine Empire, but was renamed Istanbul by the Turks. The empire controlled the territories of the Mediterranean basin. The Ottoman Empire was a link between Europe and the countries of the East for 6 centuries. After the international recognition of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, on October 29, 1923, after the signing of the Lausanne Peace Treaty (July 24, 1923), the creation of the Republic of Turkey, which was the successor to the Ottoman Empire, was proclaimed. On March 3, 1924, the Ottoman Caliphate was finally abolished. The powers and duties of the Caliphate were transferred to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Beginning of the Ottoman Empire The name of the Ottoman Empire in the Ottoman language is Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه), or - Osmanlı Devleti (عثمانلى دو) [prim.دو 3]. In modern Turkish they call her OsmanlI Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu. In the West, the words Ottoman" And " Turkey' were used interchangeably during the imperial period. This relationship ceased to be used in 1920-1923, when Turkey had a single official name used by Europeans since the Seljuks. Ottoman Empire history Seljuk state

Battle of Nikopol 1396

After the collapse of the Kony Sultanate of the Seljuks (the ancestors of the Ottomans) in the 1300s, Anatolia was divided into several independent beyliks. By 1300, the weakened Byzantine Empire had lost most of its lands in Anatolia, amounting to 10 beyliks. One of the beyliks was ruled by Osman I (1258-1326), son of Ertogrul, with its capital at Eskisehir, in western Anatolia. Osman I expanded the boundaries of his beylik, starting to slowly move towards the borders of the Byzantine Empire. During this period, the Ottoman government was established, the organization of which changed throughout the existence of the empire. This was vital to the rapid expansion of the empire. The government used a socio-political system in which religious and ethnic minorities were completely independent of the central government. This religious tolerance led to little resistance as the Turks took over new territories. Osman I supported all those who contributed to the achievement of his goal.

After the death of Osman I, the power of the Ottoman Empire began to spread over the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. In 1324, the son of Osman I, Orhan, captured Bursa and made it the new capital of the Ottoman state. The fall of Bursa meant the loss of Byzantine control over Northwestern Anatolia. In 1352, the Ottomans, having crossed the Dardanelles, set foot on European soil for the first time on their own, capturing the strategically important fortress of Tsimpu. The Christian states missed the key moment in order to unite and drive the Turks out of Europe, and after a few decades, taking advantage of civil strife in Byzantium itself, the fragmentation of the Bulgarian kingdom, the Ottomans, having strengthened and settled down, captured most of Thrace. In 1387, after the siege, the Turks captured the largest, after Constantinople, city of the empire, Thessaloniki. The victory of the Ottomans in the battle of Kosovo in 1389, in fact, put an end to the power of the Serbs in this region and became the basis for further Ottoman expansion in Europe. The Battle of Nikopol in 1396 is rightfully considered the last major crusade of the Middle Ages, which could not stop the endless offensive in Europe by the hordes of the Ottoman Turks. With the expansion of the Ottoman possessions in the Balkans, the most important task of the Turks was the capture of Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire for hundreds of kilometers controlled all the lands of the former Byzantium surrounding the city. The tension for the Byzantines was temporarily relieved by the invasion from the depths of Asia, another Central Asian ruler Timur into Anatolia, and his victory in the Battle of Angora in 1402. He captured Sultan Bayezid I himself. The capture of the Turkish Sultan led to the collapse of the Ottoman army. An interregnum began in Ottoman Turkey, lasting from 1402 to 1413. And again, a favorable moment, which gave a chance to strengthen their forces, was missed and wasted on internecine wars and turmoil between the Christian powers themselves - Byzantium, the Bulgarian kingdom and the decaying Serbian kingdom. The interregnum ended with the accession of Sultan Mehmed I.

Part of the Ottoman possessions in the Balkans was lost after 1402 (Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Kosovo, etc.), but again captured by Murad II in 1430-1450. On November 10, 1444, Murad II, taking advantage of numerical superiority, defeated the combined Hungarian, Polish and Wallachian troops of Vladislav III and Janos Hunyadi in the Battle of Varna. Four years later, in the second Battle of Kosovo in 1448, Murad II defeated the Serbian-Hungarian-Wallachian forces of Janos Hunyadi.

Rise of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1683)

Expansion and apogee (1453-1566)

The son of Murad II, Mehmed II, transformed the Turkish state and army. After a long preparation and a two-month siege, the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Turks and the stubborn resistance of the townspeople, on May 29, 1453, the Sultan captured the capital of Byzantium, the city of Constantinople. Mehmed II destroyed the centuries-old center of Orthodoxy, the Second Rome - what Constantinople was for more than a thousand years, retaining only a kind of church institution to manage all the subjugated and (yet) not converted to Islam Orthodox population of the former empire and Slavic states in the Balkans. Crushed by taxes, oppression and the harsh power of Muslims, despite the historically difficult relations between Byzantium and Western Europe, the majority of the Orthodox population of the Ottoman Empire would prefer to go even under the rule of Venice.

The 15th-16th centuries were the so-called period of growth of the Ottoman Empire. The empire successfully developed under the competent political and economic management of the sultans. Some success was achieved in the development of the economy, as the Ottomans controlled the main land and sea trade routes between Europe and Asia [approx. 4].

Sultan Selim I greatly increased the territories of the Ottoman Empire in the east and south by defeating the Safavids at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. Selim I also defeated the Mamluks and captured Egypt. Since that time, the empire's navy has been present in the Red Sea. After the capture of Egypt by the Turks, competition began between the Portuguese and Ottoman empires for dominance in the region.

In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent captured Belgrade and, during the Ottoman-Hungarian wars, annexed southern and central Hungary. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, he divided the whole of Hungary with the Kingdom of East Hungary and the Kingdom of Hungary[specify]. At the same time, he established the position of representatives of the Sultan in the European territories. In 1529, he laid siege to Vienna, but despite the overwhelming numerical superiority, the resistance of the Viennese was such that he could not take it. In 1532 he laid siege to Vienna once more, but was defeated at the Battle of Köszeg. Transylvania, Wallachia and, partly, Moldavia became vassal principalities of the Ottoman Empire. In the east, the Turks took Baghdad in 1535, gaining control of Mesopotamia and access to the Persian Gulf.

France and the Ottoman Empire, having a common dislike for the Habsburgs, became allies. In 1543, the French-Ottoman troops under the command of Khair ad-Din Barbarossa and Turgut Reis won a victory near Nice, in 1553 they invaded Corsica and captured it a few years later. A month before the siege of Nice, French artillerymen, together with the Turks, took part in the siege of Esztergom and defeated the Hungarians. After the rest of the victories of the Turks, the Habsburg king Ferdinand I in 1547 was forced to recognize the power of the Ottoman Turks already over Hungary.

By the end of the life of Suleiman I, the population of the Ottoman Empire was huge and numbered 15,000,000 people. In addition, the Ottoman fleet controlled a large part of the Mediterranean Sea. By this time, the Ottoman Empire had achieved great success in the political and military organization of the state, and in Western Europe it was often compared with the Roman Empire. For example, the Italian scholar Francesco Sansovino wrote:

If we carefully examined their origins and studied in detail their domestic and foreign relations, we could say that Roman military discipline, following orders and victories are equal to Turkish ... During military campaigns [Turks] are able to eat very little, they are unshakable when face difficult tasks, obey their commanders absolutely and stubbornly fight to victory ... In peacetime, they organize disagreements and riots between subjects in order to restore absolute justice, which at the same time is beneficial to them ...

In the same way French politician Jean Bodin, in his La Méthode de l'histoire, published in 1560, wrote:

Only the Ottoman sultan can claim the title of absolute ruler. Only he can legitimately claim the title of successor to the Roman Emperor.

Revolts and revival (1566-1683)

Ottoman Empire, 1299-1683

The strong military and bureaucratic structures of the last century were weakened by anarchy during the rule of weak-willed sultans. The Turks gradually lagged behind the Europeans in military affairs. The innovation, accompanied by a powerful expansion, was the beginning of the suppression of the growing conservatism of believers and intellectuals. But despite these difficulties, the Ottoman Empire continued to be the main expansionist power until it was defeated in the Battle of Vienna in 1683, which ended the Turkish advance in Europe.

The opening of new sea routes to Asia allowed the Europeans to escape the monopoly of the Ottoman Empire. With the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese in 1488, a series of Ottoman-Portuguese wars in the Indian Ocean began, which continued throughout the 16th century. From an economic point of view, the colossal influx of silver to the Spaniards, who exported it from the New World, caused a sharp depreciation of the currency of the Ottoman Empire and runaway inflation.

Under Ivan the Terrible, the Moscow kingdom captured the Volga region and fortified itself on the coast of the Caspian Sea. In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet I Gerai, with the support of the Ottoman Empire, burned down Moscow. But in 1572 the Crimean Tatars were defeated in the Battle of Molodi. The Crimean Khanate continued to raid Russia during the later Mongol raids on Russian lands, and Eastern Europe continued to be under the influence of the Crimean Tatars until the end of the 17th century.

In 1571, the troops of the Holy League defeated the Turks in the naval battle of Lepanto. This event was a symbolic blow to the reputation of the invincible Ottoman Empire. The Turks lost a lot of people, the losses of the fleet were much lower. The power of the Ottoman fleet was quickly restored, and in 1573 the Porte persuaded Venice to sign a peace treaty. Thanks to this, the Turks fortified themselves in North Africa.

For comparison, the Habsburgs created the Military Krajina, which defended the Habsburg monarchy from the Turks. The weakening of the personnel policy of the Ottoman Empire in the war with Habsburg Austria caused a shortage of the first in armament in the Thirteen Years' War. This contributed to low discipline in the army and open disobedience to command. In 1585-1610, the Jelali uprising broke out in Anatolia, in which the Sekbans took part [approx. 5] By 1600, the population of the empire had reached 30,000,000, and the shortage of land caused even more pressure on Porto.

In 1635, Murad IV briefly captured Yerevan, in 1639 - Baghdad, restoring the central government there. During the period of the Sultanate of Women, the mothers of sultans ruled the empire on behalf of their sons. The most influential women of the period were Kösem Sultan and her daughter-in-law Turhan Hatice, whose political rivalry ended with the murder of the former in 1651. In the era of Koprulu, the grand viziers were representatives of the Albanian family of Koprulu. They carried out direct control over the Ottoman Empire. With the assistance of the Köprülü viziers, the Turks regained Transylvania, in 1669 they captured Crete and in 1676 - Podolia. The strongholds of the Turks in Podillia were Khotyn and Kamenetz-Podolsky.

In May 1683, a huge Turkish army under the command of Kara Mustafa Pasha laid siege to Vienna. The Turks hesitated with the last assault and were defeated in the Battle of Vienna in September of the same year by the troops of the Habsburgs, Germans and Poles. The defeat in the battle forced the Turks on January 26, 1699 to sign the Peace of Karlovci with the Holy League, which ended the Great Turkish War. The Turks ceded many territories to the League. From 1695, the Ottomans launched a counteroffensive in Hungary, which ended in a crushing defeat at the Battle of Zenta on September 11, 1697.

Stagnation and recovery (1683-1827)

During this period, the Russians posed a great danger to the Ottoman Empire. In this regard, after the defeat in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. Charles XII became an ally of the Turks. Charles XII persuaded the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III to declare war on Russia. In 1711, Ottoman troops defeated the Russians on the Prut River. On July 21, 1718, between Austria and Venice on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire on the other hand, the Peace of Pozharetsky was signed, which ended the wars of Turkey for some time. However, the treaty showed that the Ottoman Empire was on the defensive and was no longer in a position to expand into Europe.

Together with Austria, the Russian Empire participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739. The war ended with the Treaty of Belgrade in 1739. Under the terms of the peace, Austria ceded Serbia and Wallachia to the Ottoman Empire, and Azov withdrew Russian Empire. However, despite the Belgrade peace, the Ottoman Empire took advantage of the peace, in connection with the wars of Russia and Austria with Prussia [what?]. During this long period of peace in the Ottoman Empire, educational and technological reforms were carried out, higher educational institutions were created (for example, Istanbul Technical University). In 1734, an artillery school was established in Turkey, where instructors from France taught. But the Muslim clergy did not approve of this step of rapprochement with European countries, approved by the Ottoman people. Since 1754, the school began to work in secret. In 1726, Ibrahim Muteferrika, having convinced the Ottoman clergy of the productivity of printing, turned to Sultan Ahmed III for permission to print anti-religious literature. From 1729 to 1743, his 17 works in 23 volumes were published in the Ottoman Empire, the circulation of each volume was from 500 to 1000 copies.

Under the guise of pursuing a Polish revolutionary fugitive, the Russian army entered Balta, an Ottoman outpost on the border with Russia, massacred it, and burned it. This event provoked the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774 by the Ottoman Empire. In 1774, the Kyuchuk-Kainarji peace treaty was concluded between the Ottomans and the Russians, which ended the war. According to the agreement, religious oppression was removed from the Christians of Wallachia and Moldavia.

During the 18th-19th centuries, a series of wars followed between the Ottoman and Russian empires. At the end of the 18th century, Turkey suffered a series of defeats in wars with Russia. And the Turks came to the conclusion that in order to avoid further defeats, the Ottoman army must undergo modernization.

In 1789-1807 Selim III held military reform, making the first serious attempts to reorganize the army according to the European model. Thanks to the reform, the reactionary currents of the Janissaries, which by that time were already ineffective, were weakened. However, in 1804 and 1807 they rebelled against the reform. In 1807, Selim was imprisoned by the conspirators, and in 1808 he was killed. In 1826, Mahmud II liquidated the Janissary corps.

The Serbian Revolution of 1804-1815 marked the beginning of an era of romantic nationalism in the Balkans. The Eastern Question was raised by the Balkan countries. In 1830, the Ottoman Empire de jure recognized the suzerainty of Serbia. In 1821 the Greeks revolted against the Porte. The Greek uprising in the Peloponnese was followed by an uprising in Moldavia, which ended in 1829 with its de jure independence. In the middle of the 19th century, Europeans called the Ottoman Empire the "Sick Man of Europe". In 1860-1870, the overlords of the Ottomans - the principalities of Serbia, Wallachia, Moldavia and Montenegro gained complete independence.

During the Tanzimat period (1839-1876), the Porte introduced constitutional reforms that led to the creation of a conscripted army, the reform of the banking system, the replacement of religious law with secular law, and the replacement of factories with guilds. On October 23, 1840, the postal ministry of the Ottoman Empire was opened in Istanbul.

In 1847, Samuel Morse received a patent for a telegraph from Sultan Abdulmecid I. After a successful test of the telegraph, on August 9, 1847, the Turks began construction of the first Istanbul-Edirne-Shumen telegraph line.

In 1876, the Ottoman Empire adopted a constitution. During the era of the first constitution

in Turkey, a parliament was created, abolished by the Sultan in 1878. The level of education of Christians in the Ottoman Empire was much higher than the education of Muslims, which caused great discontent among the latter. In 1861, the Ottoman Empire had 571 Primary School and 94 Christian secondary schools with 14,000 children, more than Muslim schools. Therefore, further study of the Arabic language and Islamic theology was impossible. In turn, more high level The education of Christians allowed them to play a large role in the economy. In 1911, out of 654 wholesale companies in Istanbul, 528 were owned by ethnic Greeks.

In turn, the Crimean War of 1853-1856 became a continuation of the long-term rivalry between the major European powers for the lands of the Ottoman Empire. On August 4, 1854, during the Crimean War, the Ottoman Empire took out its first loan. The war caused the mass emigration of Crimean Tatars from Russia - about 200,000 people emigrated. By the end of the Caucasian War, 90% of the Circassians left the Caucasus and settled in the Ottoman Empire.

Many nations of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century were seized by the rise of nationalism. The emergence of national consciousness and ethnic nationalism in the Ottoman Empire was its main problem. The Turks faced nationalism not only in their own country, but also abroad. Number of revolutionary political parties

has risen sharply in the country. The uprisings in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century were fraught with serious consequences, and this influenced the direction of the politics of the Porte at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 ended with a decisive victory for the Russian Empire. As a result, the defense of the Turks in Europe was drastically weakened; Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia gained independence. In 1878, Austria-Hungary annexed the Ottoman provinces of the Bosnian Vilayet and Novopazar Sanjak, but the Turks did not recognize their entry into this state and tried with all their might to return them back.

In turn, after Berlin Congress 1878, the British began campaigning for the return of territories in the Balkans to the Turks. In 1878, the British were given control of Cyprus. In 1882, British troops invaded Egypt, ostensibly to put down Arabi Pasha's rebellion, capturing it.

In the years 1894-1896, between 100,000 and 300,000 people were killed as a result of the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

After the reduction in the size of the Ottoman Empire, many Balkan Muslims moved within its borders. By 1923, Anatolia and Eastern Thrace were part of Turkey.

The Ottoman Empire has long been called the "sick man of Europe". By 1914 it had lost almost all of its territories in Europe and North Africa. By that time, the population of the Ottoman Empire totaled 28,000,000 people, of which 17,000,000 lived in Anatolia, 3,000,000 in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, 2,500,000 in Iraq, and the remaining 5,500,000 in the Arabian Peninsula.

After the Young Turk Revolution on July 3, 1908, the era of the second Constitution began in the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan announced the restoration of the constitution of 1876 and again convened the Parliament. The coming to power of the Young Turks meant the beginning of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Taking advantage of civil unrest, Austria-Hungary, having withdrawn its troops from Novopazarsky Sanjak, which had retreated to the Turks, brought them into Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexing it. During the Italo-Turkish war of 1911-1912, the Ottoman Empire lost Libya, and the Balkan Union declared war on it. The empire lost all its territories in the Balkans over time Balkan Wars, except for Eastern Thrace and Adrianople. 400,000 Balkan Muslims, fearing reprisals from the Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians, retreated along with the Ottoman army. The Germans proposed the construction of a railway line in Iraq. The railroad was only partially completed. In 1914, the British Empire bought this railway, continuing its construction. The railroad played a special role in the outbreak of the First World War.

In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the First World War on the side of the Central Powers, taking part in the fighting in the Middle East. During the war, the Ottoman Empire won several significant victories (for example, the Dardanelles operation, the Siege of El Kut), but also suffered several serious defeats (for example, on the Caucasian front).

Before the invasion of the Seljuk Turks, on the territory of modern Turkey there were Christian states of the Romans and Armenians, and even after the Turks seized the Greek and Armenian lands, in the 18th century the Greeks and Armenians still made up 2/3 of the local population, in the 19th century - 1 / 2 of the population, at the beginning of the twentieth century, 50-60% were the local indigenous Christian population. Everything changed at the end of the First World War as a result of the genocide of Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians carried out by the Turkish army.

In 1915, Russian troops continued their offensive in Eastern Anatolia, thereby saving the Armenians from destruction by the Turks.

In 1916, the Arab Revolt broke out in the Middle East, which turned the tide of events in favor of the Entente.

On October 30, 1918, the Armistice of Mudros was signed, ending the First World War. It was followed by the occupation of Constantinople and the division of the Ottoman Empire. Under the terms of the Treaty of Sevres, the divided territory of the Ottoman Empire was secured between the powers of the Entente.

The occupations of Constantinople and Izmir led to the beginning of the Turkish national movement. The Turkish War of Independence of 1919-1922 ended with the victory of the Turks under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. On November 1, 1922, the Sultanate was abolished, and on November 17, 1922, the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI, left the country. On October 29, 1923, the Turkish Grand National Assembly announced the establishment of the Turkish Republic. On March 3, 1924, the Caliphate was abolished.

The state organization of the Ottoman Empire was very simple. Its main areas were military and civil administration. Sultan was the highest position in the country. The civil system was based on administrative divisions built on the characteristics of the regions. The Turks used a system where the state controlled the clergy (as in the Byzantine Empire). Certain pre-Islamic traditions of the Turks, preserved after the introduction of administrative and judicial systems from Muslim Iran, remained important in the administrative circles of the Ottoman Empire. The main task of the state was the defense and expansion of the empire, as well as ensuring security and balance within the country in order to maintain power.

None of the dynasties of the Muslim world has been in power for so long as the Ottoman dynasty. The Ottoman dynasty was of Turkish origin. Eleven times the Ottoman sultan was overthrown by enemies as an enemy of the people. In the history of the Ottoman Empire, there were only 2 attempts to overthrow the Ottoman dynasty, both of which ended in failure, which testified to the strength of the Ottoman Turks.

The high position of the caliphate, ruled by the Sultan, in Islam allowed the Turks to create an Ottoman caliphate. The Ottoman sultan (or padishah, "king of kings") was the sole ruler of the empire and was the personification of state power, although he did not always exercise absolute control. The new sultan was always one of the sons of the former sultan. The strong education system of the palace school was aimed at eliminating unsuitable possible heirs and creating support for the ruling elite of the successor. Palace schools, where future government officials studied, were not isolated. Muslims studied in the Madrasah (Ottoman. Medrese), scientists and government officials taught here. Waqfs provided material support, which allowed children from poor families to receive higher education, Christians studied in enderun, where 3,000 Christian boys from 8 to 12 years old were recruited annually from 40 families from the population of Rumelia and / or the Balkans (devshirme).

Despite the fact that the Sultan was the supreme monarch, state and executive power was vested in politicians. There was a political struggle between the councilors and ministers in the self-governing body (the divan, which was renamed Porto in the 17th century). Back in the days of the beylik, the divan consisted of elders. Later, instead of the elders, army officers and local nobility (for example, religious and political figures) entered the sofa. Beginning in 1320, the grand vizier performed some of the duties of the sultan. The Grand Vizier was completely independent of the Sultan, he could dispose of the Sultan's hereditary property as he liked, dismiss anyone and control all spheres. Starting from the end of the 16th century, the Sultan ceased to participate in the political life of the state, and the Grand Vizier became the de facto ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

Throughout the history of the Ottoman Empire, there were many cases when the rulers of the vassal principalities of the Ottoman Empire acted without coordinating actions with the Sultan and even against him. After the Young Turk Revolution, the Ottoman Empire became a constitutional monarchy. The Sultan no longer had executive power. A parliament was created with delegates from all provinces. They formed the Imperial Government (Ottoman Empire).

The rapidly growing empire was led by dedicated, experienced people (Albanians, Phanariots, Armenians, Serbs, Hungarians and others). Christians, Muslims and Jews completely changed the system of government in the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire had an eclectic rule, which even affected diplomatic correspondence with other powers. Initially, correspondence was carried out in Greek.

All Ottoman sultans had 35 personal signs - tugrs, with which they signed. Carved on the seal of the Sultan, they contained the name of the Sultan and his father. As well as sayings and prayers. The very first tughra was the tughra of Orhan I. The gaudy tughra depicted in traditional style, was the basis of Ottoman calligraphy.

Law

Trial in the Ottoman Empire, 1877

The Ottoman legal system was based on religious law. The Ottoman Empire was built on the principle of local jurisprudence. Legal administration in the Ottoman Empire was the complete opposite of the central government and local governments. The power of the Ottoman Sultan depended heavily on the ministry legal development, which satisfied Millet's needs. Ottoman jurisprudence pursued the goal of uniting various circles in cultural and religious terms. There were 3 judicial systems in the Ottoman Empire: the first - for Muslims, the second - for the non-Muslim population (the Jews and Christians who ruled the respective religious communities were at the head of this system) and the third - the so-called system of "merchant courts". This entire system was governed by the qanun, a system of laws based on the pre-Islamic Yasa and Torah. Qanun was also a secular law, issued by the Sultan, which resolved issues not dealt with in Sharia.

These judicial ranks were not entirely exceptions: the early Muslim courts were also used to settle conflicts in exchange or disputes between litigants of other faiths, and Jews and Christians who often turned to them to resolve conflicts. The Ottoman government did not interfere in non-Muslim legal systems, despite the fact that it could interfere with them with the help of governors. The Sharia legal system was created by combining the Koran, Hadith, Ijma, Qiyas and local customs. Both systems (qanun and sharia) were taught in Istanbul's law schools.

The reforms during the Tanzimat period had a significant impact on the legal system in the Ottoman Empire. In 1877, private law (with the exception of family law) was codified in Majalla. Later commercial law, criminal law and civil procedure were codified.

First military unit The Ottoman army was created at the end of the 13th century by Osman I from members of a tribe that inhabited the hills of Western Anatolia. The military system became a complex organizational unit during the early years of the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman army had a complex system of recruitment and feudal defense. The main branch of the army was the janissaries, sipahis, akinchis and the janissary band. The Ottoman army was once considered one of the most modern armies in the world. It was one of the first armies to use muskets and artillery pieces. The Turks first used the falconet during the siege of Constantinople in 1422. The success of cavalry troops in battle depended on their speed and maneuverability, and not on the thick armor of archers and swordsmen, their Turkmen and Arabian horses (ancestors of thoroughbred racing horses) and applied tactics. The deterioration of the combat capability of the Ottoman army began in the middle of the 17th century and continued after the Great Turkish War. In the 18th century, the Turks won several victories over Venice, but in Europe they ceded some territories to the Russians.

In the 19th century, the modernization of the Ottoman army and the country as a whole took place. In 1826, Sultan Mahmud II liquidated the Janissary corps and created the modern Ottoman army. The army of the Ottoman Empire was the first army to hire foreign instructors and send its officers to study in Western Europe. Accordingly, the Young Turk movement flared up in the Ottoman Empire when these officers, having received an education, returned to their homeland.

The Ottoman fleet also took an active part in Turkish expansion in Europe. It was thanks to the fleet that the Turks captured North Africa. The loss of Greece in 1821 and Algeria in 1830 to the Turks marked the beginning of the weakening of the military power of the Ottoman fleet and control over distant overseas territories. Sultan Abdulaziz tried to restore the power of the Ottoman fleet by creating one of the largest fleets in the world (3rd place after Great Britain and France). In 1886, the first submarine was built at the shipyard in Barrow in the UK. navy Ottoman Empire.

However, the failing economy could no longer support the fleet. Sultan Abdul-Hamid II, who did not trust the Turkish admirals, who sided with the reformer Midhat Pasha, argued that a large fleet that required expensive maintenance would not help win Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878. He sent all Turkish ships to the Golden Horn, where they rotted for 30 years. After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the Unity and Progress party made an attempt to recreate a powerful Ottoman fleet. In 1910, the Young Turks began to collect donations for the purchase of new ships.

The history of the Ottoman Air Force began in 1909. The first flying school in the Ottoman Empire

(tour. Tayyare Mektebi) was opened on July 3, 1912 in the Yesilkoy district of Istanbul. Thanks to the opening of the first flight school, active development began in the country military aviation. The number of enlisted military pilots was increased, due to which the number of armed forces Ottoman Empire. In May 1913, the world's first aviation school was opened in the Ottoman Empire to train pilots to fly reconnaissance aircraft and a separate reconnaissance unit was created. In June 1914, the Naval Aviation School (tour. Bahriye Tayyare Mektebi) was founded in Turkey. With the outbreak of the First World War, the process of modernization in the state stopped abruptly. The Ottoman Air Force fought on many fronts of the First World War (In Galicia, the Caucasus and Yemen).

The administrative division of the Ottoman Empire was based on the military administration, which controlled the subjects of the state. Outside this system were vassal and tributary states.

The government of the Ottoman Empire pursued a strategy for the development of Bursa, Adrianople and Constantinople as major trading and industrial centers, which at various times were the capitals of the state. Therefore, Mehmed II and his successor Bayezid II encouraged the migration of Jewish artisans and Jewish merchants to Istanbul and other major ports. However, in Europe Jews were persecuted everywhere by Christians. That is why the Jewish population of Europe immigrated to the Ottoman Empire, where the Turks needed the Jews.

The economic thought of the Ottoman Empire was closely connected with the basic concept of the state and society of the Middle East, which was based on the goal of strengthening power and expanding the territory of the state - all this was carried out because the Ottoman Empire had large annual incomes due to the prosperity of the productive class. The ultimate goal was to increase government revenues without harming the development of the regions, since the damage could cause social unrest, and the immutability of the traditional structure of society.

The structure of the treasury and chancellery was better developed in the Ottoman Empire than in other Islamic states, and until the 17th century the Ottoman Empire remained the leading organization in these structures. This structure was developed by scribe officials (also known as "literary workers") as a special group of somewhat highly qualified theologians, which developed into a professional organization. The effectiveness of this professional financial organization was supported by the great statesmen of the Ottoman Empire.

The structure of the state's economy was determined by its geopolitical structure. The Ottoman Empire, being in the middle between the West and the Arab world, blocked the land routes to the east, which forced the Portuguese and Spaniards to go in search of new routes to the countries of the East. The empire controlled the spice road that Marco Polo once walked. In 1498 the Portuguese rounded Africa and established trade relations with India, in 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered the Bahamas. At this time, the Ottoman Empire reached its peak - the power of the Sultan extended to 3 continents.

According to modern studies, the deterioration of relations between the Ottoman Empire and Central Europe was caused by the opening of new sea routes. This was evident in the fact that the Europeans were no longer looking for land routes to the East, but followed sea routes there. In 1849, the Baltaliman Treaty was signed, thanks to which the English and French markets became on a par with the Ottoman ones.

Through the development of commercial centers, the opening of new routes, an increase in the amount of cultivated land and international trade, the state carried out the main economic processes. But in general, the main interests of the state were finance and politics. But the Ottoman officials, who created the social and political systems of the empire, could not fail to see the advantages of the capitalist and commercial economy of the Western European states.

Demography

The first census of the population of the Ottoman Empire took place at the beginning of the 19th century. The official results of the census of 1831 and subsequent years were published by the government, however, the census was not for all segments of the population, but only for individual ones. For example, in 1831 there was a census of only the male population.

It is not clear why the population of the country in the 18th century was lower than in the 16th century. Nevertheless, the population of the empire began to increase and by 1800 reached 25,000,000 - 32,000,000 people, of which 10,000,000 lived in Europe, 11,000,000 in Asia and 3,000,000 in Africa. The population density of the Ottoman Empire in Europe was twice that of Anatolia, which in turn was 3 times that of Iraq and Syria and 5 times that of Arabia. In 1914, the population of the state totaled 18,500,000 people. By this time, the territory of the country had decreased by about 3 times. This meant that the population almost doubled.

By the end of the existence of the empire, the average life expectancy in it was 49 years, despite the fact that even in the 19th century this figure was extremely low and amounted to 20-25 years. Such a short life expectancy in the 19th century was due to epidemic diseases and famine, which, in turn, were caused by destabilization and demographic changes. In 1785, about one-sixth of the population of Ottoman Egypt died from the plague. During the entire XVIII century, the population of Aleppo decreased by 20%. In 1687-1731, the population of Egypt went hungry 6 times, the last famine in the Ottoman Empire erupted in the 1770s in Anatolia. It was possible to avoid famine in the following years thanks to the improvement of sanitary conditions, health care and the beginning of the transportation of food to the cities of the state.

The population began to move to port cities, which was caused by the beginning of the development of the shipping company and railways. In the years 1700-1922, the process of active urban growth was going on in the Ottoman Empire. Thanks to the improvement of the health care system and sanitary conditions, the cities of the Ottoman Empire became more attractive to live in. Especially in the port cities there was an active population growth. For example, in Thessaloniki, the population increased from 55,000 in 1800 to 160,000 in 1912; in Izmir, from 150,000 in 1800 to 300,000 in 1914. In some regions there was a decrease in the population. For example, the population of Belgrade decreased from 25,000 to 8,000, the reason for which was the struggle for power in the city. Thus, the population in different regions was different.

Economic and political migration had a negative impact on the empire. For example, the annexation of the Crimea and the Balkans by the Russians and the Habsburgs led to the flight of all Muslims inhabiting these territories - about 200,000 Crimean Tatars fled to Dobruja. Between 1783 and 1913, between 5,000,000 and 7,000,000 people immigrated to the Ottoman Empire, 3,800,000 of whom were from Russia. Migration greatly influenced the political tension between different parts of the empire, as a result of which there were no longer differences between different sections of the population. The number of artisans, merchants, industrialists and farmers decreased. Starting from the 19th century, mass emigration of all Muslims (the so-called Muhajirs) from the Balkans began to the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the existence of the Ottoman Empire, in 1922, most of the Muslims living in the state were emigrants from the Russian Empire.

Languages

The official language of the Ottoman Empire was the Ottoman language. He was heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic. The most common languages ​​in the Asian part of the country were: Ottoman (which was spoken by the population of Anatolia and the Balkans, with the exception of Albania and Bosnia), Persian (which was spoken by the nobility) and Arabic (which was spoken by the population of Arabia, North Africa, Iraq, Kuwait and the Levant ), Kurdish, Armenian, New Aramaic, Pontic and Cappadocian Greek were also common in the Asian part; in Europe - Albanian, Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian and Aromanian. In the last 2 centuries of the existence of the empire, these languages ​​were no longer used by the population: Persian was the language of literature, Arabic was used for religious rites.

Due to the low level of literacy of the population for appeals ordinary people special people were used to the government who made petitions. National minorities spoke their native languages ​​(Mahalla). In multilingual towns and villages, the population spoke different languages, moreover, not all people who lived in megacities knew the Ottoman language.

Religions

Before the adoption of Islam, the Turks were shamanists. The spread of Islam began after the victory of the Abbasids in the Battle of Talas in 751. In the second half of the 8th century, most of the Oghuz (ancestors of the Seljuks and Turks) converted to Islam. In the 11th century, the Oghuz settled in Anatolia, which contributed to its spread there.

In 1514, Sultan Selim I massacred Shiites living in Anatolia, whom he considered heretics, during which 40,000 people were killed.

The freedom of Christians living in the Ottoman Empire was limited, as the Turks referred them to "second-class citizens." The rights of Christians and Jews were not considered equal to the rights of the Turks: the testimony of Christians against the Turks was not accepted by the court. They could not carry weapons, ride horses, their houses could not be higher than the houses of Muslims, and also had many other legal restrictions. Throughout the existence of the Ottoman Empire, a tax was levied on the non-Muslim population - Devshirme. Periodically, in the Ottoman Empire there was a mobilization of pre-adolescent Christian boys, who, after being drafted, were brought up as Muslims. These boys were trained in the art of statecraft or the formation of a ruling class and the creation of elite troops (Janissaries).

Under the millet system, non-Muslims were citizens of the empire but did not have the rights that Muslims had. The Orthodox millet system was created under Justinian I, and was used until the end of the existence of the Byzantine Empire. Christians, as the largest non-Muslim population in the Ottoman Empire, had a number of special privileges in politics and trade, and therefore paid higher taxes than Muslims.

After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II did not massacre the Christians of the city, but on the contrary, even preserved their institutions (for example, the Orthodox Church of Constantinople).

In 1461, Mehmed II founded the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. During the Byzantine Empire, the Armenians were considered heretics and therefore could not build churches in the city. In 1492, during the Spanish Inquisition, Bayezid II sent a Turkish fleet to Spain to rescue Muslims and Sephardim, who soon settled in the territory of the Ottoman Empire.

The Porte's relations with the Orthodox Church of Constantinople were mostly peaceful, and reprisals were rare. The structure of the church was kept intact, but it was under the strict control of the Turks. After the nationalist-minded new Ottomans came to power in the 19th century, the policy of the Ottoman Empire acquired the features of nationalism and Ottomanism. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church was dissolved and placed under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church. In 1870, Sultan Abdulaziz founded the Bulgarian Exarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church and restored its autonomy.

Similar millets developed from different religious communities, including a Jewish millet led by a chief rabbi and an Armenian millet led by a bishop.

The territories that were part of the Ottoman Empire were mainly coastal areas of the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Accordingly, the culture of these territories was based on the traditions of the local population. After capturing new territories in Europe, the Turks adopted some of the cultural traditions of the conquered areas (architectural styles, cuisine, music, recreation, form of government). Intercultural marriages played a big role in shaping the culture of the Ottoman elite. Numerous traditions and cultural characteristics, adopted from the conquered peoples, were developed by the Ottoman Turks, which later led to a mixture of the traditions of the peoples living on the territory of the Ottoman Empire and the cultural identity of the Ottoman Turks.

The main directions of Ottoman literature were poetry and prose. However, the predominant genre was poetry. Before the beginning of the 19th century, fantasy stories were not written in the Ottoman Empire. Such genres as the novel, the story were absent even in folklore and poetry.

Ottoman poetry was a ritual and symbolic art form.