The Great Ottoman Empire or the Turkish Empire was founded in 1299 on the lands of northwestern Anatolia by a native of the medieval Oghuz tribe. In 1362 and 1389, Murad I conquered the Balkans, which turned the Ottoman Sultanate into a caliphate and transcontinental empire. And Mehmed the Conqueror occupied Constantinople in 1453, which marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. Here are some interesting facts about the history of the Ottoman Empire that may surprise you.

Origin of the Omani Empire

Ottoman Empire(Osmanlı İmparatorluğu) was an imperial power that existed from 1299 to 1923 (634 years!!). This is one of the largest empires that ruled the borders of the Mediterranean Sea. During her reign, she included Anatolia, the Middle East, parts of North Africa, and southeastern Europe.

Ottoman names...

The French translation of the Ottoman name "Bâb-i-âlî" means "high gate". This was due to the ceremony of meeting foreign ambassadors, which was given by the Sultan at the Palace Gate. It has also been interpreted as an indication of the Empire's position as a link between Europe and Asia.

Founding of the Ottoman Empire

The empire was founded by Osman I in the last year of the 13th century.

4 Ottoman capitals

The capital of the Ottoman Empire was the old Constantinople, now more than 6 centuries old, which was the center of interaction between the Western and Eastern Worlds. But before that, the Ottomans had three more head cities. Initially, it was Sogut, then after 30 years she took this post, the capital of the Ottoman Empire moved from Bursa to Edirne, it was in 1365, and after, in the year of the conquest of Constantinople, the capital moved to it. Ankara, the fifth in a row, became the capital only after the formation of the Republic of Turkey, although by the time the capital was transferred to Edirne, Ankara had already been captured for ten years.

Turkey

After the First World War, during which much of the Ottoman territory was taken over by the Allies, the Ottoman elites established themselves during the Turkish War of Independence.

On top of the Ottoman

The empire reached its zenith under Suleiman I (Kanuni or Suleiman the Magnificent) in the 16th century, when the Ottomans stretched from the Persian Gulf (east) to Hungary (northwest) and from Egypt (south) to the Caucasus (north).

12 wars of the Ottomans with the Russian Empire

Ottomans fought with Russia 12 times at different times with different authorities and different distribution of territories. The Ottoman Empire won only 2 times during the Prut campaign and on the Caucasian front, the status quo was determined 2 times - under Mehmed 4th and Mahmud 2nd, and there were no official winners during the Crimean War. The remaining 7 wars against the Ottomans were won by the Russian Empire.

The stage of the weakening of the Ottomans

In the 17th century, the Ottomans were weakened both internally and externally in costly wars against Persia, the Commonwealth, Russia and Austria-Hungary. It was a time of drafts in a constitutional monarchy in which the sultan already had little energy. During that period, sultans ruled from Ahmed the First. And in the 19th century, around the reign of Mahmud II, the Ottomans were losing their power due to the increase in the strength of European powers.

Formation of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Pasha, a prominent army officer during the Gallipoli-Palestine campaign, was officially dispatched from Istanbul to take control of the victorious army of the Caucasus and reform it. This army played an important role in the Turkish victory for independence (1918-1923) and the Republic of Turkey was founded on October 29, 1923 from the remnants of the collapsed Ottoman Empire.

Vizier ...

Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, the founder of the Albanian political dynasty in the Ottoman Empire, was appointed to his position as grand vizier by Turhan, the mother of the seven-year-old ruler Mehmed IV.

Military classes of the Ottomans

The vizier, like the sultan, also served as a military commander in the cavalry. In addition, men, having taken up Islamic religious judicial positions, automatically became military men.

Distribution of positions

From the middle of the 15th century until the beginning of the 17th century, the ways in which judicial, military, and political posts were established were fairly clear. Graduates of Muslim colleges called madrasahs were appointed judges in the provinces, imams or teachers in these same madrasas. Speaking of the highest judicial positions, this was the realm of exclusively elite families.

How was the life of the chief?

The head of the cavalry unit had allotments, he was a Muslim by birth, which gave him the right to a feudal inheritance. In other words, he could leave his allotments as an inheritance to his relatives.

Something about viziers

The viziers and governors of the Ottoman Empire were usually former Christian converts.

36 Ottoman sultans

The Ottoman Empire ruled for 634 years. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sat on the throne for the longest time - he ruled for 46 years. The shortest reign was for the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed V - about a year, who was also called crazy.

Replacing empires

The Ottoman Empire, with its intelligence and endurance, completely replaced Byzantium as a major power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Multiple chronology of significant events in the Ottoman Empire

Timeline of important events in the Ottoman Empire can be distinguished not only by 16 interesting facts, but also by 16 points with dates in different centuries. For example:

• 1299 - Osman I founded the Ottoman Empire
• 1389 - Ottomans conquer most of Serbia
• 1453 - Mehmed II captures Constantinople to end the Byzantine Empire
• 1517 - The Ottomans conquered Egypt, making it part of the empire
• 1520 - Suleiman the Magnificent becomes ruler of the Ottoman Empire
• 1529 - Siege of Vienna. An unsuccessful attempt, which stopped the rapid expansion of the Ottomans in European lands
• 1533 - Ottomans conquer Iraq
• 1551 - Ottomans conquer Libya
• 1566 - Suleiman dies
• 1569 - Most of Istanbul burned down in a great fire
• 1683 - The Turks were defeated at the Battle of Vienna. This signals the beginning of the decline of the empire
• 1699 - Ottomans relinquish control of Hungary to Austria
• 1718 - Beginning of the era of tulips. What did reconciliation mean in some European countries, familiarization with science, architecture, and so on
• 1821 - Greek War of Independence begins
• 1914 - Ottomans joined the Central Forces in WWI
• 1923 - The Ottoman Empire dissolves and the Republic of Turkey becomes a country

2017-02-12

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 Ottoman language is Devlet-i ʿAliyye-yi ʿOsmâniyye (دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه), or - Osmanlı Devleti (عثمانلى دو) 3]. In modern Turkish it is called 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 ...

Similarly, the 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 advance of the Turks 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 Ottoman currency and rampant 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 exercised 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 ceded to the 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 carried out 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, there were 571 primary schools and 94 secondary schools for Christians in the Ottoman Empire, with 14,000 children, more than the number of Muslim schools. Therefore, further study of the Arabic language and Islamic theology was impossible. In turn, the higher level of education of Christians allowed them to play a larger 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 the Berlin Congress of 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 numbered 28,000,000, 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 during the 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, while 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, the divan included army officers and local nobility (for example, religious and political figures). 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 the 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 of Legal Development, which met the needs of the millet. 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.

The first military unit of the Ottoman army was created at the end of the 13th century by Osman I from members of the 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 of the Ottoman navy was built at the shipyard in Barrow in the UK.

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 the Russian-Turkish war of 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, the active development of military aviation began in the country. The number of military pilots of the rank and file was increased, because of which the number of armed forces of the Ottoman Empire was increased. 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 commercial 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 office 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 structures 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 1831 census 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 shipping 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 ordinary people to appeal to the government, special people were used who made petitions. National minorities spoke their native languages ​​(Mahalla). In multilingual cities and villages, the population spoke different languages, and not all people living 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 the 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 further 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.

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 boundaries, the empire existed for a long historical period, representing 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 the 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.

Having become 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 an independent state on the basis of his 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 Osman's son Orhan, who began his military career with 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 territory 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. Caravans of pack animals with gifts from Emperor Charles VI of France reached the capital of the Ottoman Sultan: 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, the son of Muhammad I, ascended the throne in 1421. He was a just and energetic ruler, who devoted a lot of 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 they were not interested in peace treaties, only battles and only offensives.

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 fortress of Rumelihisar was founded, in which the newest 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 specially constructed flooring over the iron barrage chains of the ships, 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 the rule of the Turks.

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 in his poems the life of the high society of the state.

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

The great city of 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 districts (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. The strike force on the rivers were special gunboats, 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

The main role in the economy of the vast empire was played by agriculture, farming and animal husbandry.

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 the middle of the 16th 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 the 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 received equal rights in accordance with the adopted law during the beginning of the period of reforms (tanzimat).

The position of a slave in Ottoman society was much better than in the 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 in 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. 19th century reforms turned Turkey from a backward Eastern power by this time into a self-sufficient European country with a modern system of 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

At the end of the XIX century. 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.

Plan
Introduction
1. History
2 Design and control
2.1 Public relations
2.2 State structure
2.3 Administrative unit
2.4 Army
2.4.1 Army reform under Mahmud

2.5 Cities of the Ottoman Empire. Crafts and trade

3 Culture
4 Religion
5 Science and art
6 Economy
6.1 Economic recovery

Bibliography
Ottoman Empire

Introduction

Ottoman Empire, officially - the Great Ottoman State Devlet-i Âliyye-i Osmâniyye) - a multinational state under the control of the Ottoman sultans, which existed from 1299 to 1923. In Europe, the Ottoman Empire was often called the Ottoman Empire, the High (brilliant) Port, or simply the Port. During its heyday in the 16th-17th centuries, the state included Asia Minor (Anatolia), the Middle East, North Africa, the Balkan Peninsula and the lands of Europe adjacent to it from the north.

Anatolia, in which the main part of modern Turkey is located, was the territory of Byzantium before the arrival of the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century. The Ottoman Empire completed the conquest of Byzantium with the capture of Constantinople in 1453. At the height of its power, in the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), the empire stretched from the gates of Vienna to the Persian Gulf, from the Crimea to Morocco.

After the end of the First World War, the Ottoman Empire collapses: the Third French Republic receives Syria, the British Empire - Iraq and Palestine; the remaining territories made up modern Turkey.

1. History

Anatolia (Asia Minor), where Turkey is located, was the cradle of many civilizations in ancient times. By the time the ancestors of the modern Turks arrived, the Byzantine Empire existed here - a Greek Orthodox state with its capital in Constantinople (Istanbul). The Arab caliphs who fought with the Byzantines invited the Turkic tribes to military service, who were allocated border and empty lands for settlement.

In 1071, the state of the Seljuk Turks arose with its capital in Konya, which gradually expanded its borders to almost the entire territory of Asia Minor. Destroyed by the Mongols.

In 1326, a Turkish sultanate was founded on the lands conquered from the Byzantines, with its capital in the city of Bursa. Janissaries became the mainstay of the power of the Turkish sultans.

In 1362 the Turks, having conquered lands in Europe, moved the capital to the city of Adrianople (Edirne). The European possessions of the Turkish Sultanate were named Rumelia .

In 1453 the Turks took Constantinople and made it the capital of the empire. Under Selim the Terrible, Turkey conquered Syria, Arabia and Egypt. The Turkish sultan deposed the last caliph in Cairo and became caliph himself. By defeating Venice (1505) and Egypt (1517), the Ottomans gained control of the Eastern Mediterranean. In 1526, the Battle of Mohacs took place, during which the Turks defeated the Czech-Hungarian army and occupied Hungary, and in 1529 approached the walls of Vienna. At the height of its power, in the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), the empire stretched from the gates of Vienna to the Persian Gulf, from the Crimea to Morocco. In 1678 the Turks seized territories west of the Dnieper.

In the 19th century, the Ottomans began a stormy conquest in Africa south of Egypt, as a result of which they finally managed to finally appropriate the Nubian lands, Eastern Sudan (those territories that now make up the Republic of Sudan), Habesh - coastal lands in the territory of modern Eritrea and Djibouti, and also the northern part of modern Somalia.

2. Device and control

2.1. Public relations

The capture of Constantinople made the Ottoman state a powerful power. It was no longer a horde of 50,000 men and women; it was a state capable of fielding an army of 250,000 men, while at the same time maintaining strong garrisons in various parts of a vast territory.

Such an increase in the number of Turks is explained by the ease with which they assimilated other nationalities, the Turkic tribes of Anatolia, Greeks, Slavs; from among the latter, all those who agreed to sacrifice religion for the sake of acquiring a privileged position became Turks - and there were many of them. The Balkan peoples had to pay tax not only in money (jizya), but also in children (devshirme), from which, after converting to Islam, they raised Janissaries and kapy-kulu - the personal slaves of the Sultan (unconfirmed information). Parents themselves often voluntarily gave their children to Turkish officials, since slaves at court sometimes reached a very high position. The origin of Christian parents did not interfere with a career at all. So, the Grand Vizier under Mehmet II was Mahmud Pasha, the son of an Orthodox Serb and a Greek. Under Suleiman Kanuni, the former Serb slave Mehmed Sokollu Pasha (Sokolovich or Sokolich) was also the grand vizier.

The change in the physical features of the Turks was accelerated by the fact that the harem of the Turks for the most part consisted of captives of European or Caucasian origin. Politically and culturally, the conquerors of Constantinople were also far from Osman's horde; they were a large state with a complex administration and a complex nature of life. The Turks themselves constituted in it a privileged, predominantly military, also bureaucratic class, but by no means a closed caste. Administrators and judges were appointed exclusively from them; they were the army.

The Ottomans never introduced military service for conquered Christian peoples, although they sometimes took auxiliary detachments from vassal peoples. Many Turks received in the form of awards or otherwise acquired significant land holdings (chifliks) and were large landowners who managed their estates with the help of serf labor of the subject Christian population. Small landowners-peasants appeared next to them, partly Turks, but mostly Greeks, Serbs or Bulgarians who converted to Islam. The position of the conquered Christian peoples under the rule of the Ottomans (except, of course, slaves) was not particularly difficult at first.

The Ottomans consciously preserved the local self-government of the subservient "raya"; they did not even think about religious persecution, since Islam forbade restricting the freedom of religion of any people. Immediately after the capture of Constantinople, Mehmed proposed to the Greek clergy to elect a new patriarch (the former was killed during the siege) and immediately approved the chosen one. Janissary guards were assigned to protect him, which immediately gave him the character of a Turkish official. The patriarch, together with the cathedral, received the significance of supreme governance over the Orthodox (Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Russians, etc.) and the court in disputes between them. They could impose punishments on the Orthodox, up to and including the death penalty, and the Ottoman authorities usually carried them out without objection. The disadvantage of this policy was that over time, all the highest positions in the Orthodox millet were received by the Greeks, who often developed and planted the language and culture of their fellow tribesmen throughout the millet, at the expense of other nationalities. The Turks did the same with other peoples. By this, they easily reconciled them for the first time with their power, but the church became a force that subsequently contributed a lot to the liberation of these peoples.

Along with serfdom, real slavery also existed: slaves were used mainly as domestic servants, slaves - as concubines in a harem. Trade in slaves was carried out on a fairly large scale in Constantinople and in other cities. Civil administration was at a very low level; officials and judges looked at their positions as a way to enrich themselves; the most brutal bribery flourished. The sultans tried to fight this evil; so, Bayazet I in one day hanged 80 judges convicted of bribery, but in the absence of properly organized control from society or at least the government, with the downtrodden population, deprived of the opportunity to protest, such measures did not lead to the desired results. Mehmed II transferred the spiritual administration to the supreme authority of the mufti, or sheikh-ul-Islam, the spiritual head of all the faithful, appointed by the sultan. The fatwas (decrees) given by him had the character of the current law. Often, despite all the prudence in their appointment, the sheikh-ul-Islams turned out to be strong opponents of this or that sultan; sometimes with their help coup d'état was carried out. Sheikh-ul-Islam was also at the head of the court.

2.2. State structure

The Ottoman Empire over the course of six centuries developed a rather complex state structure. During the reign of Osman (1288-1326), a powerful military state was formed, absolutist, in fact, although the generals, to whom the sultan gave different areas to control, often turned out to be independent and reluctantly recognized the supreme authority of the sultan. This period is marked by the creation of the Ottoman system of state administration, which remained virtually unchanged for four centuries.

2.3. Administrative device

The administrative division of the Ottoman Empire was based on military administration with civil executive functions. Outside this system there were vassal relations. In the history of the empire, there are two eras of administrative structure and management: the first arose during the creation of the Ottoman state, the second - after extensive administrative reforms and the Europeanization of management in 1864.

Despite the undoubted courage of the Ottoman soldiers, the military art and organization of the army were not so high in comparison with the military art of the Europeans, only a significant numerical superiority made it possible for the Ottomans to win their resounding victories; so, in the second battle on the Kosovo field, the size of the Hunyadi army is determined at 30,000 people, while the Ottoman army reached 150,000; and yet the battle lasted 3 days and at least 30,000 Turks remained at the battlefield. In the naval battle with the Genoese near Constantinople, even a significant preponderance of forces did not help the Turks. As long as conquests were possible, forcing the people to exert all their strength, the Ottoman Empire could maintain its existence; but it did not have sufficient internal forces for cultural development, and with the cessation of the conquests, political disintegration and internal decay were to begin.

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 killer 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 - the Turkish Sultan, in addition to the female harem, also had a male one. 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 the expansion of their borders that they successfully attacked even the 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

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, devshirme worked - 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, thereby 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.