How did the Ottoman Empire became so powerful?
The key to the empire’s expansion was the Ottoman army. The Ottomans trained Christian boys from conquered towns to be soldiers. These slave soldiers, called, converted to Islam and became fierce fighters. Besides these slave troops, the Ottomans were aided by new gunpowder weapons—especially cannons.
Was Ottoman Empire the mightiest Muslim empire?
The Ottoman Empire was one of the mightiest and longest-lasting dynasties in world history. This Islamic-run superpower ruled large areas of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa for more than 600 years. The chief leader, known as the Sultan, was given absolute religious and political authority over his people. ...
What was life like in the Ottoman Empire?
What was daily life like in the Ottoman Empire? Social life was often centered around the bazaars and Turkish baths. Many people owned homes so the population was reasonably stable. Sometimes people of the same ethnic group or religion lived in their own quarters. Turbans and other headgear were an indication of rank and status in the Ottoman society.
When did the Ottoman Empire start and end?
The Ottoman Empire ruled a large portion of the Middle East and Eastern Europe for over 600 years. It first formed in 1299 and finally dissolved in 1923, becoming the country of Turkey . Rise of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I, a leader of the Turkish tribes in Anatolia in 1299.
How did the Ottoman Empire end?
Finally, after fighting on the side of Germany in World War I and suffering defeat, the empire was dismantled by treaty and came to an end in 1922, when the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed VI, was deposed and left the capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in a British warship.
Who destroyed the Ottoman Empire?
The Ottoman Empire sided with Germany in World War I (1914–18); postwar treaties dissolved the empire, and in 1922 the sultanate was abolished by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who proclaimed the Republic of Turkey the following year.
Is the Ottoman Empire still around?
The Ottoman Empire officially ended in 1922 when the title of Ottoman Sultan was eliminated. Turkey was declared a republic on October 29, 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), an army officer, founded the independent Republic of Turkey.
What led to the fall of Ottoman Empire?
The Ottoman economy was disrupted by inflation, caused by the influx of precious metals into Europe from the Americas and by an increasing imbalance of trade between East and West.
Which was the longest empire?
The Roman EmpireWhat was the longest-lasting empire? The Roman Empire is the longest-lasting empire in all of recorded history. It dates back to 27 BC and endured for over 1000 years.
What is the Ottoman Empire now called?
the Turkish RepublicThe Ottoman period spanned more than 600 years and came to an end only in 1922, when it was replaced by the Turkish Republic and various successor states in southeastern Europe and the Middle East.
Who has the biggest empire?
Empires at their greatest extentEmpireMaximum land areaMillion km2Million sq miBritish Empire35.513.71Mongol Empire24.09.27Russian Empire22.88.8090 more rows
Who are the Ottomans today?
Bayezid Osman, 44th Head of the House of Osman (2009–2017), great-grandson of Sultan Abdulmejid I. Dündar Ali Osman, 45th Head of the House of Osman (2017–2021), great-grandson of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. Harun Osman, 46th Head of the House of Osman (2021–present), great-grandson of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
What was Turkey called before the Ottoman Empire?
Anatolia remained multi-ethnic until the early 20th century (see Rise of Nationalism under the Ottoman Empire). Its inhabitants were of varied ethnicities, including Turks, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Greeks, French, and Italians (particularly from Genoa and Venice).
Why was Ottoman called the sick man of Europe?
The empire was at war with Russia for regional control, and during the mid-19th century the Ottoman Empire suffered from numerous challenges including economic problems, military defeats, and ethnic unrest. Due to these difficulties, the empire was compared to an ailing old man.
What treaty ended the Ottoman Empire?
Treaty of Sèvres, (August 10, 1920), post-World War I pact between the victorious Allied powers and representatives of the government of Ottoman Turkey. The treaty abolished the Ottoman Empire and obliged Turkey to renounce all rights over Arab Asia and North Africa.
Who has the biggest empire?
Empires at their greatest extentEmpireMaximum land areaMillion km2Million sq miBritish Empire35.513.71Mongol Empire24.09.27Russian Empire22.88.8090 more rows
Where did the Ottoman Empire start?
The Ottoman Empire was founded in Anatolia, the location of modern-day Turkey. Originating in Söğüt (near Bursa, Turkey), the Ottoman dynasty expan...
How did the Ottoman Empire start?
The Ottoman Empire began at the very end of the 13th century with a series of raids from Turkic warriors (known as ghazis) led by Osman I, a prince...
Why was the Ottoman Empire called “the sick man of Europe”?
After the peak of Ottoman rule under Süleyman the Magnificent in the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire struggled to maintain its bloated bureaucracy...
How did the Ottoman Empire end?
The Ottoman Empire disintegrated and was partitioned after its defeat in World War I. The empire had already been in decline for centuries, struggl...
What is the name of the Ottoman Empire?
In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ("The Ottoman Empire") or Osmanlı Devleti ("The Ottoman State"). The Turkish word for "Ottoman" ( Turkish: Osmanlı) originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century.
Where was the Ottoman Empire founded?
It was founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Anatolia in the town of Söğüt (modern-day Bilecik Province) by the Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe and with the conquest of the Balkans, the Ottoman beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire.
What were the parties of the Young Turks?
Among them " Committee of Union and Progress ", and " Freedom and Accord Party " were major parties. On the other end of the spectrum were ethnic parties, which included Poale Zion, Al-Fatat, and Armenian national movement organised under Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Profiting from the civil strife, Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908. The last of the Ottoman censuses was performed in 1914. Despite military reforms which reconstituted the Ottoman Modern Army, the Empire lost its North African territories and the Dodecanese in the Italo-Turkish War (1911) and almost all of its European territories in the Balkan Wars (1912–1913). The Empire faced continuous unrest in the years leading up to World War I, including the 31 March Incident and two further coups in 1912 and 1913 .
What was the Ottoman miniature about?
Ottoman miniature about the Szigetvár campaign showing Ottoman troops and Tatars as avant-garde. In the second half of the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire came under increasing strain from inflation and the rapidly rising costs of warfare that were impacting both Europe and the Middle East.
How did the discovery of new maritime trade routes by Western European states help them to avoid the Ottoman trade monopol?
The discovery of new maritime trade routes by Western European states allowed them to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly. The Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 initiated a series of Ottoman-Portuguese naval wars in the Indian Ocean throughout the 16th century. Despite the growing European presence in the Indian Ocean, Ottoman trade with the east continued to flourish. Cairo, in particular, benefitted from the rise of Yemeni coffee as a popular consumer commodity. As coffeehouses appeared in cities and towns across the empire, Cairo developed into a major center for its trade, contributing to its continued prosperity throughout the seventeenth and much of the eighteenth century.
How many provinces did the Ottoman Empire have?
At the beginning of the 17th century, the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states.
What was the Ottoman Empire's military system?
The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society and military throughout the 17th and for much of the 18th century. However, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian empires.
Where was the Ottoman Empire located?
The Ottoman Empire was founded in Anatolia, the location of modern-day Turkey. Originating in Söğüt (near Bursa, Turkey), the Ottoman dynasty expanded its reign early on through extensive raiding. This was enabled by the decline of the Seljuq dynasty, the previous rulers of Anatolia, who were suffering defeat from Mongol invasion.
What was the first period of Ottoman rule?
The first period of Ottoman history was characterized by almost continuous territorial expansion, during which Ottoman dominion spread out from a small northwestern Anatolian principality to cover most of southeastern Europe and Anatolia. The political, economic, and social institutions of the classical Islamic empires were amalgamated with those inherited from Byzantium and the great Turkish empires of Central Asia and were reestablished in new forms that were to characterize the area into modern times.
What was the first Turkic dynasty in Anatolia?
Anatolia: The Seljuqs of Anatolia. Read more about the rise and fall of the Seljuq dynasty, the first Turkic dynasty in the region, which laid the foundation for the rise and expansion of the Turkic Ottoman dynasty.
Why did the Ottoman Empire disintegrate?
The Ottoman Empire disintegrated and was partitioned after its defeat in World War I. The empire had already been in decline for centuries, struggling to maintain a bloated bureaucracy or a centralized administrative structure after various attempts at reform. The problem was exacerbated further by the rise of more localized interests across the empire, such as the rise of nationalist movements. Upon the Ottomans’ defeat in World War I, a combination of nationalist movements and partition agreements among the Allied powers forced its disintegration into numerous territories, with Turkey as the empire’s immediate successor.
What was the Ottoman Empire's struggle?
After the peak of Ottoman rule under Süleyman the Magnificent in the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire struggled to maintain its bloated bureaucracy and decentralized political structure. Several attempts at reform kept the empire afloat but mostly addressed immediate issues, and any success was short-lived.
What were the political, economic, and social institutions of the classical Islamic empires?
The political, economic, and social institutions of the classical Islamic empires were amalgamated with those inherited from Byzantium and the great Turkish empires of Central Asia and were reestablished in new forms that were to characterize the area into modern times.
Who was the Ottoman ruler?
The Ottoman Empire began at the very end of the 13th century with a series of raids from Turkic warriors (known as ghazis) led by Osman I , a prince ( bey) whose father, Ertugrul, had established a power base in Söğüt (near Bursa, Turkey). Osman and his warriors took advantage of a declining Seljuq dynasty, which had been severely weakened by the Mongol invasions. The Ottoman dynasty continued to expand for several generations, controlling much of southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa at its peak. Osman’s grandson Murad I laid the foundation for an institutionalized Ottoman state, continued by Murad’s son Bayezid I.
When was the Ottoman Empire founded?
The Ottoman Empire was founded circa 1299 by Osman I as a small beylik in northwestern Asia Minor just south of the Byzantine capital Constantinople.
How many people did the Ottoman Empire control?
It still controlled 28 million people, of whom 17 million were in modern-day Turkey, 3 million in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, and 2.5 million in Iraq. Another 5.5 million people were under nominal Ottoman rule in the Arabian peninsula.
What was the classic thesis of the Ottoman Empire?
Those about the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Classic thesis — as a result of the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) with the subsequent Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca. Previously marked by the beginning of the reign of Catherine the Great, the writing of " Istoriya Slavyanobolgarskaya " and the death of Koca Ragıp Pasha;
How did nationalism affect the Ottoman Empire?
The rise of nationalism swept through many countries during the 19th century, and it affected territories within the Ottoman Empire. A burgeoning national consciousness, together with a growing sense of ethnic nationalism, made nationalistic thought one of the most significant Western ideas imported to the Ottoman Empire. It was forced to deal with nationalism both within and beyond its borders. The number of revolutionary political parties rose dramatically. Uprisings in Ottoman territory had many far-reaching consequences during the 19th century and determined much of Ottoman policy during the early 20th century. Many Ottoman Turks questioned whether the policies of the state were to blame: some felt that the sources of ethnic conflict were external, and unrelated to issues of governance. While this era was not without some successes, the ability of the Ottoman state to have any effect on ethnic uprisings was seriously called into question.
Why did the majority of the Orthodox population accept Ottoman rule as preferable to Venetian rule?
Because of bad relations between the latter Byzantine Empire and the states of western Europe as epitomized by Loukas Notaras 's famous remark "Better the Sultan's turban than the Cardinal's Hat", the majority of the Orthodox population accepted Ottoman rule as preferable to Venetian rule.
How many Crimean Tatars were there in the Ottoman Empire?
From the total Tatar population of 300,000 in the Tauride Province, about 200,000 Crimean Tatars moved to the Ottoman Empire in continuing waves of emigration. Toward the end of the Caucasian Wars, 90% of the Circassians were exiled from their homelands in the Caucasus and settled in the Ottoman Empire.
What was Suleiman's reign?
According to this thesis, Suleiman's reign was the zenith of the Ottoman classical period, during which Ottoman culture, arts, and political influence flourished, although the empire would not reach its maximum territorial extent until 1683, on the eve of the Battle of Vienna .
When did the Ottoman Empire begin?
The Ottoman Empire began in the late 1200s during the breakup of the Seljuk Turk Empire. After that empire broke up, the Ottoman Turks began to take control of the other states belonging to the former empire and by the late 1400s, all other Turkish dynasties were controlled by the Ottoman Turks. In the early days of the Ottoman Empire, ...
Why was the Ottoman Empire important?
Despite its collapse, the Ottoman Empire was one of the largest, longest-lasting, and most successful empires in the world's history.
What happened to the Ottoman Empire in the 1700s?
In the 1700s, the Ottoman Empire began to rapidly deteriorate following the Russo-Turkish Wars. A series of treaties created during that time caused the empire to lose some of its economic independence. The Crimean War, which lasted from 1853 to 1856, further exhausted the struggling empire.
What was the main goal of the Ottoman Empire?
In the early days of the Ottoman Empire, the main goal of its leaders was expansion . The earliest phases of Ottoman expansion occurred under Osman I, Orkhan, and Murad I. Bursa, one of the Ottoman Empire's earliest capitals, fell in 1326.
What countries did the Ottoman Empire include?
At its peak, the Ottoman Empire included the areas of Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, ...
What caused the international negativity of the Ottoman Empire?
Political and social instability in the 1890s created international negativity toward the empire. The Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 and uprisings by Turkish nationalists further reduced the empire's territory and increased instability.
How long did the Crimean War last?
The Crimean War, which lasted from 1853 to 1856, further exhausted the struggling empire. In 1856, the independence of the Ottoman Empire was recognized by the Congress of Paris but it was still losing its strength as a European power. In the late 1800s, there were several rebellions and the Ottoman Empire continued to lose territory.
What was the Ottoman Empire dependent on?
While the industrial revolution swept through Europe in the 1700s and 1800s, the Ottoman economy remained dependent upon farming. The empire lacked the factories and mills to keep up with Great Britain, France and even Russia, according to Michael A. Reynolds, an associate professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. As a result, the empire’s economic growth was weak, and what agricultural surplus it generated went to pay loans to European creditors. When it came time to fight in World War I, the Ottoman Empire didn’t have the industrial might to produce heavy weaponry, munitions and iron and steel needed to build railroads to support the war effort.
How long did the Ottoman Empire last?
But it didn’t last. Though the Ottoman Empire persisted for 600 years, it succumbed to what most historians describe as a long, slow decline, despite efforts to modernize. Finally, after fighting on the side of Germany in World War I and suffering defeat, the empire was dismantled by treaty and came to an end in 1922, when the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed VI, was deposed and left the capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in a British warship. From Ottoman empire’s remains arose the modern nation of Turkey.
Why did the Russian Empire collapse?
When the two empires took opposite sides in World War I, though, the Russians ended up collapsing first, in part because of the Ottoman forces prevented Russia from getting supplies from Europe via the Black Sea. Tzar Nicholas II and his foreign minister, Sergei Sazanov, resisted the idea of negotiating a separate peace with the empire, which might have saved Russia.
Why did the Ottoman Empire fall?
Before the war, the Ottoman Empire had signed a secret treaty with Germany, which turned out to be a very bad choice.
What countries did the Ottoman Empire include?
At its apex, the Ottoman empire included Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Macedonia, Romania, Syria, parts of Arabia and the north coast of Africa. Even if outside powers hadn’t eventually undermined the empire, Reynolds doesn’t think that it could have remained intact ...
What happened in the 1500s?
So what happened? At its peak in the 1500s, the Ottoman Empire was one of the biggest military and economic powers in the world, controlling an expanse that included not just its base in Asia Minor but also much of southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
When was the Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent?
The Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent in 1683.
What was the Ottoman Empire's transformation?
The Transformation of the Ottoman Empire, also known as the Era of Transformation, constitutes a period in the history of the Ottoman Empire from c. 1550 to c. 1700 , spanning roughly from the end of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent to the Treaty of Karlowitz at the conclusion of the War of the Holy League. This period was characterized by numerous dramatic political, social, and economic changes, which resulted in the empire shifting from an expansionist, patrimonial state into a bureaucratic empire based on an ideology of upholding justice and acting as the protector of Sunni Islam. These changes were in large part prompted by a series of political and economic crises in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, resulting from inflation, warfare, and political factionalism. Yet despite these crises the empire remained strong both politically and economically, and continued to adapt to the challenges of a changing world. The seventeenth century was once characterized as a period of decline for the Ottomans, but since the 1980s historians of the Ottoman Empire have increasingly rejected that characterization, identifying it instead as a period of crisis, adaptation, and transformation.
Where did the Ottoman Empire's territory extend?
In comparison with earlier periods of Ottoman history, the empire's territory remained relatively stable, stretching from Algeria in the west to Iraq in the east, and from Arabia in the south to Hungary in the north.
How did the Ottoman bureaucracy change?
The Ottoman bureaucracy ( mālīye) expanded dramatically both with regard to size and range of activity. While only 38 salaried scribes were serving in 1549, by 1593 this number had increased to 183. As the Timar System was phased out of use, tax revenues which had once been distributed locally to the empire's army of feudal cavalry were now remitted to Istanbul, either through direct collection ( emānet) or through tax farming ( iltizām ). A larger bureaucracy was thus needed in order to cope with the empire's increasingly centralized fiscal system. Bureaucratic organization was diversified, with new branches being formed and scribal duties increasingly specialized. The high quality of the Ottoman bureaucracy was underpinned by stringent standards of scribal recruitment. By the early seventeenth century the bureaucracy was moved out of its original location in Topkapı Palace, indicating that it was becoming independent of the sultan's household. It thus became a stabilizing influence for the empire; while sultans and viziers rose and fell, the bureaucracy remained in place, providing cohesion and continuity to imperial administration.
What war did the Ottomans win?
After making peace with Austria in 1568, the Ottomans launched the 1570–73 Ottoman-Venetian War, conquering Cyprus and most of Dalmatia. A naval campaign led to the capture of Tunis from the Spanish in 1574, and a truce was signed in 1580.
How much did the Ottoman government make in 1560?
At the end of each year the Ottoman government produced a comprehensive balance-sheet depicting its revenues and expenses, giving historians a window through which to view their finances. Ottoman government income grew from 183 million akçe in 1560 to 581 million in 1660, an increase of 217%.
What was the seventeenth century?
The seventeenth century was once characterized as a period of decline for the Ottomans, but since the 1980s historians of the Ottoman Empire have increasingly rejected that characterization, identifying it instead as a period of crisis, adaptation, and transformation.
How did coinage help the Ottoman Empire?
Over the course of the sixteenth century, coinage came to play a much larger role in the Ottoman rural economy, with tax payments in cash coming to replace payments in kind. As the Ottoman population expanded, the volume of trade grew and new regional markets appeared across the empire.
When was the Senate of the Ottoman Empire opened?
The Senate of the Ottoman Empire was opened by the Sultan on 17 December 1908 . The new year brought the results of 1908 elections. Chamber of Deputies gathered on 30 January 1909. CUP needed a strategy to realize their Ottomanist ideals. The task of stopping the collapse of the Empire became the majority seat holder CUP's burden. However, the new system may have arrived too late to have any impact. The Empire was already in constant conflict and only four years remained before the Great War ignited.
What was the Ottoman Constitution?
It restored the Ottoman constitution of 1876 and brought in multi-party politics with a two stage electoral system ( electoral law) under the Ottoman parliament. The constitution offered hope by freeing the empire's citizens to modernize the state's institutions and dissolve inter-communal tensions.
Why did Al Fatat host the Arab Congress?
Al-Fatat hosted the Arab Congress of 1913 in Paris, the purpose of which was to discuss desired reforms with other dissenting individuals from the Arab world.
What was the rise of nationalism in Europe?
Europe became dominated by nation states with the rise of nationalism in Europe. The Ottoman Empire was a religious empire. The 19th century saw the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire which resulted in the establishment of an independent Greece in 1821, Serbia in 1835, and Bulgaria in 1877-1878.
How did the CUP win support in the Arab provinces?
The CUP made efforts to win support in the Arab provinces by making conciliatory gestures to Arab leaders. Weakened Arab support for the LU and enabled the CUP to call elections with unionists holding the upper hand. After 1914 elections, the democratic structure had a better representation in the parliament; the parliament that emerged from the elections in 1914 reflected better ethnic composition of the Ottoman population There were more Arab deputies, which were under-represented in previous parliaments. The CUP had a majority government. The Ottoman imperial government was established in January 1914. Ismail Enver became a Pasha and was assigned as the Minister of War; Ahmet Cemal who was the military governor of Constantinople became Minister for the Navy; and once a postal official Talaat became the Minister of the Interior. These Three Pashas would maintain de facto control of the Empire as a military regime and almost as a personal dictatorship under Enver Pasha during the World War I. Until the 1919 Ottoman general election, any other input into the political process was restricted with the outbreak of the World War I. The 1914 Burdur earthquake occurred on 4 October 1914.
What was the name of the city that Turkey occupied in 1922?
The occupation of Constantinople ( Istanbul) along with the occupation of Smyrna ( Izmir) mobilized the Turkish national movement which ultimately won the Turkish War of Independence. The formal abolition of the Ottoman Sultanate was performed by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 1 November 1922.
What wars did the Ottomans fight in?
Despite Ottoman military reforms, the Ottoman Army met with disastrous defeat in the Italo-Turkish War (1911–1912) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), resulting in the Ottomans being driven out of North Africa and nearly out of Europe.
Overview
The Ottoman Empire also known as the Turkish Empire was an empire that controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries. It was founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Anatolia in the town of Söğüt (modern-day Bilecik Province) by the Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe …
Name
The word Ottoman is a historical anglicisation of the name of Osman I, the founder of the Empire and of the ruling House of Osman (also known as the Ottoman dynasty). Osman's name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān (عثمان). In Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye (دولت عليه عثمانیه), literally "The Supreme Ottoman State", or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti (عثمانلى دولتى). In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu ("The Otto…
History
As the Rum Sultanate declined well into the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman I (d. 1323/4), a figure of obscure origins from whom the name Ottoman is derived. Osman's e…
Historiographical debate on the Ottoman state
Several historians such as British historian Edward Gibbon and the Greek historian Dimitri Kitsikis have argued that after the fall of Constantinople, the Ottoman state took over the machinery of the Byzantine (Roman) state and that in essence, the Ottoman Empire was a continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire under a Turkish Muslim guise. The American historian Speros Vryonis wrote that the Ottoman state was centered on "a Byzantine-Balkan base with a veneer of the Turkish la…
Government
Before the reforms of the 19th and 20th centuries, the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire was a system with two main dimensions, the military administration, and the civil administration. The Sultan was in the highest position in the system. The civil system was based on local administrative units based on the region's characteristics. The state had control over the clergy. Ce…
Administrative divisions
The Ottoman Empire was first subdivided into provinces, in the sense of fixed territorial units with governors appointed by the sultan, in the late 14th century.
The Eyalet (also Pashalik or Beylerbeylik) was the territory of office of a Beylerbey ("lord of lords" or governor), and was further subdivided in Sanjaks. The Vilayets were introduced with the promulgation of the "Vilayet Law" (Teskil-i Vilayet Niz…
Economy
Ottoman government deliberately pursued a policy for the development of Bursa, Edirne, and Istanbul, successive Ottoman capitals, into major commercial and industrial centers, considering that merchants and artisans were indispensable in creating a new metropolis. To this end, Mehmed and his successor Bayezid, also encouraged and welcomed migration of the Jews fro…
Demographics
A population estimate for the empire of 11,692,480 for the 1520–1535 period was obtained by counting the households in Ottoman tithe registers, and multiplying this number by 5. For unclear reasons, the population in the 18th century was lower than that in the 16th century. An estimate of 7,230,660 for the first census held in 1831 is considered a serious undercount, as this census w…
Overview
The Ottoman Empire was founded circa 1299 by Osman I as a small beylik in northwestern Asia Minor just south of the Byzantine capital Constantinople. The Ottomans first crossed into Europe in 1352, establishing a permanent settlement at Çimpe Castle on the Dardanelles in 1354 and moving their capital to Edirne (Adrianople) in 1369. At the same time, the numerous small Turkic states in …
Ottoman etiology
With the end of the First World War and the Ottoman Empire, questions arose in a geopolitical and historical context about the reasons for the emergence and decline of the Ottomans, their empire and how both were defined. On the eve of World War II, the geographical position and geopolitical weight of Turkey, the major historical heir to the Ottoman Empire, gave the issues weight as propaganda. The first item on the agenda of the Tehran conference was the issue of Turkey's par…
Formulable theses
1. Ghaza thesis — it is formulated first, but it is the most criticized and politicized. The thesis most clearly advocates the ethnic pan-Turkic principle. It was developed by Paul Wittek;
2. Renegade thesis — represented in studies, articles and books by various authors. It is based on numerous eyewitness accounts. It is supplemented by the hypothesis of the geographical and to some extent civilizational succession of the Ottoman Empire (Rûm) by the Eastern Roman Empire;
Rise of the Ottoman Empire (1299–1453)
With the demise of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum during 12th to 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent states, the so-called Anatolian Beyliks. For the next few centuries, these Beyliks were under the sovereignty of Mongolians and their Iranian Kingdom Ilkhanids. This accounts for the Persian nature of the later Ottomans. By 1300, a weakened Byzantine Empire had lost most of its Anatolian provinces to these Turkish principalities. One of the beyliks was led by
Classical Age (1453–1566)
The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II cemented the status of the Empire as the preeminent power in southeastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. After taking Constantinople, Mehmed met with the Orthodox patriarch, Gennadios and worked out an arrangement in which the Eastern Orthodox Church, in exchange for being able to maintain its autonom…
Transformation of the Ottoman Empire (1566–1700)
European states initiated efforts at this time to curb Ottoman control of the traditional overland trade routes between East Asia and Western Europe, which started with the Silk Road. Western European states began to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly by establishing their own maritime routes to Asia through new discoveries at sea. The Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 …
Stagnation and reform (1700–1827)
During this period threats to the Ottoman Empire were presented by the traditional foe—the Austrian Empire—as well as by a new foe—the rising Russian Empire. Certain areas of the Empire, such as Egypt and Algeria, became independent in all but name, and later came under the influence of Britain and France. Later, in the 18th century, centralized authority within the Ottoman Em…
Decline and modernization (1828–1908)
During this period, the empire faced challenges in defending itself against foreign invasion and occupation. The empire ceased to enter conflicts on its own and began to forge alliances with European countries such as France, the Netherlands, Britain and Russia. As an example, in the 1853 Crimean War, the Ottomans united with Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia against Russia.