10 143
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 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.
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, son of Muhammad I, ascended the throne in 1421. He was a just and energetic ruler, who devoted much time to the development of arts and urban planning. Murad, coping with internal strife, made a successful campaign, capturing the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. No less successful were the battles of the Turks against the Serbian, Hungarian and Albanian armies. In 1448, after the victory of Murad over the united army of the crusaders, the fate of all the peoples of the Balkans was sealed - Turkish rule hung over them for several centuries.
Before the start of the historic battle in 1448 between the united European army and the Turks, a letter was carried on the tip of a spear with a ceasefire agreement violated once again through the ranks of the Ottoman army. Thus, the Ottomans showed that 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 deck of ships specially built over iron barrage chains, the city found itself in the ring of Turkish troops. Battles went on daily, but the Greek defenders of the city showed examples of courage and perseverance.
The siege was not a strong point of the Ottoman army, and the Turks won only due to the careful encirclement of the city, the numerical superiority of forces by about 3.5 times and due to the presence of siege weapons, cannons and powerful mortars with 30 kg cannonballs. Before the main assault on Constantinople, Muhammad invited the inhabitants to surrender, promising to spare them, but they, to his great amazement, refused.
The general assault was launched on May 29, 1453, and selected Janissaries, supported by artillery, broke into the gates of Constantinople. For 3 days, the Turks plundered the city and killed Christians, and the Hagia Sophia was later turned into a mosque. Turkey has become a real world power, proclaiming the ancient city as its capital.
In subsequent years, Muhammad made conquered Serbia his province, conquered Moldova, Bosnia, a little later - Albania and captured all of Greece. At the same time, the Turkish sultan conquered vast territories in Asia Minor and became the ruler of the entire Asia Minor peninsula. But he did not stop there: in 1475, the Turks captured many Crimean cities and the city of Tanu at the mouth of the Don on the Sea of Azov. The Crimean Khan officially recognized the authority of the Ottoman Empire. Following this, the territories of Safavid Iran were conquered, and in 1516 Syria, Egypt and Hijaz with Medina and Mecca were under the rule of the Sultan.
At the beginning of the XVI century. the conquering campaigns of the empire were directed to the east, south and west. In the east, Selim I the Terrible defeated the Safavids and annexed the eastern part of Anatolia and Azerbaijan to his state. In the south, the Ottomans crushed the warlike Mamluks and took control of the trade routes along the Red Sea coast to Indian Ocean, in North Africa 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.
Having become a sultan at the age of 25, Suleiman significantly expanded the borders of the state, capturing Rhodes in 1522, Mesopotamia in 1534, and Hungary in 1541.
The ruler of the Ottoman Empire was traditionally called Sultan, a title of Arabic origin. It is considered correct to use such terms as “shah”, “padishah”, “khan”, “caesar”, which came from different peoples under Turkish rule.
Suleiman contributed to the cultural prosperity of the country; under him, beautiful mosques and luxurious palaces were built in many cities of the empire. The famous emperor was a good poet, leaving his writings under the pseudonym Muhibbi (In love with God). During the reign of Suleiman, the wonderful Turkish poet Fuzuli lived and worked in Baghdad, who wrote the poem "Leyla and Majun". The nickname Sultan Among the Poets was given to Mahmud Abd al-Baqi, who served at the court of Suleiman, who reflected 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- 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.
The beginning of the state-political definition of the Turkish people fell on the X-XI centuries. In the second half of the X century. tribal associations of the Turks-Oguzes (Seljuks), pastoralists and farmers, were forced out of Central Asia and Iran to the Armenian Highlands to the borders of Byzantium. With the collapse of the state-tribal union of the Great Seljuks (which occupied Iran in the 11th-13th centuries), the Oghuz horde gained independence. As was typical for nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples, the first proto-state organization among the Turks had military-clan features. Such an organization is historically linked to an aggressive military policy. Starting from ser. XI century., Seljuks led the conquest of Iran, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia. In 1055, the Seljuk army captured Baghdad, and their ruler received the title of Sultan from the caliph. Successfully went on the conquest of the Byzantine possessions. During these conquests were captured big cities Asia Minor, the Turks came to the coast. Only Crusades pushed back the Seljuks from Byzantium, pushing them to Anatolia. Here the early state finally took shape.
Seljuk Sultanate (late 11th-early 14th century) was early public education, which retained the features of a military nomadic association. The unification of the conquered peoples under the rule of the new sultans was facilitated by the fact that the first ruler, Suleiman Kutulmush, gave freedom to the Byzantine serfs, and the established single general tax was much less than the previous tax burden. At the same time, the Byzantine system of state feudalism began to revive on the conquered lands (close to the military-service relations of the Arab caliphate): the land was declared state property, which was distributed by the sultan in large grants (ikta) and small, secondary (timar). From allotments, according to income, the lenniki had to carry out military service. This created the basis for a powerful, mostly cavalry army (approximately 250 thousand), which became the striking force of new conquests. At the same time, the tribal monarchy of the sultan began to acquire an organization familiar to a settled early state: meetings of the military nobility (mejlis) began to perform a general political function, including electing a ruler, and administrative offices (kapu) appeared.
After the collapse of Byzantium at the beginning of the XIII century. The Sultanate reached its highest power. External conquests resumed. However, during the Mongol invasion (see § 44.2), he was defeated and preserved as a vassal sultanate in the Hulagu ulus. The highest administrators (viziers) under the Sultan received their posts from the Great Khan. The state was ruined by the tax burden (5-6 times greater than in the Western states of that era). Weakened, among other things, by internal unrest and tribal uprisings, the sultanate collapsed by the end of the 13th century. into 12-16 separate principalities - beyliks. In 1307 the Mongols strangled the last Seljuk sultan.
A new and more historically significant stage in the formation of the Turkish state was Ottoman Sultanate.
One of the weakest beyliks of the former Seljuk Sultanate - Ottoman (named after the ruling sultans) - by the beginning of the 14th century. became a powerful military principality. His elevation is associated with the dynasty of the ruler of one of the Turkmen tribes ousted by the Mongols - Ertogrul, and most importantly, his son - Osman(since 1281 Sultan) *. At the end of the XIII century. (1299) the principality became practically independent; it was the beginning of a new independent state.
* The dynasty of 37 sultans founded by Osman ruled in Turkey until 1922, the time of the fall of the monarchy.
The principality expanded due to the possessions of the weakened Byzantium in Asia Minor, went to the seas, subjugated the former beyliks of the former Seljuk state. All R. 14th century Turks defeated the remnants of the Mongolian state in Iran. In the second half of the XIV century. the feudal states of the Balkan Peninsula fell under the rule of the Turks, suzerainty was established even over Hungary. During the reign of Sultan Orhan (1324-1359), a new political and administrative organization, represented by the feudal bureaucracy, began to take shape in the emerging state. The country received an administrative division into 3 appanages and dozens of districts, which were headed by pashas appointed from the center. Along with the main military force- fief militia - began to form a permanent army on the salary of prisoners of war (ieni chery - "new army"), which later became the guards of the rulers. To the board Bayezid I the Lightning(1389-1402) The Ottoman state won a number of important victories over the Byzantine and European troops, became the most important subject of international affairs and politics in the Black and Mediterranean Seas. From the complete defeat of the Turks, Byzantium was saved only by the invasion of the revived Mongol state under the leadership of Timur; The Ottoman state broke up into several parts.
The sultans managed to maintain power, and at the beginning of the 15th century. revived single state. During the XV century. the remnants of the former fragmentation were liquidated, new conquests began. In 1453, the Ottomans besieged Constantinople, putting an end to Byzantium. Renamed Istanbul, the city became the capital of the empire. In the XVI century. the conquests were transferred to Greece, Moldavia, Alabania, southern Italy, Iran, Egypt, Algeria, the Caucasus, the coast were subordinated North Africa. To the board Suleiman I(1520-1566) the state received a complete internal administrative and military organization. The Ottoman Empire became the largest state in the territory and population (25 million inhabitants) of the then European-Middle Eastern world and one of the most influential politically. It included the lands of different peoples and a variety of political structures on the rights of vassalage, other political subordination.
From the end of the 17th century The Ottoman Empire, remaining the largest power, entered a long period of crisis, internal unrest and military failures. The defeat in the war with a coalition of European powers (1699) led to a partial division of the empire. Centrifugal tendencies were identified in the most remote possessions: Africa, Moldavia and Wallachia. The possessions of the empire were significantly reduced in the 18th century. after unsuccessful wars with Russia. The state-political structure of the empire was basically preserved as it had developed in the 16th century.
Power and control system
Sultan's power(officially he was called the padishah) was the political and legal axis of the state. According to the law, the padishah was "the organizer of spiritual, state and legislative affairs", he equally belonged to both spiritual and religious and secular powers ("The duties of the imam, khatib, state power - everything belongs to the padishah"). As the Ottoman state strengthened, the rulers took the titles of khan (XV century), sultan, “kaiser-i Rum” (according to the Byzantine model), khudavendilyar (emperor). Under Bayezid, imperial dignity was even recognized by the European powers. The Sultan was considered the head of all warriors ("men of the sword"). As the spiritual head of the Sunni Muslims, he had an unlimited right to punish his subjects. Tradition and ideology imposed purely moral and political restrictions on the Sultan's power: the sovereign had to be God-fearing, just and wise. However, the ruler's inconsistency with these qualities could not serve as a basis for refusing public obedience: "But if he is not like that, then the people must remember that the caliph has the right to be unjust."
The most important difference between the power of the Turkish Sultan and the Caliphate was the initial recognition of his legislative rights; this reflected the Turkic-Mongolian tradition of power. (According to the Turkic political doctrine, the state was only a political, and not a religious-political community of the people; therefore, the power of the sultan and spiritual authorities coexist under the primacy of the first - "kingdom and faith".) After the capture of Constantinople, the tradition of coronation was adopted: girdling with a sword.
The Turkish monarchy adhered to the principle of the ancestral heritage of the throne. Women were certainly excluded from the number of possible applicants (“Woe to the people ruled by a woman,” the Koran said). Until the 17th century the rule was the passing of the throne from father to son. The law of 1478 not only allowed, but also ordered, in order to avoid internecine strife, that of the sons who inherited the throne should kill their brothers. Since the 17th century established new order: the throne was succeeded by the eldest of the Ottoman dynasty.
An important part of the higher administration was sultan's court(already in the 15th century it had up to 5 thousand servants and administrators). The courtyard was divided into outer (sultan's) and inner parts (women's quarters). The outer one was headed by the steward (the head of the white eunuchs), who was practically the minister of the court and disposed of the sultan's property. Internal - the head of the black eunuchs, who was especially close to the Sultan.
Central administration empire was formed mainly in the middle. 16th century Its main figure was the grand vizier, whose post was established from the very beginning of the dynasty (1327). The grand vizier was considered, as it were, the state deputy of the sultan (he had nothing to do with religious issues). He always had access to the Sultan, he had at his disposal state seal. The Grand Vizier practically had independent state powers (except for legislative ones); local rulers, military commanders and judges obeyed him.
In addition to the great, the highest circle of dignitaries were simple viziers (their number did not exceed seven), whose duties and appointment were determined by the Sultan. By the 18th century viziers (considered, as it were, deputies of the grand vizier) acquired stable specialized powers: the vizier-kiyashi was the clerk of the grand vizier and authorized to internal affairs, reis-efendi was in charge of foreign affairs, chaush-bashi was in charge of the lower administrative and police apparatus, kapudan was in charge of the fleet, etc.
The grand vizier and his assistants constituted the grand imperial council - Sofa. It was an advisory body under the Grand Vizier. From the beginning of the XVIII century. The Divan also became a direct executive body, a kind of government. It also included two kadiaskers (chief judges of the army, who were in charge of justice and education in general, although subordinate to spiritual authority), a defterdar (ruler of the financial department; later there were also several of them), nishanji (ruler of the grand vizier’s office, at first in charge of foreign affairs ), commander military guard- Corps of Janissaries, senior military commanders. Together with the office of the Grand Vizier, the departments of affairs of the kadiaskers, defterdars, all this constituted, as it were, a single administration - the High Gate (Bab-i Ali) *.
* According to the French equivalent (gate - la porte), the administration received the name Porta, later transferred to the whole empire (Ottoman Porte).
Under the Sultan, there was also a deliberative Supreme Council from the members of the divan, the ministers of the palace, the highest military leaders and, of course, the governors of certain regions. He gathered from case to case and did not have any specific powers, but was, as it were, the spokesman for the opinion of the government and military nobility. From the beginning of the XVIII century. it ceased to exist, but at the end of the century it was revived in the form of a majlis.
The spiritual and religious part of state affairs was headed by Sheikh-ul-Islam (the post was established in 1424). He headed the entire class of ulema (Muslim clergy, which also included judges - qadis, theologians and jurists - muftis, teachers of religious schools, etc.) sheikh ul islam he had not only administrative power, but also influence on legislation and justice, since many laws and decisions of the Sultan and the government assumed his legal approval in the form of a fatwa. However, in the Turkish state (unlike the caliphate), the Muslim clergy stood under the sovereignty Sultan, and the Sheikh-ul-Islam was appointed by the Sultan. Its greater or lesser influence on the course of state affairs depended on the general political relationship between the secular authorities and Sharia law, which changed over the centuries.
Numerous officials of various ranks (the duties and status of all were signed in special sultan's codes from the 15th century) were considered "sultan's slaves". The most important feature of the social structure of Turkey, important for the characterization of the government bureaucracy, was the absence, in the proper sense of the word, of the nobility. And titles, and income, and honor depended only on the place in the service of the Sultan. The same codes signed the prescribed salary for officials and senior dignitaries (expressed in cash income from land plots). Often high dignitaries, even viziers began their life path the most real slaves, sometimes even from non-Muslims. Therefore, it was believed that both the position and the life of officials were completely in the power of the Sultan. Violation of official duties was considered according to the state crime, disobedience of the padishah, and was punishable by death. The rank privileges of officials were manifested only in the fact that the laws prescribed on which tray (gold, silver, etc.) the head of the disobedient would be displayed.
military system
Despite the external rigidity of the supreme power, the central administration of the Ottoman Empire was weak. A stronger linking element of statehood was the military system, which brought the bulk of the independent free population of the country under the authority of the sultan in an organization that was both military and economic and distributive.
Agrarian and common military service relations with them were established in the empire according to the traditions of the Seljuk Sultanate. Much was taken over from Byzantium, in particular from its thematic system. Legally, they were legalized already under the first autocratic sultans. In 1368 it was decided that the land was considered the property of the state. In 1375, the first act was adopted, later enshrined in the Sultan's codes, on service allotments-fiens. Lenas were of two main types: large - zeamets and small - timars. Zeamet was usually allocated either for special service merits, or to a military commander, who later on was obliged to collect the appropriate number of soldiers. Timar was given directly to the rider (sipahi), who gave the obligation to go on a campaign and bring with him a number of peasant soldiers corresponding to the size of his timar. Both Zeamets and Timars were conditional and lifelong possessions.
Unlike Western European, from Russian feudal service fiefs, the Ottoman ones differed not in size, but in income from them, registered by the census, approved by the tax service and prescribed by law, according to the service rank. Timar was estimated at a maximum of 20 thousand akçe (silver coins), zeamet - 100 thousand. Large-income possessions had a special status - hass. Hass was considered the dominal possessions of the members of the Sultan's house and the ruler himself. Hasses were endowed with the highest dignitaries (viziers, governors). Losing his post, the official was also deprived of the hass (possible property on other rights was retained by him). Within the framework of such fiefs, the peasants (raya - “flock”) had fairly stable rights to the allotment, from which they carried in-kind and monetary duties in favor of the fief (which constituted his fief income), and also paid state taxes.
From the second half of the XV century. Zeamets and Timars began to be divided into two legally not equivalent parts. The first - chiftlik - was a special allotment personally for the "bravery" of a warrior, henceforth it was not necessary to perform any state duties from it. The second - hisse ("surplus") was provided to ensure military service needs, and it was necessary to strictly perform the service from it.
Turkish fiefs of all kinds differed from Western fiefs in yet another property. Giving the lenniks administrative and tax powers in relation to the peasants (or other population) of their allotments, they did not provide judicial immunity. Lenniki, thus, were financial agents of the supreme power without judicial independence, which violated centralization.
The collapse of the military fief system was already marked in the 16th century. and affected the general military and administrative state of the Ottoman state.
The non-regulation of the hereditary rights of the fiefs, together with the large families inherent in Muslim families, began to lead to excessive fragmentation of the Zeamets and Timars. Sipahis naturally increased the tax burden on the rayas, which led to the rapid impoverishment of both. The presence of a special part - chiftlik - in the fief aroused a natural interest in turning the entire fief into an allotment without service. The rulers of the provinces, in the interests of people close to them, began to allocate lands themselves.
The central government also contributed to the collapse of the military fief system. From the 16th century the sultan increasingly resorted to the practice of general confiscation of land from the sipahis. The collection of taxes was transferred to a tax-paying system (iltezim), which became a global robbery of the population. Since the 17th century tax-farmers, financial officials gradually replaced the fiefdoms in state-financial affairs. The social decline of the military service stratum led to a weakening of the military organization of the empire, which, in turn, led to a series of sensitive military defeats from the end of the 17th century. And military defeats - to the general crisis of the Ottoman state, which was created and held by conquests.
The main military force of the empire and the sultan in such conditions was janissary corps. It was a regular military formation (first recruited in 1361-1363), new in relation to the sipahi (“yeni cheri” - new army). They recruited only Christians. In the second quarter of the fifteenth century for the recruitment of the Janissaries, a special recruiting system was introduced - defshirme. Once every 3 (5, 7) years, recruiters forcibly took Christian boys (mainly from Bulgaria, Serbia, etc.) from 8 to 20 years old, gave them to Muslim families for education, and then (if physical data were available) - to the corps janissary. The Janissaries were distinguished by special fanaticism, closeness to some aggressive Muslim mendicant orders. They were located mainly in the capital (the building was divided into orta - companies of 100-700 people; in total, up to 200 such orts). They became a kind of guard of the Sultan. And as such a guard, over time, they sought to excel more in the intra-palace struggle than on the battlefield. With the corps of the Janissaries, its uprisings are also associated with many troubles that weakened the central government in the 17th-18th centuries.
The organization of local, provincial government in the empire also contributed to the growing crisis of Ottoman statehood.
local government
The provincial organization of the empire was closely connected with the military-feudal principles of Turkish statehood. Local chiefs, who were appointed by the Sultan, were both military commanders of the territorial militia, as well as financial chiefs.
After the first historical stage conquests (in the XIV century), the empire was divided into two conditional areas - pashalyk: Anatolian and Rumeli (European territories). At the head of each was put the governor - beylerbey. He practically owned complete supremacy in his territory, including the distribution of land service allotments and the appointment of officials. The division into two parts also found a correspondence in the existence of two posts of supreme military judges - kadiaskers: the first was established in 1363, the second - in 1480. However, kadiaskers were subordinate only to the sultan. And in general, the judicial system was outside the administrative control of local authorities. Each of the regions was subdivided, in turn, into counties - sanjaks headed by sanjak-beys. Initially, there were up to 50 of them. In the XVI century. a new administrative division of the expanded empire was introduced. The number of sanjaks was increased to 250 (some were reduced), and the provinces - eylaets (and there were 21 of them) became larger units. Beylerbey was traditionally placed at the head of the province.
The administrators of the Beylerbeys and Sanjaks were at first only appointees of the central government. They lost their land holdings, losing their post. Although the law still XV century. it was stipulated that "neither bey nor beylerbey, while he is alive, should not be removed from his post." Arbitrary change of local chiefs was considered unfair. However, it was also considered mandatory to remove the beys for the “injustice” shown in the administration (for which there were always suitable reasons or “complaints from the field”). The manifestation of "injustice" was considered as a violation of the Sultan's decrees or laws, so the removal from office, as a rule, ended in reprisals against officials.
For each sanjak, all significant issues of taxation, the amount of taxes and land allotments were established by special laws - provincial kanun-name. Taxes and taxes in each sanjak varied: throughout the empire there were only generally established types of taxes and fees (cash and in kind, from non-Muslims or from the entire population, etc.). Accounting for land and taxes was carried out regularly, on the basis of censuses conducted approximately every 30 years. One copy of the scribe book (defter) was sent to the capital to the financial department, the second remained in the provincial administration as an accounting document and a guide for current activities.
Over time, the independence of the provincial rulers increased. They turned into independent pashas, and some were endowed with special powers by the Sultan (command of the infantry corps, fleet, etc.). This aggravated the administrative crisis of the imperial structure from the end of the 17th century.
The special military-feudal features of Turkish statehood, the almost absolute nature of the power of the Sultan made the Ottoman Empire in the eyes of historians and political writers of the West, starting from the 17th-18th centuries, an example of a special Eastern despotism where the life, property and personal dignity of the subjects meant nothing in the face of an arbitrarily operating military-administrative machine, in which the administrative power supposedly completely replaced the judiciary. Such an idea did not reflect the principles of the state organization of the empire, although the regime of supreme power in Turkey was distinguished by special features. The absence of any class corporations, representatives of the ruling strata also provided scope for the autocratic regime.
Omelchenko O.A. General History of State and Law. 1999
Timur divided the Ottoman state between the sons of Bayazid, internecine wars began. Sultan succeeded in restoring state unity Murad II(1421-1451), and the power of the country is the Sultan Mehmed II ( 1451-1481), nicknamed "The Conqueror". His cherished dream was the capture of Constantinople. The following words are attributed to the Sultan: “There must be one world empire, with one faith and one government. There is no better center for restoring such unity than Constantinople.”
In April 1453, Mehmed II, with a huge army of several tens of thousands of soldiers, surrounded Constantinople. He was opposed by almost 7 thousand defenders of the city. The Byzantine capital was doomed. Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos refused to surrender the city and for 53 days the courageous defenders of the city fought off assault after assault.
At dawn on May 29, 1453, the Turks launched the last assault. Twice they retreated, leaving dead and wounded. But Mehmed threw fresh forces into battle. At the most difficult moment for the defenders of Constantinople, the Genoese mercenaries left their positions, and the Sultan threw the Janissaries into battle. Constantinople faltered and retreated, and the Turks, breaking into Constantinople, began to plunder. On the evening of May 29, everything calmed down, and only in the basements and houses in some places the Gurkas were still scouring, looking for hidden treasures. Mehmed forbade robberies and pogroms in Constantinople and on the same day proclaimed it his capital, calling it Istanbul (Istanbul). The Christian shrine is the temple of Hagia Sophia - by order of the Sultan, it was turned into a Muslim mosque. The green flag of the Prophet Muhammad flew over the Bosphorus.
16th century Ottoman historian Saad-ed-Din on the capture of Constantinople
... Before the sultan began the siege, the emperor suggested that he take all the cities and their outskirts outside Istanbul [Constantinople], but leave him, the emperor, the city, for which the emperor would pay the sultan an annual tribute. But the sultan, not listening to these proposals, replied that his saber and religion were inseparable and insisted that the emperor surrender the city to him. Having received a refusal, the emperor installed artillery on the towers and walls, soldiers armed with muskets and large reserves of resin.
At the end of the first day before nightfall, the Sultan ordered batteries to be installed in the right places, and as soon as the cannons were installed, he ordered the walls to be shelled, not to mention the continuous hail of arrows and stones that were thrown by throwing machines that, like rain, covered the city. The besieged, in turn, continuously fired from muskets and cannons loaded with stone cannonballs, with which they inflicted heavy losses on the Muslims, who irrigated the earth with their blood ...
As a result of the defeat of Byzantium, a mighty Ottoman Empire centered in Istanbul. It united "European" and "Asian" Turkey - Rumelia and Anatolia. Mehmed II received the title of "Sultan of two continents and Khan of two seas."
Despite the fall of Constantinople, individual peoples continued to fight against the Turks. For several years, stubborn resistance to the Ottomans was offered by the Serbs, who were supported by Janos Gunyady, the governor of the Hungarian king. The Serbs defeated the Turks several times, but they did not escape bitter defeats. After the death of Janos Gunyadi from the plague, the advantage of the Turks became tangible, and they conquered Serbia. Subsequently, the Empire of Trebizond was conquered, followed by Bosnia and Albania.
In 1475 the Turks conquered the Crimea. The Sultan turned the Crimean Khan into his vassal and thus became the sovereign master of the Black Sea. The main trading rivals of the Turks - the Venetians and the Genoese - were ousted. The main Genoese colony in the Crimea - Kafa (Feodosia) - fell into vassalage to the Turkish sultan. On the site of the colony of Genoa at the mouth of the Don, the Turks built the fortress of Azov. For three hundred years it was the stronghold of the Turks for their offensive against Russia and the Caucasus.
Under Mehmed II, an effective administrative system and the central government of the country, the Radiant Port, were created. A set of fundamental laws was issued - "Eve". The Sultan wielded unlimited state and spiritual power over his subjects. The functions of the head of government were performed by the Grand Vizier, the Muslim clergy was headed by the Chief Mufti. material from the site
Considerable attention was paid to the education of youth in the spirit of Islam. Mehmed was an educated person, spoke six languages, knew philosophy, literature, and in every possible way contributed to the spread of education. By his order, 8 schools (madrasas) were opened in Istanbul, where students studied grammar, law, logic, astronomy, Islamic doctrine, etc.
Thanks to a strong army, the Ottoman Empire established itself as an influential Muslim state not only in the East. Over the following centuries, it played a leading role in the international life of European countries.
 |
| K. Bogaevsky. Theodosius. 1930 |
Didn't find what you were looking for? Use the search
The content of the article
OTTOMAN (OTTOMAN) EMPIRE. This empire was created by the Turkic tribes in Anatolia and existed since the decline of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th century. until the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1922. Its name comes from the name of Sultan Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman dynasty. The influence of the Ottoman Empire in the region began to gradually disappear from the 17th century, it finally collapsed after the defeat in the First World War.
Rise of the Ottomans.
The modern Republic of Turkey traces its origins to one of the Ghazi beyliks. The creator of the future mighty state, Osman (1259–1324/1326), inherited from his father Ertogrul a small border inheritance (uj) of the Seljuk state on the southeastern border of Byzantium, not far from Eskisehir. Osman became the founder of a new dynasty, and the state received his name and went down in history as the Ottoman Empire.
In the last years of Ottoman power, a legend appeared that Ertogrul and his tribe arrived from Central Asia just in time to save the Seljuks in their battle with the Mongols, and their western lands were rewarded. However modern research do not support this legend. Ertogrul was given his inheritance by the Seljuks, to whom he swore allegiance and paid tribute, as well as to the Mongol khans. This continued under Osman and his son until 1335. It is likely that neither Osman nor his father were ghazis until Osman fell under the influence of one of the dervish orders. In the 1280s, Osman managed to capture Bilecik, İnönü and Eskisehir.
At the very beginning of the 14th century. Osman, together with his ghazis, annexed to his inheritance the lands that stretched up to the coasts of the Black and Marmara Seas, as well as most of the territory west of the Sakarya River, up to Kutahya in the south. After the death of Osman, his son Orkhan occupied the fortified Byzantine city of Brusa. Bursa, as the Ottomans called it, became the capital of the Ottoman state and remained so for more than 100 years until Constantinople was taken by them. In almost one decade, Byzantium lost almost all of Asia Minor, and such historical cities, like Nicaea and Nicomedia, received the names Iznik and Izmit. The Ottomans subjugated the beylik of Karesi in Bergama (former Pergamum), and Gazi Orhan became the ruler of the entire northwestern part of Anatolia: from the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles to the Black Sea and the Bosphorus.
conquests in Europe.
The rise of the Ottoman Empire.
In the period between the capture of Bursa and the victory in Kosovo, the organizational structures and management of the Ottoman Empire were quite effective, and already at that time many features of the future huge state loomed. Orhan and Murad were not interested in whether the new arrivals were Muslims, Christians or Jews, whether they were listed as Arabs, Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Italians, Iranians or Tatars. The state system of government was built on a combination of Arab, Seljuk and Byzantine customs and traditions. In the occupied lands, the Ottomans tried to preserve, as far as possible, local customs, so as not to destroy the established social relations.
In all newly annexed areas, military leaders immediately allocated income from land allotments as a reward to valiant and worthy soldiers. The owners of these kind of fiefs, called timars, were obliged to manage their lands and from time to time participate in campaigns and raids on remote territories. From the feudal lords, called sipahs, who had timars, cavalry was formed. Like the ghazis, the sipahis acted as Ottoman pioneers in the newly conquered territories. Murad I distributed many such inheritances in Europe to Turkic clans from Anatolia who did not have property, resettling them in the Balkans and turning them into a feudal military aristocracy.
Another notable event of that time was the creation of a corps of Janissaries in the army, soldiers who were included in the military units close to the Sultan. These soldiers (Turkish yeniceri, lit. new army), called Janissaries by foreigners, later began to be recruited among captured boys from Christian families, in particular in the Balkans. This practice, known as the devshirme system, may have been introduced under Murad I, but did not fully take shape until the 15th century. under Murad II; it continued uninterrupted until the 16th century, with interruptions until the 17th century. Being slaves of the sultans in status, the Janissaries were a disciplined regular army, consisting of well-trained and armed foot soldiers, superior in combat capability to all similar troops in Europe until the advent of the French army of Louis XIV.
The conquests and fall of Bayezid I.
Mehmed II and the capture of Constantinople.
The young sultan received an excellent education at the palace school and as governor of Manisa under his father. He was undoubtedly more educated than all the other monarchs of the then Europe. After the murder of his minor brother, Mehmed II reorganized his court in preparation for the capture of Constantinople. Huge bronze cannons were cast and troops were gathered to storm the city. In 1452, the Ottomans built a huge fort with three majestic fortress castles in the narrow part of the Bosphorus about 10 km north of the Golden Horn harbor of Constantinople. Thus, the Sultan was able to control shipping from the Black Sea and cut off Constantinople from supplies from the Italian trading posts located to the north. This fort, called Rumeli Hisary, together with another Anadolu Hisary fortress built by the great-grandfather of Mehmed II, guaranteed reliable communication between Asia and Europe. The most spectacular move of the Sultan was the ingenious crossing of part of his fleet from the Bosphorus to the Golden Horn through the hills, bypassing the chain stretched at the entrance to the bay. Thus, the cannons from the ships of the Sultan could bombard the city from the inner harbor. On May 29, 1453, a breach was made in the wall, and the Ottoman soldiers broke into Constantinople. On the third day, Mehmed II was already praying in Ayasofya and decided to make Istanbul (as the Ottomans called Constantinople) the capital of the empire.
Owning such a well-located city, Mehmed II controlled the position in the empire. In 1456, his attempt to take Belgrade ended unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, Serbia and Bosnia soon became provinces of the empire, and before his death, the Sultan managed to annex Herzegovina and Albania to his state. Mehmed II captured all of Greece, including the Peloponnese, with the exception of a few Venetian ports, and the largest islands in the Aegean. In Asia Minor, he finally managed to overcome the resistance of the rulers of Karaman, seize Cilicia, annex Trebizond (Trabzon) on the Black Sea coast to the empire and establish suzerainty over the Crimea. The Sultan recognized the authority of the Greek Orthodox Church and worked closely with the newly elected Patriarch. Previously, for two centuries, the population of Constantinople was constantly declining; Mehmed II moved to new capital many people from different parts of the country and restored traditionally strong crafts and trade in it.
The heyday of the empire under Suleiman I.
The power of the Ottoman Empire reached its peak in the middle of the 16th century. The reign of Suleiman I the Magnificent (1520-1566) is considered the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman I (previous Suleiman, son of Bayezid I, never ruled all of its territory) surrounded himself with many capable dignitaries. Most of them were recruited according to the devshirme system or captured during army campaigns and pirate raids, and by 1566, when Suleiman I died, these "new Turks", or "new Ottomans", already firmly held power over the entire empire in their hands. They formed the backbone of the administrative authorities, while the highest Muslim institutions were headed by the indigenous Turks. Theologians and jurists were recruited from among them, whose duties included interpreting laws and performing judicial functions.
Suleiman I, being the only son of a monarch, never faced any claims to the throne. He was an educated man who loved music, poetry, nature, and also philosophical discussions. And yet the military forced him to adhere to a militant policy. In 1521 the Ottoman army crossed the Danube and captured Belgrade. This victory, which Mehmed II could not achieve at one time, opened the way for the Ottomans to the plains of Hungary and to the basin of the upper Danube. In 1526 Suleiman took Budapest and occupied all of Hungary. In 1529, the sultan began the siege of Vienna, but was unable to capture the city before the onset of winter. Nevertheless, a vast territory from Istanbul to Vienna and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea formed the European part of the Ottoman Empire, and Suleiman during his reign carried out seven military campaigns on the western borders of the state.
Suleiman fought in the east as well. The borders of his empire with Persia were not defined, and the vassal rulers in the border regions changed their masters, depending on which side the power was on and with whom it was more profitable to conclude an alliance. In 1534, Suleiman took Tabriz, and then Baghdad, including Iraq in the Ottoman Empire; in 1548 he regained Tabriz. The Sultan spent the entire 1549 in pursuit of the Persian Shah Tahmasp I, trying to fight him. While Suleiman was in Europe in 1553, Persian troops invaded Asia Minor and captured Erzurum. Having expelled the Persians and devoted most of 1554 to the conquest of the lands east of the Euphrates, Suleiman, according to the official peace treaty concluded with the shah, received a port in the Persian Gulf at his disposal. The squadrons of the naval forces of the Ottoman Empire operated in the waters of the Arabian Peninsula, in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez.
From the very beginning of his reign, Suleiman paid great attention to strengthening the maritime power of the state in order to maintain the superiority of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean. In 1522 his second campaign was directed against Fr. Rhodes, lying 19 km from the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. After the capture of the island and the eviction of the Joannites who owned it to Malta, the Aegean Sea and the entire coast of Asia Minor became Ottoman possessions. Soon french king Francis I turned to the Sultan for military assistance in the Mediterranean and with a request to oppose Hungary in order to stop the advance of the troops of Emperor Charles V, advancing on Francis in Italy. The most famous of Suleiman's naval commanders, Khairaddin Barbarossa, supreme ruler of Algeria and North Africa, devastated the coasts of Spain and Italy. Nevertheless, Suleiman's admirals failed to capture Malta in 1565.
Suleiman died in 1566 in Szigetvar during a campaign in Hungary. The body of the last of the great Ottoman sultans was transferred to Istanbul and buried in a mausoleum in the courtyard of the mosque.
Suleiman had several sons, but his beloved son died at the age of 21, two others were executed on charges of conspiracy, and the only remaining son, Selim II, turned out to be a drunkard. The conspiracy that destroyed Suleiman's family can be partly attributed to the jealousy of his wife, Roxelana, a former slave girl of either Russian or Polish origin. Another mistake of Suleiman was the elevation in 1523 of his beloved slave Ibrahim, who was appointed chief minister (grand vizier), although there were many other competent courtiers among the applicants. And although Ibrahim was a capable minister, his appointment violated the long-established system of palace relations and aroused the envy of other dignitaries.
Mid 16th century was the heyday of literature and architecture. More than a dozen mosques were erected in Istanbul under the guidance and designs of the architect Sinan, the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, dedicated to Selim II, became a masterpiece.
Under the new Sultan Selim II, the Ottomans began to lose their positions at sea. In 1571, the united Christian fleet met the Turkish in the battle of Lepanto and defeated it. During the winter of 1571-1572, the shipyards in Gelibolu and Istanbul worked tirelessly, and by the spring of 1572, thanks to the construction of new warships, the European naval victory was nullified. In 1573, the Venetians were defeated, and the island of Cyprus was annexed to the empire. Despite this, the defeat at Lepanto was an omen of the coming decline of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean.
Decline of the empire.
After Selim II, most of the Ottoman sultans were weak rulers. Murad III, Selim's son, reigned from 1574 to 1595. His tenure was accompanied by turmoil caused by palace slaves led by Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokolki and two harem factions: one led by the Sultan's mother Nur Banu, a Jewish convert to Islam, and the other by a beloved Safi's wife. The latter was the daughter of the Venetian governor of Corfu, who was captured by pirates and presented to Suleiman, who immediately gave her to his grandson Murad. However, the empire still had enough strength to move east to the Caspian Sea, as well as to maintain its position in the Caucasus and Europe.
After the death of Murad III, 20 of his sons remained. Of these, Mehmed III ascended the throne, strangling 19 of his brothers. His son Ahmed I, who succeeded him in 1603, tried to reform the system of government and get rid of corruption. He departed from the cruel tradition and did not kill his brother Mustafa. And although this, of course, was a manifestation of humanism, but since that time all the brothers of the sultans and their closest relatives from the Ottoman dynasty began to be imprisoned in a special part of the palace, where they spent their lives until the death of the ruling monarch. Then the eldest of them was proclaimed his successor. Thus, after Ahmed I, few of those who reigned in the 17th-18th centuries. Sultans had sufficient intellectual development or political experience to manage such a huge empire. As a result, the unity of the state and the central government itself began to weaken rapidly.
Mustafa I, brother of Ahmed I, was mentally ill and ruled for only one year. Osman II, the son of Ahmed I, was proclaimed the new sultan in 1618. Being an enlightened monarch, Osman II tried to transform state structures, but was killed by his opponents in 1622. For some time, the throne again went to Mustafa I, but already in 1623 Osman's brother Murad ascended the throne IV, who ruled the country until 1640. His reign was dynamic and reminiscent of the reign of Selim I. Having reached the age of majority in 1623, Murad spent the next eight years in relentless attempts to restore and reform the Ottoman Empire. In an effort to improve state structures, he executed 10,000 officials. Murad personally stood at the head of his armies during eastern campaigns, banned the consumption of coffee, tobacco and alcoholic beverages, but he himself showed a weakness for alcohol, which led the young ruler to death at the age of only 28 years.
Murad's successor, his mentally ill brother Ibrahim, managed to largely destroy the state he inherited before he was deposed in 1648. The conspirators put Ibrahim's six-year-old son Mehmed IV on the throne and actually led the country until 1656, when the Sultan's mother achieved the appointment of Grand Vizier with unlimited powers talented Mehmed Köprülü. He held this position until 1661, when his son Fazıl Ahmed Koprulu became vizier.
The Ottoman Empire nevertheless managed to overcome the period of chaos, extortion and crisis of state power. Europe was divided by the Wars of Religion and the Thirty Years' War, while Poland and Russia were in trouble. This made it possible for both Köprül, after the purge of the administration, during which 30,000 officials were executed, to capture the island of Crete in 1669, and in 1676 Podolia and other regions of Ukraine. After the death of Ahmed Koprulu, his place was taken by a mediocre and corrupt palace favorite. In 1683, the Ottomans laid siege to Vienna, but were defeated by the Poles and their allies, led by Jan Sobieski.
Leaving the Balkans.
The defeat at Vienna was the beginning of the retreat of the Turks in the Balkans. First, Budapest fell, and after the loss of Mohacs, all of Hungary fell under the rule of Vienna. In 1688 the Ottomans had to leave Belgrade, in 1689 Vidin in Bulgaria and Nish in Serbia. Thereafter Suleiman II (r. 1687–1691) appointed Mustafa Köprülü, Ahmed's brother, as grand vizier. The Ottomans managed to retake Nis and Belgrade, but they were utterly defeated by Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1697 near Senta, in the far north of Serbia.
Mustafa II (r. 1695–1703) attempted to recapture lost ground by appointing Hussein Köprülä as grand vizier. In 1699, the Karlovitsky Peace Treaty was signed, according to which the Peloponnese and Dalmatia peninsulas retreated to Venice, Austria received Hungary and Transylvania, Poland - Podolia, and Russia retained Azov. The Treaty of Karlovtsy was the first in a series of concessions that the Ottomans were forced to make as they left Europe.
During the 18th century The Ottoman Empire lost most of its power in the Mediterranean. In the 17th century The main opponents of the Ottoman Empire were Austria and Venice, and in the 18th century. – Austria and Russia.
In 1718, Austria, according to the Pozharevatsky (Passarovitsky) treaty, received a number of territories. Nevertheless, the Ottoman Empire, despite the defeats in the wars that it waged in the 1730s, according to the treaty signed in 1739 in Belgrade, regained this city, mainly due to the weakness of the Habsburgs and the intrigues of French diplomats.
Surrenders.
As a result of behind-the-scenes maneuvers of French diplomacy in Belgrade, in 1740 an agreement was concluded between France and the Ottoman Empire. Called "Surrenders", this document was for a long time the basis for the special privileges received by all states in the territory of the empire. The formal beginning of the agreements was laid as early as 1251, when the Mamluk sultans in Cairo recognized Saint Louis IX, King of France. Mehmed II, Bayezid II and Selim I confirmed this agreement and used it as a model in relations with Venice and other Italian city-states, Hungary, Austria and most other European countries. One of the most important was the agreement of 1536 between Suleiman I and the French king Francis I. In accordance with the agreement of 1740, the French received the right to move freely and trade on the territory of the Ottoman Empire under the full protection of the Sultan, their goods were not taxed, with the exception of import and export duties, French envoys and consuls acquired judicial power over compatriots who could not be arrested in the absence of a representative of the consulate. The French were given the right to erect and freely use their churches; the same privileges were reserved within the Ottoman Empire and for other Catholics. In addition, the French could take under their protection the Portuguese, Sicilians and citizens of other states who did not have ambassadors at the Sultan's court.
Further decline and attempts at reform.
The end of the Seven Years' War in 1763 marked the beginning of new attacks against the Ottoman Empire. Despite the fact that the French king Louis XV sent Baron de Totta to Istanbul to modernize the Sultan's army, the Ottomans were defeated by Russia in the Danube provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia and were forced to sign the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty in 1774. Crimea gained independence, and Azov went to Russia, which recognized the border with the Ottoman Empire along the Bug River. The Sultan promised to provide protection for the Christians living in his empire, and allowed the presence of a Russian ambassador in the capital, who received the right to represent the interests of his Christian subjects. Starting from 1774 and up to the First World War, the Russian tsars referred to the Kyuchuk-Kaynardzhi agreement, justifying their role in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire. In 1779, Russia received rights to the Crimea, and in 1792 the Russian border was moved to the Dniester in accordance with the Iasi peace treaty.
Time dictated change. Ahmed III (r. 1703–1730) brought in architects who built him palaces and mosques in the style of Versailles and opened a printing press in Istanbul. The closest relatives of the Sultan were no longer kept in strict imprisonment, some of them began to study the scientific and political heritage of Western Europe. However, Ahmed III was killed by the conservatives, and Mahmud I took his place, during which the Caucasus was lost, passed to Persia, and the retreat in the Balkans continued. One of the prominent sultans was Abdul-Hamid I. During his reign (1774-1789), reforms were made, French teachers and technical specialists were invited to Istanbul. France hoped to save the Ottoman Empire and keep Russia out of the Black Sea straits and the Mediterranean.
Selim III
(reigned 1789–1807). Selim III, who became sultan in 1789, formed a 12-member cabinet of ministers in the style of European governments, replenished the treasury and created a new military corps. They created new educational establishments, designed to educate civil servants in the spirit of the ideas of the Enlightenment. Printed publications were again allowed, and the works of Western authors began to be translated into Turkish.
In the early years of the French Revolution, the Ottoman Empire was left alone with its problems by the European powers. Napoleon considered Selim as an ally, believing that after the defeat of the Mamluks, the sultan would be able to strengthen his power in Egypt. Nevertheless, Selim III declared war on France and sent his fleet and army to defend the province. Saved the Turks from defeat only the British fleet, located off Alexandria and off the coast of the Levant. This step of the Ottoman Empire involved it in the military and diplomatic affairs of Europe.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, after the departure of the French, Muhammad Ali, a native of the Macedonian city of Kavala, who served in the Turkish army, came to power. In 1805 he became governor of the province, which opened a new chapter in the history of Egypt.
After the conclusion of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, relations with France were restored, and Selim III managed to maintain peace until 1806, when Russia invaded its Danubian provinces. England helped her ally Russia by sending her fleet through the Dardanelles, but Selim managed to speed up the restoration of defensive structures, and the British were forced to sail into the Aegean Sea. The French victories in Central Europe strengthened the position of the Ottoman Empire, but a rebellion began in the capital against Selim III. In 1807, during the absence of Bayraktar, the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, the sultan was deposed, and his cousin Mustafa IV took the throne. After the return of Bayraktar in 1808, Mustafa IV was executed, but before that, the rebels strangled Selim III, who was imprisoned. Mahmud II remained the only male representative of the ruling dynasty.
Mahmoud II
(reigned 1808–1839). Under him, in 1809, the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain concluded the famous Dardanelles Peace, which opened the Turkish market for British goods on the condition that Great Britain recognized the closed status of the Black Sea straits for military ships in peacetime for the Turks. Earlier, the Ottoman Empire agreed to join the continental blockade created by Napoleon, so the agreement was perceived as a violation of previous obligations. Russia began hostilities on the Danube and captured a number of cities in Bulgaria and Wallachia. Under the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812, significant territories were ceded to Russia, and she refused to support the rebels in Serbia. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Ottoman Empire was recognized as a European power.
National Revolutions in the Ottoman Empire.
During the French Revolution, the country faced two new problems. One of them has been ripening for a long time: as the center weakened, the separated provinces eluded the power of the sultans. In Epirus, Ali Pasha Yaninsky, who ruled the province as sovereign and maintained diplomatic relations with Napoleon and other European monarchs, revolted. Similar actions also took place in Vidin, Sidon (modern Saida, Lebanon), Baghdad and other provinces, which undermined the power of the Sultan and reduced tax revenues to the imperial treasury. The strongest of the local rulers (pashas) eventually became Muhammad Ali in Egypt.
Another intractable problem for the country was the growth of the national liberation movement, especially among the Christian population of the Balkans. At the height of the French Revolution, Selim III in 1804 faced an uprising raised by the Serbs led by Karageorgiy (George Petrovich). The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) recognized Serbia as a semi-autonomous province within the Ottoman Empire, led by Miloš Obrenović, a rival of Karađorđe.
Almost immediately after the defeat of the French Revolution and the fall of Napoleon, Mahmud II faced the Greek national liberation revolution. Mahmud II had a chance to win, especially after he managed to convince the nominal vassal in Egypt, Muhammad Ali, to send his army and navy to support Istanbul. However, the Pasha's armed forces were defeated after the intervention of Great Britain, France and Russia. As a result of the breakthrough of Russian troops in the Caucasus and their offensive against Istanbul, Mahmud II had to sign the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, which recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Greece. A few years later, the army of Muhammad Ali, under the command of his son Ibrahim Pasha, captured Syria and found itself dangerously close to the Bosphorus in Asia Minor. Mahmud II was rescued only by the Russian amphibious assault, which landed on the Asian coast of the Bosphorus as a warning to Muhammad Ali. After that, Mahmud never managed to get rid of Russian influence until he signed the humiliating Unkiyar-Iskelesi Treaty in 1833, which gave the Russian Tsar the right to "protect" the Sultan, as well as to close and open at his own discretion Black Sea Straits for the passage of foreign warships.
Ottoman Empire after the Congress of Vienna.
Period after Congress of Vienna, probably proved to be the most destructive for the Ottoman Empire. Greece seceded; Egypt under Muhammad Ali, which, moreover, by capturing Syria and South Arabia, became virtually independent; Serbia, Wallachia and Moldavia became semi-autonomous territories. During the Napoleonic Wars, Europe significantly strengthened its military and industrial power. The weakening of the Ottoman state is attributed to a certain extent to the massacre of the Janissaries organized by Mahmud II in 1826.
By signing the Treaty of Unkiyar-Isklelesiy, Mahmud II hoped to buy time to transform the empire. His reforms were so tangible that travelers visiting Turkey in the late 1830s noted that more changes had taken place in the country in the last 20 years than in the previous two centuries. Instead of the Janissaries, Mahmud created a new army, trained and equipped according to the European model. Prussian officers were hired to train officers in the new military art. Fezzes and frock coats became the official attire of civil officials. Mahmud tried to introduce the latest methods developed in the young European states into all areas of government. It was possible to reorganize the financial system, streamline the activities of the judiciary, and improve the road network. Additional educational institutions were created, in particular, military and medical colleges. Newspapers began to be published in Istanbul and Izmir.
AT Last year life, Mahmud again entered the war with his Egyptian vassal. Mahmud's army was defeated in northern Syria, and his fleet in Alexandria went over to the side of Muhammad Ali.
Abdul Mejid
(reigned 1839–1861). The eldest son and successor of Mahmud II, Abdul-Majid, was only 16 years old. Without an army and navy, he was helpless in the face of the superior forces of Muhammad Ali. He was saved by the diplomatic and military assistance of Russia, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia. France initially supported Egypt, but the concerted action of the European powers made it possible to find a way out of the deadlock: the pasha received the hereditary right to rule Egypt under the nominal suzerainty of the Ottoman sultans. This provision was legalized by the London Treaty of 1840 and confirmed by Abdul-Mejid in 1841. In the same year, the London Convention of the European Powers was concluded, according to which military ships were not to pass through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus in peacetime for the Ottoman Empire, and the powers that signed it took to the obligation to assist the Sultan in maintaining sovereignty over the Black Sea straits.
Tanzimat.
During the struggle with his powerful vassal, Abdulmejid in 1839 promulgated the khatt-i sherif (“sacred decree”), announcing the beginning of reforms in the empire, with which the chief minister Reshid Pasha spoke to the highest state dignitaries and invited ambassadors. The document abolished the death penalty without trial, guaranteed justice for all citizens regardless of their racial or religious affiliation, established a judicial council to adopt a new penal code, abolished the farming system, changed the methods of recruiting the army and limited the length of military service.
It became apparent that the empire was no longer capable of defending itself in the event of a military attack by any of the great European powers. Reshid Pasha, who previously served as ambassador to Paris and London, understood that certain steps must be taken to show the European states that the Ottoman Empire was capable of self-reformation and manageable, i.e. deserves to be preserved as an independent state. Hatt-i sheriff seemed to be the answer to the doubts of the Europeans. However, in 1841 Reshid was removed from office. In the next few years, his reforms were suspended, and only after his return to power in 1845 did they begin to be put into practice again with the support of the British ambassador, Stratford Canning. This period in the history of the Ottoman Empire, known as the tanzimat ("ordering"), included the reorganization of the system of government and the transformation of society in accordance with the ancient Muslim and Ottoman principles of tolerance. At the same time, education developed, the network of schools expanded, sons from famous families began to study in Europe. Many Ottomans began to lead a Western way of life. The number of published newspapers, books and magazines increased, and the younger generation professed new European ideals.
At the same time growing rapidly international trade, but the influx of European industrial output adversely affected the finances and economy of the Ottoman Empire. Imports of British factory-made textiles disrupted artisanal textile production and siphoned gold and silver out of the state. Another blow to the economy was the signing in 1838 of the Balto-Liman Trade Convention, according to which import duties on goods imported into the empire were frozen at the level of 5%. This meant that foreign merchants could operate in the empire on an equal footing with local merchants. As a result, most of the trade in the country was in the hands of foreigners, who, in accordance with the "Surrenders", were released from the control of officials.
Crimean War.
The London Convention of 1841 abolished the special privileges that the Russian Emperor Nicholas I received under the secret annex to the Unkiyar-Iskelesi Treaty of 1833. Referring to the Kyuchuk-Kainarji Treaty of 1774, Nicholas I launched an offensive in the Balkans and demanded a special status and rights for Russian monks in holy places in Jerusalem and Palestine. After the refusal of Sultan Abdulmejid to satisfy these demands, the Crimean War began. Great Britain, France and Sardinia came to the aid of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul became a forward base for the preparation of hostilities in the Crimea, and the influx of European sailors, army officers and civil officials left an indelible mark on Ottoman society. The Paris Treaty of 1856, which ended this war, declared the Black Sea a neutral zone. The European powers again recognized Turkish sovereignty over the Black Sea Straits, and the Ottoman Empire was admitted to the "Union of European States". Romania gained independence.
Bankruptcy of the Ottoman Empire.
After the Crimean War, the sultans began to borrow money from Western bankers. Back in 1854, having practically no external debt, the Ottoman government very quickly became bankrupt, and already in 1875 Sultan Abdulaziz owed almost one billion dollars in foreign currency to European bondholders.
In 1875 the Grand Vizier declared that the country was no longer able to pay the interest on its debts. Noisy protests and pressure from the European powers forced the Ottoman authorities to raise taxes in the provinces. Unrest began in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The government sent troops to "appease" the rebels, during which unprecedented cruelty was shown that amazed the Europeans. In response, Russia sent volunteers to help the Balkan Slavs. At this time, a secret revolutionary society of "New Ottomans" appeared in the country, advocating constitutional reforms in their homeland.
In 1876, Abdul-Aziz, who succeeded his brother Abdul-Mejid in 1861, was deposed for incompetence by Midhat Pasha and Avni Pasha, leaders of the liberal organization of the constitutionalists. On the throne they put Murad V, the eldest son of Abdul-Mejid, who turned out to be mentally ill and was removed in just a few months, and Abdul-Hamid II, another son of Abdul-Mejid, was placed on the throne.
Abdul Hamid II
(reigned 1876–1909). Abdul-Hamid II visited Europe, and many pinned great hopes on him for a liberal constitutional regime. However, at the time of his accession to the throne, Turkish influence in the Balkans was in danger despite the fact that the Ottoman forces managed to defeat the Bosnian and Serbian rebels. This development of events forced Russia to come out with the threat of open intervention, which was sharply opposed by Austria-Hungary and Great Britain. In December 1876, a conference of ambassadors was convened in Istanbul, at which Abdul-Hamid II announced the introduction of the constitution of the Ottoman Empire, which provided for the creation of an elected parliament, a government responsible to it, and other attributes of European constitutional monarchies. However, the brutal suppression of the uprising in Bulgaria nevertheless led in 1877 to a war with Russia. In this regard, Abdul-Hamid II suspended the operation of the Constitution for the period of the war. This situation continued until the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.
Meanwhile, at the front, the military situation was developing in favor of Russia, whose troops were already encamped under the walls of Istanbul. Great Britain managed to prevent the capture of the city by sending a fleet to the Sea of Marmara and presenting an ultimatum to St. Petersburg demanding to stop hostilities. Initially, Russia imposed on the sultan the extremely disadvantageous Treaty of San Stefano, according to which most of the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire became part of a new autonomous entity - Bulgaria. Austria-Hungary and Great Britain opposed the terms of the treaty. All this prompted the German Chancellor Bismarck to convene the Berlin Congress in 1878, at which the size of Bulgaria was reduced, but the complete independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania was recognized. Cyprus went to Great Britain, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary. Russia received the fortresses of Ardahan, Kars and Batum (Batumi) in the Caucasus; to regulate navigation on the Danube, a commission was created from representatives of the Danubian states, and the Black Sea and the Black Sea straits again received the status provided for by the Treaty of Paris of 1856. The Sultan promised to equally fairly govern all his subjects, and the European powers considered that the Berlin Congress had solved the difficult Eastern problem forever.
During the 32-year reign of Abdul-Hamid II, the Constitution actually did not come into effect. One of the most important unresolved issues was the bankruptcy of the state. In 1881, under foreign control, the Office of the Ottoman Public Debt was created, which was made responsible for the payments on European bonds. Within a few years, confidence in the financial stability of the Ottoman Empire was restored, which contributed to the participation of foreign capital in the construction of such large facilities as the Anatolian Railway linking Istanbul with Baghdad.
Young Turk Revolution.
During these years, national uprisings took place in Crete and Macedonia. In Crete, bloody clashes took place in 1896 and 1897, which led to the empire's war with Greece in 1897. After 30 days of fighting, the European powers intervened to save Athens from capture by the Ottoman army. Public opinion in Macedonia leaned towards either independence or union with Bulgaria.
It became obvious that the future of the state was connected with the Young Turks. The ideas of national upsurge were propagated by some journalists, the most talented of whom was Namik Kemal. Abdul-Hamid tried to suppress this movement with arrests, exiles and executions. At the same time, secret Turkish societies flourished in military headquarters around the country and in places as far away as Paris, Geneva, and Cairo. The most effective organization turned out to be the secret committee "Unity and Progress", which was created by the "Young Turks".
In 1908, the troops stationed in Macedonia rebelled and demanded the implementation of the Constitution of 1876. Abdul-Hamid was forced to agree to this, unable to use force. Elections to the parliament followed, and the formation of a government from the ministers responsible to this legislative body. In April 1909, a counter-revolutionary rebellion broke out in Istanbul, which, however, was quickly suppressed by armed units that arrived in time from Macedonia. Abdul-Hamid was deposed and sent into exile, where he died in 1918. His brother Mehmed V was proclaimed Sultan.
Balkan wars.
The Young Turk government soon faced internal strife and new territorial losses in Europe. In 1908, as a result of the revolution that took place in the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria proclaimed its independence, and Austria-Hungary seized Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Young Turks were powerless to prevent these events, and in 1911 they found themselves embroiled in a conflict with Italy, which had invaded the territory of modern Libya. The war ended in 1912 when the provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenaica became an Italian colony. In early 1912, Crete allied itself with Greece, and later that year, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bulgaria launched the First Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire.
Within a few weeks, the Ottomans lost all their possessions in Europe, with the exception of Istanbul, Edirne and Ioannina in Greece and Scutari (modern Shkodra) in Albania. The great European powers, anxiously watching how the balance of power in the Balkans was being destroyed, demanded a cessation of hostilities and a conference. The Young Turks refused to surrender the cities, and in February 1913 the fighting resumed. In a few weeks, the Ottoman Empire completely lost its European possessions, with the exception of the Istanbul zone and the straits. The Young Turks were forced to agree to a truce and formally give up the already lost lands. However, the victors immediately began an internecine war. The Ottomans entered into a clash with Bulgaria in order to return Edirne and the European regions adjacent to Istanbul. The Second Balkan War ended in August 1913 with the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest, but a year later the First World War broke out.
World War I and the end of the Ottoman Empire.
Developments after 1908 weakened the Young Turk government and isolated it politically. It tried to correct this situation by offering alliances to the stronger European powers. On August 2, 1914, shortly after the start of the war in Europe, the Ottoman Empire entered into a secret alliance with Germany. On the Turkish side, the pro-German Enver Pasha, a leading member of the Young Turk triumvirate and Minister of War, participated in the negotiations. A few days later, two German cruisers "Goeben" and "Breslau" took refuge in the straits. The Ottoman Empire acquired these warships, sailed them into the Black Sea in October and fired at Russian ports, thus declaring war on the Entente.
In the winter of 1914–1915, the Ottoman army suffered huge losses, when Russian troops entered Armenia. Fearing that local residents would come out on their side there, the government authorized the massacre of the Armenian population in eastern Anatolia, which many researchers later called the Armenian genocide. Thousands of Armenians were deported to Syria. In 1916, the Ottoman rule in Arabia came to an end: the uprising was raised by the sheriff of Mecca, Hussein ibn Ali, supported by the Entente. As a result of these events, the Ottoman government finally collapsed, although Turkish troops, with German support, achieved a number of important victories: in 1915 they managed to repel the Entente attack on the Dardanelles, and in 1916 they captured the British corps in Iraq and stopped the advance of the Russians in the east. During the war, the Capitulation regime was canceled and customs tariffs were raised to protect domestic trade. The Turks took over the business of the evicted national minorities, which helped create the nucleus of a new Turkish commercial and industrial class. In 1918, when the Germans were withdrawn to defend the Hindenburg Line, the Ottoman Empire began to suffer defeat. On October 30, 1918, Turkish and British representatives concluded a truce, according to which the Entente received the right to "occupy any strategic points" of the empire and control the Black Sea straits.
The collapse of the empire.
The fate of most of the provinces of the Ottoman state was determined in the secret treaties of the Entente during the war. The Sultanate agreed to the separation of regions with a predominantly non-Turkish population. Istanbul was occupied by forces that had their own areas of responsibility. Russia was promised the Black Sea straits, including Istanbul, but the October Revolution led to the annulment of these agreements. In 1918, Mehmed V died, and his brother Mehmed VI took the throne, who, although he retained the government in Istanbul, actually became dependent on the Allied occupying forces. Problems were growing in the interior of the country, far from the places of deployment of the Entente troops and government institutions subordinate to the Sultan. Detachments of the Ottoman army, wandering around the vast outskirts of the empire, refused to lay down their arms. British, French and Italian military contingents occupied various parts of Turkey. With the support of the Entente fleet in May 1919, Greek armed formations landed in Izmir and began to advance deep into Asia Minor in order to protect the Greeks in Western Anatolia. Finally, in August 1920, the Treaty of Sevres was signed. Not a single area of the Ottoman Empire remained free from foreign supervision. An international commission was created to control the Black Sea Straits and Istanbul. After riots broke out in early 1920 as a result of the growth of national sentiment, British troops entered Istanbul.
Mustafa Kemal and the Lausanne Peace Treaty.
In the spring of 1920, Mustafa Kemal, the most successful Ottoman commander of the war period, convened a Grand National Assembly in Ankara. He arrived from Istanbul in Anatolia on May 19, 1919 (the date from which the Turkish national liberation struggle began), where he united patriotic forces around him, striving to preserve Turkish statehood and the independence of the Turkish nation. From 1920 to 1922 Kemal and his supporters defeated the enemy armies in the east, south and west and made peace with Russia, France and Italy. At the end of August 1922, the Greek army retreated in disorder to Izmir and the coastal regions. Then the detachments of Kemal went to the Black Sea Straits, where the British troops were located. After the British Parliament refused to support the proposal to start hostilities, British Prime Minister Lloyd George resigned, and the war was averted by the signing of a truce in the Turkish city of Mudanya. The British government invited the Sultan and Kemal to send their representatives to a peace conference, which opened in Lausanne (Switzerland) on November 21, 1922. However, the Grand National Assembly in Ankara abolished the Sultanate, and Mehmed VI, the last Ottoman monarch, left Istanbul on a British warship on November 17.
On July 24, 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, which recognized the complete independence of Turkey. The Office of the Ottoman Public Debt and Capitulations were abolished, and foreign control over the country was abolished. At the same time, Turkey agreed to demilitarize the Black Sea straits. The province of Mosul, with its oil fields, went to Iraq. It was planned to carry out an exchange of population with Greece, from which the Greeks living in Istanbul and the West Thracian Turks were excluded. On October 6, 1923, British troops left Istanbul, and on October 29, 1923, Turkey was proclaimed a republic, and Mustafa Kemal was elected its first president.
The Ottoman Empire, officially called the Great Ottoman State, lasted 623 years.
It was a multinational state, the rulers of which observed their traditions, but did not deny others. It was for this advantageous reason that many neighboring countries allied with them.
In Russian-language sources, the state was called Turkish or Tourist, and in Europe it was called Porta.
History of the Ottoman Empire
The great Ottoman state arose in 1299 and lasted until 1922. The first sultan of the state was Osman, after whom the empire was named.
The Ottoman army was regularly replenished with Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens and other nations. Everyone could come and become a member of the Ottoman army, only by saying the Islamic formula.
The lands obtained as a result of the seizure were allocated for agriculture. On such plots there was a small house and a garden. The owner of this site, which was called "timar", was obliged to appear to the Sultan at the first call and fulfill his requirements. He had to come to him on his own horse and fully armed.
The horsemen did not pay any taxes, as they paid with "their blood".
In connection with the active expansion of the borders, they needed not only the cavalry, but also the infantry, which is why they created one. Osman's son Orhan also continued to expand the territory. Thanks to him, the Ottomans ended up in Europe.
There they took little boys around the age of 7 for training from Christian peoples, who were taught, and they converted to Islam. Such citizens, who grew up from childhood in such conditions, were excellent warriors and their spirit was invincible.
Gradually, they formed their own fleet, which included warriors of different nationalities, they even took pirates there, who willingly converted to Islam and fought active battles.
What was the name of the capital of the Ottoman Empire?
Emperor Mehmed II, having captured Constantinople, made it his capital and named Istanbul.
However, not all battles went smoothly. AT late XVII century was a series of failures. For example, Russian empire took Crimea from the Ottomans, as well as the Black Sea coast, after which the state began to suffer more and more defeats.
In the 19th century, the country began to weaken rapidly, the treasury began to empty, agriculture was conducted poorly and inactively. With the defeat during the First World War, a truce was signed, Sultan Mehmed V was abolished and left for Malta, and subsequently to Italy, where he lived until 1926. The empire collapsed.
The territory of the empire and its capital
The territory expanded very actively, especially during the reign of Osman and Orhan, his son. Osman began to expand the borders after he came to Byzantium.
Territory of the Ottoman Empire (click to enlarge)
Initially, it was located on the territory of modern Turkey. Further, the Ottomans reached Europe, where they expanded their borders and captured Constantinople, which was later named Istanbul and became the capital of their state.
Serbia was also annexed to the territories, as well as many other countries. The Ottomans annexed Greece, some islands, as well as Albania and Herzegovina. This state was one of the most powerful for many years.
Rise of the Ottoman Empire
The heyday is considered the era of the reign of Sultan Suleiman I. During this period, many campaigns were made against the Western countries, thanks to which the borders of the Empire were significantly expanded.
In connection with the active positive period of his reign, the Sultan was nicknamed Suleiman the Magnificent. He actively expanded the borders not only in Muslim countries, but also by annexing the countries of Europe. He had his own viziers, who were obliged to inform the Sultan about what was happening.
Suleiman I ruled for a long time. His idea for all the years of his reign was the idea of uniting the lands, just like his father Selim. He also planned to unite the peoples of East and West. That is why he led his position quite directly and did not turn off the goal.
Although active extension borders also took place in the 18th century, when most battles were won, however, the most positive period is still considered reign of Suleiman I - 1520-1566
Rulers of the Ottoman Empire in chronological order
Rulers of the Ottoman Empire (click to enlarge)
The Ottoman dynasty ruled for a long time. Among the list of rulers, the most prominent were Osman, who formed the Empire, his son Orhan, as well as Suleiman the Magnificent, although each sultan left his mark on the history of the Ottoman State.
Initially, the Ottoman Turks, fleeing the Mongols, partially migrated towards the West, where they were in the service of Jalal ud-Din.
Further, part of the remaining Turks was sent to the possession of the padishah Sultan Kay-Kubad I. Sultan Bayazid I, during the battle near Ankara, was captured, after which he died. Timur divided the Empire into parts. After that, Murad II took up its restoration.
During the reign of Mehmed Fatih, the Fatih law was adopted, which meant the murder of all those who interfere with the rule, even brothers. The law did not last too long and was not supported by everyone.
Sultan Abduh Habib II was overthrown in 1909, after which the Ottoman Empire ceased to be a monarchical state. When Abdullah Habib II Mehmed V began to rule, under his rule the Empire began to actively fall apart.
Mehmed VI, who ruled briefly until 1922, until the end of the Empire, left the state, which finally collapsed in the 20th century, but the prerequisites for this were still in the 19th century.
The last sultan of the Ottoman Empire
The last sultan was Mehmed VI, who was 36th on the throne. Before his reign, the state was in a significant crisis, so it was extremely difficult to restore the Empire.
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI Vahideddin (1861-1926)
He became ruler at the age of 57. After the beginning of his reign, Mehmed VI dissolved the parliament, but the First World War severely undermined the activities of the Empire and the Sultan had to leave the country.
Sultans of the Ottoman Empire - their role in government
Women in the Ottoman Empire did not have the right to rule the state. This rule existed in all Islamic states. However, there is a period in the history of the state when women actively participated in the government.
It is believed that the female sultanate appeared as a result of the end of the period of campaigns. Also, much of the education female sultanate connected with the abolition of the law "On Succession to the Throne".
The first representative was Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska Sultan. She was the wife of Suleiman I. Her title was Haseki Sultan, which means "Most Beloved Wife". She was very educated, able to conduct business negotiations and respond to various messages.
She was her husband's advisor. And since he spent most of his time in battles, she took on the main responsibilities of the board.
Fall of the Ottoman Empire
As a result of numerous failed battles during the reign of Abdullah Habib II Mehmed V, the Ottoman state began to actively collapse. Why the state collapsed is a difficult question.
However, we can say that the main moment in its collapse was precisely the First World War, which put an end to the Great Ottoman State.
Descendants of the Ottoman Empire in our time
In modern times, the state is represented only by its descendants, identified on the family tree. One of them is Ertogrul Osman, who was born in 1912. He could have become the next sultan of his empire if it had not collapsed.
Ertogrul Osman became the last grandson of Abdul Hamid II. He is fluent in several languages and has a good education.
His family moved to live in Vienna when he was about 12 years old. There he received his education. Ertogul is married for the second time. The first wife died without giving him children. His second wife was Zaynep Tarzi, who is the niece of Ammanullah, former king Afghanistan.
The Ottoman state was one of the great ones. Among its rulers, several of the most prominent can be distinguished, thanks to which its borders expanded significantly in a fairly short period of time.
However, the First World War, as well as many lost defeats, caused serious damage to this empire, as a result of which it collapsed.
Currently, the history of the state can be viewed in the film "The Secret Organization of the Ottoman Empire", where in summary, but many moments from history are described in sufficient detail.
