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The Ottoman (or Osmanli) Turks, who founded one of the most powerful and long-lived empires in the world, entered history as refugees,
scrambling for their lives in advance of Mongol invaders. One of many smaller Turkish tribes, they fled from Turkistan to Asia Minor
. Their fortunes began to improve in about 1300, when they attracted support from other Muslim groups in their fight against the Christians of the Byzantine
Empire. During the 14th century, the Ottomans came to rule not only Asia Minor, but also much of the Balkans. They established a policy of impressing Christian boys, and moulded them into one of the most powerful armies
in Europe, the janissaries. The Turks also made early use of firearms and
artillery, giving them an advantage in many battles.In 1453, under Muhammad II, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), bringing to an end the Byzantine Empire and, with it, the last vestiges of the Roman Empire. During the
16th century the Ottoman Empire
reached its height. Selim I won victories in Syria and Egypt in 1516-1517. His successor, Suleiman I, extended Turkish rule over the Balkan peninsula, Hungary, Persia, and the Arabian peninsula. North Africa, too, became part of the huge Ottoman Empire. The Turkish fleet became the most powerful in the Mediterranean.Suleiman was only 26
when he ascended the throne in 1520; he then ruled for 46 years. Even among such European luminaries as Henry VIII of England, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Francis I
of France, the Ottoman sultan was known as Suleiman the Magnificent. He was a great lawgiver and was known among his own subjects as Suleiman the Just.Power in the Ottoman court came from winning access to the
sultan. Civil servants and religious leaders manoeuvered for position, and sometimes women of the harem gained influence. One of Suleiman's most important advisers was his favourite wife, Roxelana. With his
encouragement, she often listened behind a curtain as Suleiman and his male advisers discussed state affairs. Later, in private, she gave her own advice. At Suleiman's death in 1566 the Ottoman Empire was at its
zenith and the most powerful in the world, stretching from Poland to Yemen and from Tripoli to Persia. The long, slow decline which began thereafter, notwithstanding the Empire's military prowess, was due in many ways
to the repeated disputes over the succession—a prize for which many future rulers were willing to kill their own brothers. One ruler was an opium addict, another seems to have earned his nickname of "the Sot". Another
celebrated his inauguration and consolidated his power by slaying 19 of his brothers. Actual leadership was frequently exercised by the grand viziers, whose own position was often hereditary. The Great Turkish War
(1683-1699) saw the Ottoman Turks at the gates of Vienna, but they were repulsed, and at the war's end they were forced to transfer most of Hungary to Austria. The Russo-Turkish Wars
of the 18th century further weakened the Empire, and during the early 19th century, Greece and Egypt broke away. Western Europe favoured the Ottoman Sultans as a bulwark against an expanding Russia and was pleased when the Turkish government adopted a new constitution in 1876. However, the sultan simply abolished the constitution a short time later. Turkey was now so weak and divided that it became known as the "sick man of Europe".
In the early 20th century a reformist group, the Young Turks, demanded reform and modernization. They succeeded in deposing Sultan
Abdulhamid II
in 1909, but they inadvertently furthered the disintegration of the empire by centralizing Turkish power, to the distress of Ottoman subject peoples in Syria, Lebanon, the Arabian peninsula, Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Crete, Macedonia, and Tripoli.
With the outbreak of World War I
in 1914, the Ottomans still controlled much of the Middle East, but Turkey
chose the losing side, allying itself with the Central Powers. Rebellious
peoples in the Middle East gladly joined the Allies and fought for independence. Peace treaties in 1918 dissolved the Ottoman Empire. In 1922 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
overthrew the last sultan. During his 15-year rule he attempted to modernize Turkey by introducing western customs and abolishing the
caliphate, thereby disestablishing Islam. |
