Legend “About the decline and collapse of the Ottoman Empire. History of the Ottoman Empire
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Having become the ruler of the mountainous region, Osman in 1289 received the title of bey from the Seljuk Sultan. Having come to power, Osman immediately set out to conquer Byzantine lands and made the first Byzantine town of Melangia his residence.
Osman was born in a small mountain town of the Seljuk Sultanate. Osman's father, Ertogrul, received lands adjacent to the Byzantine ones from Sultan Ala ad-Din. The Turkic tribe to which Osman belonged considered the seizure of neighboring territories a sacred matter.
After the escape of the deposed Seljuk Sultan in 1299, Osman created an independent state based on his own beylik. In the first years of the 14th century. the founder of the Ottoman Empire managed to significantly expand the territory of the new state and moved his headquarters to the fortified city of Episehir. Immediately after this, the Ottoman army began to raid Byzantine cities located on the Black Sea coast and the Byzantine regions in the Dardanelles Strait region.
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 akçe, to begin. In 1337, the Turks won several brilliant victories and occupied territories up to the Bosphorus, 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 rule 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, adding territories near Ankara to its possessions and setting off on a military campaign to 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 first victories in Europe (the conquest of Thrace and Plovdiv), a stream of Turkic settlers poured onto the European coast.
The sultans sealed their firman decrees with their own imperial monogram - tughra. The complex oriental design included the sultan's name, his father's name, title, motto and the epithet "always victorious".
New conquests
Murad paid great attention to improving and strengthening the army. For the first time in history, a professional army was created. In 1336, the ruler formed a corps of Janissaries, which later turned into the Sultan’s personal guard. In addition to the Janissaries, a mounted army of the Sipahis 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 southern European states and captured Bulgaria and part of Serbia.
The next brilliant victory was won by the Turks in 1389, when the Janissaries first took up firearms. That year, the historical battle of Kossovo took place, 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 policies 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 of the Balkans.
For the rapid movements 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 captured 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, taking all Bulgarian lands into submission. According to contemporaries, more than 100,000 people fought on the side of the Turks. Many noble European crusaders were captured and later ransomed for huge sums 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 much more. True, Bayazid did not make further campaigns in Europe, distracted by the eastern danger from the Mongols.
After the unsuccessful siege of Constantinople in 1400, the Turks had to fight Timur's Tatar army. On July 25, 1402, one of the greatest battles of the Middle Ages took place, during which the army of the Turks (about 150,000 people) and the army of the Tatars (about 200,000 people) met near Ankara. Timur's army, in addition to well-trained warriors, was armed with more than 30 war elephants - quite a powerful weapon during 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, and 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 trip to Venice in the history of the Turks, which ended in failure.
Murad II, the son of Muhammad I, ascended the throne in 1421. He was a fair and energetic ruler who devoted much time to the development of the arts and urban planning. Murad, coping with internal strife, made a successful campaign, capturing the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. The battles of the Turks against the Serbian, Hungarian and Albanian armies were no less successful. In 1448, after Murad's victory 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 historical battle in 1448 between the united European army and the Turks, a letter with a truce agreement was carried through the ranks of the Ottoman army on the tip of a spear, which was violated once again. Thus, the Ottomans showed that they were not interested in peace treaties - only battles and only an offensive.
From 1444 to 1446, the empire was ruled by the Turkish Sultan Muhammad II, son of Murad II.
The reign of this sultan for 30 years turned the power into a world empire. Having started 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 had an excellent education and spoke four languages. The Sultan invited scientists and poets from Greece and Italy to his court, and allocated a lot of funds for the construction of new buildings and the development of art. The Sultan set his main task to the conquest of Constantinople, and at the same time treated its implementation very carefully. Opposite the Byzantine capital, in March 1452, the Rumelihisar fortress was founded, in which the latest cannons were installed and a strong garrison was stationed.
As a result, Constantinople found itself cut off from the Black Sea region, with which it was connected by trade. In the spring of 1453, a huge Turkish land army and a powerful fleet approached the Byzantine capital. The first assault on the city was unsuccessful, but the Sultan ordered not to retreat and organize preparations for a new assault. After dragging some of the ships into the bay of Constantinople along a specially constructed deck over iron barrier chains, the city found itself surrounded by Turkish troops. Battles raged daily, but the Greek defenders of the city showed examples of courage and perseverance.
The siege was not a strong point for the Ottoman army, and the Turks won only due to the careful encirclement of the city, a numerical superiority of forces by approximately 3.5 times and due to the presence of siege weapons, cannons and a powerful mortar with cannonballs weighing 30 kg. Before the main assault on Constantinople, Muhammad invited the residents 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, burst into the gates of Constantinople. For 3 days the Turks plundered the city and killed Christians, and the Church of Hagia Sophia was subsequently turned into a mosque. Türkiye became a real world power, proclaiming the ancient city as its capital.
In subsequent years, Muhammad made conquered Serbia his province, conquered Moldova, Bosnia, and 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 either: in 1475 the Turks captured many Crimean cities and the city of Tana at the mouth of the Don on the Sea of Azov. The Crimean Khan officially recognized the power of the Ottoman Empire. Following this, the territories of Safavid Iran were conquered, and in 1516 Syria, Egypt and the Hejaz with Medina and Mecca came under the rule of the Sultan.
At the beginning of the 16th century. The empire's conquests were directed to the east, south and west. In the east, Selim I the Terrible defeated the Safavids and annexed the eastern part of Anatolia and Azerbaijan to his state. In the south, the Ottomans suppressed the warlike Mamluks and took control of trade routes along the Red Sea coast to the Indian Ocean, and in North Africa they reached Morocco. In the west, Suleiman the Magnificent in the 1520s. captured Belgrade, Rhodes, and Hungarian lands.
At the peak of power
The Ottoman Empire entered the stage of its greatest prosperity 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 reliable centralized governance 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 Turkish empire became the most powerful power in the Old World. Contemporaries who visited the lands of the empire enthusiastically described the wealth and luxury of this country in their notes and memoirs.
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 more beautiful, the palaces more luxurious. Suleiman (Fig. 9) also went down in history under the nickname Lawgiver.
Having become a sultan at the age of 25, Suleiman significantly expanded the borders of the state, capturing Rhodes in 1522, Mesopotamia in 1534, and Hungary in 1541.
The ruler of the Ottoman Empire was traditionally called Sultan, a title of Arabic origin. It is considered correct to use such terms as “shah”, “padishah”, “khan”, “Caesar”, which came from different peoples under the rule of the Turks.
Suleiman contributed to the cultural prosperity of the country; under him, beautiful mosques and luxurious palaces were built in many cities of the empire. The famous emperor was a good poet, leaving his works 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 “Leila and Mejun”. The nickname Sultan Among Poets was given to Mahmud Abd al-Baki, 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 Laughing, 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 an heir to the Sultan, the future Emperor Suleiman II, and devoted a lot of time to philanthropy. The Sultan's wife also had great influence over him in diplomatic affairs, especially in relations with Western countries.
In order to leave his memory in stone, Suleiman invited the famous architect Sinan to create mosques in Istanbul. Those close to the emperor also erected large religious buildings with the help of the famous architect, as a result of which the capital was noticeably transformed.
Harems
Harems with several wives and concubines, permitted by Islam, could only be afforded by wealthy people. The Sultan's harems became an integral part of the empire, its calling card.
In addition to sultans, viziers, beys, and emirs had harems. The vast majority of the empire's population had one wife, as was customary throughout the 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 controlled by the Sultan’s mother, “Valide Sultan”. Her main assistants were eunuchs and slaves. It is clear that the life and power of the Sultan’s ruler directly depended on the fate of her high-ranking son.
The harem housed girls captured during wars or purchased at slave markets. Regardless of their nationality and religion, before entering the harem, all girls became Muslims and studied traditional Islamic arts - embroidery, singing, conversation skills, music, dancing, and literature.
While in the harem for a long time, its inhabitants passed through several levels and ranks. At first they were called jariye (newcomers), then quite soon they were renamed shagirt (students), over time they became gedikli (companions) and usta (masters).
There have been isolated cases in history when the Sultan recognized a concubine as his legal wife. This happened more often when the concubine gave birth to the ruler’s long-awaited son-heir. A striking example is Suleiman the Magnificent, who married Roksolana.
Only girls who had reached the level 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 Sultan's mistresses, were awarded their own housing, jewelry and even slaves.
Legal marriage was not provided for by Sharia, but the Sultan chose four wives who were in a privileged position from all the inhabitants of the harem. 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 him in his harem.
Made inevitable the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which for centuries dominated large territories that fell victim to its insatiable military expansion. Forced to join the Central Powers, such as Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, it suffered the bitterness of defeat, unable to further establish itself as the world's leading empire.
Founder of the Ottoman Empire
At the end of the 13th century, Osman I Gazi inherited from his father Bey Ertogrul power over the countless Turkish hordes inhabiting Phrygia. Having declared the independence of this relatively small territory and taking the title of Sultan, he managed to conquer a significant part of Asia Minor and thus found a powerful empire, named Ottoman in his honor. She was destined to play an important role in world history.
Already in the middle, the Turkish army landed on the coast of Europe and began its centuries-long expansion, which made this state in the 15th-16th centuries one of the greatest in the world. However, the beginning of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire began already in the 17th century, when the Turkish army, which had never known defeat before and was considered invincible, suffered a crushing blow near the walls of the Austrian capital.
First defeat from the Europeans
In 1683, hordes of Ottomans approached Vienna, besieging the city. Its inhabitants, having heard enough about the wild and ruthless morals of these barbarians, showed miracles of heroism, protecting themselves and their relatives from certain death. As historical documents testify, the success of the defenders was greatly facilitated by the fact that among the command of the garrison there were many prominent military leaders of those years who were able to competently and promptly take all the necessary defensive measures.
When the king of Poland arrived to help the besieged, the fate of the attackers was decided. They fled, leaving rich booty for the Christians. This victory, which began the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, had, first of all, psychological significance for the peoples of Europe. She dispelled the myth of the invincibility of the all-powerful Porte, as Europeans used to call the Ottoman Empire.
Beginning of territorial losses
This defeat, as well as a number of subsequent failures, became the reason for the Peace of Karlowitz concluded in January 1699. According to this document, the Porte lost the previously controlled territories of Hungary, Transylvania and Timisoara. Its borders have shifted to the south by a considerable distance. This was already quite a significant blow to its imperial integrity.
Troubles in the 18th century
If the first half of the next, 18th century, was marked by certain military successes of the Ottoman Empire, which allowed it, albeit with the temporary loss of Derbent, to maintain access to the Black and Azov Seas, then the second half of the century brought a number of failures, which also predetermined the future collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
The defeat in the Turkish War, which Empress Catherine II waged with the Ottoman Sultan, forced the latter to sign a peace treaty in July 1774, according to which Russia received the lands stretching between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug. The next year brings a new misfortune - the Porta loses Bukovina, which was transferred to Austria.
The 18th century ended in complete disaster for the Ottomans. The final defeat led to the conclusion of the very unfavorable and humiliating Peace of Yassy, according to which the entire Northern Black Sea region, including the Crimean Peninsula, went to Russia.
The signature on the document certifying that from now on and forever Crimea is ours was personally put by Prince Potemkin. In addition, the Ottoman Empire was forced to transfer to Russia the lands between the Southern Bug and the Dniester, as well as come to terms with the loss of its dominant positions in the Caucasus and the Balkans.
The beginning of a new century and new troubles
The beginning of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century was predetermined by its next defeat in the Russian-Turkish war of 1806-1812. The result of this was the signing in Bucharest of another agreement, essentially disastrous for the Porte. On the Russian side, the chief commissioner was Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, and on the Turkish side, Ahmed Pasha. The entire area from the Dniester to the Prut went to Russia and began to be called first the Bessarabia region, then the Bessarabia province, and now it is Moldova.
The attempt made by the Turks in 1828 to take revenge from Russia for past defeats turned into a new defeat and another peace treaty signed the following year in Andreapol, depriving Russia of its already rather scanty territory of the Danube Delta. To add insult to injury, Greece declared its independence at the same time.
Short-term success, again replaced by defeats
The only time luck smiled on the Ottomans was during the Crimean War of 1853-1856, which was mediocrely lost by Nicholas I. His successor on the Russian throne, Emperor Alexander II, was forced to cede a significant part of Bessarabia to the Porte, but the new war that followed in 1877-1878 returned everything to its place.
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire continued. Taking advantage of the favorable moment, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro separated from it in the same year. All three states declared their independence. The 18th century ended for the Ottomans with the unification of the northern part of Bulgaria and the territory of the empire that belonged to them, called Southern Rumelia.
War with the Balkan Union
The final collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the Turkish Republic date back to the 20th century. This was preceded by a series of events, which began in 1908 when Bulgaria declared its independence and thereby ended the five-hundred-year Turkish yoke. This was followed by the war of 1912-1913, declared on the Porte by the Balkan Union. It included Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Montenegro. The goal of these states was to seize territories that belonged to the Ottomans at that time.
Despite the fact that the Turks fielded two powerful armies, Southern and Northern, the war, which ended in the victory of the Balkan Union, led to the signing of another treaty in London, which this time deprived the Ottoman Empire of almost the entire Balkan Peninsula, leaving it only Istanbul and a small part of Thrace. The bulk of the occupied territories were received by Greece and Serbia, which almost doubled their area. In those days, a new state was formed - Albania.
Proclamation of the Turkish Republic
You can simply imagine how the collapse of the Ottoman Empire occurred in subsequent years by following the course of the First World War. Wanting to regain at least part of the territories lost over recent centuries, the Porte took part in hostilities, but, to its misfortune, on the side of the losing powers - Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. This was the final blow that crushed the once mighty empire that terrified the whole world. The victory over Greece in 1922 did not save it either. The process of decay was already irreversible.
The First World War for the Porte ended with the signing in 1920, according to which the victorious allies shamelessly stole the last territories remaining under Turkish control. All this led to its complete collapse and the proclamation of the Turkish Republic on October 29, 1923. This act marked the end of more than six hundred years of history of the Ottoman Empire.
Most researchers see the reasons for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, first of all, in the backwardness of its economy, the extremely low level of industry, and the lack of a sufficient number of highways and other means of communication. In a country at the level of medieval feudalism, almost the entire population remained illiterate. By many indicators, the empire was much less developed than other states of that period.
Objective evidence of the collapse of the empire
Speaking about what factors indicated the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, we should first of all mention the political processes that took place in it at the beginning of the 20th century and were practically impossible in earlier periods. This is the so-called Young Turk Revolution, which occurred in 1908, during which members of the Union and Progress organization seized power in the country. They overthrew the Sultan and introduced a constitution.
The revolutionaries did not last long in power, giving way to supporters of the deposed Sultan. The subsequent period was filled with bloodshed caused by clashes between warring factions and changes in rulers. All this irrefutably indicated that powerful centralized power was a thing of the past, and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire began.
To briefly summarize, it should be said that Turkey has completed the path that from time immemorial was prepared for all states that left their mark in history. This is their origin, rapid flourishing and finally decline, which often led to their complete disappearance. The Ottoman Empire did not disappear completely without a trace, having become today, although a restless, but by no means a dominant member of the world community.
Osman I Ghazi (1258-1326) reigned from 1281, founder of the Ottoman Empire in 1299.
The first Turkish Sultan, Osman I, at the age of 23, inherited vast territories in Phrygia from his father, Prince Ertogrul. He united the scattered Turkish tribes with the Muslims who had fled from the Mongols, later they all began to be called Ottomans, and conquered a significant part of the Byzantine state, gaining access to the Black and Marmara seas. In 1299 he founded the empire named after him. Having captured the Byzantine city of Yenisehir in 1301, Osman made it the capital of his empire. In 1326, he stormed the city of Bursa, which already under his son Orhan became the second capital of the empire.
The territory in Asia Minor, where Turkey is located today, was called Anatolia in ancient times and was the cradle of many civilizations. Among them, one of the most developed was the Byzantine Empire - a Greco-Roman Orthodox state with its capital in Constantinople. Created in 1299 by Sultan Osman, the Ottoman Empire actively expanded its borders and captured neighboring lands. Gradually, many provinces of the weakening Byzantium came under his rule.
The reasons for Sultan Osman's victories lay primarily in his ideology; he declared war on Christians and intended to seize their lands and enrich his subjects. Many Muslims flocked to his banner, including Turkic nomads and artisans who fled from the Mongol invasion, and there were also non-Muslims. The Sultan received everyone. For the first time, he formed an army of Janissaries - the future regular Turkish infantry, created from Christians, slaves and prisoners, and later it was replenished with the children of Christians raised in Islamic traditions.
Osman's authority was so high that poems and songs began to be composed in his honor during his lifetime. Many scientists of that time - dervishes - pointed to the prophetic meaning of his name, which, according to some sources, meant “breaker of bones,” that is, a warrior who knows no barriers and knocks down the enemy; according to others, it means “a hawk-vulture” who feeds the carrion of the dead. But in the West, Christians called him not Osman, but Ottoman (hence the word ottoman - a soft Turkish seat without a back), which simply meant “Ottoman Turk.”
The widespread offensive of Osman and his well-armed army led to the fact that the Byzantine peasants, whom no one protected, were forced to flee, abandoning their well-cultivated agricultural areas. And the Turks got pastures, vineyards, and orchards. The tragedy of Byzantium was that its capital, Constantinople, was captured by the crusading knights in the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The completely plundered city became the capital of the Latin Empire, which collapsed by 1261. At the same time, Byzantium was created again, but already weakened and unable to resist external invasion.
The Byzantines concentrated their efforts on creating a fleet; they wanted to stop the Turks at the sea and prevent them from advancing deeper into the mainland. But nothing could stop Osman. In 1301, his army inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined Byzantine forces near Nicaea (now the Turkish city of Iznik). In 1304, the Sultan captured the city of Ephesus on the Aegean Sea - the center of early Christianity, in which, according to legend, the Apostle Paul lived and wrote the Gospel of John. The Turks sought to Constantinople, to the Bosphorus Strait.
Osman's last conquest was the Byzantine city of Bursa. This victory was very important - it opened the way to Constantinople. The Sultan, who was dying, ordered his subjects to turn Bursa into the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Osman did not live to see the fall of Constantinople. But other sultans continued his work and created the great Ottoman Empire, which lasted until 1922.
The Ottoman Empire (former European name - Ottoman) is a Muslim state created by the Ottoman Turks and lasted for more than six centuries (until 1918). Its history begins with its emergence at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries. an independent Turkic principality (beylik) in Northwestern Anatolia; it got its name from the founder of the ruling dynasty, Bey Osman (1299-1324). Under his successors - Orhan (1324-1361), Murad I (1361-1389), Bayezid I (1389-1402), who launched a “holy war” with Christian rulers in Asia Minor and then in the Balkans, the beylik turned into an extensive military -feudal state (sultanate). Animosity among the Ottoman rivals prevented them from joining forces to fight back, and attempts to stop the Turkish advance in southeastern Europe through the Crusades were unsuccessful. In the battles at the walls of Nikopol (1396) and near Varna (1444), the militias of European knights suffered severe defeats. During new wars in the 2nd half of the 15th century. - 1st half of the 16th century. Constantinople was captured (1453; see Byzantium), Eastern Anatolia, Crimea (1475), a number of territories of South-Eastern and Central Europe, most of the Arab East and North Africa were annexed. As a result, a huge empire was formed, which had a great influence on the political life of the entire Old World and took on the role of leader of the Muslim world in its confrontation with Christian Europe.
In the middle of the 16th century. under Sultan Suleiman I Kanuni (1520-1566), the Ottoman Empire was at the zenith of its power; her possessions occupied about 8 million square meters. km, the population was 20-25 million people. It differed from other eastern despotisms in that it was the only truly military power of the Middle Ages.
The policy of the Ottoman sultans, aimed at strengthening the power of the central government and continuing wars of conquest, was based on a system of conditional land grants (timars) and the use in military service (the Janissary corps) and in public administration of persons of slave status converted to Islam (see Religion). Initially, they were recruited from among prisoners of war and purchased slaves, then from Christian youths who were subjected to forced Islamization and Turkification. Strengthening their authority and establishing the traditions of the strong power of the monarch, the sultans attracted the clergy to serve.
The government apparatus in its activities was guided by a general set of legal provisions (kanun-name), which regulated land relations, established taxation standards and general principles of administrative and judicial management. According to these regulations, the entire society was divided into two main categories: “askeri” (military) and “raya” (literally: herd, flock). The first included representatives of the ruling class, the second included the tax-dependent population. The rulers of the empire also took into account the fact that a significant part of their subjects were non-Muslims. Therefore, from the 2nd half of the 15th century. they allowed the existence of separate religious communities - millets: Greek Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian, Jewish. Each of them had some autonomy and a special tax status, but they were all subordinate to the Sultan's government, which consistently pursued a course of legal and religious-cultural discrimination against non-Muslims.
Ottoman “classical” orders survived until the 19th century, but already in the 17th and 18th centuries. they gradually fell into decline, because they no longer corresponded to the level of development of society. The weakening of the empire was also facilitated by its increasingly noticeable lag behind the capitalist countries of Europe. The protracted crisis was also reflected in the chain of military defeats of the Turks, including the naval battle of Lepanto (1571) and the unsuccessful siege of Vienna (1683). The decline of Ottoman power became especially clear during the Russian-Turkish wars of the 2nd half of the 18th century. A new era in Ottoman history is associated with the victories of P. A. Rumyantsev and A. V. Suvorov, with the annexation of Crimea (1783), when the rise of the liberation struggle of the Greek and Slavic peoples threatened the very existence of the empire, and the great powers began to fight for the division of the Sultan's possessions in Europe (see Eastern Question).
From the end of the 18th century. The ruling elite is making a number of attempts to reform the army, the state apparatus and the education system in order to stop the process of collapse of the empire and ensure its stability in the face of the increasing economic and political expansion of European powers in the Near and Middle East. They began with the reforms of Sultan Selim III (1789-1808). They did not bring the expected results due to the fierce resistance of the forces that advocated the preservation of traditional orders. Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839) managed to eliminate the Janissary corps and significantly strengthen the position of the central government. The greatest Ottoman reformers of the 19th century emerged from among the highest metropolitan bureaucracy. - Mustafa Reshid Pasha, Ali Pasha and Fuad Pasha. The transformations carried out on their initiative objectively contributed to the acceleration of the socio-economic development of society, the creation of conditions for the emergence and development of capitalist relations, but at the same time the aggravation of class and national-religious contradictions.
From the 2nd half of the 19th century. new social forces entered the political arena. The spokesmen for their demands were Namyk Kemal (1840-1888), Ibrahim Shinasi (1826-1871) and other representatives of the various intelligentsia. Having united their supporters in the secret society of the “new Ottomans”, they began to fight to limit the Sultan’s absolutism. In 1876, they managed to achieve the proclamation of a constitution and the convening of a bicameral parliament. The Constitution of 1876 was an important progressive phenomenon in Turkish history. It solemnly proclaimed personal freedom and equality before the law of all subjects without distinction of religion, complete security of person and property, inviolability of home, freedom of the press, and openness of the courts. At the same time, during the discussion of the draft constitution, conservatives, supported by Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909), achieved the inclusion of a number of provisions giving the monarch very broad rights. His personality was declared sacred and inviolable. The Sultan retained the functions of caliph - the spiritual head of Muslims. The constitution also reflected the views of the “new Ottomans” on the national question and in relation to religion. Her first article stated that the Ottoman Empire is a single and indivisible whole. All subjects of the Sultan were declared “Ottomans”. Islam was proclaimed the state religion.
The adoption of the constitution and the creation of parliament dealt a serious blow to the feudal-absolutist system, but the forces interested in strengthening the constitutional order were weak and fragmented. Therefore, the existing regime was able to survive and strike back. Taking advantage of the defeats of Turkish troops in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878, which led to a significant reduction in Ottoman possessions in Europe and Asia, Abdul Hamid II suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament and brutally dealt with the leaders of the liberal constitutional movement. Through numerous arrests, exiles, secret murders, and the closure of newspapers and magazines, the country was again thrown back to the medieval order of lawlessness and arbitrariness. Pursuing all manifestations of free-thinking, inciting national and religious hatred, promoting the doctrine of pan-Islamism, which called for the unification of all Muslims, including foreign ones, under the auspices of the Turkish Sultan-Caliph, Abdul-Hamid tried to prevent the development of the national liberation movement among Armenians, Arabs, Albanians, Kurds and other peoples of the empire.
The autocratic despotic regime established under Abdul Hamid II remained in the memory of the people as the “era of tyranny (zulyuma).” However, he could not stop the further development of the process of modernization of Ottoman society and the strengthening of new progressive forces in it.
However, the ideas of the “new Ottomans” were taken up by the organizers of the new secret society “Unity and Progress”, created in 1889-1891. to fight Abdulhamid's tyranny. Its participants in Europe began to be called the Young Turks. The activities of the Young Turk organizations initially did not go beyond the scope of propaganda and agitation with the help of newspapers, brochures and leaflets published in Turkey and abroad. The movement was deprived of contact with the people; its leaders preferred the path of conspiracies and palace coups. Revolution 1905-1907 in Russia and the revolution that began after it in Iran in 1905-1911. contributed to the growth of the revolutionary situation in the Ottoman Empire and pushed the Young Turks to revise their strategy and tactics. At the Congress of Opposition Forces in Paris (December
1907) they decided on the need to unite all revolutionary organizations and prepare for an armed uprising.
The Young Turk Revolution began on July 3, 1908, with the uprising of a number of military garrisons in Macedonia, propagandized by the Young Turks, and then it spread to both the European and Asian provinces of the empire. Faced with the threat of overthrow, Abdul-Hamid was forced to accept the demands of the rebels: to restore the constitution and convene parliament. Having achieved a quick and bloodless victory, the Young Turks considered the tasks of the revolution completed. The limitations of their course allowed the feudal-clerical reaction to recover from the blow dealt in July 1908 and carry out a counter-revolutionary coup in the capital (April 13, 1909). The Young Turks were able to quickly suppress the reactionary rebellion of Abdul Hamid's supporters. Relying on loyal military units, they regained control over Istanbul by April 26. Abdul Hamid II was deposed, representatives of the conservative bureaucracy were removed from the government. Having occupied the most important positions in the cabinet, the state apparatus and the army, the Young Turks began to play a decisive role in governing the country. The narrowness of their social support, the immaturity of the Turkish bourgeoisie, and the semi-colonial dependence of the empire on Western Europe determined the inconsistency of the course of the Young Turk governments and the limited results achieved. Their measures practically did not affect the foundations of the feudal order in the countryside, did not resolve the national question, and did not prevent the further enslavement of the country by the imperialist powers.
As a result of the Italo-Turkish war of 1911-1912. The empire lost its last possessions in Africa - Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which later formed the Italian colony of Libya. Military operations in 1912-1913. against the coalition of Balkan states led to the almost complete ousting of the Turks from European territory. These lost wars, having finally destroyed the illusions of “Ottomanism,” contributed to a radical revision of the national policy of the Young Turks. It was based on the ideas of Turkish nationalism, the most prominent exponent of which was the philosopher Ziya Gökalp (1876-1924). In contrast to the adherents of pan-Islamism, he substantiated the need for the separation of secular and spiritual power and advocated the development of the Turkish nation based on the achievements of European civilization. He considered one of the conditions for success on this path to be the unification of the efforts of all Turkic-speaking peoples. Such proposals gained wide popularity among the Young Turks. Their most chauvinistically minded representatives based on Gökalp’s ideas built an entire doctrine of pan-Turkism, which demanded the unification of all Turkic-speaking peoples under the rule of the Turkish Sultan and called for the forced Turkification of national minorities in the empire. The Young Turk triumvirate (Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha, Djemal Pasha), which established itself in power in 1913, in search of external forces ready to support the course of preserving the Ottoman Empire, moved towards rapprochement with Kaiser Germany, and then involved the country in the First World War 1914-1918 on her side. During the war, the empire quickly came to complete military and economic collapse. The defeat of Germany and its allies also meant the final collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Start
The transformation of the Ottoman Empire from a tiny state in Asia Minor in the mid-15th century to the greatest empire in Europe and the Middle East by the mid-16th century was dramatic. In less than a century, the Ottoman dynasty destroyed Byzantium and became the undisputed leaders of the Islamic world, wealthy patrons of a sovereign culture, and rulers of an empire stretching from the Atlas Mountains to the Caspian Sea. The key moment in this rise is considered to be the capture of the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, by Mehmed 2 in 1453, the capture of which turned the Ottoman state into a powerful power.
History of the Ottoman Empire in chronological order
The 1515 peace treaty concluded with Persia allowed the Ottomans to gain the regions of Diyarbakir and Mosul (which were located on the upper reaches of the Tigris River).
Also, between 1516 and 1520, Sultan Selim 1 (reigned 1512 - 1520) expelled the Safivids from Kurdistan and also destroyed the Mameluke power. Selim, with the help of artillery, defeated the Mameluke army at Dolbec and took Damascus; he subsequently subjugated the territory of Syria, took possession of Mecca and Medina.
S ultan Selim 1
Selim then approached Cairo. Having no other opportunity to capture Cairo except by a long and bloody struggle, for which his army was not prepared, he offered the inhabitants of the city to surrender in exchange for various favors; the residents gave up. Immediately the Turks carried out a terrible massacre in the city. After the conquest of the Holy Places, Mecca and Medina, Selim proclaimed himself caliph. He appointed a pasha to rule Egypt, but left next to him 24 rains of Mamelukes (who were considered subordinate to the pasha, but had limited independence with the ability to complain about the pasha to the Sultan).
Selim is one of the cruel sultans of the Ottoman Empire. Execution of their relatives (the Sultan’s father and brothers were executed on his orders); repeated executions of countless prisoners captured during military campaigns; executions of nobles.
The capture of Syria and Egypt from the Mamelukes made Ottoman territories an integral part of a vast network of overland caravan routes from Morocco to Beijing. At one end of this trade network were the spices, medicines, silks and, later, porcelain of the East; on the other - gold dust, slaves, precious stones and other goods from Africa, as well as textiles, glass, hardware, wood from Europe.
The struggle between Ottoman and Europe
The reaction of Christian Europe to the rapid rise of the Turks was contradictory. Venice sought to maintain as large a share as possible in trade with the Levant - even ultimately at the expense of its own territory, and King Francis 1 of France openly entered into an alliance with (reigned 1520 - 1566) against the Austrian Habsburgs.
The Reformation and the subsequent Counter-Reformation led to the fact that they helped the slogan of the Crusades, which once united all of Europe against Islam, to become a thing of the past.
After his victory at Mohács in 1526, Suleiman 1 reduced Hungary to the status of his vassal and captured a significant part of European territories - from Croatia to the Black Sea. The Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1529 was lifted more because of the winter cold and the long distances that made it difficult to supply the army from Turkey than because of Habsburg opposition. Ultimately, the Turks' entry into the long religious war with Safavid Persia saved Habsburg Central Europe.
The peace treaty of 1547 assigned the entire south of Hungary to the Ottoman Empire until Ofen was turned into an Ottoman province, divided into 12 sanjaks. Ottoman rule in Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania was consolidated by peace from 1569. The reason for such peace conditions was the large amount of money that was given by Austria to bribe Turkish nobles. The war between the Turks and the Venetians ended in 1540. The Ottomans were given the last territories of Venice in Greece and on the islands in the Aegean Sea. The war with the Persian Empire also bore fruit. The Ottomans took Baghdad (1536) and occupied Georgia (1553). This was the dawn of the power of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire's fleet sailed unhindered in the Mediterranean.
The Christian-Turkish border on the Danube reached a kind of equilibrium after the death of Suleiman. In the Mediterranean, the Turkish conquest of the northern coast of Africa was facilitated by a naval victory at Preveza, but the initially successful offensive of Emperor Charles 5 in Tunisia in 1535 and the extremely important Christian victory at Lepanto in 1571 restored the status quo: rather conventionally, the maritime border ran along a line running through Italy, Sicily and Tunisia. However, the Turks managed to restore their fleet in a short time.
Equilibrium time
Despite endless wars, trade between Europe and the Levant was never completely suspended. European merchant ships continued to arrive in Iskenderun or Tripoli, in Syria, in Alexandria. Cargoes were transported across the Ottoman and Saphivid Empires in caravans that were carefully organized, safe, regular, and often faster than European ships. The same caravan system brought Asian goods to Europe from Mediterranean ports. Until the mid-17th century, this trade flourished, enriching the Ottoman Empire and guaranteeing the Sultan's exposure to European technology.
Mehmed 3 (ruled 1595 - 1603) upon his accession executed 27 of his relatives, but he was not a bloodthirsty sultan (the Turks gave him the nickname the Just). But in reality, the empire was led by his mother, with the support of great viziers, often replacing each other. The period of his reign coincided with the war against Austria, which began under the previous Sultan Murad 3 in 1593 and ended in 1606, during the era of Ahmed 1 (reigned from 1603 to 1617). The Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606 marked a turning point in relation to the Ottoman Empire and Europe. According to it, Austria was not subject to new tribute; on the contrary, it was freed from the previous one. Only a one-time payment of indemnity in the amount of 200,000 florins. From this moment on, the Ottoman lands did not increase anymore.
Beginning of decline
The most costly of the wars between the Turks and Persians broke out in 1602. Reorganized and re-equipped Persian armies regained lands captured by the Turks in the previous century. The war ended with the peace treaty of 1612. The Turks ceded the eastern lands of Georgia and Armenia, Karabakh, Azerbaijan and some other lands.
After the plague and severe economic crisis, the Ottoman Empire was weakened. Political instability (due to the lack of a clear tradition of succession to the title of Sultan, as well as due to the increasingly growing influence of the Janissaries (initially the highest military caste, into which children were selected mainly from Balkan Christians according to the so-called devshirme system (forcible abduction of Christian children to Istanbul , for military service)) was shaking the country.
During the reign of Sultan Murad 4 (reigned 1623 - 1640) (a cruel tyrant (approximately 25 thousand people were executed during his reign), a capable administrator and commander, the Ottomans managed to regain part of the territories in the war with Persia (1623 - 1639), and defeat the Venetians. However, the uprisings of the Crimean Tatars and the constant raids of the Cossacks on Turkish lands practically drove the Turks out of Crimea and the adjacent territories.
After the death of Murad 4, the empire began to lag behind the countries of Europe in technology, wealth, and political unity.
Under Murad IV's brother, Ibrahim (ruled 1640 - 1648), all of Murad's conquests were lost.
The attempt to capture the island of Crete (the last possession of the Venetians in the Eastern Mediterranean) turned out to be a failure for the Turks. The Venetian fleet, having blocked the Dardanelles, threatened Istanbul.
Sultan Ibrahim was removed by the Janissaries, and his seven-year-old son Mehmed 4 (reigned 1648 - 1687) was elevated to his place. Under his rule, a number of reforms began to be carried out in the Ottoman Empire, which stabilized the situation.
Mehmed was able to successfully complete the war with the Venetians. The position of the Turks in the Balkans and Eastern Europe was also strengthened.
The decline of the Ottoman Empire was a slow process, punctuated by short periods of recovery and stability.
The Ottoman Empire alternately waged wars with Venice, Austria, and Russia.
Towards the end of the 17th century, economic and social difficulties began to increase.
Decline
Mehmed's successor, Kara Mustafa, launched a final challenge to Europe by laying siege to Vienna in 1683.
The answer to this was the alliance of Poland and Austria. The combined Polish-Austrian forces, approaching besieged Vienna, were able to defeat the Turkish army and force it to flee.
Later, Venice and Russia joined the Polish-Austrian coalition.
In 1687, the Turkish armies were defeated at Mohács. After the defeat, the Janissaries rebelled. Mehmed 4 was deposed. His brother Suleiman 2 (ruled 1687 - 1691) became the new sultan.
The war continued. In 1688, the armies of the anti-Turkish coalition achieved serious successes (the Venetians captured the Peloponnese, the Austrians were able to take Belgrade).
However, in 1690, the Turks managed to drive the Austrians out of Belgrade and push them beyond the Danube, as well as regain Transylvania. But, in the Battle of Slankamen, Sultan Suleiman 2 was killed.
Ahmed 2, brother of Suleiman 2, (ruled 1691 - 1695) also did not live to see the end of the war.
After the death of Ahmed 2, the second brother of Suleiman 2, Mustafa 2 (ruled 1695 - 1703), became the sultan. With him the end of the war came. Azov was taken by the Russians, Turkish forces were defeated in the Balkans.
Unable to continue the war any longer, Türkiye signed the Treaty of Karlowitz. According to it, the Ottomans ceded Hungary and Transylvania to Austria, Podolia to Poland, and Azov to Russia. Only the War between Austria and France preserved the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire.
The decline of the empire's economy was accelerated. Monopolization of trade in the Mediterranean Sea and oceans practically destroyed the trading opportunities of the Turks. The seizure of new colonies by European powers in Africa and Asia made the trade route through Turkish territories unnecessary. The discovery and development of Siberia by the Russians gave merchants a way to China.
Türkiye ceased to be interesting from the point of view of economics and trade
True, the Turks were able to achieve temporary success in 1711, after the unsuccessful Prut campaign of Peter 1. According to the new peace treaty, Russia returned Azov to Turkey. They were also able to recapture the Morea from Venice in the war of 1714 - 1718 (this was due to the military-political situation in Europe (the War of the Spanish Succession and the Northern War were underway).
However, then a series of setbacks began for the Turks. A series of defeats after 1768 deprived the Turks of the Crimea, and a defeat in the naval battle at Chesme Bay deprived the Turks of their fleet.
By the end of the 18th century, the peoples of the empire began to fight for their independence (Greeks, Egyptians, Bulgarians, ...). The Ottoman Empire ceased to be one of the leading European powers.
