The rise of the Ottoman Empire and its fall. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire - history, interesting facts and consequences

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OTTOMAN (OTTOMAN) EMPIRE. This empire was created by 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 came from the name of Sultan Osman I, founder of the Ottoman dynasty. The influence of the Ottoman Empire in the region began to gradually be lost from the 17th century, and it finally collapsed after its defeat in the First World War.

Rise of the Ottomans.

The modern Turkish Republic traces its origins to one of the Ghazi beyliks. The creator of the future mighty power, Osman (1259–1324/1326), inherited from his father Ertogrul a small border fief (uj) of the Seljuk state on the southeastern border of Byzantium, near 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 arose that Ertogrul and his tribe arrived from Central Asia just in time to save the Seljuks in their battle with the Mongols, and were rewarded with their western lands. However, modern research does not confirm this legend. Ertogrul's inheritance was given to him 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 came under the influence of one of the dervish orders. In the 1280s, Osman managed to capture Bilecik, İnönü and Eskişehir.

At the very beginning of the 14th century. Osman, together with his ghazis, annexed to his inheritance the lands that extended all the way 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 Osman's death, his son Orhan 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 they captured Constantinople. In almost one decade, Byzantium lost almost all of Asia Minor, and such historical cities as Nicaea and Nicomedia received the names Iznik and Izmit. The Ottomans subjugated the beylik of Karesi in Bergamo (formerly Pergamon), 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 formation of the Ottoman Empire.

In the period between the capture of Bursa and the victory in Kosovo Polje, the organizational structures and management of the Ottoman Empire were quite effective, and already at this time many features of the future huge state were emerging. Orhan and Murad did not care whether the new arrivals were Muslims, Christians or Jews, or whether they were 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 existing social relations.

In all newly annexed regions, 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 into distant territories. The cavalry was formed from feudal lords called sipahis, who had timars. Like the Ghazis, the Sipahis acted as Ottoman pioneers in newly conquered territories. Murad I distributed many such inheritances in Europe to Turkic families 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 in the army of the Janissary Corps, soldiers who were included in the military units close to the Sultan. These soldiers (Turkish yeniceri, lit. new army), called Janissaries by foreigners, were subsequently recruited from captured boys from Christian families, particularly in the Balkans. This practice, known as the devşirme system, may have been introduced under Murad I, but only became fully established in the 15th century. under Murad II; it continued continuously until the 16th century, with interruptions until the 17th century. Having the status of slaves of the sultans, the Janissaries were a disciplined regular army consisting of well-trained and armed infantrymen, superior in combat effectiveness to all similar troops in Europe until the advent of the French army of Louis XIV.

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 Europe at that time. After the murder of his underage brother, Mehmed II reorganized his court in preparation for the capture of Constantinople. Huge bronze cannons were cast and troops were assembled to storm the city. In 1452, the Ottomans built a huge fort with three majestic castles within the fortress in a narrow part of the Bosphorus Strait, approximately 10 km north of the Golden Horn 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 Hisarı, together with another fortress Anadolu Hisarı, built by the great-grandfather of Mehmed II, guaranteed reliable communication between Asia and Europe. The most spectacular step 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, cannons from the Sultan's ships could fire at the city from the inner harbor. On May 29, 1453, a breach was made in the wall, and Ottoman soldiers rushed into Constantinople. On the third day, Mehmed II was already praying in Hagia Sophia 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 situation 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 Peninsula, with the exception of a few Venetian ports, and the largest islands in the Aegean Sea. In Asia Minor, he finally managed to overcome the resistance of the rulers of Karaman, take possession of 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, over the course of two centuries, the population of Constantinople had been constantly declining; Mehmed II resettled many people from various parts of the country to the new capital and restored its traditionally strong crafts and trade.

The rise of the empire under Suleiman I.

The power of the Ottoman Empire reached its apogee in the mid-16th century. The period of the reign of Suleiman I the Magnificent (1520–1566) is considered the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman I (the previous Suleiman, son of Bayazid I, never ruled over its entire territory) surrounded himself with many capable dignitaries. Most of them were recruited through the devşirme 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. They formed the backbone of the administrative authorities, while the highest Muslim institutions were headed by 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 the monarch, never faced any claim to the throne. He was an educated man who loved music, poetry, nature, and philosophical discussions. 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 the upper Danube basin. 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, the 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 power.

Suleiman also fought in the east. The borders of his empire with Persia were not defined, and vassal rulers in the border areas changed their masters depending on whose side was powerful and with whom it was more profitable to enter into an alliance. In 1534, Suleiman took Tabriz and then Baghdad, incorporating Iraq into the Ottoman Empire; in 1548 he regained Tabriz. The Sultan spent the entire year 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 an official peace treaty concluded with the Shah, received a port in the Persian Gulf at his disposal. 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 naval power of the state in order to maintain Ottoman superiority in the Mediterranean. In 1522 his second campaign was directed against Fr. Rhodes, located 19 km from the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. After the capture of the island and the eviction of the Johannites who owned it to Malta, the Aegean Sea and the entire coast of Asia Minor became Ottoman possessions. Soon, the French king Francis I turned to the Sultan for military assistance in the Mediterranean and with a request to move against Hungary in order to stop the advance of the troops of Emperor Charles V, who were advancing on Francis in Italy. The most famous of Suleiman's naval commanders, Hayraddin Barbarossa, the supreme ruler of Algeria and North Africa, devastated the coasts of Spain and Italy. Nevertheless, Suleiman's admirals were unable to capture Malta in 1565.

Suleiman died in 1566 in Szigetvár 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 favorite son died at the age of 21, two others were executed on charges of conspiracy, and his 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, appointed chief minister (grand vizier), although among the applicants there were many other competent courtiers. 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 leadership and designs of the architect Sinan; the masterpiece was the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, dedicated to Selim II.

Under the new Sultan Selim II, the Ottomans began to lose their position 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 they managed to defeat the Venetians, and the island of Cyprus was annexed to the empire. Despite this, the defeat at Lepanto foreshadowed the coming decline of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean.

Decline of the Empire.

After Selim II, most of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire were weak rulers. Murad III, son of Selim, reigned from 1574 to 1595. His tenure was accompanied by unrest caused by palace slaves led by the 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 his beloved Safiye'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 advance 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 power and get rid of corruption. He moved away from the cruel tradition and did not kill his brother Mustafa. And although this, of course, was a manifestation of humanism, from that time all the brothers of the sultans and their closest relatives from the Ottoman dynasty began to be kept in captivity in a special part of the palace, where they spent their lives until the death of the reigning monarch. Then the eldest of them was proclaimed his successor. Thus, after Ahmed I, few who reigned in the 17th and 18th centuries. Sultanov had a sufficient level of intellectual development or political experience to rule such a huge empire. As a result, the unity of the state and the central power itself began to quickly weaken.

Mustafa I, brother of Ahmed I, was mentally ill and reigned 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 led the country until 1640. His reign was dynamic and reminiscent of Selim I. Having come of age in 1623, Murad spent the next eight years tirelessly trying to restore and reform the Ottoman Empire. In an effort to improve the health of government structures, he executed 10 thousand officials. Murad personally stood at the head of his armies during the eastern campaigns, prohibited 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 significantly destroy the state he inherited before he was deposed in 1648. The conspirators placed 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 Fazil Ahmed Köprülü became vizier.

The Ottoman Empire still managed to overcome the period of chaos, extortion and crisis of state power. Europe was torn apart by religious wars and the Thirty Years' War, and Poland and Russia were in turmoil. This gave both Köprül the opportunity, after a purge of the administration, during which 30 thousand officials were executed, to capture the island of Crete in 1669, and Podolia and other regions of Ukraine in 1676. After the death of Ahmed Köprülü, his place was taken by a mediocre and corrupt palace favorite. In 1683, the Ottomans besieged Vienna, but were defeated by the Poles and their allies led by Jan Sobieski.

Leaving the Balkans.

The defeat at Vienna marked the beginning of the Turkish retreat in the Balkans. Budapest fell first, and after the loss of Mohács, all of Hungary fell under the rule of Vienna. In 1688 the Ottomans had to leave Belgrade, in 1689 Vidin in Bulgaria and Nis in Serbia. After this, Suleiman II (r. 1687–1691) appointed Mustafa Köprülü, Ahmed's brother, as grand vizier. The Ottomans managed to recapture Niš and Belgrade, but 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 regain lost ground by appointing Hüseyin Köprülü as grand vizier. In 1699, the Treaty of Karlowitz was signed, according to which the Peloponnese and Dalmatia peninsulas went to Venice, Austria received Hungary and Transylvania, Poland received Podolia, and Russia retained Azov. The Treaty of Karlowitz was the first in a series of concessions that the Ottomans were forced to make when leaving Europe.

During the 18th century. The Ottoman Empire lost much 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 Pozarevac (Passarovitsky) Treaty, received a number of more territories. However, the Ottoman Empire, despite defeats in the wars it fought in the 1730s, regained the city according to the treaty signed in 1739 in Belgrade, mainly due to the weakness of the Habsburgs and the intrigues of French diplomats.

Surrender.

As a result of the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of French diplomacy in Belgrade, an agreement was concluded between France and the Ottoman Empire in 1740. Called the "Capitulations", this document was for a long time the basis for the special privileges received by all states within the empire. The formal beginning of the agreements was laid back in 1251, when the Mamluk sultans in Cairo recognized Louis IX the Saint, King of France. Mehmed II, Bayezid II and Selim I confirmed this agreement and used it as a model in their relations with Venice and other Italian city-states, Hungary, Austria and most other European countries. One of the most important was the 1536 treaty between Suleiman I and the French king Francis I. In accordance with the 1740 treaty, the French received the right to freely move and trade in the territory of the Ottoman Empire under the full protection of the Sultan, their goods were not subject to taxes, with the exception of import-export duties, French envoys and consuls acquired judicial power over their compatriots, who could not be arrested in the absence of a consular representative. The French were given the right to erect and freely use their churches; the same privileges were reserved within the Ottoman Empire 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 court of the Sultan.

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 Tott 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 Küçük-Kaynardzhi 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. From 1774 until the First World War, Russian tsars referred to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty to justify their role in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire. In 1779, Russia received rights to Crimea, and in 1792, the Russian border, in accordance with the Treaty of Iasi, was moved to the Dniester.

Time dictated change. Ahmed III (r. 1703–1730) invited architects to build him palaces and mosques in the style of Versailles, and opened a printing press in Istanbul. The Sultan's immediate relatives were no longer kept in strict confinement; some of them began to study the scientific and political heritage of Western Europe. However, Ahmed III was killed by conservatives, and his place was taken by Mahmud I, under whom the Caucasus was lost to Persia, and the retreat in the Balkans continued. One of the outstanding sultans was Abdul Hamid I. During his reign (1774–1789), reforms were carried out, French teachers and technical specialists were invited to Istanbul. France hoped to save the Ottoman Empire and prevent Russia from accessing the Black Sea straits and the Mediterranean Sea.

Selim III

(reigned 1789–1807). Selim III, who became Sultan in 1789, formed a 12-member cabinet of ministers similar to European governments, replenished the treasury and created a new military corps. He created new educational institutions designed to educate civil servants in the spirit of the ideas of the Enlightenment. Printed publications were allowed again, 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 to face its problems by the European powers. Napoleon viewed 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. Only the British fleet, located off Alexandria and off the coast of the Levant, saved the Turks from defeat. This move 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 Egyptian history.

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 Danube provinces. England provided assistance to its ally Russia by sending its fleet through the Dardanelles, but Selim managed to speed up the restoration of defensive structures, and the British were forced to sail to the Aegean Sea. French victories in Central Europe strengthened the position of the Ottoman Empire, but a rebellion against Selim III began in the capital. In 1807, during the absence of the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, Bayraktar, in the capital, the Sultan was deposed, and his cousin Mustafa IV took the throne. After the return of Bayraktar in 1808, Mustafa IV was executed, but first the rebels strangled Selim III, who was imprisoned. The only male representative from the ruling dynasty remained Mahmud II.

Mahmud II

(reigned 1808–1839). Under him, in 1809, the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain concluded the famous Treaty of the Dardanelles, 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 vessels in peacetime for the Turks. Previously, 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 military operations on the Danube and captured a number of cities in Bulgaria and Wallachia. According to the Treaty of Bucharest of 1812, significant territories were ceded to Russia, and it 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 had been brewing for a long time: as the center weakened, separated provinces slipped away from the power of the sultans. In Epirus, the revolt was raised by Ali Pasha of Janin, who ruled the province as sovereign and maintained diplomatic relations with Napoleon and other European monarchs. Similar protests also occurred 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 most powerful 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 peak of the French Revolution, Selim III in 1804 faced an uprising raised by the Serbs led by Karadjordje (George Petrovich). The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) recognized Serbia as a semi-autonomous province within the Ottoman Empire, led by Miloš Obrenović, Karageorgje's rival.

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 attack on 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 Bosporus in Asia Minor. Only the Russian naval landing, which landed on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus as a warning to Muhammad Ali, saved Mahmud II. After this, 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 close and open the Black Sea straits at his discretion for the passage of foreigners. military courts.

Ottoman Empire after the Congress of Vienna.

The period following the Congress of Vienna was probably the most destructive for the Ottoman Empire. Greece separated; Egypt under Muhammad Ali, who, moreover, having captured Syria and South Arabia, became virtually independent; Serbia, Wallachia and Moldova became semi-autonomous territories. During the Napoleonic Wars, Europe significantly strengthened its military and industrial power. The weakening of the Ottoman power is attributed to a certain extent to the massacre of the Janissaries carried out by Mahmud II in 1826.

By concluding the Unkiyar-Isklelesi Treaty, Mahmud II hoped to gain time to transform the empire. The reforms he carried out were so noticeable that travelers visiting Turkey in the late 1830s noted that more changes had occurred 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 art of war. Fezs and frock coats became the official clothing of civil officials. Mahmud tried to introduce the latest methods developed in young European states into all areas of management. 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.

In the last year of his life, Mahmud again entered into 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-Mejid, was only 16 years old. Without an army and navy, he found himself helpless against the superior forces of Muhammad Ali. He was saved by diplomatic and military assistance from Russia, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia. France initially supported Egypt, but concerted action by the European powers broke the deadlock: the pasha received the hereditary right to rule Egypt under the nominal suzerainty of the Ottoman sultans. This provision was legitimized by the Treaty of London in 1840 and confirmed by Abdülmecid in 1841. In the same year, the London Convention of European Powers was concluded, according to which warships were not to pass through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus in times of peace for the Ottoman Empire, and the signatory powers took undertake an obligation to assist the Sultan in maintaining sovereignty over the Black Sea Straits.

Tanzimat.

During the struggle with his strong vassal, Abdulmecid in 1839 promulgated the hatt-i sherif (“sacred decree”), announcing the beginning of reforms in the empire, which was addressed to the highest state dignitaries and invited ambassadors by the chief minister, Reshid Pasha. The document abolished the death penalty without trial, guaranteed justice for all citizens regardless of their race or religion, established a judicial council to adopt a new criminal code, abolished the tax farming system, changed the methods of recruiting the army, and limited the length of military service.

It became obvious that the empire was no longer able to defend itself in the event of a military attack from any of the great European powers. Reshid Pasha, who had previously served as ambassador to Paris and London, understood that it was necessary to take certain steps that would show the European states that the Ottoman Empire was capable of self-reform and manageable, i.e. deserves to be preserved as an independent state. Khatt-i Sherif seemed to be the answer to the doubts of the Europeans. However, in 1841 Reshid was removed from office. Over the next few years, his reforms were suspended, and only after his return to power in 1845 they began to be implemented again with the support of the British ambassador Stratford Canning. This period in the history of the Ottoman Empire, known as the Tanzimat ("ordering"), involved the reorganization of the system of government and the transformation of society in accordance with ancient Muslim and Ottoman principles of tolerance. At the same time, education developed, the network of schools expanded, and sons from famous families began to study in Europe. Many Ottomans began to lead a Western lifestyle. The number of newspapers, books and magazines published increased, and the younger generation professed new European ideals.

At the same time, foreign trade grew rapidly, but the influx of European industrial products had a negative impact on the finances and economy of the Ottoman Empire. Imports of British factory fabrics destroyed cottage textile production and siphoned gold and silver from the state. Another blow to the economy was the signing of the Balto-Liman Trade Convention in 1838, according to which import duties on goods imported into the empire were frozen at 5%. This meant that foreign merchants could operate in the empire on an equal basis with local merchants. As a result, most of the country's trade ended up in the hands of foreigners, who, in accordance with the Capitulations, were freed from control by officials.

Crimean War.

The London Convention of 1841 abolished the special privileges that the Russian Emperor Nicholas I received under a secret annex to the Unkiyar-Iskelesi Treaty of 1833. Referring to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty of 1774, Nicholas I launched an offensive in the Balkans and demanded special status and rights for Russian monks in holy places in Jerusalem and Palestine. After Sultan Abdulmecid refused to satisfy these demands, the Crimean War began. Great Britain, France and Sardinia came to the aid of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul became the forward base for preparations for hostilities in the Crimea, and the influx of European sailors, army officers and civilian officials left an indelible mark on Ottoman society. The Treaty of Paris of 1856, which ended this war, declared the Black Sea a neutral zone. European powers again recognized Turkish sovereignty over the Black Sea Straits, and the Ottoman Empire was accepted into 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. Even in 1854, having practically no external debt, the Ottoman government very quickly became bankrupt, and already in 1875 Sultan Abdul Aziz owed European bondholders almost one billion dollars in foreign currency.

In 1875, the Grand Vizier declared that the country was no longer able to pay interest on its debts. Noisy protests and pressure from European powers forced the Ottoman authorities to increase taxes in the provinces. Unrest began in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The government sent troops to “pacify” 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” emerged in the country, advocating constitutional reforms in their homeland.

In 1876 Abdul Aziz, who had succeeded his brother Abdul Mecid in 1861, was deposed for incompetence by Midhat Pasha and Avni Pasha, leaders of the liberal organization of constitutionalists. They placed on the throne Murad V, the eldest son of Abdul-Mecid, who turned out to be mentally ill and was deposed just a few months later, and Abdul-Hamid II, another son of Abdul-Mecid, was placed on the throne.

Abdul Hamid II

(reigned 1876–1909). Abdul Hamid II visited Europe, and many had high hopes for a liberal constitutional regime with him. However, at the time of his accession to the throne, Turkish influence in the Balkans was in danger despite the fact that Ottoman troops had managed to defeat Bosnian and Serbian rebels. This development of events forced Russia to threaten open intervention, which Austria-Hungary and Great Britain sharply opposed. In December 1876, a conference of ambassadors was convened in Istanbul, at which Abdul Hamid II announced the introduction of a constitution for 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 still led in 1877 to war with Russia. In this regard, Abdul Hamid II suspended the Constitution for the duration 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 camped 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 an end to hostilities. Initially, Russia imposed on the Sultan the extremely unfavorable 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 full 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 Batumi (Batumi) in the Caucasus; to regulate navigation on the Danube, a commission was created from representatives of the Danube 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 govern all his subjects equally fairly, and the European powers believed that the Berlin Congress had forever resolved the difficult Eastern problem.

During the 32-year reign of Abdul Hamid II, the Constitution never actually came into force. 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 given responsibility for payments on European bonds. Within a few years, confidence in the financial stability of the Ottoman Empire was restored, which facilitated the participation of foreign capital in the construction of such large projects as the Anatolian Railway, which linked Istanbul with Baghdad.

Young Turk revolution.

During these years, national uprisings occurred in Crete and Macedonia. In Crete, bloody clashes took place in 1896 and 1897, leading to the Empire's war with Greece in 1897. After 30 days of fighting, European powers intervened to save Athens from being captured 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 uplift were propagated by some journalists, the most talented of whom was Namik Kemal. Abdul-Hamid tried to suppress this movement with arrests, exile and executions. At the same time, Turkish secret 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, not being able to use force. Elections to parliament followed and the formation of a government consisting of 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 arriving 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 declared its independence, and Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Young Turks were powerless to prevent these events, and in 1911 they found themselves drawn into a conflict with Italy, which invaded the territory of modern Libya. The war ended in 1912 with the provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenaica becoming an Italian colony. In early 1912, Crete united with Greece, and later that year, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria began 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, watching with concern as 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 winners immediately began an internecine war. The Ottomans clashed with Bulgaria in order to recapture Edirne and the European areas 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.

The First World War 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 stronger European powers. On August 2, 1914, shortly after the outbreak of 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 the Minister of War, took part 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 shelled 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 take 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 launched by the sheriff of Mecca, Hussein ibn Ali, supported by the Entente. As a result of these events, the Ottoman government completely collapsed, although Turkish troops, with German support, achieved a number of important victories: in 1915 they managed to repel an Entente attack on the Dardanelles Strait, and in 1916 they captured a British corps in Iraq and stopped the Russian advance in the east. During the war, the regime of capitulations was abolished and customs tariffs were increased to protect domestic trade. The Turks took over the business of the evicted national minorities, which helped create the core of a new Turkish commercial and industrial class. In 1918, when the Germans were recalled to defend the Hindenburg Line, the Ottoman Empire began to suffer defeats. 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.

Collapse of the empire.

The fate of most of the Ottoman provinces was determined in secret treaties of the Entente during the war. The Sultanate agreed to the separation of areas 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 ascended the throne, who, although he retained the government in Istanbul, actually became dependent on the Allied occupation forces. Problems grew in the interior of the country, far from the locations of the Entente troops and the power 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 forces landed in Izmir and began advancing deep into Asia Minor to take the protection of the Greeks in Western Anatolia. Finally, in August 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres was signed. No area of ​​the Ottoman Empire remained free from foreign surveillance. An international commission was created to control the Black Sea Straits and Istanbul. After unrest occurred in early 1920 as a result of rising national sentiments, British troops entered Istanbul.

Mustafa Kemal and the Treaty of Lausanne.

In the spring of 1920, Mustafa Kemal, the most successful Ottoman military leader of the war, convened the Great National Assembly in Ankara. He arrived from Istanbul to Anatolia on May 19, 1919 (the date from which the Turkish national liberation struggle began), where he united around himself patriotic forces striving to preserve Turkish statehood and the independence of the Turkish nation. From 1920 to 1922, Kemal and his supporters defeated 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 disarray to Izmir and the coastal areas. Then Kemal's troops headed to the Black Sea straits, where British troops were located. After the British Parliament refused to support the proposal to begin hostilities, British Prime Minister Lloyd George resigned, and 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 representatives to the 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 full independence of Turkey. The Office of the Ottoman State Debt and Capitulation were abolished, and foreign control over the country was abolished. At the same time, Türkiye agreed to demilitarize the Black Sea straits. The province of Mosul with its oil fields was transferred to Iraq. It was planned to carry out a population exchange 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, which held all of Europe and Asia in fear, lasted for more than 600 years. The once rich and powerful state founded by Osman I Gazi, having gone through all stages of development, prosperity and fall, repeated the fate of all empires. Like any empire, the Ottoman Empire, having begun the development and expansion of borders from a small beylik, had its apogee of development, which fell in the 16th-17th centuries.

During this period, it was one of the most powerful states, accommodating many peoples of various religions. Owning vast territories of a significant part of South-Eastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, at one time it completely controlled the Mediterranean Sea, providing a connection between Europe and the East.

Weakening of the Ottomans

The history of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire began long before the manifestation of obvious reasons for the weakening of power. At the end of the 17th century. the previously invincible Turkish army was first defeated when trying to take the city of Vienna in 1683. The city was besieged by the Ottomans, but the courage and self-sacrifice of the city's inhabitants and the protective garrison, led by skilled military leaders, prevented the invaders from conquering the city. Because the Poles came to the rescue, they had to abandon this venture along with the booty. With this defeat, the myth of the invincibility of the Ottomans was dispelled.

The events that followed this defeat led to the conclusion of the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, according to which the Ottomans lost significant territories, the lands of Hungary, Transylvania and Timisoara. This event violated the indivisibility of the empire, breaking the morale of the Turks and raising the spirit of the Europeans.

Chain of defeats for the Ottomans

After the fall, the first half of the next century brought little stability by maintaining control of the Black Sea and access to Azov. The second, towards the end of the 18th century. brought an even more significant defeat than the previous one. In 1774, the Turkish War ended, as a result of which the lands between the Dnieper and the Southern Bug were transferred to Russia. The following year, the Turks lose Bukovina, annexed to Austria.

End of the 18th century brought absolute defeat in the Russian-Turkish war, as a result of which the Ottomans lost the entire Northern Black Sea region with Crimea. In addition, the lands between the Southern Bug and the Dniester were ceded to Russia, and the Porte, called the Ottoman Empire by Europeans, lost its dominant position in the Caucasus and the Balkans. The northern part of Bulgaria united with Southern Rumelia, becoming independent.

A significant milestone in the fall of the empire was played by the following defeat in the Russian-Turkish war of 1806 - 1812, as a result of which the territory from the Dniester to the Prut went to Russia, becoming the Bessarabia province, present-day Moldova.

In the agony of losing territories, the Turks decided to regain their positions, as a result of which 1828 brought only disappointments; according to the new peace treaty, they lost the Danube Delta, and Greece became independent.

Time was lost for industrialization while Europe was developing with great strides in this regard, which led to the Turks lagging behind Europe in technology and modernization of the army. The economic decline caused its weakening.

Coup d'etat

The coup d'etat of 1876 under the leadership of Midhat Pasha, together with previous reasons, played a key role in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, accelerating it. As a result of the coup, Sultan Abdul-Aziz was overthrown, a constitution was formed, a parliament was organized, and a reform project was developed.

A year later, Abdul Hamid II formed an authoritarian state, repressing all the founders of the reforms. By pitting Muslims against Christians, the Sultan tried to solve all social problems. As a result of the defeat in the Russian-Turkish war and the loss of significant territories, structural problems only became more acute, which led to a new attempt to resolve all issues by changing the course of development.

Revolution of the Young Turks

The revolution of 1908 was carried out by young officers who received an excellent European education. Based on this, the revolution began to be called the Young Turk. Young people understood that the state could not exist in this form. As a result of the revolution, with the full support of the people, Abdul Hamid was forced to reintroduce a constitution and parliament. However, a year later the Sultan decided to carry out a counter-coup, which turned out to be unsuccessful. Then representatives of the Young Turks erected a new Sultan, Mehmed V, taking almost all power into their own hands.

Their regime turned out to be cruel. Obsessed with the intention of reuniting all Turkic-speaking Muslims into one state, they ruthlessly suppressed all national movements, bringing the genocide against the Armenians to state policy. In October 1918, the occupation of the country forced the leaders of the Young Turks to flee.

Collapse of the Empire

At the height of World War I, the Turks entered into an agreement with Germany in 1914, declaring war on the Entente, which played a fatal, final role, predetermining 1923, which became the year of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. During the war, the Porte suffered defeats along with its allies, until its complete defeat in 20 and the loss of the remaining territories. In 1922, the sultanate separated from the caliphate and was liquidated.

In October of the following year, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and its consequences led to the formation of the Turkish Republic within new borders, led by President Mustafa Kemal. The collapse of the empire led to massacres and evictions of Christians.

On the territory occupied by the Ottoman Empire, many Eastern European and Asian states arose. The once powerful empire, after the peak of development and greatness, like all empires of the past and future, was doomed to decay and collapse.

Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Porte, Ottoman Empire - other commonly used names) is one of the great empires of human civilization.
The Ottoman Empire was created in 1299. The Turkic tribes, under the leadership of their leader Osman I, united into one strong state, and Osman himself became the first sultan of the created empire.
In the 16th-17th centuries, during the period of its greatest power and prosperity, the Ottoman Empire occupied a huge area. It extended from Vienna and the outskirts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north to modern Yemen in the south, from modern Algeria in the west to the coast of the Caspian Sea in the east.
The population of the Ottoman Empire within its largest borders amounted to 35 and a half million people, it was a huge superpower, the military power and ambitions of which had to be reckoned with by the most powerful states in Europe - Sweden, England, Austria-Hungary, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Russian state (later the Russian Empire), the Papal States, France, and influential countries of the rest of the planet.
The capital of the Ottoman Empire was repeatedly moved from city to city.
From its founding (1299) until 1329, the capital of the Ottoman Empire was the city of Söğüt.
From 1329 to 1365, the capital of the Ottoman Porte was the city of Bursa.
From 1365 to 1453, the capital of the state was the city of Edirne.
From 1453 until the collapse of the empire (1922), the capital of the empire was the city of Istanbul (Constantinople).
All four cities were and are located on the territory of modern Turkey.
Over the years of its existence, the empire annexed the territories of modern Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Romania, Bulgaria, part of Ukraine, Abkhazia, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Lebanon, the territory of modern Israel, Sudan, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan, Albania, Palestine, Cyprus, part of Persia (modern Iran), southern regions of Russia (Crimea, Rostov region , Krasnodar Territory, Republic of Adygea, Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region, Republic of Dagestan).
The Ottoman Empire lasted 623 years!
Administratively, the entire empire at its peak was divided into vilayets: Abyssinia, Abkhazia, Akhishka, Adana, Aleppo, Algeria, Anatolia, Ar-Raqqa, Baghdad, Basra, Bosnia, Buda, Van, Wallachia, Gori, Ganja, Demirkapi, Dmanisi, Gyor, Diyarbakir, Egypt, Zabid, Yemen, Kafa, Kakheti, Kanizha, Karaman, Kars, Cyprus, Lazistan, Lori, Marash, Moldova, Mosul, Nakhichevan, Rumelia, Montenegro, Sana, Samtskhe, Soget, Silistria, Sivas, Syria, Temesvar, Tabriz, Trabzon, Tripoli, Tripolitania, Tiflis, Tunisia, Sharazor, Shirvan, Aegean Islands, Eger, Egel Hasa, Erzurum.
The history of the Ottoman Empire began with the struggle against the once strong Byzantine Empire. The future first sultan of the empire, Osman I (reigned 1299 - 1326), began to annex region after region to his possessions. In fact, the modern Turkish lands were being united into a single state. In 1299, Osman called himself the title of Sultan. This year is considered the year of the founding of a mighty empire.
His son Orhan I (r. 1326 – 1359) continued his father's policies. In 1330, his army conquered the Byzantine fortress of Nicaea. Then, during continuous wars, this ruler established complete control over the coasts of the Marmara and Aegean Seas, annexing Greece and Cyprus.
Under Orhan I, a regular army of Janissaries was created.
The conquests of Orhan I were continued by his son Murad (reigned 1359 – 1389).
Murad set his sights on Southern Europe. In 1365, Thrace (part of the territory of modern Romania) was conquered. Then Serbia was conquered (1371).
In 1389, during the battle with the Serbs on the Kosovo field, Murad was stabbed to death by the Serbian prince Milos Obilic who sneaked into his tent. The Janissaries almost lost the battle after learning of the death of their sultan, but his son Bayezid I led the army into the attack and thereby saved the Turks from defeat.
Subsequently, Bayezid I becomes the new sultan of the empire (reigned 1389 - 1402). This sultan conquers all of Bulgaria, Wallachia (the historical region of Romania), Macedonia (modern Macedonia and Northern Greece) and Thessaly (modern Central Greece).
In 1396, Bayazid I defeated the huge army of the Polish king Sigismund near Nikopol (Zaporozhye region of modern Ukraine).
However, not all was calm in the Ottoman Porte. Persia began to lay claim to its Asian possessions and the Persian Shah Timur invaded the territory of modern Azerbaijan. Moreover, Timur moved with his army towards Ankara and Istanbul. A battle took place near Ankara, in which the army of Bayazid I was completely destroyed, and the Sultan himself was captured by the Persian Shah. A year later, Bayazid dies in captivity.
The Ottoman Empire faced a real threat of being conquered by Persia. In the empire, three people proclaim themselves sultans at once. In Adrianople, Suleiman (reigned 1402 - 1410) proclaims himself sultan, in Brousse - Issa (reigned 1402 - 1403), and in the eastern part of the empire bordering Persia - Mehmed (reigned 1402 - 1421).
Seeing this, Timur decided to take advantage of this situation and set all three sultans against each other. He received everyone in turn and promised his support to everyone. In 1403, Mehmed kills Issa. In 1410, Suleiman unexpectedly dies. Mehmed becomes the only Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. In the remaining years of his reign, there were no aggressive campaigns; moreover, he concluded peace treaties with neighboring states - Byzantium, Hungary, Serbia and Wallachia.
However, internal uprisings began to break out more than once in the empire itself. The next Turkish Sultan - Murad II (reigned 1421 - 1451) - decided to restore order in the territory of the empire. He destroyed his brothers and stormed Constantinople, the main stronghold of unrest in the empire. On the Kosovo field, Murad also won a victory, defeating the Transylvanian army of governor Matthias Hunyadi. Under Murad, Greece was completely conquered. However, then Byzantium again established control over it.
His son, Mehmed II (reigned 1451 – 1481), managed to finally take Constantinople, the last stronghold of the weakened Byzantine Empire. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine Palaiologos, failed to defend the main city of Byzantium with the help of the Greeks and Genoese.
Mehmed II put an end to the existence of the Byzantine Empire - it completely became part of the Ottoman Porte, and Constantinople, which he conquered, became the new capital of the empire.
With the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II and the destruction of the Byzantine Empire, a century and a half of the true heyday of the Ottoman Porte began.
Throughout the 150 years of subsequent rule, the Ottoman Empire waged continuous wars to expand its borders and captured more and more new territories. After the capture of Greece, the Ottomans waged war with the Venetian Republic for more than 16 years and in 1479 Venice became Ottoman. In 1467, Albania was completely captured. In the same year, Bosnia and Herzegovina was captured.
In 1475, the Ottomans began a war with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray. As a result of the war, the Crimean Khanate becomes dependent on the Sultan and begins to pay him yasak
(that is, tribute).
In 1476, the Moldavian kingdom was devastated, which also became a vassal state. The Moldavian prince also now pays tribute to the Turkish Sultan.
In 1480, the Ottoman fleet attacks the southern cities of the Papal States (modern Italy). Pope Sixtus IV declares a crusade against Islam.
Mehmed II can rightfully be proud of all these conquests; he was the sultan who restored the power of the Ottoman Empire and brought order within the empire. The people gave him the nickname “Conqueror”.
His son Bayazed III (reigned 1481 – 1512) ruled the empire during a short period of intra-palace unrest. His brother Cem attempted a conspiracy, several vilayets rebelled and troops were gathered against the Sultan. Bayazed III advances with his army towards his brother’s army and wins, Cem flees to the Greek island of Rhodes, and from there to the Papal States.
Pope Alexander VI, for the huge reward received from the Sultan, gives him his brother. Cem was subsequently executed.
Under Bayazed III, the Ottoman Empire began trade relations with the Russian state - Russian merchants arrived in Constantinople.
In 1505, the Venetian Republic was completely defeated and lost all its possessions in the Mediterranean.
Bayazed begins a long war with Persia in 1505.
In 1512, his youngest son Selim conspired against Bayazed. His army defeated the Janissaries, and Bayazed himself was poisoned. Selim becomes the next Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, however, he did not rule it for long (reign period - 1512 - 1520).
Selim's main success was the defeat of Persia. The victory was very difficult for the Ottomans. As a result, Persia lost the territory of modern Iraq, which was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.
Then begins the era of the most powerful sultan of the Ottoman Empire - Suleiman the Great (reigned 1520 -1566). Suleiman the Great was the son of Selim. Suleiman ruled the Ottoman Empire for the longest time of all the sultans. Under Suleiman, the empire reached its greatest borders.
In 1521, the Ottomans take Belgrade.
In the next five years, the Ottomans captured their first African territories - Algeria and Tunisia.
In 1526, the Ottoman Empire made an attempt to conquer the Austrian Empire. At the same time, the Turks invaded Hungary. Budapest was taken, Hungary became part of the Ottoman Empire.
Suleiman's army besieges Vienna, but the siege ends in the defeat of the Turks - Vienna was not taken, the Ottomans left with nothing. They failed to conquer the Austrian Empire in the future; it was one of the few states in Central Europe that resisted the power of the Ottoman Porte.
Suleiman understood that it was impossible to be at enmity with all states; he was a skilled diplomat. Thus an alliance was concluded with France (1535).
If under Mehmed II the empire was revived again and the largest amount of territory was conquered, then under Sultan Suleiman the Great the area of ​​the empire became the largest.
Selim II (reigned 1566 – 1574) – son of Suleiman the Great. After his father's death he becomes Sultan. During his reign, the Ottoman Empire again entered into war with the Venetian Republic. The war lasted three years (1570 - 1573). As a result, Cyprus was taken from the Venetians and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.
Murad III (reigned 1574 – 1595) – son of Selim.
Under this sultan, almost all of Persia was conquered, and a strong competitor in the Middle East was eliminated. The Ottoman port included the entire Caucasus and the entire territory of modern Iran.
His son - Mehmed III (reigned 1595 - 1603) - became the most bloodthirsty sultan in the struggle for the Sultan's throne. He executed his 19 brothers in a struggle for power in the empire.
Beginning with Ahmed I (reigned 1603 – 1617) – the Ottoman Empire began to gradually lose its conquests and decrease in size. The golden age of the empire was over. Under this sultan, the Ottomans suffered a final defeat from the Austrian Empire, as a result of which the payment of yasak by Hungary was stopped. The new war with Persia (1603 - 1612) inflicted a number of very serious defeats on the Turks, as a result of which the Ottoman Empire lost the territories of modern Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Under this sultan, the decline of the empire began.
After Ahmed, the Ottoman Empire was ruled for only one year by his brother Mustafa I (reigned 1617 – 1618). Mustafa was insane and after a short reign was overthrown by the highest Ottoman clergy led by the Grand Mufti.
Osman II (reigned 1618 – 1622), son of Ahmed I, ascended the sultan’s throne. His reign was also short - only four years. Mustafa undertook an unsuccessful campaign against the Zaporozhye Sich, which ended in complete defeat from the Zaporozhye Cossacks. As a result, a conspiracy was committed by the Janissaries, as a result of which this sultan was killed.
Then the previously deposed Mustafa I (reigned 1622 - 1623) again becomes sultan. And again, like the last time, Mustafa managed to hold out on the Sultan’s throne for only a year. He was again dethroned and died a few years later.
The next sultan, Murad IV (reigned 1623-1640), was the younger brother of Osman II. He was one of the most cruel sultans of the empire, who became famous for his numerous executions. Under him, about 25,000 people were executed; there was not a day on which at least one execution was not carried out. Under Murad, Persia was reconquered, but Crimea was lost - the Crimean Khan no longer paid yasak to the Turkish Sultan.
The Ottomans also could not do anything to stop the predatory raids of the Zaporozhye Cossacks on the Black Sea coast.
His brother Ibrahim (r. 1640 – 1648) lost almost all of his predecessor's gains in the relatively short period of his reign. In the end, this sultan suffered the fate of Osman II - the Janissaries plotted and killed him.
His seven-year-old son Mehmed IV (reigned 1648 – 1687) was elevated to the throne. However, the child sultan did not have actual power in the first years of his reign until he reached adulthood - the state was ruled for him by viziers and pashas, ​​who were also appointed by the Janissaries.
In 1654, the Ottoman fleet inflicted a serious defeat on the Venetian Republic and regained control of the Dardanelles.
In 1656, the Ottoman Empire again begins a war with the Habsburg Empire - the Austrian Empire. Austria loses part of its Hungarian lands and is forced to conclude an unfavorable peace with the Ottomans.
In 1669, the Ottoman Empire begins a war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on the territory of Ukraine. As a result of a short-term war, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth loses Podolia (the territory of modern Khmelnitsky and Vinnytsia regions). Podolia was annexed to the Ottoman Empire.
In 1687, the Ottomans were again defeated by the Austrians, and they fought against the Sultan.
CONSPIRACY. Mehmed IV was dethroned by the clergy and his brother, Suleiman II (reigned 1687 - 1691), ascended the throne. This was a ruler who was constantly drunk and completely uninterested in state affairs.
He did not last long in power and another of his brothers, Ahmed II (reigned 1691-1695), ascended the throne. However, the new Sultan also could not do much to strengthen the state, while the Sultan the Austrians inflicted one defeat after another on the Turks.
Under the next sultan, Mustafa II (reigned 1695-1703), Belgrade was lost, and the resulting war with the Russian state, which lasted 13 years, greatly undermined the military power of the Ottoman Porte. Moreover, parts of Moldova, Hungary and Romania were lost. The territorial losses of the Ottoman Empire began to grow.
Mustafa's heir - Ahmed III (reigned 1703 - 1730) - turned out to be a brave and independent sultan in his decisions. During his reign, for some time, Charles XII, who was overthrown in Sweden and suffered a crushing defeat from the troops of Peter, acquired political asylum.
At the same time, Ahmed began a war against the Russian Empire. He managed to achieve significant success. Russian troops led by Peter the Great were defeated in Northern Bukovina and were surrounded. However, the Sultan understood that further war with Russia was quite dangerous and it was necessary to get out of it. Peter was asked to hand over Charles to be torn to pieces for the coast of the Azov Sea. And so it was done. The coast of the Azov Sea and surrounding areas, together with the Azov fortress (the territory of the modern Rostov region of Russia and the Donetsk region of Ukraine) were transferred to the Ottoman Empire, and Charles XII was handed over to the Russians.
Under Ahmet, the Ottoman Empire regained some of its former conquests. The territory of the Venetian Republic was reconquered (1714).
In 1722, Ahmed made a careless decision to start a war with Persia again. The Ottomans suffered several defeats, the Persians invaded Ottoman territory, and an uprising began in Constantinople itself, as a result of which Ahmed was overthrown from the throne.
His nephew, Mahmud I (reigned 1730 – 1754), ascended the Sultan’s throne.
Under this sultan, a protracted war was waged with Persia and the Austrian Empire. No new territorial acquisitions were made, with the exception of the reconquered Serbia and Belgrade.
Mahmud remained in power for a relatively long time and turned out to be the first sultan after Suleiman the Great to die a natural death.
Then his brother Osman III came to power (reigned 1754 - 1757). During these years, there were no significant events in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Osman also died of natural causes.
Mustafa III (reigned 1757 - 1774), who ascended the throne after Osman III, decided to recreate the military power of the Ottoman Empire. In 1768, Mustafa declared war on the Russian Empire. The war lasts six years and ends with the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774. As a result of the war, the Ottoman Empire loses Crimea and loses control over the northern Black Sea region.
Abdul Hamid I (r. 1774-1789) ascends the Sultan's throne just before the end of the war with the Russian Empire. It is this Sultan who ends the war. There is no longer order in the empire itself, fermentation and discontent begin. The Sultan, through several punitive operations, pacifies Greece and Cyprus, and calm is restored there. However, in 1787, a new war began against Russia and Austria-Hungary. The war lasts four years and ends under the new Sultan in two ways - Crimea is completely lost and the war with Russia ends in defeat, and with Austria-Hungary the outcome of the war is favorable. Serbia and part of Hungary were returned.
Both wars were ended under Sultan Selim III (reigned 1789 – 1807). Selim attempted profound reforms of his empire. Selim III decided to liquidate
Janissary army and introduce a conscript army. During his reign, the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte captured and took Egypt and Syria from the Ottomans. Great Britain took the side of the Ottomans and destroyed Napoleon's group in Egypt. However, both countries were lost to the Ottomans forever.
The reign of this sultan was also complicated by the Janissary uprisings in Belgrade, to suppress which it was necessary to divert a large number of troops loyal to the sultan. At the same time, while the Sultan is fighting the rebels in Serbia, a conspiracy is being prepared against him in Constantinople. Selim's power was eliminated, the Sultan was arrested and imprisoned.
Mustafa IV (reigned 1807 – 1808) was placed on the throne. However, a new uprising led to the fact that the old Sultan, Selim III, was killed in prison, and Mustafa himself fled.
Mahmud II (reigned 1808 – 1839) was the next Turkish sultan to attempt to revive the power of the empire. He was an evil, cruel and vengeful ruler. He ended the war with Russia in 1812 by signing the Treaty of Bucharest, which was beneficial for himself - Russia had no time for the Ottoman Empire that year - after all, Napoleon and his army were in full swing towards Moscow. True, Bessarabia was lost, which went under peace terms to the Russian Empire. However, all the achievements of this ruler ended there - the empire suffered new territorial losses. After the end of the war with Napoleonic France, the Russian Empire provided military assistance to Greece in 1827. The Ottoman fleet was completely defeated and Greece was lost.
Two years later, the Ottoman Empire forever lost Serbia, Moldova, Wallachia, and the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. Under this sultan, the empire suffered the greatest territorial losses in its history.
The period of his reign was marked by mass riots of Muslims throughout the empire. But Mahmud also reciprocated - a rare day of his reign was not complete without executions.
Abdulmecid is the next sultan, the son of Mahmud II (reigned 1839 - 1861), who ascended the Ottoman throne. He was not particularly decisive like his father, but was a more cultured and polite ruler. The new Sultan concentrated his efforts on carrying out domestic reforms. However, during his reign, the Crimean War took place (1853 - 1856). As a result of this war, the Ottoman Empire received a symbolic victory - Russian fortresses on the sea coast were razed, and the fleet was removed from Crimea. However, the Ottoman Empire did not receive any territorial acquisitions after the war.
Abdul-Mecid's successor, Abdul-Aziz (reigned 1861 - 1876), was distinguished by hypocrisy and inconstancy. He was also a bloodthirsty tyrant, but he managed to build a new powerful Turkish fleet, which became the reason for a new subsequent war with the Russian Empire, which began in 1877.
In May 1876, Abdul Aziz was overthrown from the Sultan's throne as a result of a palace coup.
Murad V became the new sultan (reigned 1876). Murad lasted on the Sultan's throne for a record short time - only three months. The practice of overthrowing such weak rulers was common and had already been worked out over several centuries - the supreme clergy, led by the mufti, carried out a conspiracy and overthrew the weak ruler.
Murad's brother, Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876 - 1908), ascends the throne. The new ruler unleashes another war with the Russian Empire, this time the Sultan’s main goal was to return the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus to the empire.
The war lasted a year and pretty much frayed the nerves of the Russian emperor and his army. First, Abkhazia was captured, then the Ottomans moved deep into the Caucasus towards Ossetia and Chechnya. However, the tactical advantage was on the side of the Russian troops - in the end, the Ottomans were defeated
The Sultan manages to suppress an armed uprising in Bulgaria (1876). At the same time, war began with Serbia and Montenegro.
For the first time in the history of the empire, this sultan published a new Constitution and made an attempt to establish a mixed form of government - he tried to introduce a parliament. However, a few days later the parliament was dissolved.
The end of the Ottoman Empire was close - in almost all its parts there were uprisings and rebellions, which the Sultan had difficulty coping with.
In 1878, the empire finally lost Serbia and Romania.
In 1897, Greece declared war on the Ottoman Porte, but the attempt to free itself from the Turkish yoke failed. The Ottomans occupy most of the country and Greece is forced to sue for peace.
In 1908, an armed uprising took place in Istanbul, as a result of which Abdul Hamid II was overthrown from the throne. The monarchy in the country lost its former power and began to be decorative.
The triumvirate of Enver, Talaat and Dzhemal came to power. These people were no longer sultans, but they did not last long in power - an uprising took place in Istanbul and the last, 36th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed VI (reigned 1908 - 1922), was placed on the throne.
The Ottoman Empire was forced into three Balkan Wars, which ended before the outbreak of the First World War. As a result of these wars, the Porte loses Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Slovenia.
After these wars, due to the inconsistent actions of the Kaiser's Germany, the Ottoman Empire was actually drawn into the First World War.
On October 30, 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of the Kaiser's Germany.
After the First World War, the Porte lost its last conquests, except for Greece - Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
And in 1919, Greece itself achieved independence.
There is nothing left of the once former and powerful Ottoman Empire, only the metropolis within the borders of modern Turkey.
The question of the complete fall of the Ottoman Porte became a matter of several years, and maybe even months.
In 1919, Greece, after liberation from the Turkish yoke, attempted to take revenge on the Porte for centuries of suffering - the Greek army invaded the territory of modern Turkey and captured the city of Izmir. However, even without the Greeks, the fate of the empire was sealed. A revolution began in the country. The leader of the rebels, General Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, gathered the remnants of the army and expelled the Greeks from Turkish territory.
In September 1922, the Porte was completely cleared of foreign troops. The last sultan, Mehmed VI, was overthrown from the throne. He was given the opportunity to leave the country forever, which he did.
On September 23, 1923, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed within its modern borders. Ataturk becomes the first president of Turkey.
The era of the Ottoman Empire has sunk into oblivion.

The Ottoman Empire (in Europe it was traditionally called the Ottoman Empire) is the largest Turkish sultanate state, the heir to the Muslim Arab Caliphate and Christian Byzantium.

The Ottomans are a dynasty of Turkish sultans that ruled the state from 1299 to 1923. The Ottoman Empire was formed in the 15th–16th centuries. as a result of Turkish conquests in Asia, Europe and Africa. Over the course of 2 centuries, a small and little-known Ottoman emirate became a huge empire, the pride and strength of the entire Muslim world.

The Turkish Empire lasted for 6 centuries, occupying the period of its greatest prosperity, from the middle of the 16th century. until the last decade of the 18th century, vast lands - Turkey, the Balkan Peninsula, Mesopotamia, North Africa, the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black Seas, the Middle East. Within these borders, the empire existed for a long historical period, posing a tangible threat to all neighboring countries and distant territories: the army of the sultans was feared by all of Western Europe and Russia, and the Turkish fleet reigned supreme in the Mediterranean Sea.

Having transformed from a small Turkic principality into a strong military-feudal state, the Ottoman Empire fought fiercely against the “infidels” for almost 600 years. The Ottoman Turks, continuing the work of their Arab predecessors, captured Constantinople and all the territories of Byzantium, turning the former powerful power into a Muslim land and connecting Europe with Asia.

After 1517, having established his authority over the holy places, the Ottoman sultan became the minister of two ancient shrines - Mecca and Medina. The conferment of this rank gave the Ottoman ruler a special duty - to protect the holy Muslim cities and promote the well-being of the annual pilgrimage to the shrines of devout Muslims. From this period of history, the Ottoman state almost completely merged with Islam and tried in every possible way to expand the territories of its influence.

Ottoman Empire, by the 20th century. Having already lost enough of its former greatness and power, it finally disintegrated after the defeat in the First World War, which became fatal for many states of the world.

The beginning of the existence of Turkish civilization should be attributed to the period of the Great Migration, when in the middle of the 1st millennium, Turkic settlers from Asia Minor found refuge under the rule of the Byzantine emperors.

At the end of the 11th century, when the Seljuk sultans, persecuted by the crusaders, moved to the borders of Byzantium, the Oghuz Turks, being the main people of the sultanate, assimilated with the local Anatolian population - Greeks, Persians, Armenians. Thus a new nation was born - the Turks, representatives of the Turkic-Islamic group, surrounded by a Christian population. The Turkish nation was finally formed in the 15th century.

In the weakened Seljuk state, they adhered to traditional Islam, and the central government, which had lost its power, relied on officials consisting of Greeks and Persians. During the XII–XIII centuries. the power of the supreme ruler became less and less noticeable along with the strengthening of the power of local beys. After the Mongol invasion in the middle of the 13th century. The Seljuk state practically ceases to exist, torn apart from within by the unrest of religious sectarians. By the 14th century Of the ten beyliks located on the territory of the state, the western one, which was first ruled by Ertogrul and then by his son Osman, who later became the founder of the huge Turkish power, stands out prominently.

Osman I, the Turkish Bey of the Ottoman dynasty, is the founder of the Ottoman dynasty.

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 (Fig. 8) became the third ruler of the Ottoman Empire, adding territories near Ankara to its possessions and setting off on a military campaign to Europe.

Rice. 8. Ruler Murad I

Murad was the first Sultan of the Ottoman dynasty and a true champion of Islam. The first schools in Turkish history began to be built in the cities of the country.

After the 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".

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.

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.

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.

Rice. 9. Sultan Suleiman

Having become a sultan at the age of 25, Suleiman significantly expanded the borders of the state, capturing Rhodes in 1522, Mesopotamia in 1534, and Hungary in 1541.

The ruler of the Ottoman Empire was traditionally called Sultan, a title of Arabic origin. It is considered correct to use such terms as “shah”, “padishah”, “khan”, “Caesar”, which came from different peoples who were 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 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.

The great city of Istanbul, or Istanbul (formerly Bizans and then Constantinople), was the heart of the Ottoman Empire, its pride.

Strabo reported that the city of Byzans was founded by Greek colonists in the 7th century. BC e. And named after their leader Visas. In 330, the city, which became a major trade and cultural center, was turned into the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine. New Rome was renamed Constantinople. The Turks named the city for the third time, having captured the long-desired capital of Byzantium. The name Istanbul literally means “to the city.”

Having captured Constantinople in 1453, the Turks made this ancient city, which they called “the threshold of happiness,” a new Muslim center, erected several majestic mosques, mausoleums and madrassas, and in every possible way contributed to the further flourishing of the capital. Most of the Christian churches were converted into mosques; a large oriental bazaar was built in the center of the city, surrounded by caravanserais, fountains, and hospitals. The Islamization of the city, begun by Sultan Mehmed II, continued under his successors, who sought to radically change the former Christian capital.

Workers were required for the grandiose construction, and the sultans did their best to facilitate the resettlement of both Muslim and non-Muslim populations to the capital. Muslim, Jewish, Armenian, Greek, and Persian quarters appeared in the city, in which crafts and trade developed rapidly. A church, mosque or synagogue was built in the center of each block. The cosmopolitan city respected any religion. True, the allowed height of a house for Muslims was slightly higher than for representatives of other religions.

At the end of the 16th century. More than 600,000 inhabitants lived in the Ottoman capital - it was the largest city in the world. It should be noted that all other cities of the Ottoman Empire, except Istanbul, Cairo, Aleppo and Damascus, could rather be called large rural settlements, the number of inhabitants in which rarely exceeded 8,000 people.

The social system of the Ottoman Empire was completely subordinated to military discipline. As soon as a new territory was captured, it was divided into fiefs between military leaders without the right to transfer the land by inheritance. With such land use, the institution of nobility did not appear in Turkey; there was no one to claim the division of supreme power.

Every man in the empire was a warrior and began his service as a common soldier. Each owner of an earthly plot (timara) was obliged to abandon all peaceful affairs and join the army at the outbreak of war.

The Sultan's orders were accurately transmitted to two beys of the same berlik, as a rule, a European and a Turk, they transmitted the order to the governors of the districts (sanjaks), and they, in turn, conveyed information to the minor rulers (aliybeys), from whom the orders were passed on to the leaders of the small military detachments and to the leaders of a group of detachments (timarlits). After receiving orders, everyone got ready for war, mounted their horses, and the army was ready with lightning speed for new captures and battles.

The army was supplemented by mercenary detachments and Janissary guards, recruited from among captured youths from other countries of the world. In the first years of the state's existence, the entire territory was divided into sanjaks (banners), headed by the sanjak bey. Bey was not only a manager, but also the leader of his own small army, consisting of relatives. Over time, having turned from nomads into a settled population of the empire, the Turks created a regular army of Sipahi horsemen.

Each Sipah warrior received a land plot for his service, for which he paid a certain tax to the treasury and which could be inherited only by one of his successors who enlisted in the army.

In the 16th century In addition to the land army, the Sultan created a large modern fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, which mainly consisted of large galleys, frigates, galliots and rowing boats. Since 1682, there was a transition from sailing ships to oared ones. Both prisoners of war and criminals served as rowers in the fleet. The striking force on the rivers were special gunboats, which took part not only in major military battles, but also in suppressing uprisings.

Over the 6 centuries of the existence of the Ottoman Empire, its powerful army changed radically 3 times. At the first stage (from the 14th to the 16th centuries), the Turkish army was considered one of the most combat-ready in the whole world. His power was based on the strong authority of the Sultan, supported by local rulers, and on the most severe discipline. The Sultan's guard, consisting of Janissaries, and well-organized cavalry also significantly strengthened the army. In addition, it was, of course, a well-armed army with numerous artillery pieces.

At the second stage (in the 17th century), the Turkish army was experiencing a crisis due to a significant reduction in aggressive campaigns and, consequently, a decrease in military production. The Janissaries, from a combat-ready unit of a large army, turned into the personal guard of the Sultan and took part in all internal strife. New mercenary troops, supplied worse than before, constantly rebelled.

The third stage, which began at the beginning of the 18th century, is closely related to attempts to rebuild the weakened army in order to return it to its former power and strength. The Turkish sultans were forced to invite Western instructors, which caused a sharp reaction from the Janissaries. In 1826, the Sultan had to disband the Janissary corps.

Agriculture, farming and livestock breeding played the main role in the economy of the huge empire.

All lands of the empire were in state ownership. The warriors - the commanders of the sipahis - became the owners of large plots of land (zeamet), on which hired raya peasants worked. The Zaims and the Timariots under their leadership were the basis of the huge Turkish army. In addition, militia and Janissary guards served in the army. The military schools in which future warriors were trained were subordinate to the monks of the Bektashi Sufi order.

The state treasury was constantly replenished from military spoils and taxes, as well as as a result of the development of trade. Gradually, in the militarized state, a layer of bureaucrats emerged that had the right to own land plots such as timars. Around the Sultan were people close to him, large landowners from among the ruler’s relatives. All leading positions in the state administrative apparatus were also occupied by representatives of the family to which the Sultan belonged; Later, it was this state of affairs that served as one of the reasons for the weakening of the empire. The Sultan had a huge harem, and after his death many heirs laid claim to the throne, which caused constant disputes and strife within the Sultan's circle. During the heyday of the state, a system of killing all potential rivals to the throne was almost officially developed by one of the heirs.

The supreme body of the state, completely subordinate to the Sultan, was the Highest Council (Diwan-i-Khumayun), consisting of viziers. The legislation of the empire was subject to Islamic law, Sharia and adopted in the middle of the 15th century. code of laws. All power was divided into three large parts - military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious.

Suleiman I the Magnificent, who ruled in the middle of the 16th century, received a second nickname - Kanuni (Lawgiver) thanks to several of his successful bills that strengthened the central government.

At the beginning of the 16th century. There were 16 large regions in the country, each of which was headed by a beylerbey governor. In turn, large regions were divided into small districts-sanjaks. All local rulers were subordinate to the Grand Vizier.

A characteristic feature of the Ottoman Empire was the unequal position of people of other faiths - Greeks, Armenians, Slavs, Jews. The Turks, who were in the minority, and the few Muslim Arabs were exempt from additional taxes and occupied all leading positions in the state.

According to rough estimates, the entire population of the empire during the heyday of the state was about 22 million people.

Muslims and non-Muslims are the two large groups in the population of the Ottoman Empire.

Muslims, in turn, were divided into askers (all military personnel and state officials) and rayas (literally “flocked”, rural residents-farmers and ordinary townspeople, and in some periods of history – merchants). Unlike the peasants of medieval Europe, the rayas were not attached to the land and in most cases could move to another place or become artisans.

Non-Muslims made up three large religious parts, which included Orthodox Christians (Rum, or Romans) - Balkan Slavs, Greeks, Orthodox Arabs, Georgians; Eastern Christians (ermeni) - Armenians; Jews (Yahudi) - Karaites, Romaniots, Sephardim, Ashkenazi.

The position of Christians and Jews, i.e. non-Muslims, was determined by Islamic law (Sharia), which allowed representatives of other peoples and religions to live on the territory of the empire, adhere to their beliefs, but obliged them to pay a poll tax as subjects who were one step lower than everyone else. Muslims.

All representatives of other religions had to be different in appearance, wear different clothes, and refrain from wearing bright colors. The Koran forbade a non-Muslim to marry a Muslim girl, and in court, priority was given to Muslims in resolving any issues and disputes.

The Greeks were mainly engaged in small trade, crafts, kept taverns or devoted themselves to maritime affairs. The Armenians controlled the silk trade between Persia and Istanbul. Jews found themselves in metal smelting, jewelry making, and usury. The Slavs were engaged in crafts or served in Christian military units.

According to Muslim tradition, a person who mastered a profession and brought benefit to people was considered a happy and worthy member of society. All residents of the huge power received some kind of profession, supported in this by the example of the great sultans. Thus, the ruler of the empire, Mehmed II, mastered gardening, and Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent were high-class jewelers. Many sultans wrote poetry, being fluent in this art.

This state of affairs remained until 1839, when all subjects of the empire, according to the adopted law, during the period of reforms (tanzimat) that began, received equal rights.

The position of the slave in Ottoman society was much better than in the ancient world. Special articles of the Koran prescribed to provide the slave with medical care, feed him well and help him in old age. For cruel treatment of a slave, a Muslim faced serious punishment.

A special category of the empire's population were slaves (kele), people without rights, as in the rest of the slave-owning world. In the Ottoman Empire, a slave could not have a house, property, or have the right to inheritance. A slave could only marry with the permission of the owner. A slave-concubine who gave birth to a child for her master became free after his death.

Slaves in the Ottoman Empire helped run the household, served as guards in mausoleums, madrassas and mosques, and as eunuchs who guarded the harem and their master. Most female slaves became concubines and maids. Slaves were used much less in the army and agriculture.

Baghdad, which flourished during the Abbasid era, fell into complete decline after the invasion of Timur's army. The rich Mesopotamia was also deserted, first turning into a sparsely populated region of Safavid Iran, and in the middle of the 18th century. became a distant part of the Ottoman Empire.

Türkiye gradually increased its political influence over the territories of Iraq and developed colonial trade in every possible way.

Arabia, inhabited by Arabs, formally submitted to the authority of the sultans, retained significant independence in internal affairs. In Central Arabia during the 16th–17th centuries. Bedouins, led by sheikhs, were in charge, and in the middle of the 18th century. A Wahhabi emirate was created on its territory, which extended its influence to almost the entire territory of Arabia, including Mecca.

In 1517, having conquered Egypt, the Turks almost did not interfere in the internal affairs of this state. Egypt was governed by a pasha appointed by the sultan, and locally the Mamluk beys still had significant influence. During the crisis period of the 18th century. Egypt moved away from the empire and the Mamluk rulers pursued an independent policy, as a result of which Napoleon easily captured the country. Only pressure from Great Britain forced the ruler of Egypt, Mahummed Ali, to recognize the sovereignty of the Sultan and return to Turkey the territories of Syria, Arabia and Crete captured by the Mamluks.

An important part of the empire was Syria, which submitted to the Sultan almost completely with the exception of the mountainous regions of the country.

Having captured Constantinople in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul, the Ottoman Empire established power over European lands for several centuries. The Eastern question has once again appeared on the agenda for Europe. Now it sounded like this: how far can Turkish expansion penetrate and how long can it last?

There was talk of organizing a new Crusade against the Turks, but the church and the imperial government, weakened by this time, were unable to gather the strength to organize it. Islam was at the stage of its prosperity and had a huge moral superiority in the Muslim world, which, thanks to the cementing properties of Islam, the strong military organization of the state and the authority of the sultans, allowed the Ottoman Empire to gain a foothold in southeastern Europe.

Over the next 2 centuries, the Turks managed to annex even more vast territories to their possessions, which greatly frightened the Christian world.

Pope Pius II made an attempt to curb the Turks and convert them to Christianity. He composed a message to the Turkish Sultan, in which he invited him to accept Christianity, arguing that baptism would glorify the Ottoman ruler. The Turks did not even bother to send a reply, starting new conquests.

For many years, European powers were forced to reckon with the policies of the Ottoman Empire in territories inhabited by Christians.

The crisis of the empire began from within, along with the accelerated growth of its population in the second half of the 16th century. A large number of landless peasants appeared in the country, and the timars, decreasing in size, brought in income that decreased every year.

Popular riots broke out in Syria, and in Anatolia peasants rebelled against exorbitant taxes.

Researchers believe that the decline of the Ottoman state dates back to the reign of Ahmed I (1603–1617). His successor, Sultan Osman II (1618–1622), was dethroned and executed for the first time in the history of the Ottoman state.

After the defeat of the Turkish fleet at Lepanto in 1571, the undivided naval dominance of the empire ended. Added to this were failures in battles with the Habsburg army and battles lost to the Persians in Georgia and Azerbaijan.

At the turn of the XVII–XVIII centuries. For the first time in the history of the empire, Türkiye lost several battles in a row. It was no longer possible to hide the noticeable weakening of the state's military power and its political power.

From the middle of the 18th century. The Ottoman Empire had to hand out so-called capitulations for supporting it in military clashes.

Capitulations are special benefits first granted by the Turks to the French for their assistance in the war with the Habsburgs in 1535. In the 18th century. Several European powers, including powerful Austria, achieved similar benefits. From this time on, capitulations began to turn into unequal trade agreements, which provided Europeans with advantages in the Turkish market.

According to the Treaty of Bakhchisarai in 1681, Turkey was forced to renounce the territory of Ukraine in favor of Russia. In 1696, the army of Peter I recaptured the Azak (Azov) fortress from the Turks, as a result of which the Ottoman Empire lost lands on the coast of the Azov Sea. In 1718, the Ottoman Empire left Western Wallachia and Serbia.

Began at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. the weakening of the empire led to a gradual loss of its former power. In the 18th century Turkey, as a result of battles lost to Austria, Russia and Iran, lost part of Bosnia, the coast of the Azov Sea with the Azov fortress, and Zaporozhye lands. The Ottoman sultans could no longer exert political influence on neighboring Georgia, Moldova, and Wallachia, as had been the case before.

In 1774, the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi peace treaty was signed with Russia, according to which the Turks lost a significant part of the northern and eastern coasts of the Black Sea. The Crimean Khanate gained independence - for the first time the Ottoman Empire lost Muslim territories.

By the 19th century The territories of Egypt, the Maghreb, Arabia and Iraq came out of the influence of the sultanate. Napoleon dealt a serious blow to the prestige of the empire by carrying out an Egyptian military expedition that was successful for the French army. Armed Wahhabis recaptured most of Arabia from the empire, which came under the rule of the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali.

At the beginning of the 19th century. Greece fell away from the Ottoman Sultanate (in 1829), then the French captured Algeria in 1830 and made it their colony. In 1824, there was a conflict between the Turkish Sultan and Mehmed Ali, the Egyptian Pasha, as a result of which Egypt achieved autonomy. Lands and countries fell away from the once great empire with incredible speed.

The decline of military power and the collapse of the land tenure system led to a cultural, economic and political slowdown in the country's development. The European powers did not fail to take advantage of this circumstance, putting on the agenda the question of what to do with a huge power that had lost most of its power and independence.

The Ottoman sultans who ruled throughout the 19th century tried to strengthen the military-agricultural system through a series of reforms. Selim III and Mahmud II made attempts to improve the old Timar system, but realized that this could not return the empire to its former power.

Administrative reforms were aimed mainly at creating a new type of Turkish army, an army that included artillery, a strong navy, guards units, and specialized engineering units. Consultants were brought from Europe to help rebuild the army and minimize old wear in the troops. In 1826, by a special decree of Mahmud, the Janissary corps was disbanded, since the latter rebelled against innovations. Along with the former greatness of the corps, the influential Sufi order, which occupied a reactionary position during this period of history, also lost its power. In addition to fundamental changes in the army, reforms were carried out that changed the system of government and introduced European borrowings into it. The entire period of reforms in the empire was called Tanzimat.

Tanzimat (translated from Arabic as “ordering”) was a series of progressive reforms in the Ottoman Empire from 1839 to 1872. The reforms contributed to the development of capitalist relations in the state and the complete restructuring of the army.

In 1876, as a result of the reform movement of the “new Ottomans,” the first Turkish Constitution was adopted, although it was suspended by the despotic ruler Abdul Hamid. Reforms of the 19th century turned Turkey from a backward eastern power by that time into a self-sufficient European country with a modern system of taxation, education and culture. But Türkiye could no longer exist as a powerful empire.

The Russian-Turkish wars, the struggle of numerous enslaved peoples against the Muslim Turks, significantly weakened the huge empire and led to the creation of new independent states in Europe.

According to the San Stefano Peace Agreement of 1878, which consolidated the results of the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the Berlin Congress was held with the participation of representatives of all major European powers, as well as Iran, Romania, Montenegro, and Serbia.

According to this treaty, Transcaucasia went to Russia, Bulgaria was declared an autonomous principality, and in Thrace, Macedonia and Albania the Turkish Sultan had to carry out reforms aimed at improving the situation of the local population.

Montenegro and Serbia gained independence and became kingdoms.

At the end of the 19th century. The Ottoman Empire turned into a country dependent on several Western European states, which dictated their terms of development to it. A movement of Young Turks formed in the country, striving for political freedom of the country and liberation from the despotic power of the sultans. As a result of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, nicknamed the Bloody for his cruelty, was overthrown, and a constitutional monarchy was established in the country.

In the same year, Bulgaria declared itself a state independent from Turkey, proclaiming the Third Bulgarian Kingdom (Bulgaria was under Turkish rule for almost 500 years).

In 1912–1913 Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro in the united Balkan Union defeated Turkey, which lost all European possessions except Istanbul. New independent kingdom states were created on the territory of the former majestic power.

The last Ottoman Sultan was Mehmed VI Vahideddin (1918–1922). After him, Abdulmecid II ascended the throne, changing the title of Sultan to the title of Caliph. The era of the huge Turkish Muslim power was over.

The Ottoman Empire, which spanned three continents and wielded enormous power over hundreds of nations, left behind a great legacy. On its main territory, Turkey, in 1923, the supporters of the revolutionary Kemal (Ataturk) proclaimed the Turkish Republic. The Sultanate and Caliphate were officially liquidated, the regime of capitulations and foreign investment privileges were abolished.

Mustafa Kemal (1881–1938), nicknamed Atatürk (literally, “father of the Turks”), was a major Turkish political figure, leader of the national liberation struggle in Turkey at the end of the First World War. After the victory of the revolution in 1923, Kemal became the first president in the history of the state.

On the ruins of the former sultanate, a new state was born, turning from a Muslim country into a secular power. On October 13, 1923, Ankara became its capital - the center of the Turkish national liberation movement in 1918–1923.

Istanbul has remained a legendary historical city with unique architectural monuments, a national treasure of the country.

The legend says: “The Slav Roksolana, who brazenly invaded the Ottoman family, weakened her influence and removed most of the worthy political figures and associates of Sultan Suleiman from the road, thereby greatly shaking the stable political and economic situation of the state. She also contributed to the emergence of genetically inferior descendants of the great ruler, Suleiman the Magnificent, giving birth to five sons, the first of whom died young, the second was so weak that he did not even survive the age of two, the third quickly became a complete alcoholic, the fourth turned into a traitor and went against his father, and the fifth was very ill from birth, and also died at a young age, without even being able to have a single child. Then Roksolana literally forced the Sultan to marry herself, violating a large number of traditions that had been in effect since the founding of the state and served as a guarantee of its stability. She marked the beginning of such a phenomenon as the "Women's Sultanate", which further weakened the competitiveness of the Ottoman Empire in the world political arena. Roksolana's son, Selim, who inherited the throne, was a completely unpromising ruler and left behind even more worthless offspring. As a result, the Ottoman Empire soon completely collapsed. Roxolana's grandson Murad III turned out to be such an unworthy sultan that devout Muslims were no longer surprised by the surging crop failures, inflation, Janissary revolts, or open sale of government positions. It’s scary to even imagine what disaster this woman would have brought to her homeland if the Tatars hadn’t dragged her away from her native place on the Tatar’s lasso. Having destroyed the Ottoman Empire, she saved Ukraine. Honor and glory to her for this!”

Historical facts:

Before talking directly about the refutation of the legend, I would like to note several general historical facts concerning the Ottoman Empire before and after the generation of Hurrem Sultan. Since it is precisely because of ignorance or misunderstanding of the key historical moments of this state that people begin to believe in such legends.

The Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299, when a man who went down in history as the first Sultan of the Ottoman Empire under the name Osman I Ghazi declared the independence of his small country from the Seljuks and took the title of Sultan (although a number of sources note that this was the first time such a title was officially worn only his grandson is Murad I). Soon he managed to conquer the entire western part of Asia Minor. Osman I was born in 1258 in a Byzantine province called Bithynia. He died of natural causes in the city of Bursa (sometimes mistakenly considered the first capital of the Ottoman state) in 1326. After this, power passed to his son, known as Orhan I Ghazi. Under him, a small Turkic tribe finally turned into a strong state with a modern (at that time) army.

Throughout the history of its existence, the Ottoman Empire changed 4 capitals:
Söğüt (the real first capital of the Ottomans), 1299-1329;
Bursa (former Byzantine fortress of Brusa), 1329-1365;
Edirne (formerly the city of Adrianople), 1365-1453;
Constantinople (now the city of Istanbul), 1453-1922.

Returning to what is written in the legend, it must be said that the last wedding of the current Sultan before the era of Suleiman Kanuni took place in 1389 (more than 140 years before Hurrem’s wedding). Sultan Bayazid I the Lightning, who ascended the throne, married the daughter of a Serbian prince, whose name was Olivera. It was after the tragic events that happened to them at the very beginning of the 15th century that official marriages of current sultans became an extremely undesirable phenomenon for the next century and a half. But from this side there is no talk of any violation of traditions “in force since the founding of the state.” The ninth legend already spoke in detail about the fate of Shehzade Selim, and separate articles will be devoted to all the other children of Hurrem. In addition, it should be noted the high level of infant mortality in those days, from which even the conditions of the ruling dynasty could not save. As you know, some time before Khyurrem appeared in the harem, Suleiman lost his two sons, who, due to illness, did not live half their time before coming of age. Khyurrem's second son, Shehzade Abdullah, unfortunately, was no exception. As for the “Women’s Sultanate”, here we can say with confidence that this era, although it did not carry exclusively positive aspects, was the cause of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and even more so the consequence of any decline, such a phenomenon as The “Women's Sultanate” could not appear. Also, due to a number of factors, which will be discussed a little later, Hurrem could not be its founder or in any way be considered a member of the “Women’s Sultanate”.

Historians divide the entire existence of the Ottoman Empire into seven main periods:
The formation of the Ottoman Empire (1299-1402) - the period of the reign of the first four sultans of the empire (Osman, Orhan, Murad and Bayezid).
The Ottoman Interregnum (1402-1413) was an eleven-year period that began in 1402 after the defeat of the Ottomans at the Battle of Angora and the tragedy of Sultan Bayezid I and his wife in captivity by Tamerlane. During this period, there was a struggle for power between the sons of Bayezid, from which only in 1413 the youngest son Mehmed I Celebi emerged victorious.
The rise of the Ottoman Empire (1413-1453) was the reign of Sultan Mehmed I, as well as his son Murad II and grandson Mehmed II, which ended with the capture of Constantinople and the complete destruction of the Byzantine Empire by Mehmed II, who received the nickname "Fatih" (Conqueror).
Rise of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1683) – a period of major expansion of the Ottoman Empire's borders, continuing the reign of Mehmed II, (including the reign of Suleiman I and his son Selim II), and ending with the complete defeat of the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna during the reign of Mehmed IV, (son of Ibrahim I Crazy).
The Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire (1683-1827) was a period that lasted 144 years, which began after the Christian victory at the Battle of Vienna forever ended the Ottoman Empire's wars of conquest on European soil. The onset of a period of stagnation meant a stop in the territorial and economic development of the empire.
The decline of the Ottoman Empire (1828-1908) - a period that actually has the word “decline” in its official name, is characterized by the loss of a huge amount of territory of the Ottoman state; the Tanzimat era also begins, which consists in the systematization and laying down of the basic laws of the country.
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire (1908-1922) - the period of reign of the last two monarchs of the Ottoman state, the brothers Mehmed V and Mehmed VI, which began after the change in the form of government of the state to a constitutional monarchy, and lasted until the complete cessation of the existence of the Ottoman Empire (the period also covers the participation of the Ottoman states in the First World War).

Also in the historical literature of each state studying the history of the Ottoman Empire, there is a division into smaller periods that are part of the seven main ones, and often it is somewhat different from each other in different states. But it should immediately be noted that this is an official division of precisely periods of territorial and economic development of the country, and not a crisis of family relations of the ruling dynasty. Moreover, the period that lasts throughout the life of Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, as well as all her children and grandchildren, (despite the slight military-technical lag behind European countries that began in the 17th century) is called the “Growth of the Ottoman Empire,” and in no case not “collapse” or “decline,” which, as noted above, will begin only in the 19th century.

Historians call the main and most serious reason for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire the defeat in the First World War (in which this state participated as part of the Quadruple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria), caused by the superior human and economic resources of the Entente countries.
The Ottoman Empire (officially the “Great Ottoman State”) lasted exactly 623 years, and the collapse of this state occurred 364 years after the death of Haseki Hurrem. She died on April 18, 1558, and the day the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist can be called November 1, 1922, when the Grand National Assembly of Turkey adopted a law on the separation of the sultanate and the caliphate (while the sultanate was abolished). On November 17, Mehmed VI Vahideddin, the last (36th) Ottoman monarch, left Istanbul on a British warship, the battleship Malaya. On July 24, 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, which recognized the full independence of Turkey. On October 29, 1923, Turkey was proclaimed a republic, and Mustafa Kemal, who later took the name Ataturk, was elected its first president.
How Haseki Hurrem Sultan and her children and grandchildren, who lived three and a half centuries before these events, were involved in this remains a mystery to the authors of the article.

Source VKontakte group: muhtesemyuzyil