The Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Turkish: دولت عليه عثمانيه Devlet-i Âliye-i Osmâniyye; literally, "The Sublime Ottoman State"), also sometimes known in the West as the Turkish Empire, existed from 1299 to 1923. At the height of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries, its territory included Anatolia, the Middle East, parts of North Africa, and much of south-eastern Europe to the Caucasus. It comprised an area of about 5.6 million km²Regnal Chronologies. "To Rule the Earth...". Retrieved 6 April 2006., though it controlled a much larger area, if adjoining areas dominated mainly by nomadic tribes, where the empire's suzerainty was recognized, are included. The empire interacted with both Eastern and Western cultures throughout its 624-year history.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Empire was among the world's most powerful political entities, with the powers of eastern Europe constantly threatened by its steady advance through the Balkans, the Kingdom of Hungary and the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its navy was also a powerful force in the Mediterranean. On several occasions, the Ottoman army invaded central Europe, laying siege to Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683 in an attempt to conquer the Habsburg domain, and was finally repulsed only by great coalitions of European powers at sea and on land. It was the only non-European power to seriously challenge the rising power of the West between the 15th and 20th centuries, eventually becoming an integral part of European balance of power politics, hence blurring the distinctions.

The dissolution of the empire was a direct consequence of World War I, when the Allied Powers defeated the Central Powers in Europe as well as the Ottoman forces in the Middle Eastern theatre. At the end of the war, the Ottoman government collapsed and divided among the victorious powers. Subsequent years saw the declaration of new states from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Republic of Turkey was one of them. This new republic included Ottoman Dynasty in 150 personae non gratae of Turkey. In 1974, after 50 years, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey granted the right to re-acquire Turkish citizenship to the family descendants, which completed by the head of the family, Ertuğrul Osman V, in 2004.

History

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The history of the Ottoman Empire spans more than seven centuries, and 39 different archives. Older classifications of this history were based on military gains and losses. Current approaches use wider perspectives, such as periods of growth or dissolution, or else use economic perspectives to delineate periods of stagnation and decline. Classification from a military-political perspective distinguishes five periods, however the socio-economical perspective organizes the history as a classic period (enlargement) and reform period (westernization).

Origins

The ancestry of the Ottoman Dynasty is traced to the Turkic migrations from Asia, which began during the 10th century. The Kayı tribe (or Kai) of Oghuz Turks was one of the main tribes taking part in this migration, and it was they who established the Ottoman Empire in western Anatolia. When the Kayı began to settle in Anatolia in the 12th century, they were under the suzerainty of the Seljuk State of Anatolia. With the Mongol Empire extending to west, the Kayı became a puppet and vassal of the Il Khanate of the Mongol Empire. The Seljuk system allowed the Kayı protection from outsiders, which gave them a chance to develop their own internal structure. Moreover, being on the far eastern side of the Seljuk state gave them some military power through cooperation with the non-Turkic populations of eastern Anatolia, among whom were many Christians.

When the Seljuk state was in the process of collapse, the various beyliks, or territories, of Anatolia came into conflict with one another, with the Ottoman beylik eventually emerging as the supreme power in the region. In 1299, Osman I declared independence for the Ottoman beylik, which had gradually been developed by the now-settled Kayı. The history of the tribe before Osman I extended back through Osman's father Ertuğrul to his grandfather Süleyman Shah, who had died in 1227 by drowning in the river Euphrates while fleeing the Mongol advance.

Rise (1299–1453)

The rise of the empire defined the characteristics and nature of the state. The Ottomans definitively carved out their own preserve in history under the rule of Mehmed II.

The Ottoman state existed before Osman I (Arabic: عُثمَان ; hence the name Ottoman Empire). However he is regarded as the founder of the empire, as he named it and was the first bey (chieftain) to declare his independence. He extended the frontiers of the empire towards the Byzantine Empire, while other Turkish beyliks suffered from infighting. Under Osman I, the Ottoman capital moved to Bursa. He minted the first coin under his name, demonstrating the confidence his people had in him. In centuries to come, his age would be recalled with the phrase, "May he be as good as Osman".

The Ottoman historians attached great importance to the "Osman's Dream" and its initiation of foundation of the Empire. The dream is also an example of Turkish oral tradition. The historian von Hammer cites the story.

It was in this period that the ruling institution occurred, which was to last in this form for nearly four centuries until its reformation. Unlike many contemporaries, the Ottoman bureaucracy tried to avoid military rule. Although the Ottoman Empire was primarily a military state, its civics and economy did not reflect a policy of aggression. The expansionist policies of the Ottoman Empire did not lead to total war, given the fact that the Ottoman raids in Balkans, which after this accomplished they moved to Anatolia, was not made for the destruction and booty, but was a part of settlement. Herbert Adams Gibbons, Foundation of the Ottoman Empire, Frank Cass & Co (June 1968)

Mehmed II was only 12 years old when he became sultan, and he was reputed to have been a capable warrior. His military prowess was demonstrated with his conquest of Constantinople (modern İstanbul, see: istanbul (Etymology)). Mehmed II also enjoyed the full support of the empire, using this to reorganize the state structure and military. In 1453, following the capture of Constantinople from the Byzantine Empire, the city became the new capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Growth

There are two distinct periods in this era. From the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 to the death of Suleiman I (the Magnificent) in 1566, the Ottoman state grew to its zenith as a dynamic engine of conquest and government, establishing effective, innovative and disciplined military, social and bureaucratic structures. However in the second period few subsequent sultans were comparable to Mehmed II, Selim I or Suleiman the Magnificent.

Expansion and apogee (1453–1566)

In 1389, the Ottomans ended Serbian power at the Battle of Kosovo, which paved the way for expansion into Europe. Sultan Selim I (1512–1520) dramatically expanded the empire's eastern and southern frontiers, defeating the young Safavid Ismail I ruler of Persia in the Battle of Chaldiran, establishing Ottoman rule in Egypt and a naval presence in the Red Sea. Selim's successor, Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), increased the empire's size and power even further. After capturing Belgrade, Suleiman struck a major blow against the Kingdom of Hungary at the 1526 Battle of Mohacs, causing that kingdom to fall into anarchy. He then laid siege to Vienna in 1529, but failed to take the city when he was forced to retreat before the onset of winter. Soon, Transylvania, Walachia, and Moldavia became tributary principalities of the Ottoman Empire. In the east, Suleiman took Baghdad from the Persians in 1535, giving the Ottomans control of Mesopotamia and naval access to the Persian Gulf.

Under Selim and above all Suleiman, the empire briefly became a highly proficient and dominant naval force, controlling the eastern Mediterranean and exerting an effective offensive capability into the western sector. The Ottoman admiral Barbarossa ended the Spanish occupation of Tunis and Algeria. Barbarossa rescued Muslims and Jews from Spain to the safety of Ottoman lands, particularly, Salonica, Cyprus, and the newly conquered, and empty city of Constantinople during the Spanish Inquisition. In 1543 the forces of the French king Francis I and Barbarossa combined to capture Nice on behalf of Francis, whose mother had requested the help of the Ottoman Sultan against the Holy Roman Empire, which underlines the religious divisions in Europe at the time. France was the empire's major European ally in this period, both powers united by mutual opposition to Hapsburg Spain and the Ottomans helped out their ally - France economically, by giving them rights to do tax-free trade within the Ottoman domains.

The state's awareness of the new global extent of the balance of power that naval capability had brought about saw efforts to combat the influence of the European powers, above all Portugal, in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and the Spice Islands. The resources available to such a vast 16th century empire rendered these efforts unsustainable and ultimately unsuccessful. Crucially, the empire's two main opposite theatres of war, Austria-Hungary and Iran, both gruelling distances from the capital and campaign jump-off point Constantinople, were a geographical buffer and military drain that rendered effective long-term engagement in other theatres impossible. Nevertheless, the Ottomans' strategic vision in this period and partial effectiveness in global campaigning was striking and ambitious. With the Ottoman blockade on the East and South, the European powers were also pushed to find alternate routes to the ancient Silk and Spice routes, now under absolute Ottoman control.

The Ottoman Empire reached its apogee during Suleiman the Magnificent's reign. It was by now a highly significant and accepted part of the European political sphere and entered into an alliance with France, England and Holland against Habsburg Spain, Italy and Habsburg Germany.

Revolt and Revival (1566–1699)

The Eastern blockage to the trade routes pushed the Europeans to the previously undiscovered extremes of the World, and also pushed them to new levels of technology, thought and also pulled them together to fight the Ottomans with these. The Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) destabilized the Ottoman control of the Mediterranean Sea but did not in itself signal the beginning of Ottoman decline, as older histories used to claim. Nonetheless, by the end of the 16th century the era of sweeping conquest and vast territorial gain was over. The Habsburg frontier in particular became substantially fixed, with relatively minor engagements and the to and from of possession of individual fortresses defining the nature of engagement. This was partly a reflection of simple geographical limits - in the pre-mechanised age, Vienna marked pretty much the outer limit of what the campaigning season allowed the Ottoman army to reach effectively from Constantinople, as Suleiman had discovered. It also reflected the difficulties created by coping with two opposite fronts, the second in the form of the persistent ideological and territorial threat posed by the Safavid empire of Persia.

On the battlefield, the Ottomans were beginning the process of gradually falling behind Christian Europe in military technology as religious and intellectual conservatism began to act as an anchor to the spirit of innovation that had been a signal aspect to the empire's forceful expansion. The Sipahi cavalry was becoming a dated force and, most seriously, relaxations of recruitment policy and ill-considered growth in numbers in the Janissary corps engendered chronic defects in discipline and the ability to perform as an elite.

Economically, the huge in-pouring of Spanish silver from the New World caused a sharp devaluation of the Ottoman currency and rampant inflation. This had serious negative consequences across all facets of Ottoman society, being manifest in Janissary revolts that toppled Sultans and ministers and widespread lawlessness and rebellion in Anatolia in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, commonly known as the Celalî rebellions.

Nevertheless, modern historians have been reassessing the conventional view of the 17th century as one of pure stagnation and decline, instead viewing it as the key period in which the Ottoman state and its structures began to endevour to adapt to new pressures and new realities, internal and external. Crucially, the relative ineffectivess of most individual Sultans created the need for directing power to be exercised through new hands, whether through powerful members of the Harem or later the stern reactionary medicine of the first Koprullu Grand Vizier Mehmed Koprullu (1656-1661) and the more subtle hands of his son Fazil Ahmed Koprullu (1661-1676), under whom the state reasserted itself with some vigour. A throwback to his ghazi ancestors, Sultan Murad IV (1612 – 1640) was a unique example in this period of a warrior Sultan who wrestled effective power back into his own hands, recapturing Erivan (1635) and Baghdad (1639) back from the Safavids.

Indeed, frequently overlooked is the fact that despite the stresses at play on the state stuctures and its military arms, the 17th century saw the empire reach the apogee of its territorial coverage, with notable gains under the Koprullu administration in Crete, Southern Ukraine and Podolia.

The defeat of the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha by a combined army of Poland and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 proved to the defining event that finally swung the balance of power away from the Ottomans in favour of its European opponents. In the Treaty of Karlowitz, that ended the Great Turkish War in 1699, the Ottomans ceded large territories which had been in their possession for two centuries. They also acknowledged, for the first time in their history, that the Austrian Empire could sign a treaty with them on equal terms.

Decline

During the decline we see two main efforts; first the reforms and then modernization.

The reforms (1699–1827)

Further wars and territories were lost to Austria in the Balkans. Certain areas of the empire, such as Egypt and Algeria, became independent from the Ottoman Empire in all but name, and subsequently came under the influence of France and the United Kingdom. The 18th century saw direct authority giving way to varying degrees of autonomy enjoyed by local governors and leaders. A series of ten wars was fought between the Russian and Ottoman empires from the 17th to the 19th centuries.

During the "Tulip Era" (لاله دورى Lâle Devri), named after Sultan Ahmed II's love of the tulip flower and its symbolism of his peace-loving and aesthetic reign, policies toward Europe began to change. The region was peaceful between 1718–1730, as the Ottoman defeat of the Russians in the Pruth Campaign in 1712 and the Treaty of Passarowitz brought about a pause in warfare. The empire began to improve the cities bordering the Balkans to act as a defense against the expansionist movements of the different European States. Other tentative reforms were also enacted: taxes were lowered; there were attempts to improve the image of the Ottoman state; and the first civilian industrial investments began. These measures, however, failed to put an end to the empire's decline. As covered in technological and scientific advantages the Ottomans had once enjoyed over the European countries had long since disappeared. The 100-year delay of the entry of the first printing press into the Ottoman Empire, was thanks to the backwardminded religious authorities who deemed all technology as "the Devil's Invention".

Ottoman military reform efforts Sultan Selim III (1789-1807) made the first major efforts to modernize the army along European lines. These efforts, however, were hampered by reactionary forces, partly religious but above all by the Janissary corps, who had declined into an anarchic and ineffective rabble, jealous of their privileges and set firm against change. Selim's efforts cost him his throne and his life, but were to see spectacular and bloody resolution under his successor, the dynamic Mahmud II.

Modernisation (1828–1908)

The period of the Ottoman Empire's decline was characterized by the reorganization and transformation of most of the empire's structures in an attempt to bolster the empire against increasingly powerful rivals.

The Tanzimat period—named from the term تنظيمات tanzîmât, meaning "reorganization"—lasted from 1839 to 1876. During this time, many significant changes were effected: a fairly modern conscripted army was organized; the banking system was reformed; and the guilds were replaced with modern factories. Economically, the empire had difficulties in repaying its loans to European banks. At the same time, it had military difficulties in defending itself from foreign invasion and occupation: Egypt, for instance, was occupied by the French in 1798, while Cyprus was occupied by the British in 1876. In a significant change from the past, the empire stopped entering conflicts alone and began to enter into alliances with European countries. There were a series of alliances with countries such as France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Russia. A prime example of this change was the Crimean War, in which the British, French, Ottomans, and others united against Imperial Russia.

The rise of nationalism swept many countries during the 19th century, and the Ottoman Empire was not immune. A burgeoning national consciousness, together with a rise in ethnic nationalism, became at this time, probably the most significant of the ideas that the Ottoman Empire imported from the West, as it was forced to deal with nationalism-related issues both within and beyond its borders. The parties with revolutionary philosophies showed a surge. Uprisings in Ottoman territory had many far-reaching effects during the 19th century and determined many of the choices that the Ottoman Empire would have to make during the 20th century. Many Ottoman Turks questioned whether the policies of the state were the issue: some felt that the sources of the inter-ethnic conflicts were external, with unrelated goals to immanent issues. While this period had many achievements, the ability of the Ottoman state to strongly influence the ethnic uprisings was questionable.

The socioeconomics of reformation era covers the changes during the decline period. From economic perspective, it was just the opposite, even if it was common to describe the Empire as the "sick man of Europe". The empire's actual weakness, did not reside in its developing economy, but the cultural gap which separated it from the European powers. The empire's problems were, in fact, the result of incapability to deal with the new combination of problems arising from external imperialism and rising internal nationalism.

The empire's First Constitutional Era (برنجى مشروطيت دورى Birinci Meşrûtiyyet Devri), was a short-lived period, however the idea that was behind the movement "Ottomanism" was continued. A wide-ranging group of reformers which named Young Ottomans, primarily educated in Western universities, believed that a constitutional monarchy could ease the empire's growing social unrest. Through a military coup in 1876, they forced Sultan Abdülaziz (1861-1876) to leave his position to Murad V. However, Murad V proved to be mentally ill, and was deposed within a few months. His heir-apparent Abdülhamid II (1876-1909) was invited to assume power, with the promise that he would declare a constitutional monarchy, which he did on 23 November 1876. The subsequent constitution—called Kanûn-ı Esâsî (قانون اساسى, meaning "Basic Law")—was written by members of the Young Ottomans, but was in effect for only two years.

Dissolution (1908–1922)

The period of the Ottoman Empire's final dissolution begins with the onset of the empire's Second Constitutional Era (ايکنجى مشروطيت دورى İkinci Meşrûtiyyet Devri). This era is symbolized by the Committee of Union and Progress (اتحاد و ترقى جمعيت İttihâd ve Terakkî Cem'iyyet) and the movement that would become known as the "Young Turks" (ژون تورکلر Jön Türkler). The Young Turk Revolution began on 3 July 1908 and quickly spread throughout the empire, resulting in the sultan's announcement of the restoration of the 1876 constitution and the reconvening of parliament. The Committee of Union and Progress managed to win the elections that were held in that year. Now in power, the Young Turks introduced a number of new initiatives intended to promote the modernization of the Ottoman Empire. They supported industrialization and administrative reforms, and their reforms of provincial administration quickly led to a higher degree of centralization. In addition, they implemented the secularization of the legal system and subsidies for the education of women, and altered the administrative structure of the state-operated primary schools. Their domestic reforms were in some ways quite successful, but their foreign policy proved to be disastrous.

The Balkan Wars were the first big test to the Committee of Union and Progress, just after the Italian occupation (1911) of Libya. The three new Balkan states formed at the end of the 19th century, as well as Montenegro, sought additional territories from Albania, Macedonia, and Thrace, on nationalism-based grounds. The incomplete emergence of these nation-states on the fringes of the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century set the stage for the Balkan Wars. Initially, with the encouragement of Russia, a series of agreements were concluded between Serbia and Bulgaria in March 1912 and between Greece and Bulgaria in May 1912. Montenegro subsequently concluded agreements between Serbia and Bulgaria in October 1912. The Serbian-Bulgarian agreement specifically called for the partition of Macedonia, which resulted in the First Balkan War. The Second Balkan War soon followed. The political downfall of balkan wars reflected as coup of 1913, which had set the environment for the famous Three Pashas.

The Ottoman Empire took part in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, under the terms of the Ottoman-German Alliance. The Ottoman Empire had some successes in the beginning years of the war, particularly at the Battle of Gallipoli. There were some setbacks as well, however, in particular the disastrous Caucasus Campaign against the Russians. Also, in the winter of 1915-16, the Ottoman government ordered all Armenians deported from eastern Anatolia during a forced march southward. In the course of this deportation some 400,000 to 1.5 million Armenians were killed or died of starvation. This catastrophe is referred to as an instance of genocide.Britannica Student Encyclopedia—"Genocide" The Armenian resistance at the Van was significant event, which its core become the Administration for Western Armenia. The Russian Revolution of 1917 gave the Ottomans a chance to regain some of their lost ground; however, continued British offensives ultimately proved to be too much. The Ottomans were eventually defeated due to key attacks by the British general Edmund Allenby, as well as assistance from the Arab Revolt, the Democratic Republic of Armenia. The initial peace agreement with the Ottoman Empire was the Armistice of Mudros, followed by the Treaty of Sèvres, the treaty which granted recognition to the Republic of Armenia. The United Kingdom obtained virtually everything it had sought—according to the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement made together with France in 1916, while the war was still going on—from the empire's partition. The other powers of the Triple Entente, however, soon became entangled in the Turkish War of Independence.

The Turkish War of Independence was organized against the plans of the Allies. Angered by the Sèvres agreement, Mustafa Kemal—who had been an important force at the 1915 Battle of Gallipoli—raised an army, that expelled the Greeks, the Italians, and the French, confronted the Republic of Armenia, and eventually threatened the British as well. Turkish revolutionaries, under Mustafa Kemal's leadership, formed a parliament Grand National Assembly (Büyük Millet Meclisi) in Ankara by declearing its sovereignty on 23 April 1920. The final blow to the Ottoman Empire came on 1 November 1922, with the abolishment of the sultanate. The last sultan, Mehmed VI Vahdettin (1918-1922), left the country on 17 November, and the Republic of Turkey was officially declared on 29 October 1923. Republic of Turkey asserted its right to an independent national existence. The title of caliphate—the very last official remnant of the empire—was constitutionally abolished several months later, on 3 March 1924.

Ultimately, the main reasons for the fall of the Ottoman Empire can be attributed to the failure of its economic structure; the size of the empire created problems. Also the empire's communication technology did not migrate into the empire's state structure. The trade dynamics was based on non-state elements. In many ways, the circumstances surrounding the Ottoman Empire's fall closely paralleled those surrounding the fall of the Roman Empire, particularly in terms of the ongoing tensions among the empires' populations and the respective governments' inability to deal with these tensions. In the case of the Ottomans, the introduction of a parliamentary system during the Tanzimat proved to be too late to reverse the damage that had already been done.

State

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In diplomatic circles, the empire was often referred to as the "Sublime Porte", a literal translation of the Ottoman باب عالی (Bâb-ı Âlî), which was the one gate of the imperial Topkapı Palace that was open to foreigners and was where the sultan greeted ambassadors.

The Ottoman state revolutionized its administrative system with the aid and experience of Greeks and other Christians, Muslims, and Jews, while many other states still held tightly to their own religions and national identities. The rapidly expanding state utilized skilled local people to manage the empire, people who were often selected from among loyal Phanariot Greeks, Armenians, and others. From the perspective of the West, this eclectic administration was apparent even in the diplomatic correspondence of the empire, which was undertaken in the Greek language. Like the Byzantines before them, the Ottomans practiced a system in which the state had control of the clergy. The nomadic Turkic forms of land tenure were largely retained—with a number of unique adjustments—in the Ottoman Empire. Certain pre-Islamic Turkish practices that had survived the influx of administrative and legal practices from Islamic Iran continued to be important in Ottoman administrative circles. In the Ottoman judiciary, for example, the courts were run by kadı (قاضی), who were religious judges appointed by the sultan and exercised direct control over members of the religious establishment. Ultimately, the Ottoman administrative system was a blend of influences derived from the Turkish nomads, the Byzantines, and the Islamic world.

The Ottomans were primarily administrators and not producers in the sense that the empire did not employ a program of economic exploitation, as did the colonial empires of the modern European states. Its economic outlook (fiscalism) stressed abundance and regulated prices within the marketplace to ensure social stability, and the state never developed a Western mercantile outlook, leaving commerce very largely in the hands of the non-Muslim population. According to Ottoman understanding, the state's primary responsibility was to defend and extend the land of the Muslims and to ensure security and harmony within its borders within the overarching context of orthodox sunni Islamic practice and dynastic sovereignty.

House of Osman

The Ottoman sultan, also known as the pâdişâh (پادشاه) or "lord of kings", served as the empire's sole regent and was considered to be the embodiment of its government, though he did not always exercise complete control.

Throughout Ottoman history, however—despite the sultan's supreme de jure authority and the Grand Vizier's sometime de facto one—there were many insistences in which local governors acted with a degree of independence, sometimes even in opposition to the ruler. There are, for instance, eleven incidences in which the sultan was dethroned because he was perceived as a threat to the state. On the other hand, although new sultans were always chosen from among the sons of the previous sultan, there was a strong educational system in place that was geared towards eliminating the unfit and establishing a common trust among the ruling elite for the son before he was actually crowned. Only two failed attempts were made in the whole of Ottoman history to unseat the ruling Osmanlı dynasty, suggestive of a high level of political stability.

Imperial Harem

The Harem was one of the most important powers of the Ottoman court. It was ruled by the Valide Sultan (also known as the Baş Kadın, or "chief lady"), who was the mother of the reigning sultan and who held supreme power over the Harem and thus a powerful position in the court. On occasion, the Valide Sultan would become involved in state politics and could diminish the power and position of the sultan. For a period of time beginning in the 16th century and extending into the 17th, the women of the Harem effectively controlled the state in what was termed the "Sultanate of Women" (Kadınlar Sultanatı).

The harem had its own internal organization, and order of formulating policies. Beneath the Valide Sultan in the hierarchy was the Hasseki Sultana, the mother of the sultan's first-born son, who had the highest chance of becoming the next Valide Sultan. The sultan also had four other official wives, who were each called Hasseki Kadın. Next in rank below the sultan's wives were his eight favorite concubines (ikbâls or hâs odalıks), and then the other concubines whom the sultan favored and who were termed gözde. Next in rank were the concubines of other court officials. Pupils (acemî) and novices (câriye or şâhgird) were younger women who were either waiting to be married off to someone or who had not yet graduated out of the Harem School.

Palace schools

The palace schools were where the devşirme boys where trained. There were palace schools in the old palace in Edirne, one in Galata Palace north of the Constantinople's Golden Horn, and one in Ibrahim Pasha Palace in the Hippodrome area of Constantinople. The boys would graduate from these schools after seven years, and were then ready to become servants to the sultan or other notables, to serve in the Six Divisions of Cavalry, or to serve as a Janissary. Some of the most talented devşirme boys would come to Topkapi Palace, where they were trained for high positions within the Ottoman court or military.

The Divan (Council)

Though the sultan was the sublime monarch he had a number of advisors and ministers. The most powerful of these were the viziers of the Divan, led by the Grand Vizier. The Divan was a council where the viziers met and debated the politics of the empire. It was the Grand Vizier's duty to inform the sultan of the opinion of the divan. The sultan often took his vizier's advices in consideration, but he by no means had to obey the Divan. The Divan consisted of three viziers in the 14th century and eleven in the 17th century, four of them served as Viziers of the Dome, the most important ministers next to the Grand Vizier.

Imperial Government

Though the state apparatus of the Ottoman Empire underwent many reforms during its long history, a number of its basic structures remained consistently the same. Primary among these structures was the primacy of the sultan. Despite important decisions usually being made by the Divan, the final decision always belonged to the sultan.

The Divan, in the years when the Ottoman state was still a beylik, was composed of elders of the tribe. It was later modified so as to include professionals from the military and also local elites, such as religious and political advisors. These individuals became known as viziers. Later still, beginning in the year 1320, a Grand Vizier (صدر اﻋظم Sadr-ı a'zam) was appointed in order to assume certain of the sultan's responsibilities. The Sublime Porte, which became synonymous with the Ottoman government, was in fact the gate to the Grand Vizier's headquarters and the place where the sultan held the greeting ceremony for foreign ambassadors. At times throughout Ottoman history, the Grand Vizier became as important as, or more important than, the sultan himself. After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the Ottoman state became a constitutional monarchy without executive powers, and a parliament was formed, with representatives chosen from the provinces.

At the height of its power, the Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces, in addition to the tributary principalities of Moldavia, Transylvania, and Wallachia.

Insignia

The Tughra were calligraphic monograms or signatures of the Ottoman Sultans, of which there were 35. Carved on the Sultan's seal, they bore the names of the Sultan and his father. The prayer statement “ever victorious” was also present in most. The earliest belonged to Orhan Gazi. It became a branch in Ottoman-Arabic calligraphy.

Society

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One of the successes of the Ottoman Empire was the unity that it brought about among its highly varied population. While the main reason was the military might and heavyhandedness in newly invaded territories, one other indirect source of this unity was allowed for by the laws of Islam, which stated that Muslims, Christians, and Jews—who constituted the vast majority of the Ottoman population—were all related in that they were "People of the Book" (Arabic: اهل الكتاب; ahl al-Kitâb). As early as the rule of Mehmed II, the Ottomans had foreseen the results of such policies: Mehmed II, for instance, granted extensive rights to Phanariot Greeks and invited many Jews to settle in Ottoman territory.

Concept of Nation

Under Ottoman rule the major religious groups were allowed to establish their own communities, called millets, each retaining its own religious laws, traditions, and language under the general protection of the sultan. Millets were led by religious chiefs, who served as secular as well as religious leaders and thus had a substantial interest in the continuation of Ottoman rule. Mehmed II used the conquering army to restore the physical structure of the city. Old buildings were repaired, streets, aqueducts, and bridges were constructed, sanitary facilities were modernized, and a vast supply system was established to provide for the city's inhabitants.

Ultimately, the Ottoman Empire's relatively high degree of tolerance on the level of ethnicity proved to be one of its greatest strengths in integrating the new regions until the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire. This non-assimilative policy became a weakness during the dissolution that niether first or second parliament could reprimand. This tolerance was extended to "the Ottoman family was ethnically Turkish in its origins, as were some of its supporters and subjects. But ... the dynasty immediately lost this "Turkish" ethnic identification through intermarriage with many different ethnicities. As for a "Turkish empire", state power relied on a similarly heterogeneous mix of peoples. The Ottoman empire succeeded because it incorporated the energies of the vastly varied peoples it encountered, quickly transcending its roots in the Turkish nomadic migrations from Central Asia into the Middle East."Donald Quataert, 2

Slavery

Ottomans were coming from a nomadic nation in which slavery was very distant to the social structure. Also, from the Islamic perspective, the Kuran specifically states "everyone is same"O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God's sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware. -- 49:13 , although the practice showed differences based on cultures, which Islam and Slavery covers these perspectives, specifically Ottoman application on their domain was not approved. However, the Ottoman policies were based on millet perspective which each millet had the right to govern their own domain. Trafficking in slaves is expressly forbidden by the Ottoman application of sharia, or Islamic law. For example, by the terms of the sharia, any slaves who were taken could not be kept in the status of slaves if they converted to Islam. It was, in fact, considered an insult to term an Ottoman man as a slave-master, and there were incidents in which Ottomans responded unsympathetically to any who even mentioned the idea of slavery to them.The bulk of this section uses information from the article "Slavery in the Ottoman Empire".

Slavery was usually confined to domestic services, including odalisques. Many were captives of war and cross-border raids. In the Mediterranean, such enslaved captives manned the galley oars in the navy. By the era of Tanzimat, Ottoman Empire aimed to gradually limit the scope of slavery. However, slavery was not formally abolished until the proclamation of the Republic.

The devshirmeh system can be considered as a form of slavery, considering the Sultans' absolute power over it's members, but the high status of the 'slave' or kul of the Sultan within Ottoman society, encompassing the very highest officers of state and the military elite, all well remunerated, makes 'slavery' as understood in the West a potentially misleading term.

Rural slavery was largely a Caucasian phenomenon, carried to Anatolia and Rumelia after the Circassian migration after 1864. Conflicts emerged within the immigrant community and the Ottoman Establishment, at times, intervened on the side of the slaves.Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Kölelik

Culture

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Many different cultures lived under the umbrella of the Ottoman Empire, and as a result, a specifically "Ottoman" culture can be difficult to define. To some extent, there existed a Turkish Ottoman culture, a Greek Ottoman culture, an Armenian Ottoman culture, and so on. However, there was also, to a great extent, a specific intersecting multi-ethnic culture that can be said to have reached its highest levels among the Ottoman elite, who—far from being monolithic—were in fact composed of a myriad of different ethnic and religious groups.

One of the roots of Ottoman culture comes from the Oghuz Turks with their Central Asian Turkic nomadic culture. As the Oghuz passed into Anatolia through Persia over a period of a few hundred years they absorbed many elements of Persian culture. Following Sultan Mehmed II's capture of Constantinople in 1453, many aspects of Byzantine—and, more broadly, European—culture began to be integrated into Ottoman culture. As the empire expanded in subsequent years, different cultures were brought into this mix, enriching it still further.

This Ottoman multicultural perspective reflects on their policies. One of the reasons that the Ottoman Empire lasted as long as it did was the highly tolerant policies pursued originating from their nomadic inheritance. This statement should be taken as a comparison to assimilative medieval times (east and west). The Ottoman State pursued multi-cultural and multi-religious policies - accommodating different perspectives. Two examples of this are the Ottoman justice system and the regional governors. As the Ottomans moved further west, the Ottoman leaders themselves absorbed some of the culture of conquered regions. In addition, with intercultural marriages, new cultural structures were gradually added to the Ottomans, creating the characteristic Ottoman elite culture. When compared to common Turkish arts (folkloric), the assimilation of the Ottoman elites to these new cultures is apparent.

Architecture

Ottoman architecture influenced by Seljuk, Byzantine and Arab architecture, came to develop a style all of its own. The years 1300-1453 (Rise Period) constitute the early or first Ottoman period, when Ottoman art was in search of new ideas. The years 1453-1600, which is named classical period, coincidence with growth period, constitudes most strong period. During the years of the stagnation period, principles of architecture deviated from classical times. During the Tulip Era, it was under the influence of the excessive decorations of the west; Baroque, Rococo, Empire and other styles intermingled.

Concepts of Ottoman architecture mainly circles around mosque. The society and mosque was being visioned as an entity interconnected with city planning and communal life. Beside the mosque, there were soup kitchens, theological schools, hospitals, Turkish baths and tombs.

Examples of Ottoman architecture of the classical period, aside from Constantinople and Edirne, can also be seen in Egypt, Tunisia, Algiers, the Balkans and Hungary, where mosques, bridges, fountains and schools were built.

Language

At the Ottoman court, a version of Turkish with Arabic and Persian vocabulary was spoken. The basic grammar was still largely Turkish, but far more elaborate than the Turkish that was spoken outside of the court. The two varieties of the language became so differentiated that ordinary people had to hire special "request-writers" (arzıhâlcis) in order to be able to communicate with the government.

The Sultans had a very mixed ethnic lineage because the Sultans married women from various backgrounds. They spoke their mother tongue: Ottoman, Persian, Turkish, Greek, Arabic and some European languages.

In cosmopolitan cities, people often spoke their family languages, some Ottoman if they were educated, and some Arabic if they were Muslim. In the last two centuries, French and English emerged as popular languages where the elite learned French at school, and used European products as a fashion statement. All ethnicities who had their own language continued to speak their own language in their family, in villages where two populations lived together, the two populations would often speak each other's language (Cyprus:Greek/Turkish, the Balkans: Albanian/ Greek/ Serbian/ Bulgarian, Eastern Turkey: Kurdish/ Turkish/ Armenian, Northeastern Turkey: Laz/ Georgian/ Greek/ Turkish).

Music

As music was an important part of the education of the Ottoman elite, a number of the Ottoman sultans were accomplished musicians and composers themselves, such as Selim III, whose compositions are still frequently performed today. Due to a geographic and cultural divide between the capital and other areas, two broadly distinct styles of music arose in the Ottoman Empire: Ottoman classical music, and folk music.

Ottoman classical music arose largely from a confluence of Byzantine music, Arab music, and Persian music. Compositionally, it is organized around rhythmic units called usul, which are somewhat similar to meter in Western music, and melodic units called makam, which bear some resemblance to Western musical modes. The instruments used are a mixture of Anatolian and Central Asian instruments (the saz, the bağlama, the kemence), other Middle Eastern instruments (the ud, the tanbur, the kanun, the ney), and—later in the tradition—Western instruments (the violin, the piano).

In the provinces, several different kinds of Folk music were created. The most dominant regions with their distinguished musical styles are: Balkan-Thracian Turkus, North-Eastern Turkus(Laz), Aegean Turkus, Central Anatolian Turkus, Eastern Anatolian Turkus, and Caucasian Turkus. Constantinople does not have any Turkus, because it has the Turkish Classical Music.

Lifestyle

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The Ottoman court life in many aspects assembled ancient traditions of the Persian Shahs, but had many Greek and European influences.

In general, Turks take their shoes off in the house. There are slippers that are designated to home use. This custom was carried through centuries as the Turkish babies have been free to move and adults can rest on the floor. This custom aimed in keeping the carpet and kilim clean. Women and girls take up carpet and kilim weaving as a means of earning money.

The court (Topkapi)

The culture that evolved around the court was known as the Ottoman Way. To get a high position in the empire, one must be skilled in the Way. It included knowing both Persian, Arabic and Ottoman Turkish and how to behave in court, in front of the sultan, and in formal and religious occasions. The Ottoman Way also used to separate the nobles from the lower classes. Peasants and villagers were called Turks, while nobles were Ottomans.

The sultan was served by an army of pages and scholars. Twenty-five of these served in the kitchen and in the larder. Others served in the Treasury and the Armoury, maintaining the sultan's treasures and weapons. There where also a branch of servants that were said to serve the Chamber of Campaign, i.e. they accompanied the sultan and his court while on campaign. The best of the pages was chosen to serve the sultan in person. One was responsible for the sultan's clothing, one served him with drinks, one carried his weaponry, one helped him mount his horse, one was responsible for making his turban and a barber shaved the sultan every day. At the palace served also a great number of stewards who carried food, water and wood throughout the palace and lit the fireplaces and braziers. The corps of doorkeepers (Kapıcı) numbered several hundred and were responsible for opening the doors throughout the entire palace. The chief doorkeeper was responsible for escorting important guests to the sultan. A number of lackeys (Çikadar) served as messengers in the palace and the city and from one of these were the Imperial Herald (Divan Çavısı, literally "sergeant of the divan") who was a man entrusted by the sultan to various tasks, among others to inform people who would take part in meetings of the Divan.

The Harem was under the administration of the eunuchs, of which there were two categories, Black and White Eunuchs. Black Eunuchs were Africans who served the concubines and officials in the Harem and together with chamber maidens of low rank. The White Eunuchs were Europeans from the Balkans. They served the recruits at the Palace School (see below) and were from 1582 prohibited from entering the Harem. An important figure in the Ottoman court was the Chief Black Eunuch (Kızlar Ağası or Harem Ağası). In control of the Harem and a perfect net of spies in the Black Eunuchs, the Chief Eunuch was involved in almost every palace intrigue and could thereby gain power over either the sultan or one of his viziers, ministers or other court officials.

The Harem was a small world in itself. Often the mother of the current sultan (Valide Sultan) was a politically influential person. She also selected the concubines for her son. The concubines could live in or around the palace for their entire life, and it supported them with whatever they needed. Women not found suitable for the sultan were married off to eligible bachelors from the Ottoman nobility or sent back home. Female servants did all the chores such as serving food and making the beds. Male (sometimes eunuch) white and black servants did the hard work such as shopping, guarding the palaces and maintaining the gardens and palaces.

Every prince has his own place. It is a tradition to take the bride from her house and take it to where she will be building her new familiy.

See also: Seraglio.

The provincial capitals

Apart from the Ottoman court, there were also large metropolitan centers were the Ottoman influence expressed itself with a diversity similar to metropolises of today: Sarajevo, Skopje, Thessaloniki, Damascus, Baghdad, Beirut, Jerusalem, Mecca were other cities that tasted the Ottoman diversity with their own small versions of Provincial Administration replicating the culture of the Ottoman court locally.

Religion

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Following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II did not disband the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, but instead brought it under close control by installing Gennadius II Scholarius as the patriarch—after receiving from him a hefty feeMansel, 10—and thus establishing him as the ethnarch of the Millet of Rum; that is, the Orthodox Christian subjects of the empire, regardless of their ethnicity. Under the millet system—which applied to other non-Muslim religious groups as well—people were considered subjects of the empire but were not subject to the Muslim faith or Muslim law. The Orthodox millet, for instance, was still officially legally subject to Justinian's Code, which had been in effect in the Byzantine Empire for 900 years. Also, as the largest group of non-Muslim subjects (ذمي zimmi) of the Islamic Ottoman state, the Orthodox millet was granted a number of special privileges in the fields of politics and commerce{citation needed}, in addition to having to pay higher taxes than Muslim subjects.

Similar millets were established for the Ottoman Jewish community, who were under the authority of the Haham Başı or Ottoman Chief Rabbi; the Armenian Orthodox community, who were under the authority of a head bishop; and a number of other religious communities as well.

Adoption of Islam

Before adopting Islam—a process that was greatly facilitated by the Abbasid victory at the 751 CE Battle of Talas, which ensured Abbasid influence in Central Asia—the Turkic peoples practised a variety of shamanism. After this battle, many of the various Turkic tribes—including the Oghuz Turks, who were the ancestors of both the Seljuks and the Ottomans—gradually converted to Islam, and brought the religion with them to Anatolia beginning in the 11th century CE.

State and Religion

Largely for practical reasons, the Ottoman Empire was, in a broad sense, tolerant towards its non-Muslim subjects; it did not, for instance, forcibly convert all of them to Islam. The sultans took their primary duty to be service to the interests of the state, which could not survive without taxes and a strong administrative system. The state's relationship with the Greek Orthodox Church, for example, was largely peaceful, and the church's structure was kept intact and largely left alone but under close control and scrutiny until the Greek War of Independence of 1821–1831 and, later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the rise of the Ottoman constitutional monarchy, which was driven to some extent by nationalistic currents. Other churches, like the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, were dissolved and placed under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church. On the other hand, the empire often served as a refuge for the persecuted and exiled Jews of Europe, as for example following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, when Sultan Beyazid II welcomed them into Ottoman lands.

Economy

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The economic structure of the Empire was defined by the geopolitical structure. The Ottoman Empire stood in between West and East, thus blocking the route eastward and forcing Spanish and Portuguese navigators to set out in search of a new route to the Orient. The empire was controlling the route that Marco Polo once used. When Christopher Columbus first journeyed to America in 1492, the Ottoman Empire was at its highest position—an economic power which extended over three continents. Current Ottoman studies imply that the change in politics between Ottomans and central Europe did depend on the opening of the new sea routes. It is also possible to see the decay of the Ottoman Empire by measuring the diminishing significance of the land routes, as Western Europe opened the ocean routes that bypassed the Middle East and Mediterranean. While central Europe was moving forward, Ottoman clung to their traditions. The pragmatic thinking of Ottomans that once helped to reform the systems left behind by Roman Empire was once again giving out the same signs of rigidity which Ottomans had encountered centuries earlier.

Law

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Legally, the Ottoman Empire was organized around a system of local jurisprudence; that is, local legal systems which did not conflict with the state as a whole were largely left alone. The Ottoman system had three court systems: one for Muslims, which was run by the kadıs, or Islamic judges; one for non-Muslims, involving appointed Jews and Christians ruling over their respective religious areas; and one which regulated trade and had its origins in the empire's capitulation agreements with foreign powers. The entire system was regulated from above by means of the administrative kanun (قانون) laws.

These court categories were not, however, wholly exclusive in nature: for instance, the Islamic courts—which were the empire's primary courts—could also be used to settle a trade conflict or disputes between litigants of differing religions, and Jews and Christians often went to them so as to obtain a more forceful ruling on an issue. Women nearly always choose the Islamic courts, as these courts tended to be fairer towards them and to give them more just recompense.

Throughout the empire, there were two systems of law in effect: one was the Islamic sharia (شريعة) law system, and the other was the Turkish kanun system. The Ottoman state tended not to interfere with non-Muslim religious law systems, despite legally having a voice to do so through local governors. The Islamic sharia law system had been developed from a combination of the Qur'ān (قرآن); the Hadīth (حدیث), or sayings of the prophet Muhammad; ijmā' (اجماع), or consensus of the members of the Muslim community; qiyas (قياس), a system of analogical reasoning from previous precedents; and local customs. The kanun law system, on the other hand, was the secular law of the sultan, and dealt with issues not clearly addressed by the sharia system. Both systems were taught at the empire's law schools, which were in Constantinople and Bursa.

Military

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The Ottoman military was a complex system of recruiting and fief-holding. In the Ottoman army, light cavalry long formed the core and they were given fiefs called timars. Cavalry used bows and short swords and made use of nomad tactics similar to those of the Mongol Empire. The Ottoman army was once among the most advanced fighting forces in the world, being one of the first to employ muskets.

The modernisation of the Ottoman empire in the 19th century started with the military. This was the first institution to hire foreign experts and which sent their officer corps for training in western European countries. Technology and new weapons were transferred to the empire, such as German and British guns, air force and a modern navy.

Janissary

The Janissaries comprised infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguard. The force originated in the 14th century; it was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826. The Timar system, which organized the Janissary acquisition, was a land based system that extended through out the Empire. The Eurocentric view perceives that often young Christians converted to Islam. Timar as a system of assimilation is questionable.

Nizamis

The Nizamis (Nizam-ı Cedid) were the Ottoman soldiers who replaced the Janissaries. This army was established at the beginning of the year 1842.

Military Band

Ottoman military bands are thought to be the oldest variety of military marching band in the world. Though they are often known by the Persian-derived word mehter (مهتر) in the West, that word, properly speaking, refers only to a single musician in the band.

References

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Notes

See also

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• List of Ottoman Turkish dominated territories across Europe, Asia and Africa (1299-1922)
• Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
• History of the Balkans
• Turkish War of Independence

External links

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In English

• The Ottoman Empire
• Royal Ark: Turkey—an extensive site with much detailed information
• The Ottomans—covers various aspects of the Ottoman Empire in detail
• World Civilizations: The Ottomans—a comprehensive site that covers much about the Ottoman state and government
• Capitals of Ottoman Empire—covers the different Ottoman capitals
• History of Turkish Empire- Gives detail timetable.
• Ottoman Website

In Turkish

• Everything about the Ottoman Empire—a detailed site covering many different aspects of the Ottoman Empire
• Turkcebilgi.com Ottoman Empire Pages—a site covering various aspects of the Ottoman Empire
• Flags of the Ottoman Empire—contains information about Ottoman flags
• Everything About Ottoman Coins—a comprehensive site that covers much about Ottoman currency
• Kutsal Emanetler Topkapi Palace—a comprehensive site that covers much about Kutsal Emanetler

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