Ottoman Empire - history.

« Süleyman ISüleyman I, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire during its zenith, became known in the western world as Süleyman the Magnificent.

Hewas known among his own people as the Lawgiver because he revised the legal system of the empire.

Süleyman had several sons,two of whom he executed after quarreling with them.Culver Pictures Bayazid died in captivity, a suicide according to some accounts, and a struggle for succession to the sultanate broke out among his sons.

Muhammad I (reigned 1413-1421)eventually won the title, having succeeded in capturing the territories Tamerlane had given his brothers, and thereby reunifying the Ottoman domains.

After starting torecapture the emirates in western Anatolia that had helped Tamerlane, Muhammad died in 1421 and was succeeded by his son Murad II (reigned 1421-1444; 1446-1451). By 1423 Murad II had repossessed western Anatolia.

Turning his attention to Europe, he annexed Serbia in 1439 and besieged Hungarian-held Belgrade in 1440.

Murad thengrew weary of constant campaigning.

After arranging peace with Hungary and Serbia in 1444 and with his most powerful enemy, the east central Anatolian emir ofKaraman, he abdicated in favor of his 12-year-old son Muhammad II (reigned 1444-1446, 1451-1481).

Reading this as a sign of Ottoman weakness, Europe unleashed anew crusade to oust the Ottomans.

Murad came out of his retirement and roundly defeated the European army at Varna, Bulgaria, in late 1444.

Murad retired again in favorof Muhammad, but returned in 1446 to put down a rebellion in Edirne.

It was not until Murad’s death in 1451 that Muhammad II, later called Muhammad the Conqueror,returned to the throne. Each early Ottoman sultan launched his sultanate with a great ghazi victory.

For Muhammad, it was the conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

After bombarding the city wallswith cannon fire for months, Muhammad and his troops succeeded in taking the city in less than a day and destroying the last of the Byzantine Empire.

Muhammad madeConstantinople the new Ottoman capital and created the imperial palace complex of Topkapı.

He continued to expand the Ottoman Empire into Europe, securing most of theBalkan Peninsula, including Greece, Albania, Serbia, and Bosnia.

Muhammad died in 1481 just as the Ottoman armies were preparing a full-scale invasion of Italy, whichwas then aborted. The reign of Muhammad’s son and successor Bayazid II (reigned 1481-1512) was weak in comparison.

Two events occurred during his reign that would challenge theOttoman Empire for the next several centuries.

The first was the circumnavigation of Africa by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama between 1497 and 1498.

This voyageinaugurated a lucrative spice trade between Europe and South Asia, and Portuguese fleets began to shut down Arab shipping routes between India, southern Arabia, andEgypt that supplied the Ottoman spice trade.

The second was the rise of the Safavid dynasty in Iran in 1501.

Unlike the Ottomans, who were Sunni Muslims, the Safavidsbelonged to the Shia branch of Islam.

As a nearby rival power with antagonistic Islamic beliefs, the Safavids presented a challenge to the Islamic legitimacy of the Ottomansand began to convert inhabitants of the eastern frontiers of the Ottoman Empire. The Military Campaigns of Süleyman the MagnificentThis miniature comes from a manuscript of 1588 that illustrates events in the life of Ottoman sultan Süleyman I, who later becameknown as Süleyman the Magnificent.

The miniature depicts the armies of the sultan as they prepare to depart on a campaign inEurope.

Süleyman’s reign is commonly described as the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire.

The manuscript is in the Topkapi PalaceMuseum, İstanbul.Giraudon/Art Resource, NY The Ottoman response to these challenges had to wait for the reign of Selim I (reigned 1512-1520).

Selim declared a holy war on the Safavid dynasty, invading Safavidterritory along the far eastern frontier and defeating the Safavids in 1514 at Çald ıran.

He then swept through Anatolia, down the Fertile Crescent, and across the Red Sea toEgypt, capturing the two holiest cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina, in the process.

Seeking to expel the Portuguese from the Indian Ocean, he created naval fleets at Suez,Egypt; though the Portuguese were not expelled, Selim did manage to prevent the establishment of a total Portuguese monopoly over the spice trade. Selim I died in 1520 after having spent most of his short reign on matters pertaining to the east.

His son and successor Süleyman I (reigned 1520-1566) again turned theattention of the Ottomans to the west.

In August 1521 Süleyman, later known as Süleyman the Magnificent, opened the road to Hungary by capturing Belgrade, aHungarian stronghold.

He took the island of Rhodes from the Knights of Saint John in December 1522, which signaled the beginning of Ottoman domination of the easternMediterranean.

In 1529 Süleyman campaigned to the gates of the Habsburg city of Vienna in the west, and in 1534 took the Iranian city of Tabr īz in the east.

When he diedin 1566, while on campaign in Hungary, Süleyman had become the preeminent Muslim ruler in the world. Ottoman fortunes began to decline after the death of Süleyman, but from such a great height that the changes were imperceptible at first.

While continuing to pressure theHabsburg dynasty in Central Europe, the Ottomans maintained their naval presence in the Mediterranean by taking Cyprus between 1570 and 1571.

They protected theireastern flank against the Safavids and even began to lock horns with a new enemy, emerging Russia.

Ottoman weakness began to show itself in the 17th century againstboth the Habsburgs and Iran.

The empire’s agricultural economy was still strong and self-sufficient, however, giving the Ottomans great recuperative powers which, whencoupled with good leadership, could still make them a world threat.

Such was the case under Sultan Murad IV (reigned 1623-1640), who was the most vigorous sultan sinceSüleyman.

He strengthened the eastern Ottoman flank by capturing Baghd ād from the Safavids.

After his death the empire experienced severe internal crises, includingdisorder in the provinces, unrest in the military as serious inflation caused soldiers to be underpaid or not paid at all, and succession issues due to the lack of candidateswho were of age to assume the sultanate.

This led to a period in Ottoman history known as “the Sultanate of the Women.” During this period the political impact of theharem was felt and the mothers of young sultans exercised power in the name of their sons. Political order was restored in 1656 when Turhan, the mother of Sultan Muhammad IV, allowed an aged but astute military figure, Köprülü Muhammad Pasha, to assume theoffice of grand vizier (chief minister).

In his brief five years of office, Köprülü got rid of incompetent officials, ferreted out corruption, and revived the vigor and pride of theOttoman Empire.

He also quelled several rebellions, strengthened the empire’s defenses, and led the Ottoman forces to victories against the Venetian navy.

Upon his deathin 1661 he was succeeded as grand vizier by his own son, Köprülü Faz ıl Ahmed Pasha, thus creating the first family dynasty within the grand vizierate. Köprülü Faz ıl Ahmed was a great campaigner.

Under him the Ottomans captured much of Ukraine from Poland, and in 1669 completed the conquest of Crete (Kríti), the lastgreat Ottoman acquisition.

He died in 1676 after igniting fear in Europe of the reinvigorated Ottoman Empire.

His successor, Kara Mustafa Pasha, worried Europe further. »