The Ottoman

Empire

1280-1918

Justin McCarthy,
The Map Project, MESA

Ottoman Empire

• Begun by Osman Bey in 1289
• Osman and his followers

above all sought to become
ghazi

– “the instrument of the religion of

Allah, a servant of God who
purifies the earth from the filth of
polytheism; the Ghazi is the
sword of God, he is the protector
and the refuge of the believers.
If he becomes a martyr in the
ways of God, do not believe that
he has died– he lives in beatitude
with Allah, he has eternal life”

• Ahmadi

Ottoman Empire

• The Ottoman’s location on the borders of

the Byzantine Empire gave them ample
opportunity for holy war

• At the height of its power, in the sixteenth

and seventeenth centuries, the

empire

spanned three continents controlling much
of

Southeastern Europe

,

Western Asia

and

North Africa

Mehmed II

• Ruled the Ottoman Empire

from 1451 to 1481

• In 1453, he toppled the

Byzantine Empire,

capturing Constantinople,

renaming it Istanbul, and

making it the new

Ottoman capital

• Expanded the empire to

become the ruler of “two

lands” (Europe and Asia)

and “two seas” (the

Mediterranean and the

Black)

Scene from the battle

defending

Constantinople from a

1499 painting

Ottoman Empire under

Mehmed II

Suleyman the Magnificent

• Reigned from 1520

to 1566 and
continued the
expansion

• Conquered

Baghdad in 1534

• Like the other

Ottomans,
Suleyman was a
Sunni

Turkey

• Turkey is about 97% Moslem and about

80% of these Moslems are Sunni

Safavid Empire

• Founded by Shah Ismail in

1501 and lasted until 1722

• Shah Ismail reigned to 1524

and proclaimed his realm’s

official religion would be

Shiism

– Would impose Shiism by

force if necessary over

the formerly Sunni

population

• Seized control of the Iranian

plateau and centered his

empire around the capital of

Istahan

Iran

Today Iran is 89% Shia and 9%
Sunni

Differences Between Shia and

Sunni

• Shiites

– About 15% of all

Muslims

– Islam’s leader should

be a descendant of
Mohammad

– Qualified religious

leaders have the
authority to interpret
the sharia (Islamic
law)

• Sunnis

– About 85% of all

Muslims

– Leaders should be

chosen through
ijma, or consensus

– The sharia was

codified and closed
by the 10th century

Selim the Grim

• The Sunni

Ottomans under
Selim the Grim
(reigned 1512-
1520) detested the
Shiite Safavids and
launched a full-
scale invasion of
Safavid territory

Battle of Chaldiran

• The critical battle in

this campaign was

the battle of

Chaldiran in 1514

• The Ottomans won

and temporarily

occupied the Safavid

capital of Tabriz but

could not completely

destroy the Safavid

state

• The Ottomans and

Safavids continued to

fight intermittingly for

the next two

centuries

Back to the Ottomans….

• By the late 17th Century the

Ottoman expansion had reached its
limits

– The Ottomans had neglected military

training and technological advances and
fell behind the European armies in
strategy, tactics, weapons, and training

– They suffered a series of military defeats

Ottoman Decline

• The loss of military power translated

to declining effectiveness of the
central government

• By the early 19

th

Century, semi-

independent governors and local
notables became increasingly
autonomous

Ottoman Decline

• The Ottoman government maintained

its authority in Anatolia and Iraq, but it

lost territory elsewhere

– Russia gained territory in the Caucasus and

central Asia

– Austria gained territory on the western

frontier

– After an unsuccessful invasion by the

French, Egypt became an essentially

autonomous region within the Ottoman

Empire under the rule of Muhammad Ali

Ottoman Decline

• In addition to military and territorial losses,

the Ottomans suffered economically as

merchants began to circumvent Ottoman

intermediaries and trade directly with their

counterparts in India and China

• The Ottoman Empire had little to export and

became heavily dependent on foreign loans

• “Capitulation”– agreements exempting

European visitors from Ottoman law and

providing European powers the right to

exercise jurisdiction over their own citizens in

Ottoman territory– threatened Ottoman

sovereignty

Mahmud II

• Reigned from 1808 to 1839 and

launched a reform program

designed to restore the

traditional Ottoman military

• The elite and powerful

Janissaries opposed the reforms,

but Mahmud massacred them

• He remodeled his institutions,

especially his military, along

European lines

– European-style uniforms
– European tactics and

weaponry

– European education

Janissaries

Other Reforms of Mahmud

• Created a system of secondary education

for boys to facilitate the transition from

mosque schools to newly established

scientific, technical, and military academies

• Established European style ministries, built

new roads and telegraph lines, and started

a postal service

• Transferred authority to the sultan from

traditional elites by

– Taxing rural landlords

– Abolishing the system of military land grants

– Undermining the ulama (the Islamic leadership)

Ottoman Empire under

Mahmud II

• The empire

was smaller,
but it was
more
consolidated
and powerful
than it had
been since
the early 17

th

Century

Tanzimat

• The tempo of reform increased after

Mahmud during the Tanzimat

(“reorganization”) era from 1839-1876

• Reformers drew inspiration from the

Enlightenment thought and the

constitutional foundations of western

European states

• Principal target was the army, but other

reforms involved law and education

Tanzimat

• The legal reforms were designed to make Ottoman

law acceptable to Europeans so the Ottomans could

have the capitulations lifted and recover sovereignty

• Safeguarded the rights of subjects through

guaranteed public trials, rights of privacy, and

equality before the law

• Educational reforms resulted in a complete system

of primary, secondary, and university education

under the supervision of the state ministry of

education

• Legal and educational reforms both undermined the

ulama and there was opposition from religious

conservatives and others

Abd al-Hamid II

• An opposition group

of radical dissidents

from the Ottoman

bureaucracy staged

a coup in 1876 and

installed Abd al-

Hamid II as sultan

• Abd al-Hamid

imposed a despotic

regime and

generated much

opposition

Young Turks

• The Ottoman Society for Union and

Progress (better known as the Young
Turks) was founded in 1889 by exiled
Ottomans

• In 1908 they inspired an army coup

and in 1909 they dethroned Abd al-
Hamid and established a puppet sultan

– Ottoman sultans would now reign but not

rule

Agenda of the Young Turks

• Universal suffrage
• Equality before the

law

• Freedom of religion
• Free public

education

• Secularization of the

state

• Emancipation of

women

Enver Pasha, one
of the army
leaders of the
Young Turks

Still the Sick Man

• The Ottoman Empire was crumbling

and survived principally because the
European powers could not decide
how to dispose of it without upsetting
the European balance of power

World War I

• In 1914, the

Ottomans became

aligned with the

Central Powers

(Germany and

Austria-Hungary)

• Successfully fended

off the Allied landing

at Gallipoli in 1915

and Mesopotamia in

1916, but then

began retreating on

all fronts

– Mustafa Kemal

emerged as a great

war hero

•Competition

between European
nations led to WWI
in 1914

The Ottomans

sided with

Germany and

lost.

•The Arab territories

were divided up
between Great
Britain and France

•Turkey became

a republic