Osman I Ghazi (1258-1326) reigned from 1281, founder of the Ottoman Empire in 1299.

The first Turkish Sultan, Osman I, at the age of 23, inherited vast territories in Phrygia from his father, Prince Ertogrul. He united the scattered Turkish tribes with the Muslims who had fled from the Mongols, later they all began to be called Ottomans, and conquered a significant part of the Byzantine state, gaining access to the Black and Marmara seas. In 1299 he founded the empire named after him. Having captured the Byzantine city of Yenisehir in 1301, Osman made it the capital of his empire. In 1326, he stormed the city of Bursa, which already under his son Orhan became the second capital of the empire.

The territory in Asia Minor, where Türkiye is located today, was called Anatolia in ancient times and was the cradle of many civilizations. Among them, one of the most developed was the Byzantine Empire - a Greco-Roman Orthodox state with its capital in Constantinople. Created in 1299 by Sultan Osman, the Ottoman Empire actively expanded its borders and captured neighboring lands. Gradually, many provinces of the weakening Byzantium came under his rule.

The reasons for Sultan Osman's victories lay primarily in his ideology; he declared war on Christians and intended to seize their lands and enrich his subjects. Many Muslims flocked to his banner, including Turkic nomads and artisans who fled the Mongol invasion, and there were also non-Muslims. The Sultan received everyone. For the first time, he formed an army of Janissaries - the future regular Turkish infantry, created from Christians, slaves and prisoners, and later it was replenished by the children of Christians raised in Islamic traditions.

Osman's authority was so high that poems and songs began to be composed in his honor during his lifetime. Many scientists of that time - dervishes - pointed to the prophetic meaning of his name, which, according to some sources, meant “breaker of bones,” that is, a warrior who knows no barriers and knocks down the enemy; according to others, “a vulture hawk” who feeds the carrion of the dead. But in the West, Christians called him not Osman, but Ottoman (hence the word ottoman - a soft Turkish seat without a back), which simply meant “Ottoman Turk.”

The widespread offensive of Osman and his well-armed army led to the fact that the Byzantine peasants, whom no one protected, were forced to flee, abandoning their well-cultivated agricultural areas. And the Turks got pastures, vineyards, and orchards. The tragedy of Byzantium was that its capital, Constantinople, was captured by the crusading knights in the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The completely plundered city became the capital of the Latin Empire, which collapsed by 1261. At the same time, Byzantium was created again, but already weakened and unable to resist external invasion.

The Byzantines concentrated their efforts on creating a fleet; they wanted to stop the Turks at the sea and prevent them from advancing deeper into the mainland. But nothing could stop Osman. In 1301, his army inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined Byzantine forces near Nicaea (now the Turkish city of Iznik). In 1304, the Sultan captured the city of Ephesus on the Aegean Sea - the center of early Christianity, in which, according to legend, the Apostle Paul lived and wrote the Gospel of John. The Turks sought to Constantinople, to the Bosphorus Strait.

Osman's last conquest was the Byzantine city of Bursa. This victory was very important - it opened the way to Constantinople. The Sultan, who was dying, ordered his subjects to turn Bursa into the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Osman did not live to see the fall of Constantinople. But other sultans continued his work and created the great Ottoman Empire, which lasted until 1922.

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 was 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, 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 region, 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, Nakhchivan, 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, Bayezid 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 Bayezid 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. During his remaining years of 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, was unable to defend the main city Byzantium.
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 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 never managed to conquer the Austrian Empire in the future; it was one of the few states Central Europe, which withstood 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 there passed Crimean War(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 had a record-breaking tenure on the Sultan's throne short period of 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.
This sultan, for the first time in the history of the empire, 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 independent state based on its 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 Hijaz 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 Indian Ocean, V North Africa 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 nations under Turkish rule.

Suleiman contributed to the cultural prosperity of the country; under him, beautiful mosques were built in many cities of the empire, luxurious palaces. 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- 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 most big city peace. 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 subjugated 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 immediately ready for new conquests 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. From 1682 there was a transition from sailing ships to the oars. 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.

Main role Agriculture, husbandry and livestock husbandry played a major role in the economy of the vast 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 leadership positions V state apparatus management was also occupied by representatives of the clan 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 medieval Europe Raya 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 differ in appearance, wearing different clothes, refraining from bright colors in it. 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 during 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?

It was about organizing a new Crusade against the Turks, but the church and the imperial government, weakened by this time, were unable to gather the forces 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 strengthen itself in the southeast of 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 similar benefits have been achieved European powers, including powerful Austria. 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, Türkiye 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 Türkiye, 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. From once great empire lands and countries fell away 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 old system Timars, but realized that it was impossible to 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 this 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 Russian-Turkish War 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.

IN late XIX V. The Ottoman Empire became a country dependent on several states Western Europe, dictating 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 Turks are a relatively young people. Its age is only a little over 600 years. The first Turks were a bunch of Turkmens, fugitives from Central Asia who fled from the Mongols to the west. They reached the Konya Sultanate and asked for land to settle. They were given a place on the border with the Nicaean Empire near Bursa. The fugitives began to settle there in the middle of the 13th century.

The main one among the fugitive Turkmens was Ertogrul Bey. He called the territory allocated to him the Ottoman beylik. And taking into account the fact that the Konya Sultan lost all power, he became an independent ruler. Ertogrul died in 1281 and power passed to his son Osman I Ghazi. He is considered the founder of the dynasty Ottoman sultans and the first ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 to 1922 and played a significant role in world history.

Ottoman Sultan with his soldiers

An important factor contributing to the formation of a powerful Turkish state was the fact that the Mongols, having reached Antioch, did not go further, since they considered Byzantium their ally. Therefore, they did not touch the lands on which the Ottoman beylik was located, believing that it would soon become part of the Byzantine Empire.

And Osman Ghazi, like the crusaders, declared holy war, but only for the Muslim faith. He began to invite everyone who wanted to take part in it. And from all over the Muslim east, seekers of fortune began to flock to Osman. They were ready to fight for the faith of Islam until their sabers became dull and until they received enough wealth and wives. And in the east this was considered a very great achievement.

Thus, the Ottoman army began to be replenished with Circassians, Kurds, Arabs, Seljuks, and Turkmens. That is, anyone could come, recite the formula of Islam and become a Turk. And on the occupied lands, such people began to be allocated small plots of land to conduct agriculture. This area was called “timar”. It was a house with a garden.

The owner of the timar became a horseman (spagi). His duty was to appear at the first call to the Sultan in full armor and on his own horse to serve in the cavalry army. It was noteworthy that the spahi did not pay taxes in the form of money, since they paid the tax with their blood.

With such internal organization The territory of the Ottoman state began to expand rapidly. In 1324, Osman's son Orhan I captured the city of Bursa and made it his capital. Bursa was just a stone's throw from Constantinople, and the Byzantines lost control of the northern and western regions of Anatolia. And in 1352, the Ottoman Turks crossed the Dardanelles and ended up in Europe. After this, the gradual and steady capture of Thrace began.

In Europe it was impossible to get along with cavalry alone, so there was an urgent need for infantry. And then the Turks created a completely new army, consisting of infantry, which they called Janissaries(yang - new, charik - army: it turns out to be Janissaries).

The conquerors forcibly took boys between the ages of 7 and 14 from Christian peoples and converted them to Islam. These children were fed well, taught the laws of Allah, military affairs, and became infantrymen (janissaries). These warriors turned out to be the best infantrymen in all of Europe. Neither the knightly cavalry nor the Persian Qizilbash could break through the Janissaries' line.

Janissaries - infantry of the Ottoman army

And the secret of the invincibility of the Turkish infantry lay in the spirit of military camaraderie. From the first days, the Janissaries lived together, ate delicious porridge from the same cauldron, and, despite the fact that they belonged to different nations, they were people of the same destiny. When they became adults, they got married and started families, but continued to live in the barracks. Only during vacations did they visit their wives and children. That is why they did not know defeat and represented the faithful and reliable force of the Sultan.

However, having reached the Mediterranean Sea, the Ottoman Empire could not limit itself to just the Janissaries. Since there is water, ships are needed, and the need arose for a navy. The Turks began to recruit pirates, adventurers and vagabonds from all over the Mediterranean Sea for the fleet. Italians, Greeks, Berbers, Danes, and Norwegians went to serve them. This public had no faith, no honor, no law, no conscience. Therefore, they willingly converted to the Muslim faith, since they had no faith at all, and they did not care at all whether they were Christians or Muslims.

From this motley crowd they formed a fleet that was more reminiscent of a pirate fleet than a military one. He began to rage in the Mediterranean Sea, so much so that he terrified the Spanish, French and Italian ships. Sailing in the Mediterranean Sea itself began to be considered a dangerous business. Turkish corsair squadrons were based in Tunisia, Algeria and other Muslim lands that had access to the sea.

Ottoman navy

Thus, such a people as the Turks were formed from completely different peoples and tribes. And the connecting link was Islam and a common military destiny. During successful campaigns, Turkish warriors captured captives, made them their wives and concubines, and children from women of different nationalities became full-fledged Turks born on the territory of the Ottoman Empire.

The small principality, which appeared on the territory of Asia Minor in the middle of the 13th century, very quickly turned into a powerful Mediterranean power, called the Ottoman Empire after the first ruler Osman I Ghazi. The Ottoman Turks also called their state the Sublime Porte, and called themselves not Turks, but Muslims. As for the real Turks, they were considered the Turkmen population living in the interior regions of Asia Minor. The Ottomans conquered these people in the 15th century after the capture of Constantinople on May 29, 1453.

European states could not resist the Ottoman Turks. Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople and made it his capital - Istanbul. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire significantly expanded its territories, and with the capture of Egypt, the Turkish fleet began to dominate the Red Sea. By the second half of the 16th century, the population of the state reached 15 million people, and the Turkish Empire itself began to be compared with the Roman Empire.

But by the end of the 17th century, the Ottoman Turks suffered a number of major defeats in Europe. The Russian Empire played an important role in weakening the Turks. She always beat the warlike descendants of Osman I. She took the Crimea and the Black Sea coast from them, and all these victories became a harbinger of the decline of the state, which in the 16th century shone in the rays of its power.

But the Ottoman Empire was weakened not only by endless wars, but also by disgraceful agricultural practices. Officials squeezed all the juice out of the peasants, and therefore they farmed in a predatory way. This led to the emergence of a large amount of waste land. And this is in the “fertile crescent”, which in ancient times fed almost the entire Mediterranean.

Ottoman Empire on the map, XIV-XVII centuries

It all ended in disaster in the 19th century, when the state treasury was empty. The Turks began to borrow loans from French capitalists. But it soon became clear that they could not pay their debts, since after the victories of Rumyantsev, Suvorov, Kutuzov, and Dibich, the Turkish economy was completely undermined. The French then brought a navy into the Aegean Sea and demanded customs in all ports, mining concessions and the right to collect taxes until the debt was repaid.

After this, the Ottoman Empire was called the “sick man of Europe.” It began to quickly lose its conquered lands and turn into a semi-colony of European powers. The last autocratic sultan of the empire, Abdul Hamid II, tried to save the situation. However, under him the political crisis worsened even more. In 1908, the Sultan was overthrown and imprisoned by the Young Turks (a pro-Western republican political movement).

On April 27, 1909, the Young Turks enthroned the constitutional monarch Mehmed V, who was the brother of the deposed Sultan. After this, the Young Turks entered the First World War on the side of Germany and were defeated and destroyed. There was nothing good about their rule. They promised freedom, but ended with a terrible massacre of Armenians, declaring that they were against the new regime. But they were really against it, since nothing had changed in the country. Everything remained the same as before for 500 years under the rule of the sultans.

After defeat in the First World War, the Turkish Empire began to die. Anglo-French troops occupied Constantinople, the Greeks captured Smyrna and moved deeper into the country. Mehmed V died on July 3, 1918 from a heart attack. And on October 30 of the same year, the Mudros Truce, shameful for Turkey, was signed. The Young Turks fled abroad, leaving the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed VI, in power. He became a puppet in the hands of the Entente.

But then the unexpected happened. In 1919, a national liberation movement arose in the distant mountainous provinces. It was headed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He led the common people with him. He very quickly expelled the Anglo-French and Greek invaders from his lands and restored Turkey within the borders that exist today. On November 1, 1922, the sultanate was abolished. Thus, the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. On November 17, the last Turkish Sultan, Mehmed VI, left the country and went to Malta. He died in 1926 in Italy.

And in the country, on October 29, 1923, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey announced the creation of the Turkish Republic. It exists to this day, and its capital is the city of Ankara. As for the Turks themselves, they have been living quite happily in recent decades. They sing in the morning, dance in the evening, and pray during breaks. May Allah protect them!

Why was it necessary to compete with the executioner in a race? Why were almost all the Sultan's sons killed? And what terrible tribute did non-Muslims pay?

Previously, you could literally run away from justice

In the Ottoman Empire for a long period of time there were no civilians and internecine wars. One of the reasons for this was the executions of high-ranking officials, which were carried out with the approval of the Sultan. However, not every death sentence was carried out due to a rather strange custom that formed in the 18th century. A convict from among the highest nobility could challenge the chief executioner and compete with him in a race from the main gate of the Topkapi Palace to the place of public execution at the fish market. In case of victory, the execution was usually canceled and replaced by exile from Istanbul. But in fact, this was not so easy to do, since officials had to compete with younger and more resilient executioners.

Legalized murder of the Sultan's sons

In the 15th century, a war broke out in the Ottoman Empire between claimants to the throne, as a result of which Mehmed I became the sultan, who united all the lands. His grandson Mehmed II, in order to avoid such destructive civil strife, introduced the practice of killing brothers who could also have designs on the throne. The bloodiest in this aspect was the reign of Mehmed III, who killed 19 siblings and half-brothers. The tradition was abolished in the 17th century by Sultan Ahmed I, replacing murder with imprisonment. Here is an excerpt from the laws of Mehmed II: “If one of my children becomes the head of the Sultanate, then to ensure public order he must kill his brothers. Most ulema approve of this. Let this rule be observed."

Vizier is one of the most dangerous activities

Despite the fact that the Grand Viziers were second only to the Sultan in power, they were usually executed or handed over to the mob whenever something went wrong. During the reign of Selim the Terrible, so many great viziers changed that they began to constantly carry wills with them.

The Sultan and the dimensionless libido

The Sultan's harem consisted of a huge number of women. It is noteworthy that during the reign of some sultans there were up to 2000 wives and concubines. It is worth noting that they were kept locked up, and any stranger who saw them was executed on the spot.

Taxation

Devshirme is a type of tax on the non-Muslim population, a system of forced recruitment of boys from Christian families for their subsequent education and service as the Sultan’s personal slaves.
The main reason for the emergence of devshirme was the mistrust of the Ottoman sultans in their own Turkic elite. Beginning with the time of Murad I, the Ottoman rulers had a constant need to “balance the power of the (Turkic) aristocracy by creating and developing a personal army of Christian dependent soldiers.”

Ghetto analogue

Ottoman laws prescribed certain rights and obligations for the members of each millet. Naturally, the Ottoman state tried in every possible way to emphasize the primacy of Islam and Muslims on its territory. Muslims enjoyed the greatest rights. Members of other communities had mainly responsibilities: specific color turbans; line of residence, that is, living in a certain quarter; ban on horse riding; tax in money or children. The conversion of “infidels” to Islam was encouraged in every possible way, while Muslims were punished for converting to other religions with the death penalty. At the same time, the state budget of non-Muslim millets was cut from year to year, their marginal nature was emphasized in every possible way, and a “transitional period” was declared on the way to the complete triumph of Islamic Sharia law.