The Rise of the Ottoman Empire PDF

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Seyidova 1 Leyla Seyidova The Rise of the Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire was one of the most important and most powerful non-western states that played an essential role in European and global history. The empire’s rise to power started approximately in 1299, in the northwestern corner of the Ana...

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Leyla Seyidova The Rise of the Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire was one of the most important and most powerful non-western states that played an essential role in European and global history. The empire’s rise to power started approximately in 1299, in the northwestern corner of the Anatolian peninsula. Throughout the 14​th century, the Ottoman Empire expanded remarkably from a small, scarcely visible chiefdom to one of the most powerful empires with vast territories. Today’s objective is to identify the reasons for the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans’ use of knowledge and well-thought, logical tactics rather than excessive violence has earned them their success. That is, they did not blindly fight their way through, they had brilliant leaders who sought out the right time and place to make their moves. After examining the causes of the rise of the Ottoman rule, three elements stand out and explain the state’s success: the conquest of the Byzantine Empire, the co-existence of a primary Muslim religion among with other religions, and the Janissary military system. I will begin by explaining the Ottoman expansion before 1453 followed by the conquest of Byzantium. Finally, the significant role of the Janissaries will be examined.

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The Ottomans arose in the context of Turkish nomadic invasions that shattered central Byzantine state domination in Asia Minor. In 1000 C. E, the Turkish nomads, called the Turcoman or the Ottomans started moving into the Middle East. Ottomans were led by consensus rather than command. That is, the ruler did not simply give a command which must have been obeyed. Rather the decision was in the group’s hand as it must have discussed the positive and negative aspects of an issue and come to agree on the action to take. This migration was a major event in world history because it created a Turkic speaking group of people spreading across the Western borders of China to Asia Minor and led the formation of the Ottoman state. Prior to the migration, the tribe’s territory was the smallest of the Turkish emirates in Western Anatolia. Inevitably, the migration caused problems to the local citizens. As the Turcoman migrated, their animals disrupted the economy of the local regions and the flow of tax revenues that agriculturalists paid to their rulers. Additionally, the Turcoman’s often spontaneous and undirected invasions, toppled local administrations and threw the prevailing political and economic order of Anatolia into confusion. The Ottomans first arrived on European soil in 1345 because of the ambitions of a Byzantine pretender, Constantine Paleologos XI ​(11)​ to the Constantinople throne. Caught in a civil war, the supposed emperor granted the

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Ottomans this foothold in a new continent as a means of cementing their support. Once they arrived, however, the never left. One of the explanations for the remarkable record of Ottoman success is that they profited from the weakness and confusion of their enemies. Another helping factor was the European Black Death which broke out in 1348. The plague that decimated a significant amount of Europe’s population also contributes to many of the social, economic, and political changes there between the14 and 16 centuries, and beyond. The consequences of the Black Death in the Middle East were in many ways milder, which is why the plague plays a major role in molding the region’s history in that it facilitated the rise of the Ottomans’ by depopulating their enemies. The Turcoman were able to play the balance of power game due to Europe’s weakness caused by the plague which allowed them to move onto European soil and seize power. The division and weakness of enemies and the impact of the plague underscore their good fortune and downplay Ottoman achievements by attributing success to actions outside of their control. In other words, the spread of the Black Death was simply a beneficial coincidence for the Ottomans since they had no control over the occurrence. However, it played an important role in the state’s rise. The founder of the dynasty after whom it was named, Osman (1258-1324/26), was just one of the many leaders and not the most powerful

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among the various Turcoman groups on the frontier. The dynasty of Osman triumphed while coalitions of west and central European states were becoming aware of the expanding Ottoman state and the increasing danger it posed to them. Osman’s son, Orkhan, shortly after Osman’s death in 1326, captured Bursa which became the first Ottoman capital, a common date for founding the Ottoman Empire, and the beginning of a long process of military conquest. The Ottoman empire, in the process of its formation, did what was necessary to attract and retain followers on political, economical, and especially religious levels. In other words, the Ottoman state was not a religious one in the making but rather a pragmatic, dynastic one. Usually, historians like to point to the reign of 2 sultans -Mehmet II (1451-1461) and Suleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566) as particularly impressive and their reigns and accomplishments will be discussed later. The Ottomans’ conquest of Byzantium was the first cause for the empire’s rise to power. Prior to the capture of Constantinople, the Byzantine ruler had vassals who worked his land and paid him taxes in the form of harvest collected from that same land. The vassals were bound to the landlord because they did not own the land and because their deep debt obliged them to continuously work the land to pay it off. When Mehmet II, otherwise called Mehmet the Conqueror (​son of Murad II)​ took power

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in 1444, he was destined to become the greatest sultan of his line so far. Just two years later, in March of 1453, he fulfilled the long-standing Ottoman and Muslim dream of seizing thousand-year old Constantinople, with the help of the Hungarian engineers. Mehmet II hired Hungarian engineers to build cannons that broke down the walls of Constantinople. When the Emperor was killed in a brave counterattack, Constantinople fell. The Ottomans had finally extinguished their most symbolic rival and the empire would never be the same again. The conquest of Constantinople allowed for the security of the Ottoman frontiers and acceptance of the Ottoman suzerainty. Moreover, the conquest provided the Ottoman Empire with control over major trading routes that connected European and Asian territories and secured the straits that link the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The conquest of the Byzantine Empire stimulated economic, religious, and military growth, which, as a result, played a vital tole in the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. It can therefore be said that the Ottoman expansion began at the expense of the decline of the Byzantium. The main trend between 1300 and 1550 is of growing direct Ottoman control over neighbouring lands. Since direct control over an area is an economic advantage, Ottoman officials took back under central state control many of the lands and revenues which had slipped into the hands of local lords and

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monasteries. Overall, the new Ottoman subjects found themselves rendering fewer taxes than they had to the officials of rulers preceding the Ottomans. Istanbul, the renamed Constantinople, controlled major trading routes both by land and by sea which increased the state’s trade with other countries and the empire’s revenue. The overall economic situation ameliorated along with the empire’s influence and control over the surrounding countries. This circumstance had an impact on the expansion of the empire because the more trade there was within and without the empire, the more powerful and influential it became. The question that arises when discussing the rise of the Ottoman Empire is how could several nomadic warriors create a stable, strong state? How could the sultan impose his power over an independent minded warrior elite who often regarded the leaders as glorified chieftains rather than a sovereign authority? Despite the sultans’ little administrative experience, Bayezit was the first to tackle this problem by creating the ​devshirme ​“the collection”, which was the levy system. Bayezit I was known as “The Thunderbolt” and was the most ambitious of the Ottoman leaders during his time frame. Out of the ​devshirmes,​ many rose to become commanders and grand viziers, and played a distinguishable role in Ottoman history. The others became members of the Janissary army. The

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Janissaries for centuries technologically were the best trained, best armed fighting force in the Mediterranean world. At the accession of Mehmet II, there were 5000 troops who gave the empire undoubtable military power. The Sultan controlled the military which was well funded and organized. The Janissaries formed the most significant bodies of fighting men. They were a separate fighting force, slave-soldiers that were the personal property of the Sultan. Janissaries played an important political role as the Sultan used them to counter-balance the pretensions of the Turkish nobility, their cavalry known as ​sipahis​. The Janissaries were recruited as children from Christian villages in lieu of taxes, converted to Islam, and trained as a disciplined soldiers, eventually armed muskets and cannons. They got salaries, unlike all other slaves. Such a military system provided the empire with an immense army, of about 10,000 men, which protected the empire and gave it the power to conquer more land, which played an essential role in the expansion of the empire. Those young recruits that demonstrated more brain than brawn would enter the civil service, as someone the Sultan could rely upon. The Ottoman state became notorious for creating an effective beurocratic machine​ (civil service, government makes decisions, not the citizens). ​Therefore, military power was another reason which lead to the rise of the Ottoman Empire.

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Not only did the empire have a strong military system, it also had highly effective artillery. Technological superiority often played a key role. Firearms such as cannons required strenuous training and discipline that often were incompatible with nomadic life. In many cultures including the Ottoman, cavalry prevented the use of gun that took a long time to reload and grated on the warrior ethic of bravery and courage demonstrated through hand-to-hand combat. As firearms became the primary weapon of the army, the cavalry and its timer financial base became decreasingly relevant. As the Empire expanded, it became increasingly multinational and multireligious. However, Turkish remained as the language of the government and the Empire was principally Muslim. The Ottoman Empire allowed major religious groups, which are, the Greek Orthodox, the Jews, and the Armenians, to follow their religious laws under the protection of the Sultan. Religious tolerance helped in the expansion of the Empire because it attracted people who traded, paid taxes, and could possibly be used as armed forces. However, the fact that the Empire had become primarily Turkish and Muslim encouraged the immigration of the Turks which allowed Mehmed II to repopulate the newly conquered city. The acceptance of various religions within the Empire allowed more people to migrate to Istanbul while generating a larger population. For instance, by the 16​th century there were

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700,000 inhabitants of Istanbul which made it second in population to Beijing, China. (​400,000 in Constantinople’s peak time). The migration contributed to the economic and political growth of the Empire, because the more people there were within the Empire, the more individuals traded and paid taxes. In addition, it was useful to have many citizens in the state in a case of a shortage of military forces. Furthermore, the religious leaders of the Empire were also political leaders, which greatly influenced the expansion of Islam under the Ottoman rule. The ​millet ​(​denominational) ​system which existed within the Ottoman Empire helped its expansion: the millet a​ nd the denominational systems. The Ottomans incorporated non-Muslims as ​millets. ​Each ​millet had its own communal leadership, civil law, and legal system and provided its own social welfare and educational system. Ottomans recognized three ​millets ​aside from Sunni Muslims: the Greek Orthodox, the Jews, and the Armenians. The denominational system is limited, conditional, originating in or influenced by the beliefs or interests of a religious, political party. An example of this system was visible in religious Christian schools. The Empire’s policy of religious tolerance was successful because it emphasized no fear of persecution resulting in no religious revolts which is another reason for the state’s stability.

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However, religion did complicate the legal processes of the empire because the sultans always struggled when giving a law, since it had to fit within the religion. This situation changed with the arrival of Suleyman the Magnificent or Suleyman “the law giver”. Sultan Suleyman possessed theoretically absolute power, he was an absolute, semi-divine ruler. Previous Islamic rulers often ran into trouble when the​ ulema,​ the community of religious scholars, would object to a ruler’s legislation by declaring in “un-Islamic” and contrary to Shar’ia Law. Suleyman used his prestige and authority to insist that the ​ulema​ find good Islamic reasons that justified his legislation rather than criticize it. He was also able to appoint his own candidate as the Grand Mufti ​(i​ s the highest official of religious law)​ ,​ ​which certainly facilitated the process. This shows once again that the sultans were able to counter- balance another formerly independent-minded group, in this case the ​ulema​. Between the 14​th​ and the end of the 17​th​ century, the Ottoman Empire underwent a radical evolution both in its form and in the concentration of power within the administrative apparatus. There are numerous reasons which contributed to the rise of the Ottomans, however after a close examination, three reasons stood out as having the biggest impact on the political, economic, and military power of the Ottoman rule. For the reasons mentioned earlier, the conquest of the Byzantine

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Empire, primary Muslim religion, and the Janissary military system can be considered as the main causes for the rise of the Ottoman Empire.

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Bibliography Imber, Colin. ​The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power.​ Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Quataert, Donald. ​The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922.​ Cambridge, UK: Cambrige University Press, 2013. Streusand, Douglas E. ​Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals​. Boulder, CO: Westview Press,2011. Turnbull, Stephen R. ​The Ottoman Empire, 1326-1699​. New York: Routledge, 2004....