The Ottoman Empire
Since the dawn of human civilization there have been countless empires trying to make an impact on the world, there reasoning being for glory or if not that, then for their duty and allegiance to their fellow people and respective empires to help their culture survive into the future. Such an example comes to mind about the infamous Ottoman Empire whose rise was not short of a surprise, the best way it could be describes is imagining a bullet shot directly into the sky that keeps going on until it just glimpses the sight of heaven and then crashes down and shatters into a million pieces unable to be resurrected again. This essay will attempt to shed some light on the unforeseen rise of the Ottoman Empire, when it reached its peak, and when it finally met its eventual demises, while also mentioning important events and personalities that provide a valid perspective on the whole truth so that we can know what the Ottoman did after their decline.
The Ottomans where are a nomadic tribe of Gazsi or warrior, Turks that originated from central Asia, they were under the rule of Osman I and under his guidance the emerged to great victory carrying oy many conquests starting from the 14th century to the late 16th century. The ottomans gave a common justification for their actions which was fighting to unite nations under the banner of Islamic tradition. Such was possible after the defeat of the Byzantine Empire, which began with the capture of Anatolia an influential Cristian city in the Battle of Manzikert, this battle marked the first victory of the ottomans against the power of the byzantine strengthening the ottomans resolve, increasing their faith and belief in the cause of spreading Islam. Eventually the ottomans seized the major city under the rule of the byzantine which was Constantinople lead by Mehmet II. The city was rebuilt in the image of a Muslim dominated country and Islamic laws where upheld this fortified ottoman or rather Muslim rule and solidified the basis of Muslim culture to grow. After their victory the ottomans started a process of recruiting Cristian youth and converted them to Islam to have a loyal support. They later names what was once Constantinople to Istanbul a city where Islamic laws and rules governed the ways of society where Muslims were free to practice their way pf life and live in harmony.
After Baghdad fell to the mongols, the Seljuks declared an independent sultanate and controlled the conquest of Antolia as well as from central Asia to the Persian Gulf. They advanced first into Khorasan and then into Persia before conquering eastern Anatolia. They then settled their new lands with Turkish tribes and as soon as the Empire got weakened and fell apart, they separated into different groups. The major focused group was the Ottoman Beylik which was found by Osman Gazi or Osman I. Osman was born in a town named Sogut in Bithynia in 1258. He started his expansion by defeating the Byzantines who was united with the governors of Kestel and Kite.
The battle of Ottomans and Byzantines which occurred in 1301 was then named Koyunhisar in which the ottomans took the lead from the Byzantines. Osman Bey started his occupations by taking the Bursa. After that, he seized the city and then cut the links through the seas with the other countries. He then totally controlled the bursa’s region. Osman Gazi then got ill after sieging in eight years and could no longer fight. He made his son his successor who was called Orhan Gazi. His son then took control over Bursa. After his death, Ottoman rule began to extend from the eastern Mediterranean until the Balkans which is situated in Eastern Europe.
In 1326, Orhan Gazi captured Bursa completely and made it the first capital of the Ottoman State Empire after the complete fall of the Byzantines over Anatolia. Bursa was also referred to as Hudavendigar during the Ottoman period.
The importance of conquering Bursa and making it the capital of the Ottoman Empire was mainly depending on the geographic situation that is close to the Mediterranean Sea as well as the sea of Marmara, that lays in the borders of Turkey, and Yalova located in the north of Turkey. This geographic location surely helped the facilitation of the conquer of other major nearby countries.
In addition, Bursa was also known for producing useful products such as pillows and silk materials. Bursa is also nowadays known as the Yesil Bursa, which means the Green Bursa because of the valleys and the forests present over there. It has many major landmarks from the Ottoman’s period. Such landmarks include
- Ulu Cami (Grand Mosque) which is the largest mosque in Bursa and reflects an image of the early Ottoman architecture skills. There are 192 monumental wall inscriptions inside the mosque that was written by famous calligraphers of that period.
- Emir Sultan Mosque was built for the sake of Emir Sultan who was the groom of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid between 1366 and 1429 years in Bursa. His tomb is situated on the north of the mosque.
- The top of a hill in the entrance of Tophane park in Bursa where the tombs of Osman and Orhan Ghazis are located. The original tombs were totally destroyed by an earthquake, but the structures were rebuilt by Sultan Abdulaziz in the Ottoman style in 1868. Orhan buried his father under the silver domes as his father ordered him to before his death.
- Bursa City Museum, which was opened in 2004, contains six wax statues that represent the Ottoman sultans and there is also a model of the city of Bursa.The Ottoman’s destiny was to bring Islam to the world; since they were seeking expansion, the only place they could expand was towards the Christian territory, the Byzantium Empire. Constantinople was the Byzantine’s capital, so after taking over the Byzantium city Bursa, which helped them to establish a government and build the janissaries, taking over Byzantine’s capital was a matter of time since the Byzantine Empire had been in decline. In the middle of the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Empire spread from Anatolia to the Balkans with the exception of Constantinople that stood behind impenetrable walls. Several attempted sieges failed, including Sultan Murad II in 1422, until his young successor Mehmed II came into leadership. Mehmed preparations were extensive since he besieged the city with a force around 100,000 and a large fleet, built a castle on the Bosporus to prevent any relief ships, and built the most powerful cannon at that time to penetrate the walls. In addition, he had access to Constantinople’s port, the Golden Horn that was blocked by a chain, by having his ships dragged from the Bosporus across land, then reflated to overcome the fortifications from the sea. Nevertheless, initial attacks on the city’s wall resulted with heavy casualties that lead to an attempt of negotiating a surrender [1]. The Byzantines refused all offers including the final offer which allowed the Emperor and his followers to take their wealth and go anywhere, or even for anyone who decided to stay, they could keep their belongings and estates . When the negotiations were refused, the assaults began again with Mehmed launching simultaneous attacks from the sea and land sides of the city that overcame the defences. Through one of the gates that were forced, the Ottomans entered the city and killed the emperor and his remaining defenders during a counterattack. Mehmed then rode to Hagia Sofia, Constantinople’s well-known cathedral, and converted it to a mosque.
The conquest of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantium Empire as well as the middle ages. After the conquest, the Muslims in Asia minor were no longer threatened by the Crusaders and allowed Muslims to eventually begin European campaigns. Moreover, many Byzantine artists and philosophers emigrated with their valuable manuscripts to European centres which paved the way for the ideological revolution known as the European Renaissance.
Ottoman empire was one of the most long-lasting dynasties, as it achieved to conquer various areas around the world for sharing the Islam religion. The ottoman empire achieved victories all over the middle east, eastern Europe and north Africa for more than 600 years and that fact shows how powerful was it. The empire became a transcontinental threat after conquering a land in the Balkans which is a fragmented area located between Europe, Russia, and Asia minor. Also, it includes many cultures and races like Catholics, Othodox, and Muslims; and all of these factors result in conquering it by the Ottomans. Then the Ottoman empire has developed and grew over the northern Africa, Greece, the black sea, Anatolia, and the Arabian Peninsula until World War One.
The Ottoman empire remained for around 600 years which makes it very important and influential. While it became the centre of communication between the east and west and had a complete lockdown of the trade in the Mediterranean, while it was the center through which the fabled silk road travelled between the central Asia and Europe, and between India and Europe via the red sea and Persian Gulf. On the other hand, it affected the economic development of south-eastern Europe by isolating the countries from the capitalistic system of western Europe. Controlling all the Islamic world and especially Jerusalem and Mecca it rose it importance while Suleiman I allowed all the tribes and sects to follow their religious practices. Also, they developed the Devshirmeh system which they used to take the Christian boys from the Balkans provinces and convert them into Islam and teach them in special schools all the major subjects in addition to Arabic, Turkish, and Persian languages then they take the opportunity to work in the Sultan personal service.
The Ottomans revived culture and science and opened up the world to astronomy. The Constantinople Observatory was one of the highest developed institutions of science and learning in Islam. Instruments were then developed by the highly regarded inventor: Taqi al-Din, where he added them to those used in the Islamic world. 1- The Sextant: a tool to measure the distance between the stars, and was therefore achieved to observe the radius of Venus. 2- Instrument with Chords: achieved to designate the spring and autumn equinoxes. 3- Astronomical Clock: having done what Ptolemy failed to do, Taqi built a mechanical clock with a dial showing hours, minutes, and seconds.
Muhiddin Piri Reis was considered the most prominent Ottoman admiral, navigator, geographer and cartographer. His map is the oldest known atlas for the new world, and was created in the early 1500s; this was the first Ottoman map depicting southwestern Europe, north western Africa, south-eastern and central America. This enabled the navigation of ships, and he was a main source of guidance for sailors, navy and captains.
Matrakci Nasuh was the statesman of the Ottoman Empire. He is equivalent to what they refer to as a Renaissance Man, being a polymath, mathematician, teacher, sword master, geographer, cartographer, navigator, inventor, painter, farmer, and miniaturist. He was an educator to the Sultans due to his extensive bank of knowledge and wisdom.
Military achievements were considered to be one of the greatest of all time. They were the first empire to implement gunpowder-based artillery as well as muskets, which enabled them to become a power and extensive empire, while continuously conquering and maintaining land. The Janissaries were ultimately loyal to their Sultan, and this allowed the movement forward of the Empire, as there was little room for uprisings. Ironically, even though the Ottomans had Pan Islamic aspirations, they managed to allow religious tolerance in their Empire. Having spread Islam through different continents, one would expect that they did so by force. However, it has been shown that they accepted other religions and led by example- this was one aspect that kept the Empire united and didn’t encourage rebel groups (an example of this is today’s secular Turkey).
Arts, culture and architecture were influenced by many cultures, as well as influenced many more to come. Turkish coffee should actually be called- coffee! The earliest evidence of either coffee drinking is from the 15th century, where the Sufis used to rink it in the monasteries of Yemen and is not a huge part of not only their culture, but the whole worlds’. Their architecture was a Byzantine influenced one, synthesized with traditions of Central Asia and the Middle East. We can observe that with Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace, were some of the Byzantine monuments which were transformed into Ottoman ones and served as templates to the proceeding architecture styles.
The series of events that started with the migration of some nomadic tribes from Central Asia in twelfth century radically changed the course of the history of the world, and left an irreversible impact on the world- namely the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire was a 600 year-long empire of ups and downs, but landed great achievements in society, culture, architecture, and education.
The Ottoman Empire is considered one of the largest and most powerful empires in the history of mankind. When the Empire reached its peak, it was controlling a population of 15 million and covering 2 million square miles. The Empire lasted for around 600 years but was on a decline after the 18th century. Therefore, there were unsuccessful attempts of reforms to gain their power back. By World War I, the Ottomans were with the central powers facing the allies that included the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia. After the war ended with the victory of the Allied Powers, the Ottoman Empire was dismantled and officially ended by 1922, and shortly after the Republic of Turkey was established.