Transcript 18.1 – Ottomans Build a Vast Empire

18.1 – Ottomans Build a Vast Empire
Setting the Stage
• 1300: Byzantine Empire in decline & Seljuk
Turks destroyed by the Mongols
• Anatolia inhabited by descendants of the
Turks
• Peoples were militaristic, loyal, and lacked a
strong central power/figure
• Turks = militaristic culture
– Ghazis = warriors for Islam
• Followed an emir &
raided the frontiers of the
Byzantine empire
• Osman – most successful
leader
– Followers = Ottomans
– Forms a small state in
Anatolia
• Lands expanded through
alliances, conquest, &
payment
• Gunpowder = success
– Muskets & cannons
Into Byzantium
Empire
• Orkhan I, Osman’s son,
declared sultan
• 1361: Captures
Adrianople = rise of an
empire
• Rule peoples through
local officials & improve
living standards
• Muslims required to
serve in the army
• Non-Muslims required
to pay an exemption tax
• Early 1400s – Ottoman
expansion interrupted
from the east
• Tamerlane (Timur the
Lane) came from
Central Asia
– Disabled by an arrow to
the leg
• Burns Baghdad to the
ground
• Defeats Ottomans at
Ankara
• Stops & looks to China
Tamerlane
Constantinople
• Mehmed I & Murad II
expand empire as far as
Hungary
• Mehmed II wanted to
take Constantinople
– Controlled the Bosporus
Strait = split of Ottoman
territory
• 1453: Attacks the city
with cannons
– Drags ships over land to
attack from the sea
• Achieves victory in 7
weeks
• Opens city to all &
renames city, Istanbul
Taking Holy Cities
• 1514: Selim the Grim
defeats the Safavids
• Expands empire into
North Africa
• Takes control of Mecca
& Medina
– Islamic Holy Cities
• Conquers Cairo
– Intellectual center of the
Muslim world
Suleyman I
• Rules empire to its
greatest extent
• 1521-2: Conquers
Belgrade & takes
Rhodes = dominance
over eastern
Mediterranean
• Uses naval power to
take coastal areas of
North Africa
• 1526: Pushed empire to
outskirts of Vienna
• Suleyman created an
efficient government &
social structure
• Creates a civil &
criminal law code
• Limited taxes &
simplified bureaucracy
(uses slaves)
• Devshirme policy
– Conquered Christian
boys educated,
converted, & trained as
soldiers
– Creates an elite & loyal
force called Janissaries
The Lawgiver
Culture
• Freedom of worship
granted to all
– Mainly Christians & Jews
• Communities treated as
millets, or nations
• Suleyman I pushed
cultural achievements =
education, architecture,
etc.
– Mosque of Suleyman
• Period similar to the
Renaissance in Europe
• Despite gains, empire
loses land
• Suleyman kills one son
& exiles another
• Selim II inherits throne
= incompetent
• Practice of killing
brothers & imprisoning
sons established = long
line of weak sultans
• Empire lasts until 1918
Slow Decline