The Ottoman
Empire
From Osman to the Young Turks
http://euroheritage.net/serbscroatsbosnians.shtml
Spath – 351 CPME
Readings
M.E. & Islamic World Reader –
• Origins of Islam (excerpts from Qu’ran)
• The Caliphate (and schism)
• Various early dynasties (esp. Umayyad & Abbasid)
• The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires (gunpowder empires)
In Cleveland – Tanzimat period of the Ottoman Empire (18391876).
Today:
Ottoman Empire (end of 13th c. – 1922)
We will cover up to the turn of the 20th century
Big Questions:
- What happened? How did the empire change?
- Why was the Ottoman Empire so dominant?
- Why did it decline?
- Why is this important to contemporary ME politics?
Where are We Going?
- Monday: Colonialism
- Tuesday: WWI, Inter-War Years
The Gunpowder Empires
Ottomans, Safavids, Mughals became
dominant after Mongol Empire. Why?
- Mongol Legacy
-Agrarianism
- Trade Revenue
- Gunpowder
- Governing Strategies
The Ottomans:
- Started with Osman and his son Orhan
- Gazi Tradition
- Pragmatic Considerations
Ottoman Rule
- Gaza (Gazis) tradition of religious expansion
- Urbanization of imperial cities
- Toleration of local customs
- Millet System
- Dhimmi
- Dynastic Succession & fratricide
- Devshirme Levy
- Four-level ruling elite
The Ottoman Empire
Expansion under Mehmed II
• Ruled the Ottoman Empire
from 1451 to 1481
• In 1453, he toppled the
Byzantine Empire, capturing
Constantinople, renaming it
Istanbul, and making it the
new Ottoman capital
• Expanded the empire to
become the ruler of “two
lands” (Europe and Asia) and
“two seas” (the
Mediterranean and the
Black)
Scene from the battle
defending Constantinople
from a 1499 painting
Selim I – Selim the Grim
• The Sunni Ottomans
under Selim the Grim
(reigned 1512-1520)
detested the Shiite
Safavids and launched a
full-scale invasion of
Safavid territory
Battle of Chaldiran
• The critical battle in this
campaign was the battle
of Chaldiran in 1514
• The Ottomans won and
temporarily occupied
the Safavid capital of
Tabriz but could not
completely destroy the
Safavid state
• The Ottomans and
Safavids continued to
fight intermittingly for
the next two centuries
Suleyman the Magnificent
• Reigned from 1520 to
1566 and continued the
expansion
• Conquered Baghdad in
1534
• Siege on Vienna
(Hapsburgs)
• Moved across N. Africa
18th Century:
Decline
- External Forces
- Economy
- Military
- Loans
- Decentralization
- Janissaries
- Bureaucracy
- Ulema
- Governors &
Notables
19th Century: Towards Consolidation
and Re-centralization
- Selim III
- Muhammad
Ali
- Mahmud II
Selim III and his “New Order”
•
•
•
•
Attempt at recentralization
Devsirme system replaced by Nizam-I Jadid
Diplomatic Engagement with Europe
Assassination from supporters of Status Quo
Mahmud II
• Reigned from 1808 to 1839 and
launched a reform program designed
to restore the traditional Ottoman
military
• The elite and powerful Janissaries
opposed the reforms, but Mahmud
massacred them
• He remodeled his institutions,
especially his military, along
European lines
– European-style uniforms
– European tactics and weaponry
– European education
Janissaries
Muhammad Ali
Discussion: Tanzimat and Its Effects
• Integration into empire of people on outskirts of the empire
• disincentive rising up with nationalist sentiment against empire
• Nationality Law – allowed for common citizenship regardless of religion
• LEGAL REFORMS
• increased autonomy of the millets
• civil and political rights
• individual court systems
• public trials, legal representation, rights of privacy, equal protection
• Europeanization of the military
• the military academies taught in french
• standardized under the state, open to all, increased secular education
•Effects
• Reforms were incredibly costly  they borrowed
• Major economic problems and loan default
• Nationalism, some of the Muslim population, ulema
• split among officials in the Ottoman ruling class (religious and secular)
• produced fissure between nobility and masses (peasants)
• smaller consolidated territory and governance