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Ottoman Empire

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Ancient History,
Classical History and Mythology

   CAPTION: Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye
   دولت عليه عثمانيه
   Ottoman Empire

   Empire

   ←
      1299 —  1922 →

   Flag                     Coat of arms
   Late Ottoman flag (1793) Coat of arms
   Motto: دولت ابد مدت
   Devlet-i Ebed-müddet
   ("The Eternal State")
   Anthem: Ottoman imperial anthem
   Location of Ottoman Empire
   At the height of its power (1683)
   Capital        Söğüt (1299-1326)
                  Bursa (1326-1365)
                  Edirne (1365-1453)
                  Constantinople (Istanbul) (1453-1922)
                  41°00′N 29°00′E
   Language(s)    Ottoman Turkish
   Government     Monarchy
   Sultans
    - 1281–1326   Osman I
    - 1918–1922   Mehmed VI
   Grand Viziers
    - 1320-1331   Alaeddin Pasha
    - 1920-1922   Ahmed Tevfik Pasha
   History
    -  Foundation 1299
    -  Partition  November 17,  1922
   Area
    - 1914        540,766 km^2
                  208,791 sq mi
   Population
    - 1453 est.   410,580
    - 1878 est.   26,000,000
    - 1914 est.   25,000,000
        Density   46.2 /km²
                  119.7 /sq mi
   Currency       Akçe, Kuruş, Lira

   The Ottoman Empire ( Ottoman Turkish: دولت عليه عثمانيه - Devlet-i
   Âliye-yi Osmâniyye; literally, "The Sublime Ottoman State"), also known
   in the West as the Turkish Empire, existed from AD  1299 to AD  1922.
   At the height of its power in the 16th and 17th centuries, the
   tri-continental Ottoman Empire controlled much of Southeastern Europe,
   the Middle East and North Africa, stretching from the Strait of
   Gibraltar (and in 1553 the Atlantic coast of North Africa beyond
   Gibraltar) in the west to the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf in the east,
   from the edge of Austria and Slovakia and the hinterland beyond Ukraine
   in the north to Sudan and Yemen in the south. The empire was at the
   centre of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six
   centuries.

   With Istanbul, (the Ottoman Turkish name of old Constantinople) as its
   capital, it was the final great Mediterranean Empire and heir to the
   legacy of Rome and Byzantium in many ways. In the 16th and 17th
   centuries, the Ottoman Empire was among the world's most powerful
   states, threatening the powers of eastern Europe with its steady
   advance through the Balkans. Its navy was a powerful force in the
   Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and the Indian
   Ocean. On several occasions, the Ottoman army invaded central Europe,
   laying siege to Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683 in an attempt to
   conquer the Habsburgs, and was finally repulsed only by coalitions of
   European powers on the sea and on land. It was the only Eastern power
   to seriously challenge the rising power of Western Europe between the
   15th and 20th centuries.

   The Ottoman Empire steadily declined during the 19th century, and met
   its demise at the beginning of the 20th century after its defeat in
   World War I in the Middle Eastern theatre with the other Central
   Powers. In the aftermath of the war, the Ottoman government collapsed
   and the victorious powers partitioned the Empire. Subsequent years saw
   the creation of new states from the remnants of the Empire; at present
   39 nation-states (40 including the disputed TRNC) have emerged from the
   former Ottoman territories. In Anatolia, the historical centre of the
   Empire, an emergent Turkish national movement expelled invading forces
   during the Turkish War of Independence, which concluded with the birth
   of the Republic of Turkey. The new Republic declared the Sultan and his
   family, the Ottoman Dynasty, as persona non grata of Turkey. Fifty
   years later, in 1974, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey granted
   descendants of the former dynasty the right to acquire Turkish
   citizenship.

History

              History of the
   Ottoman Empire
                 Periods:
   Rise (1299–1453)
   Growth (1453–1683)
   Stagnation (1683–1827)
   Decline (1828–1908)
   Dissolution (1908–1922)
                See also:
      Click


    Fall of Constantinople
           Tulip Era
         Tanzimat era
   First Constitutional Era
   Second Constitutional Era
         European Wars
         Russian Wars
        Near East Wars

   The history of the Ottoman Empire spans more than six centuries, and
   primary documentation of the empire's relations with other powers is to
   be found in the archives of thirty-nine nations. Earlier historiography
   of the empire was based largely on analysis of Ottoman military
   victories and defeats; current approaches take a wider perspective, the
   scope of which includes the social dynamics of territorial growth and
   dissolution, and examination of economic factors and their role in the
   empire's eventual stagnation and decline.

   An examination of Ottoman history from a political and military
   viewpoint will be presented here; a socioeconomic analysis is treated
   in separate articles, divided between two periods, the classic period
   (sometimes referred to as the "era of enlargement"), and the reform
   period (also called "the era of Westernization").

Origins

   The arpita ancestors, part of Turkic peoples, of the Ottoman Dynasty
   was part of the westward Turkic migrations from Central Asia that began
   during the 10th century. Seljuk Turks settled in Persia during this
   period. The Seljuq dynasty began to push west into Armenia and Anatolia
   at the beginning of the 11th century. These movements brought them into
   conflict with the Byzantine Empire, which had been the preeminent
   political power in the eastern Mediterranean since the Roman era, but
   had by the 11th century begun a long decline.

   Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate of the Seljuk Turks become the permanent
   foothold in Anatolia which was established a after a historic victory
   at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Under the suzerainty of the
   Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate, the Kai tribe of Oğuz Turks created what
   eventually became known as the " Ottoman Beylik" (tr:Osmanoglu) in
   western Anatolia. The leader Ertuğrul received this land after backing
   the Seljuks in a losing border skirmish. The Seljuk system offered the
   Beylik protection from outsiders, and also allowed it to develop its
   own internal structure. The Kayı position on the far western fringe of
   the Seljuk state enabled them to build up their military power through
   co-operation with other nations living in western Anatolia, many of
   whom were Christian.

   " Ottoman Beylik" (tr:Osmanoglu) passed over to another stage,
   Anatolian Turkish Beyliks, with the demise of the Anatolian Seljuk
   Sultanate. Following the Mongol invasion of Anatolia in the 13th
   century, the sultanate collapsed and its territory was divided among a
   number of Turkish principalities known as Beylik. it became vassals of
   the Il Khanate of the Mongols.

Rise (1299–1453)

                               Image:20pxOttomanicon.png Military &
                                                         Political History
                                        Rise of the Ottoman Empire
                                                Time Span 154 years
                                                # Sultans        8
                                                 Soc-Econ Enlargement
                                                 See also

   Mehmed II conquers Constantinople and makes it the new Ottoman capital
   in 1453
   Enlarge
   Mehmed II conquers Constantinople and makes it the new Ottoman capital
   in 1453

   The name Ottoman derives from Osman I (Arabic: Uthman), son of
   Ertuğrul, who became the first Bey when he declared the independence of
   the Ottoman state in 1299. While the other Turkish Beyliks were
   preoccupied with internal conflicts, Osman was able to extend the
   frontiers of Ottoman settlement towards the edge of the Byzantine
   Empire. He moved the Ottoman capital to Bursa, and shaped the early
   political development of the nation. Given the nickname "Kara" for his
   courage, Osman I was admired as a strong and dynamic ruler long after
   his death, as evident in the centuries-old Turkish phrase, "May he be
   as good as Osman." His reputation has also been burnished by the
   medieval Turkish story known as " Osman's Dream", a foundation myth in
   which the young Osman was inspired to conquest by a prescient vision of
   empire.

   This period saw the creation of a formal Ottoman government whose
   institutions would remain largely unchanged for almost four centuries.
   In contrast to many contemporary states, the Ottoman bureaucracy tried
   to avoid military rule. The government also utilized the legal entity
   known as the millet, under which religious and ethnic minorities were
   able to manage their own affairs with substantial independence from
   central control.

   In the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend
   over the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans. After defeat in Battle
   of Plocnik, the Turkish victory at the Battle of Kosovo effectively
   marked the end of Serbian power in the region, and paved the way for
   Ottoman expansion into Europe. Ottomans needed almost 100 years to
   defeat Serbia. Serbia would finally fall in 1459. With the extension of
   Turkish dominion into the Balkans, the strategic conquest of
   Constantinople became a crucial objective. The city was eventually
   taken during the rule of Mehmed II, who was only 12 years old when he
   became sultan for the first time. Mehmed II reorganized the structure
   of both the state and the military, and demonstrated his military
   prowess by capturing Constantinople (see: Istanbul (Etymology)) on May
   29, 1453. This event marked the final defeat and collapse of the
   Byzantine state, and the city became the new capital of the Ottoman
   Empire.

Growth (1453–1683)

                               Image:20pxOttomanicon.png Military &
                                                         Political History
                                      Growth of the Ottoman Empire
                                                Time Span 230 years
                                                # Sultans       11
                                                 Soc-Econ Enlargement
                                                 See also

   Ottoman Empire, 1299–1683
   Enlarge
   Ottoman Empire, 1299–1683

   This period in Ottoman history can roughly be divided into two distinct
   eras: a golden era of territorial, economic, and cultural growth prior
   to 1566, followed by an era of relative military and political
   stagnation.

   Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Empire
   entered a long period of conquest and expansion, extending its borders
   deep into Europe and North Africa. The Empire prospered under the rule
   of a series of committed and effecitve sultans, culminating in the rule
   of Süleyman I (the Magnificent). Conquests on land were driven by the
   discipline and innovation of the Turkish military; and on the sea, the
   Ottoman navy established the empire as a great trading power. The state
   also flourished economically thanks to its control of the major
   overland trade routes between Europe and Asia.

   However, Süleyman's death in 1566 marked the beginning of an era of
   diminishing territorial gains. The rise of western European nations as
   naval powers and the development of alternate sea routes from Europe to
   Asia and the New World damaged the Ottoman economy. The effective
   military and bureaucratic structures of the previous century also came
   under strain during a protracted period of misrule by weak Sultans. But
   in spite of these difficulties, the empire remained a major
   expansionist power until the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the first major
   Ottoman defeat on European soil.

Expansion and apogee (1453–1566)

   First Siege of Vienna in 1529
   Enlarge
   First Siege of Vienna in 1529

   The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 cemented the status of
   the empire as the preeminent power in southeastern Europe and the
   eastern Mediterranean. Over the next century, the empire would extend
   its influence into the heart of the Arab world and come to dominate
   southeast Europe. Sultan Selim I (1512–1520) dramatically expanded the
   empire's eastern and southern frontiers by defeating the young Safavid
   Shah of Persia, Ismail I, in the Battle of Chaldiran. Selim I
   established Ottoman rule in Egypt, and created a naval presence on the
   Red Sea. Selim's successor, Süleyman the Magnificent (1520–1566),
   further expanded upon Selim's conquests. After capturing Belgrade in
   1521, Süleyman conquered Kingdom of Hungary establishing Ottoman rule
   in the territory of present-day Hungary and other Central European
   territories, by winning the Battle of Mohacs in 1526. He then laid
   siege to Vienna in 1529, but failed to take the city after the onset of
   winter forced his retreat. During the reign of Süleyman, Transylvania,
   Walachia and, intermittently, Moldavia, became tributary principalities
   of the Ottoman Empire. In the east, the Ottomans took Baghdad from the
   Persians in 1535, giving them control of Mesopotamia and naval access
   to the Persian Gulf.

   Under Selim and Süleyman, the empire became a dominant naval force,
   controlling much of the Mediterranean Sea. The exploits of the Ottoman
   admiral Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, who commanded the Turkish navy
   during Süleyman's reign, included a number of impressive military
   victories. Among these were the conquest of Tunis and Algeria from
   Spain; the evacuation of Muslims and Jews from Spain to the safety of
   Ottoman lands (particularly Salonica, Cyprus, and Constantinople)
   during the Spanish Inquisition; and the capture of Nice from the Holy
   Roman Empire in 1543. This last conquest occurred on behalf of France
   as a joint venture between the forces of the French king Francis I and
   those of Barbarossa. France and the Ottoman Empire, united by mutual
   opposition to Hapsburg rule in southern and central Europe, became
   strong allies during this period. The alliance was economic as well as
   military, as the sultans granted France the right of trade within the
   empire without levy of taxation. In fact, the Ottoman Empire was by
   this time a significant and accepted part of the European political
   sphere, and entered into a military alliance with France, England and
   Holland against Habsburg Spain, Italy and Habsburg Austria.

   As the 16th century progressed, Ottoman naval superiority was
   challenged by the upstart sea powers of western Europe, particularly
   Portugal, in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and the Spice Islands. With
   the Ottomans blockading sea-lanes to the East and South, the European
   powers were driven to find another way to the ancient Silk and Spice
   routes, now under absolute Ottoman control. On land, the empire was
   preoccupied by military campaigns in Austria-Hungary and Persia, two
   widely-separated theaters of war. The strain of these conflicts on the
   empire's resources, and the logistics of maintaining lines of supply
   and communication across such vast distances, ultimately rendered its
   sea efforts unsustainable and unsuccessful. Despite the Ottomans'
   strategic vision and partial success in global campaigning, the
   overriding military need for defense on the western and eastern
   frontiers of the empire eventually made effective long-term engagement
   elsewhere impossible.

Revolts and Revival (1566–1683)

   Second Siege (Battle) of Vienna in 1683
   Enlarge
   Second Siege (Battle) of Vienna in 1683

   The latter half of the 16th century marked the start of European
   efforts to curb the Ottoman chokehold on overland trade routes. A
   number of western European states began to circumvent the Turkish trade
   monopoly by establishing their own naval routes to Asia. In southern
   Europe, a coalition of European trading powers on the Italian peninsula
   formed an alliance to weaken the Ottoman grip on the waters of the
   Mediterranean Sea. Their victory over the Ottomans at the naval Battle
   of Lepanto (1571) hastened the end of the empire's primacy in the
   Mediterranean; and in fact, this battle was considered by some earlier
   historians to signal the beginning of Ottoman decline.

   By the end of the 16th century, the golden era of sweeping conquest and
   territorial expansion was over. The Hapsburg frontier in particular
   became a more or less permanent border until the 19th century, marked
   only by relatively minor battles concentrating on the possession of
   individual fortresses. This stalemate was partly a reflection of simple
   geographical limits: in the pre-mechanized age, Vienna marked the
   furthest point that an Ottoman army could march from Istanbul during
   the early-spring to late-autumn campaigning season. It also reflected
   the difficulties imposed on the empire by the need to maintain two
   separate fronts: one against the Austrians, and the other against a
   rival Islamic state, the Safavids of Persia.

   On the battlefield, the Ottomans gradually fell behind the Europeans in
   military technology as the innovation which fed the empire's forceful
   expansion became stifled by growing religious and intellectual
   conservatism. Changes in European military tactics caused the
   once-feared Sipahi cavalry to lose its military relevance. Discipline
   and unit cohesion in the army also became a problem due to relaxations
   of recruitment policy and the growth of the Janissary corps at the
   expense of other military units.

   Economically, the huge influx of Spanish silver from the New World
   caused a sharp devaluation of the Ottoman currency and rampant
   inflation. This had serious negative consequences at all levels of
   Ottoman society. The period was marked by widespread lawlessness and
   rebellion in Anatolia in the late 16th and early 17th centuries
   (commonly known as the Celali rebellions), and Janissary revolts that
   toppled several governments.

   However, the 17th century was not simply an era of stagnation and
   decline, but also key period in which the Ottoman state and its
   structures began to adapt to new pressures and new realities, internal
   and external. The warrior sultan Murad IV (1612–1640), who recaptured
   Yerevan (1635) and Baghdad (1639) from the Safavids, is the only
   example in this era of a sultan who exercised strong political and
   military control of the empire. Notably, Murad IV was the last Ottoman
   emperor who went to war in front of his army. Modern historians point
   out that the relative ineffectiveness of the sultans after his reign
   led to the diffusion of power to lower levels of the government; at
   first to powerful members of the Harem, and later to a sequence of
   Grand Viziers. Several important leaders arose at this time, including
   the sternly reactionary Grand Vizier Mehmed Köprülü (1656-1661) and his
   more moderate son Fazıl Ahmed Koprülü (1661-1676). Under their
   leadership the state began to reassert itself with some vigor. Despite
   internal conflicts within the Ottoman bureaucracy, and between the
   bureaucracy and military, the 17th century saw the empire expand its
   frontiers to their furthest reach, with notable gains under the Köprülü
   administration in Crete, Southern Ukraine and Podolia.

   The defeat of Ottoman forces led by Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha at
   the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683, at the hands of the combined armies
   of Poland and the Holy Roman Empire under Jan III Sobieski, was the
   decisive event that swung the balance of power in the region in favour
   of the European nations. Under the terms of the Treaty of Karlowitz,
   which ended the Great Turkish War in 1699, the Ottomans ceded nearly
   all of Ottoman Hungary, Transylvania, the Morea and Podolia to Austria
   and Poland. They also acknowledged, for the first time in their
   history, that the Austrian Empire could treat with them on equal terms.

Decline (1699–1908)

   The long period of Ottoman decline is typically broken by historians
   into an era of failed reforms and a subsequent era of modernization.
   The military and political details of this period are covered in two
   separate articles: the stagnation of the Ottoman Empire (1699–1827),
   when the empire began to lose territory along its western borders, but
   managed to maintain its stature as a great regional power; and the
   decline of the Ottoman Empire (1828–1908), when the empire lost
   territory on all fronts, and there was administrative instability due
   to the breakdown of centralized government.

Reform (1699–1827)

                               Image:20pxOttomanicon.png Military &
                                                         Political History
                                  Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire
                                                Time Span 133 years
                                                # Sultans       11
                                                 Soc-Econ
                                                 See also

   Further wars were lost, and territories ceded, to Austria in the
   Balkans. Certain areas of the empire, such as Egypt and Algeria, became
   independent in all but name, and subsequently came under the influence
   of Britain and France. The 18th century saw centralized authority
   giving way to varying degrees of provincial autonomy enjoyed by local
   governors and leaders. A series of wars were fought between the Russian
   and Ottoman empires from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Ottoman
   science and technology had been highly regarded in medieval times, as a
   result of Ottoman scholars' synthesis of classical learning with
   Islamic philosophy and mathematics, and knowledge of such Chinese
   advances in technology as gunpowder and the magnetic compass. By this
   period though the influences had become regressive and conservative.
   The guilds of writers denounced the printing press as "the Devil's
   Invention", and were responsible for a 100-year lag between its
   invention by Johannes Gutenberg in Europe in 1450 and its introduction
   to the Ottoman society.

   During the " Tulip Era" (or Lâle Devri in Turkish), named for Sultan
   Ahmed III's love of the tulip flower and its use to symbolize his
   peaceful reign, the empire's policy towards Europe underwent a shift.
   The region was peaceful between 1718–1730, after the Ottoman victory
   against Russia in the Pruth Campaign in 1712 and the subsequent Treaty
   of Passarowitz brought a period of pause in warfare. The empire began
   to improve the fortifications of cities bordering the Balkans to act as
   a defense against European expansionism. Other tentative reforms were
   also enacted: taxes were lowered; there were attempts to improve the
   image of the Ottoman state; and the first instances of private
   investment and entrepreneurship occurred.

   Ottoman military reform efforts Sultan Selim III (1789-1807) made the
   first major attempts to modernize the army along European lines. These
   efforts, however, were hampered by reactionism, partly from the
   religious leadership, but primarily from the Janissary corps, who had
   become anarchic and ineffectual, jealous of their privileges and firmly
   opposed to change. Selim's efforts cost him his throne and his life,
   but were resolved in spectacular and bloody fashion by his successor,
   the dynamic Mahmud II, who massacred the Janissary corps in 1826. Later
   on in Ottoman history there were educational and technological reforms,
   including the establishment of higher education institutions such as
   Istanbul Technical University; but decline continued despite these
   measures.

Modernization (1828–1908)

                               Image:20pxOttomanicon.png Military &
                                                         Political History
                                     Decline of the Ottoman Empire
                                                Time Span 82 years
                                                # Sultans        5
                                                 Soc-Econ Reformation
                                                 See also

   Mahmud II started the modernization of Turkey by preparing the Edict of
   Tanzimat in 1839 which had immediate effects such as European style
   clothing, architecture, legislation, institutional organization and
   land reform.
   Enlarge
   Mahmud II started the modernization of Turkey by preparing the Edict of
   Tanzimat in 1839 which had immediate effects such as European style
   clothing, architecture, legislation, institutional organization and
   land reform.

   The period of the Ottoman Empire's decline was characterised by the
   reorganization and transformation of most of the empire's structures in
   an attempt to bolster the empire against increasingly powerful rivals.

   The Tanzimat period (from Turkish Tanzîmât, meaning "reorganisation")
   lasted from 1839 to 1876. During this period, many significant changes
   were implemented: a fairly modern conscripted army was organized; the
   banking system was reformed; and the guilds were replaced with modern
   factories. Economically, the empire had difficulty in repaying its
   loans to European banks; at the same time, it faced military challenges
   in defending itself against foreign invasion and occupation: Egypt, for
   instance, was occupied by the French in 1798, while Cyprus was loaned
   to the British in 1878 in exchange of Britain's favours at the Congress
   of Berlin following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the
   Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. In a significant shift in military and
   diplomatic policy, the empire ceased to enter conflicts on its own and
   began to forge alliances with European countries. There were a series
   of such alliances with France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and
   Russia. As an example, in the Crimean War the Ottomans united with the
   British, French, and others against Russia.

   The rise of nationalism swept through many countries during the 19th
   century, and the Ottoman Empire was not immune. A burgeoning national
   consciousness, together with a growing sense of ethnic nationalism,
   made nationalistic thought one of the most significant Western ideas
   imported by the Ottoman empire, as it was forced to deal with
   nationalism-related issues both within and beyond its borders. There
   was a significant increase in the number of revolutionary political
   parties. Uprisings in Ottoman territory had many far-reaching
   consequences during the 19th century and determined much of Ottoman
   policy during the early 20th century. Many Ottoman Turks questioned
   whether the policies of the state were to blame: some felt that the
   sources of ethnic conflict were external, and unrelated to issues of
   governance. While this era was not without some successes, the ability
   of the Ottoman state to have any effect on ethnic uprisings was
   seriously called into question. Reforms did not halt the rise of
   nationalism in the Danubian Principalities and Serbia, which had been
   semi-independent for almost 6 decades; in 1875 Serbia, Montenegro,
   Bosnia, Bulgaria, Wallachia and Moldova declared their independence
   from the Empire; and following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78,
   independence was formally granted to Serbia, Romania and Montenegro,
   with the other Balkan territories remaining under Ottoman control.
   Opening ceremony of the First Ottoman Parliament at the Dolmabahçe
   Palace in 1876
   Enlarge
   Opening ceremony of the First Ottoman Parliament at the Dolmabahçe
   Palace in 1876

   The era of the empire's First Constitutional government (or Birinci
   Meşrûtiyet Devri in Turkish), was short-lived; however, the idea behind
   it ( Ottomanism), proved influential. A wide-ranging group of reformers
   known as the Young Ottomans, primarily educated in Western
   universities, believed that a constitutional monarchy would provide an
   answer to the empire's growing social unrest. Through a military coup
   in 1876, they forced Sultan Abdülaziz (1861-1876) to abdicate in favour
   of Murad V. However, Murad V was mentally ill, and was deposed within a
   few months. His heir-apparent Abdülhamid II (1876-1909) was invited to
   assume power on the condition that he would accept to declare a
   constitutional monarchy, which he did on 23 November 1876. However, the
   subsequent constitution, called the Kanûn-ı Esâsî (meaning " Basic Law"
   in Ottoman Turkish), written by members of the Young Ottomans, survived
   for only two years.

   Despite the empire's label as the " Sick man of Europe", from an
   economic perspective, the empire's actual weakness did not reside in
   its developing economy, but the cultural gap which separated it from
   the European powers. The empire's problems were, in fact, the result of
   an inability to deal with the new problems created by the conflict
   between external imperialism and rising internal nationalism. (See
   socioeconomics during the Ottoman reformation era.)

Dissolution (1908–1922)

                               Image:20pxOttomanicon.png Military &
                                                         Political History
                                 Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
                                                Time Span 14 years
                                                # Sultans        2
                                                 Soc-Econ Reformation
                                                 See also

   Public demonstration in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, 1908
   Enlarge
   Public demonstration in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, 1908

   The period of the Ottoman Empire's final dissolution began with the
   onset of the Second Constitutional Era (or İkinci Meşrûtiyet Devri in
   Turkish). This era is dominated by the Committee of Union and Progress
   (or İttihâd ve Terakkî Cemiyeti in Turkish) and the movement that would
   become known as the " Young Turks" (or Jön Türkler in Turkish). The
   Young Turk Revolution began on 3 July 1908 and quickly spread
   throughout the empire, resulting in the sultan's announcement of the
   restoration of the 1876 constitution and the reconvening of parliament.

   The Balkan Wars of 1912-13, following the Italian occupation of Libya
   in 1911, were the first real test for the Committee of Union and
   Progress. The new Balkan states which were formed at the end of the
   19th century sought additional territories from the Ottoman provinces
   of Albania, Macedonia, and Thrace, on the grounds of ethnic
   nationalism. Initially, with Russia acting as an intermediary,
   agreements were concluded between Serbia and Bulgaria in March 1912,
   and between Greece and Bulgaria in May 1912. Montenegro subsequently
   concluded agreements between Serbia and Bulgaria in October 1912. The
   Serbian-Bulgarian agreement specifically called for the partition of
   Macedonia, which was the chief casus belli of the First Balkan War. The
   main cause of the Second Balkan War was the disputes between the former
   Balkan allies over their newly gained territories; this then gave the
   Turks an opportunity to take back some of their lost territories in
   Thrace. The political repercussions of the Balkan Wars led to the coup
   of 1913, and the subsequent rule of the Three Pashas.
   Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) at the trenches of Gallipoli (1915)
   Enlarge
   Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) at the trenches of Gallipoli (1915)

   The Ottoman Empire took part in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War
   I, under the terms of the Ottoman-German Alliance. The Ottomans managed
   to win important victories in the early years of the war, particularly
   at the Battle of Gallipoli and the Siege of Kut; but there were
   setbacks as well, such as the disastrous Caucasus Campaign against the
   Russians. The Russian Revolution of 1917 gave the Ottomans the
   opportunity to regain lost ground and Ottoman forces managed to take
   Azerbaijan in the final stages of the war, but the Empire was forced to
   cede these gains at the end of World War I. A significant event in this
   conflict was the creation of an Armenian resistance movement in the
   province of Van. The core Armenian resistance group formed an
   independent provisional government in May 1915, prompting the Ottoman
   government to accuse the Armenians of being in collaboration with the
   invading Russian forces in eastern Anatolia, against their native
   state. The Armenian militia and Armenian volunteer units were also part
   of this nationalist movement. At the end of 1917 the Armenian
   Revolutionary Federation formed the Democratic Republic of Armenia. The
   eventual Ottoman defeat came from a combination of coordinated attacks
   on strategic targets by British forces commanded by Edmund Allenby and
   the Arab Revolt of 1916- 1918.

   During the first World War, the Ottoman government also faced
   difficulties on the home front. There were isolated Armenian rebellions
   in eastern Anatolia that led to the April 24 circular and then the
   Tehcir Law deportations between June 1, 1915 and February 8, 1916. An
   estimated 1.5 million ethnic Armenians died during this period, which
   most academics refer to as the Armenian Genocide. Typically this is
   considered to be the first genocide of the 20th century and the second
   most studied case of genocide, after the Holocaust. Turkish
   authorities, however, do not believe the term genocide applies. The
   Turkish government does not believe that the Tehcir Law was the main
   contribution to Armenian deaths during the first World War. The claim
   that Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa or the Special Organization committed an
   organized crime against the Armenian people is also disputed, though
   the poor conditions of the Armenians (and other Christians in general)
   as well as some Muslims were not. In addition to any deliberate policy,
   fighting between Kurds and Armenians along with the Caucasus Campaign
   of the World War caused trouble for both the Armenian and Muslim
   populations of the region. The Turkish rejection of the genocide is
   widely viewed by western scholars as historical revisionism and is
   often compared to Holocaust denial. See the main Armenian Genocide
   article for more information on the dispute.

   Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire happened in the aftermath of the
   WWI. The initial ceasefire agreement was the Armistice of Mudros; under
   the terms of the subsequent Treaty of Sèvres, the empire was to submit
   to a complete partition of its Middle Eastern territories under the
   mandates of Britain and France, cede the Turkish Mediterranean coast to
   Italy, the Turkish Aegean coast to Greece, cede the Turkish Straits and
   Sea of Marmara to the Allied powers as an international zone, and
   recognize a large Republic of Armenia in eastern Anatolia (in an area
   which was mostly inhabited by Turks and Kurds). The terms of this
   treaty were later superseded by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Britain
   obtained virtually everything it had sought under the secret
   Sykes-Picot Agreement it had made with France in 1916 for the
   partitioning of the Middle East. The other powers of the Triple
   Entente, however, soon became entangled in the Turkish War of
   Independence.

   The Turkish War of Independence was a response to the actions of the
   victorious Allies, in particular the harsh terms of the peace
   settlement. Turkish nationalists organized a Turkish national movement
   under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk). The establishment of
   the Turkish national movement resulted in the creation of the Grand
   National Assembly (Büyük Millet Meclisi) in Ankara on 23 April 1920,
   which refused to recognize the Ottoman government in Istanbul and the
   invading forces in Turkey, raised a "people's army" and expelled the
   invading Greek, Italian and French forces. They took back the Turkish
   provinces which were given to the Republic of Armenia with the Treaty
   of Sèvres, and threatened the British forces controlling the Turkish
   Straits. Turkish revolutionaries eventually freed the Turkish Straits
   and Istanbul, and abolished the Ottoman sultanate on 1 November 1922.
   The last sultan, Mehmed VI Vahdettin (1918-1922), left the country on
   November 17, 1922, and the Republic of Turkey was officially declared
   with the Treaty of Lausanne on 29 October 1923. The Caliphate was
   constitutionally abolished several months later, on 3 March 1924. the
   Sultan and his family were declared persona non grata of Turkey and
   exiled. Fifty years later, in 1974, the Grand National Assembly of
   Turkey granted descendants of the former dynasty the right to acquire
   Turkish citizenship. Ertuğrul Osman V.

   Ultimately, the fall of the Ottoman Empire can be attributed to the
   failure of its economic structure; the size of the empire created
   difficulties in economically integrating its diverse regions. Also, the
   empire's communication technology was not developed enough to reach all
   territories. In many ways, the circumstances surrounding the Ottoman
   Empire's fall closely paralleled those surrounding the fall of the
   Roman Empire, particularly in terms of the ongoing tensions between the
   empire's different ethnic groups, and the various governments'
   inability to deal with these tensions. In the case of the Ottomans, the
   introduction of a parliamentary system during the Tanzimat proved to be
   too late to reverse the trends that had been set in place.

Economic History

                              Image:20pxOttomanicon.png Economical History
                                                        of Ottoman Empire
                                                          Enlargement Era
                                                          Reformation Era
                                                See also    Capitulations

   The economic structure of the Empire was defined by its geopolitical
   structure. The Ottoman Empire stood between the West and the East, thus
   blocking the land route eastward and forcing Spanish and Portuguese
   navigators to set sail in search of a new route to the Orient. The
   empire controlled the spice route that Marco Polo once used. When
   Christopher Columbus first journeyed to America in 1492, the Ottoman
   Empire was at its zenith; an economic power which extended over three
   continents. Modern Ottoman studies think that the change in relations
   between the Ottomans and central Europe was caused by the opening of
   the new sea routes. It is possible to see the decline in significance
   of the land routes to the East (as Western Europe opened the ocean
   routes that bypassed the Middle East and Mediterranean) as parallelling
   the decline of the Ottoman Empire itself.

State

                              Image:20pxOttomanicon.png State organisation
                                                        of Ottoman Empire
                                                           House of Osman
                                                       Grand Vizer, Divan
                                                      Imperial Government
                                                See also     Subdivisions

   In diplomatic circles, the empire was often referred to as the "
   Sublime Porte", a literal translation of the Ottoman Turkish Bâb-ı Âlî,
   which was the only gate of the imperial Topkapı Palace that was open to
   foreigners, and was where the sultan greeted ambassadors.
   Ottoman bureaucracy
   Enlarge
   Ottoman bureaucracy

   Unlike many states, the Ottoman Empire was happy to use the talents of
   Greeks (and other Christians), Muslims and Jews, in revolutionizing its
   administrative system. The rapidly expanding empire utilized loyal,
   skilled subjects to manage the empire, whether Phanariot Greeks,
   Armenians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Hungarians or others. This eclectic
   administration was apparent even in the diplomatic correspondence of
   the empire, which was initially undertaken in the Greek language to the
   west, using the Greek subjects. Like the Byzantines before them, the
   Ottomans practiced a system in which the state had control over the
   clergy. The nomadic Turkic forms of land tenure were largely retained
   —with a number of unique adjustments— in the Ottoman period. Certain
   pre-Islamic Turkish traditions that had survived the adoption of
   administrative and legal practices from Islamic Iran continued to be
   important in Ottoman administrative circles. In the Ottoman judiciary,
   for example, the courts were run by Kadı, i.e. religious judges
   appointed by the sultan who exercised direct control over members of
   the religious establishment. Ultimately, the Ottoman administrative
   system was a blend of influences derived from the Turks, the
   Byzantines, and the Islamic world.

   The Ottomans were primarily administrators and not producers, in the
   sense that the empire did not employ a program of economic exploitation
   (as did the colonial empires of the modern European states). Its
   economic outlook ( fiscalism) stressed abundance and regulated prices
   within the marketplace to ensure social stability, and the state never
   developed a Western mercantile outlook of maximum production, leaving
   commerce very largely in the hands of the non-Muslim population.
   According to Ottoman understanding, the state's primary responsibility
   was to defend and extend the land of the Muslims and to ensure security
   and harmony within its borders within the overarching context of
   orthodox Islamic practice and dynastic sovereignty.

House of Osman

   The Ottoman sultan, also known as the pâdişâh (or "lord of kings"),
   served as the empire's sole regent and was considered to be the
   embodiment of its government, though he did not always exercise
   complete control.

   Throughout Ottoman history, however —despite the supreme de jure
   authority of the sultans and the occasional exercise of de facto
   authority by Grand Viziers— there were many instances in which local
   governors acted independently, and even in opposition to the ruler. On
   eleven occasions, the sultan was deposed because he was perceived by
   his enemies as a threat to the state. New sultans were always chosen
   from among the sons of the previous sultan, but there was a strong
   educational system in place that was geared towards eliminating the
   unfit and establishing support amongst the ruling elite for the son
   before he was actually crowned. There were only two attempts in the
   whole of Ottoman history to unseat the ruling Osmanlı dynasty, both
   failures, which is suggestive of a political system which for an
   extended period was able to manage its revolutions without unnecessary
   instability.

Imperial Harem

   The Harem was one of the most important powers of the Ottoman court. It
   was ruled by the Valide Sultan (also known as the Baş Kadın, or "Chief
   Lady"), mother of the reigning sultan, who held supreme power over the
   Harem and thus a powerful position in the court. On occasion, the
   Valide Sultan would become involved in state politics and through her
   influence could diminish the power and position of the sultan. For a
   period of time beginning in the 16th century and extending into the
   17th, the women of the Harem effectively controlled the state in what
   was termed the " Sultanate of Women" (Kadınlar Saltanatı).

   The harem had its own internal organization and order of formulating
   policies. Beneath the Valide Sultan in the hierarchy was the Haseki
   Sultan, the mother of the sultan's first-born son, who had the best
   chance of becoming the next Valide Sultan. The sultan also had four
   other official wives, who were each called Haseki Kadın. Next in rank
   below the sultan's wives were his eight favourite concubines (ikbâls or
   hâs odalıks), and then the other concubines whom the sultan favoured
   and who were termed gözde. Next in rank were the concubines of other
   court officials. Pupils (acemî) and novices (câriye or şâhgird) were
   younger women who were either waiting to be married off to someone or
   who had not yet graduated out of the Harem School.

Palace schools

   The palace schools were where young male Christian slaves ( devşirme),
   taken as tribute from conquered Christian lands, were trained. There
   were palace schools in the old palace in Edirne, one in the Galata
   Palace north of the Istanbul's Golden Horn, and one in Ibrahim Pasha
   Palace in the Hippodrome area of Istanbul. The boys would graduate from
   these schools after seven years, and were then ready to become servants
   to the sultan or other notables, to serve in the Six Divisions of
   Cavalry, or to serve as Janissaries. Some of the most talented devşirme
   would come to Topkapı Palace, where they were trained for high
   positions within the Ottoman court or military.

The Divan (Council)

   Though the sultan was the supreme monarch, he had a number of advisors
   and ministers. The most powerful of these were the viziers of the
   Divan, led by the Grand Vizier. The Divan was a council where the
   viziers met and debated the politics of the empire. It was the Grand
   Vizier's duty to inform the sultan of the opinion of the divan. The
   sultan often took his viziers' advice, but he by no means had to obey
   the Divan. The Divan consisted of three viziers in the 14th century; by
   the 17th century, the number had grown to eleven, four of whom served
   as Viziers of the Dome (the most important ministers after the Grand
   Vizier).

Imperial Government

   Bâb-ı Âlî, the "Sublime Porte"
   Enlarge
   Bâb-ı Âlî, the " Sublime Porte"

   Though the state apparatus of the Ottoman Empire underwent many reforms
   during its long history, a number of its basic structures remained
   essentially the same. Chief among these was the primacy of the sultan.
   Despite important decisions usually being made by the Divan, ultimate
   authority always rested with the sultan.

   The Divan, in the years when the Ottoman state was still a Beylik, was
   composed of the elders of the tribe. Its composition was later modified
   to include military officers and local elites (such as religious and
   political advisors). These individuals became known as viziers. Later
   still, beginning in the year 1320, a Grand Vizier (or Sadrazam) was
   appointed in order to assume certain of the sultan's responsibilities.
   The Sublime Porte, which became synonymous with the Ottoman government,
   was in fact the gate to the Grand Vizier's headquarters, and the place
   where the sultan formally greeted foreign ambassadors. At times
   throughout Ottoman history, the authority of the Grand Vizier was to
   equal (and on some occasions even surpass) that of the sultan.

   After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the Ottoman state became a
   constitutional monarchy without executive powers, and a parliament was
   formed, with representatives chosen from the provinces.

   At the height of its power, the Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces,
   in addition to the tributary principalities of Moldavia, Transylvania,
   and Wallachia.

Insignia

   The Tughra were calligraphic monograms, or signatures, of the Ottoman
   Sultans, of which there were 35. Carved on the Sultan's seal, they bore
   the names of the Sultan and his father. The prayer/statement “ever
   victorious” was also present in most. The earliest belonged to Orhan
   Gazi. The ornately stylized Tughra spawned a branch of Ottoman-Turkish
   calligraphy.

Society

   One of the successes of the Ottoman Empire was the unity that it
   brought about among its highly varied populations. While the main
   reason for this was the Empire's military strength and use of
   intimidation as a means of control in newly conquered territories, it
   may also be ascribed in part to the laws of Islam, which stated that
   Muslims, Christians, and Jews —who constituted the vast majority of the
   Ottoman population— were all related in that they were " People of the
   Book" (Ahl al-Kitâb). As early as the reign of Mehmed II, extensive
   rights were granted to Phanariot Greeks, and many Jews were invited to
   settle in Ottoman territory.

Concept of Nation

   Under Ottoman rule the major religious groups were allowed to establish
   their own communities, called millets, each retaining its own religious
   laws, traditions, and language under the general protection of the
   sultan. Millets were led by religious chiefs, who served as secular as
   well as religious leaders and thus had a substantial interest in the
   continuation of Ottoman rule. After conquering Constantinople, Mehmed
   II used his army to restore its physical structure. Old buildings were
   repaired, streets, aqueducts, and bridges were constructed, sanitary
   facilities were modernised, and a vast supply system was established to
   provide for the city's inhabitants.

   Ultimately, the Ottoman Empire's relatively high degree of tolerance
   for ethnic differences proved to be one of its greatest strengths in
   integrating the new regions until the rise of nationalism (this
   non-assimilative policy became a weakness during the dissolution of the
   empire that neither the first or second parliaments could successfully
   address).

   "...the Ottoman family was ethnically Turkish in its origins, as were
   some of its supporters and subjects. But ... the dynasty immediately
   lost this "Turkish" ethnic identification through intermarriage with
   many different ethnicities. As for a "Turkish empire", state power
   relied on a similarly heterogeneous mix of peoples. The Ottoman empire
   succeeded because it incorporated the energies of the vastly varied
   peoples it encountered, quickly transcending its roots in the Turkish
   nomadic migrations from Central Asia into the Middle East."

Slavery

   The Ottomans came from a nomadic people among whom slavery was little
   practised. Also, from the Islamic perspective, the Qur'an specifically
   states "everyone is the same", although in practice there were cultural
   differences in how this was interpreted ( Islam and Slavery covers
   these perspectives). The Ottomans did not approve of slavery in their
   empire. However, Ottoman policies were based on a millet perspective in
   which each millet had the right to govern their own domain, so there
   were places in the Ottoman Empire where slavery existed. Trafficking in
   slaves was expressively forbidden by the Ottoman application of sharia,
   or Islamic law. For example, by the terms of the sharia, any slaves who
   were taken could not be kept as slaves if they converted to Islam. It
   was, in fact, considered an insult to term an Ottoman man as a
   slave-master, and there were incidents in which Ottomans responded
   unsympathetically to any who even mentioned the idea of slavery to
   them.

   Slavery was usually confined to domestic services, including odalıks.
   Many were captives of war and cross-border raids. In the Mediterranean,
   such enslaved captives manned the galley oars in the navy. By the era
   of Tanzimat, the Ottoman Empire aimed to gradually limit the scope of
   slavery. However, slavery was not formally abolished until the
   proclamation of the Republic.

   The Devşirme system could be considered as a form of slavery, in that
   the Sultans had absolute power over its members. However, the 'slave'
   or kul (subject) of the Sultan had high status within Ottoman society,
   and this group included the highest officers of state and the military
   elite, all well remunerated, so to consider them 'slaves' (in the way
   the term is generally understood in the West) is misleading.

   Rural slavery was largely a Caucasian phenomenon, carried to Anatolia
   and Rumelia after the Circassian migration in 1864. Conflicts emerged
   within the immigrant community and the Ottoman Establishment, at times,
   intervened on the side of the slaves.

Culture

   Istanbul Park
   Enlarge
   Istanbul Park

   Many different cultures lived under the umbrella of the Ottoman Empire,
   and as a result, a specifically "Ottoman" culture can be difficult to
   define. To some extent, there existed a Turkish Ottoman culture, a
   Greek Ottoman culture, an Armenian Ottoman culture, and so on. However,
   there was also, to a great extent, a specific melding of cultures that
   can be said to have reached its highest levels among the Ottoman elite,
   who were composed of a myriad of different ethnic and religious groups.

   One of the roots of Ottoman culture comes from the Oghuz Turks with
   their Central Asian Turkic nomadic culture. As the Oghuz passed into
   Anatolia through Persia over a period of a few hundred years they
   absorbed many elements of Persian culture. Following Sultan Mehmed II's
   capture of Constantinople (later named Istanbul) in 1453, many aspects
   of Byzantine— and, more broadly, European— culture began to be
   integrated into Ottoman culture. As the empire expanded in subsequent
   years, even more cultures were brought into this mix, enriching it
   still further.

   This Ottoman multicultural perspective is reflected in their policies.
   One of the reasons that the Ottoman Empire lasted as long as it did was
   its tolerant attitude, originating from the Ottomans nomadic
   inheritance, in comparison to the attitude prevailing elsewhere in
   medieval times (east and west). This meant that the Ottoman State
   pursued multi-cultural and multi-religious policies. (Two examples of
   this can be seen in the Ottoman justice system and the independent
   regional governors.) As the Ottomans moved further west, the Ottoman
   leaders absorbed some of the culture of conquered regions.
   Intercultural marriages also played their part in creating the
   characteristic Ottoman elite culture. When compared to Turkish folk
   culture, the influence of these new cultures in creating the culture of
   the Ottoman elite is very apparent.

Architecture

   Architectural plan of Bey Hamam in Thessaloniki dated 1444
   Enlarge
   Architectural plan of Bey Hamam in Thessaloniki dated 1444

   Ottoman architecture was influenced by Seljuk, Persian, Byzantine,
   Greek and Islamic architecture, but came to develop a style all of its
   own. The years 1300-1453 ( Rise Period) constitute the early or first
   Ottoman period, when Ottoman art was in search of new ideas. The years
   1453-1600, known as the classical period, coinciding with the Empire's
   expansion, is the period when Ottoman art was at its most confident.
   During the years of the stagnation period, Ottoman architecture moved
   away from this style however. During the Tulip Era, it was under the
   influence of the highly ornamented styles of Western Europe; Baroque,
   Rococo, Empire and other styles intermingled.

   The place of Turkish art within Islamic Art as a whole has long been a
   subject of controversy. In those regions in which Islamic Art developed
   it was founded on an already on an established basis of pre-Islamic
   civilization, the most important of these being the Late Antique and
   Christian cultures of Syria, and the Sasanian arts of Iran. The Arabic,
   Persian and Turkish elements added to these formed the basis of the
   development of Islamic Art. The majority of the states in the Islamic
   world were founded by the Turks and for nearly one thousand years, from
   the 9th century onwards the Turks, apart from some minor instances,
   remained the dominant element in the Islamic world.

   The development of Turkish art was influenced by the arts of a number
   of different countries. The tomb of Ismail the Samanid at Bukhara
   dating from the first half the roth century played an important role,
   as a monument of revolutionary design derived from the Sasanian
   fire-temples, Karakhanid and Seljuk tomb design, and on top of this,
   the influence of the external appearance of Buddhist stupas. The plan
   of the Ghaznevid palaces is derived from the Sasanids, but also shows
   the influence of Abbasid palace architecture. Other architectural forms
   such as the iwan, the squinch and the dome are also forms derived from
   the Sasanids. But in spite of this, in all monuments of Turkish art, in
   whatever geographical region they may be, there is a distinctive style
   clearly separate from any of the styles which influenced it.

   Concepts of Ottoman architecture mainly circle around the mosque. The
   mosque was integral to society, city planning and communal life.
   Besides the mosque, it is also possible to find good examples of
   Ottoman architecture in soup kitchens, theological schools, hospitals,
   Turkish baths and tombs.

   Examples of Ottoman architecture of the classical period, aside from
   Istanbul and Edirne, can also be seen in Egypt, Eritrea, Tunisia,
   Algiers, the Balkans and Hungary, where mosques, bridges, fountains and
   schools were built.

Language

   Ottoman Empire had a unique multilingualism which attributed to its
   cosmopolitan structure and cultural richness. Ethnic groups with their
   own languages (e.g. Greeks, Jews-who often spoke Ladino, etc.)
   continued to speak them within their families and neighborhoods. In
   villages where two or more populations lived together, the inhabitants
   would often speak each other's language. In cosmopolitan cities, people
   often spoke their family languages, some Ottoman or Persian if they
   were educated, and some Arabic if they were Muslim. In the last two
   centuries, French and English emerged as popular languages. The elite
   learned French at school, and used European products as a fashion
   statement. The use of Turkish grew steadily under the Ottomans but they
   were still interested in their two other official languages so they
   kept them with a new limited usage: Persian for literature and Arabic
   solely for religious rites. Many famous Persian poets emerged at this
   time.

   Ottoman Turkish was a variety of Turkish, highly influenced by Persian
   and Arabic. Ottomans had three influential languages; Turkish, Persian,
   Arabic but they did not have a parallel status. Throughout the vast
   Ottoman bureaucracy and, in particularly, within the Ottoman court in
   later times, a version of Turkish was spoken, albeit with a vast
   mixture of both Arabic and Persian grammar and vocabulary. If the basic
   grammar was still largely Turkish, the inclusion of virtually any word
   in Arabic or Persian in Ottoman made it a language which was
   essentially incomprehensible to any Ottoman subject who had not
   mastered Arabic, Persian or both. The two varieties of the language
   became so differentiated that ordinary people had to hire special
   "request-writers" (arzıhâlcis) in order to be able to communicate with
   the government.

Music

   As music was an important part of the education of the Ottoman elite, a
   number of the Ottoman sultans were accomplished musicians and composers
   themselves, such as Selim III, whose compositions are still frequently
   performed today. Due to a geographic and cultural divide between the
   capital and other areas, two broadly distinct styles of music arose in
   the Ottoman Empire: Ottoman classical music, and folk music.

   Ottoman classical music arose largely from a confluence of Byzantine
   music, Arabic music, and Persian music. Compositionally, it is
   organised around rhythmic units called usul, which are somewhat similar
   to meter in Western music, and melodic units called makam, which bear
   some resemblance to Western musical modes. The instruments used are a
   mixture of Anatolian and Central Asian instruments (the saz, the
   bağlama, the kemence), other Middle Eastern instruments (the ud, the
   tanbur, the kanun, the ney), and— later in the tradition— Western
   instruments (the violin and the piano).

   In the provinces, several different kinds of Folk music were created.
   The most dominant regions with their distinguished musical styles are:
   Balkan-Thracian Turkus, North-Eastern Turkus( Laz), Aegean Turkus,
   Central Anatolian Turkus, Eastern Anatolian Turkus, and Caucasian
   Turkus. There is no separate style for Istanbul, because Turkish
   Classical Music was preferred here.

Cuisine

   When one talks of Ottoman cuisine, one refers to the cuisine of the
   Capital - Istanbul, and the regional capital cities, where the melting
   pot of cultures created a common cuisine that all the populations
   enjoyed. This diverse cuisine was honed in the Imperial Palace's
   kitchens by chefs brought from certain parts of the empire to create
   and experiment with different ingredients. The creations of the Ottoman
   Palace's kitchens filtered to the population, for instance through
   Ramadan events, and through the cooking at Yalis of Pashas, and from
   here on spread to the rest of the population.

Lifestyle

   Galata Bridge in Istanbul, 1878
   Enlarge
   Galata Bridge in Istanbul, 1878

   The Ottoman court life in many aspects assembled ancient traditions of
   the Persian Shahs, but had many Greek and European influences.

The court (Topkapı)

   The culture that evolved around the court was known as the Ottoman Way.
   To get a high position in the empire, one had to be skilled in the way.
   This included knowing the languages Persian, Arabic and Ottoman
   Turkish, and how to behave in different settings: in court, in front of
   the sultan, and on formal and religious occasions. The Ottoman Way also
   separated the nobles from the lower classes. Peasants and villagers
   were called Turks, while nobles were called Ottomans.

   See also: Seraglio.

The provincial capitals

   Apart from the Ottoman court, there were also large metropolitan
   centers where the Ottoman influence expressed itself with a diversity
   similar to metropolises of today: Sarajevo, Skopje, Thessaloniki,
   Dimashq, Baghdad, Beirut, Jerusalem, Makkah were other cities that had
   their own examples of Ottoman diversity, with their own small versions
   of Provincial Administration replicating the culture of the Ottoman
   court locally.

Religion

   Following the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, Mehmed II did not
   disband the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, but instead brought
   it under close control by installing Gennadius II Scholarius as the
   patriarch—after receiving from him a hefty fee—and thus establishing
   him as the ethnarch of the Millet of Rum; that is, the Orthodox
   Christian subjects of the empire, regardless of their ethnicity. Under
   the millet system—which applied to other non-Muslim religious groups as
   well—people were considered subjects, or rather raya (i.e. cattle), of
   the empire but were not subject to the Muslim faith or Muslim law. The
   Orthodox millet, for instance, was still officially legally subject to
   Justinian's Code, which had been in effect in the Byzantine Empire for
   900 years. Also, as the largest group of non-Muslim subjects (or zimmi)
   of the Islamic Ottoman state, the Orthodox millet was granted a number
   of special privileges in the fields of politics and commerce{citation
   needed}, in addition to having to pay higher taxes than Muslim
   subjects.

   Similar millets were established for the Ottoman Jewish community, who
   were under the authority of the Haham Başı or Ottoman Chief Rabbi; the
   Armenian Orthodox community, who were under the authority of a head
   bishop; and a number of other religious communities as well.

Adoption of Islam

   Before adopting Islam—a process that was greatly facilitated by the
   Abbasid victory at the 751 AD Battle of Talas, which ensured Abbasid
   influence in Central Asia—the Turkic peoples practised a variety of
   shamanism. After this battle, many of the various Turkic
   tribes—including the Oghuz Turks, who were the ancestors of both the
   Seljuks and the Ottomans—gradually converted to Islam, and brought the
   religion with them to Anatolia beginning in the 11th century AD.

State and Religion

   Largely for practical reasons, the Ottoman Empire was, in a broad
   sense, tolerant towards its non-Muslim subjects; it did not, for
   instance, forcibly convert them to Islam. The sultans took their
   primary duty to be service to the interests of the state, which could
   not survive without taxes and a strong administrative system. The
   state's relationship with the Greek Orthodox Church, for example, was
   largely peaceful, and the church's structure was kept intact and
   largely left alone but under close control and scrutiny until the Greek
   War of Independence of 1821–1831 and, later in the 19th and early 20th
   centuries, the rise of the Ottoman constitutional monarchy, which was
   driven to some extent by nationalistic currents, tried to be balanced
   with ottomanism. Other churches, like the Bulgarian Orthodox Church,
   were dissolved and placed under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox
   Church. On the other hand, the empire often served as a refuge for the
   persecuted and exiled Jews of Europe; for example, following the
   expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Sultan Beyazid II welcomed
   them into Ottoman lands.

Law

   An Ottoman trial, 1877 (see image detail for explanation)
   Enlarge
   An Ottoman trial, 1877 (see image detail for explanation)

   Legally, the Ottoman Empire was organised around a system of local
   jurisprudence; that is, local legal systems which did not conflict with
   the state as a whole were largely left alone. The Ottojon system had
   three court systems: one for Muslims, which was run by the kadıs, or
   Islamic judges; one for non-Muslims, involving appointed Jews and
   Christians ruling over their respective religious areas; and one which
   regulated trade and had its origins in the empire's capitulation
   agreements with foreign powers. The entire system was regulated from
   above by means of the administrative Kanun, i.e. laws.

   These court categories were not, however, wholly exclusive in nature:
   for instance, the Islamic courts—which were the empire's primary
   courts—could also be used to settle a trade conflict or disputes
   between litigants of differing religions, and Jews and Christians often
   went to them so as to obtain a more forceful ruling on an issue. Women
   nearly always choose the Islamic courts, as these courts tended to be
   fairer towards them and to give them more just recompense.

   Throughout the theatre, there were two systems of law in effect: one
   was the Islamic Sharia law system, and the other was the Turkish Kanun
   system based upon the Turkic Yasa and Tore which was developed in the
   pre-Islamic era. The Ottoman state tended not to interfere with
   non-Muslim religious law systems, despite legally having a voice to do
   so through local governors. The Islamic Sharia law system had been
   developed from a combination of the Qur'ān; the Hadīth, or words of the
   prophet Muhammad; ijmā', or consensus of the members of the Muslim
   community; qiyas, a system of analogical reasoning from previous
   precedents; and local customs. The kanun law system, on the other hand,
   was the secular law of the sultan, and dealt with issues not clearly
   addressed by the sharia system. Both systems were taught at the
   empire's law schools, which were in Istanbul and Bursa.

Military

   The Ottoman military was a complex system of recruiting and
   fief-holding. In the Ottoman army, light cavalry long formed the core
   and they were given fiefs called Tımars. Cavalry used bows and short
   swords and made use of nomad tactics similar to those of the Mongol
   Empire. The Ottoman army was once among the most advanced fighting
   forces in the world, being one of the first to employ muskets. The
   modernisation of the Ottoman empire in the 19th century started with
   the military. This was the first institution to hire foreign experts
   and which sent their officer corps for training in western European
   countries. Technology and new weapons were transferred to the empire,
   such as German and British guns, air force and a modern navy.
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