Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Understand
The Ottoman Empire
Rise of a Dynasty
In the 13th century, a Turkish warlord named Osman (b 1258), known as Gazi (Warrior for the Faith), inherited a
small territory from his warlord father. Osman's followers became known as Osmanlıs (Ottomans).
Osman died in 1324. His son Orhan captured Bursa from the Byzantines in 1324, made it his base and declared
himself sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387 and Kosovo from the
Serbs in 1389, marking the start of the Ottoman expansion into Europe. Soon, the acquisition of the great city of
Constantinople and control of the overland trade routes between Europe and Asia became the dynasty's major ob-
jective.
In 1451, 21-year-old Mehmet II became sultan. On 29 May 1453, his army breached Constantinople's massive
land walls and took control of the city, bringing the Byzantine Empire to an end. Mehmet was given the title Fatih
(Conqueror) and began to rebuild and repopulate the city.
Mehmet died in 1481, but the building boom he kicked off was continued by worthy successors including Sultan
Selim I (r 1512-20) and Sultan Süleyman I (r 1520-66), known as 'the Magnificent'.
Decline & Fall
After Süleyman's death, the power of the empire slowly disintegrated. In 1683 the Ottoman army was defeated by
the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Vienna, marking the end of both its military supremacy and the Ottoman
expansion into Europe.
A series of incompetent sultans further weakened the empire. There were some exceptions - Selim III (r
1789-1807), who unsuccessfully attempted to modernise the army, and Mahmut II (r 1808-39), who was finally
successful in this aim - but they were few and far between. The 19th-century Tanzimat political reforms ushered in
by Mahmut II and continued by Abdülmecid I (r 1839-61) took some strides towards modernity, but were not
enough to save the sultanate, which was abolished in 1922. The last of the Osmanlıs to rule as sultan, Mehmet VI (r
1918-22), was expelled from Turkey at this time, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became president of the new Turkish
Republic.
