History of The Ottoman Empire - Wikipedia

History of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire was founded c. 1299 by Osman I as a small beylik in northwestern Asia
Minor just south of the Byzantine capital Constantinople. In 1326, the Ottomans captured nearby
Bursa, cutting off Asia Minor from Byzantine control. The Ottomans first crossed into Europe in
1352, establishing a permanent settlement at Çimpe Castle on the Dardanelles in 1354 and
moving their capital to Edirne (Adrianople) in 1369. At the same time, the numerous small Turkic
states in Asia Minor were assimilated into the budding Ottoman sultanate through conquest or
declarations of allegiance.
As Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople (today named Istanbul) in 1453, transforming it

into the new Ottoman capital, the state grew into a substantial empire, expanding deep into
Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East. With most of the Balkans under Ottoman rule by the
mid-16th century, Ottoman territory increased exponentially under Sultan Selim I, who assumed
the Caliphate in 1517 as the Ottomans turned east and conquered western Arabia, Egypt,
Mesopotamia and the Levant, among other territories. Within the next few decades, much of the
North African coast (except Morocco) became part of the Ottoman realm.
The empire reached its apex under Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century, when it
stretched from the Persian Gulf in the east to Algeria in the west, and from Yemen in the south to
Hungary and parts of Ukraine in the north. According to the Ottoman decline thesis, Suleiman's
reign was the zenith of the Ottoman classical period, during which Ottoman culture, arts, and
political influence flourished. The empire reached its maximum territorial extent in 1683, on the
eve of the Battle of Vienna.
From 1699 onwards, the Ottoman Empire began to lose territory over the course of the next two
centuries due to internal stagnation, costly defensive wars, European colonialism, and
nationalist revolts among its multiethnic subjects. In any case, the need to modernise was
evident to the empire's leaders by the early 19th century, and numerous administrative reforms
were implemented in an attempt to forestall the decline of the empire, with varying degrees of
success. The gradual weakening of the Ottoman Empire gave rise to the Eastern Question in the
mid-19th century.
The empire came to an end in the aftermath of its defeat in World War I, when its remaining
territory was partitioned by the Allies. The sultanate was officially abolished by the Government
of the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara on 1 November 1922 following the Turkish
War of Independence. Throughout its more than 600 years of existence, the Ottoman Empire has
left a profound legacy in the Middle East and Southeast Europe, as can be seen in the customs,
culture, and cuisine of the various countries that were once part of its realm.
Ottoman etiology
With the end of the First World War and the Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, questions arose
in a geopolitical and historical context about the reasons for the emergence and decline of the
Ottomans, the reasons for the emergence and decline of their empire and how both events were
defined. On the eve of World War II, the geographical position and the geopolitical weight of
Turkey, the major historical heir to the Ottoman Empire, gave weight to the issues as
propaganda. The first item on the agenda of the Tehran conference was the issue of Turkey's
participation in World War II by the end of 1943.[1]
Formulable theses
Those about the emergence of the

Ottoman Empire
1. Ghaza thesis — it is formulated first,

but it is the most criticized and
politicized. The thesis most clearly
advocates the ethnic pan-Turkic
principle. It was developed by Paul
Wittek;[2]
2. Renegade thesis — represented in
studies, articles and books by various
authors. It is based on numerous
eyewitness accounts. It is
supplemented by the hypothesis of
the geographical and to some extent
civilizational succession of the
Ottoman Empire (Rûm) by the
Eastern Roman Empire;
3. Socio-economic thesis — the newest
and most modern, sustained in the
traditions of Marxist historiography.
The thesis is found in various articles
and studies. It is based on the
aftermath of the Black Death and the
legacy of the Byzantine civil wars.
Those about the decline of the
Ottoman Empire
1. Classic thesis — as a result of the

Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) with
the subsequent Treaty of Küçük
Kaynarca. Previously marked by the
beginning of the reign of Catherine
the Great, the writing of "Istoriya
Slavyanobolgarskaya" and the death
of Koca Ragıp Pasha;
2. Ottoman decline thesis — now-
controversial thesis clearly
formulated for the first time in 1958
by Bernard Lewis.[3] Aligns with Koçi
Bey's risalets, but arguably ignores
the Köprülü era and its reform of the
Ottoman state, economy and navy
heading into the 18th century;
3. Neoclassical thesis — to some extent
it unites the previous ones about the
beginning of the Ottoman decline,
which are divided even nearly two
centuries in time. The beginning of
the end was marked by the Treaty of
Karlowitz, the Edirne event and the
reign of Ahmed III.
Rise of the Ottoman Empire

(1299–1453)
With the demise of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum during 12th to 13th century, Anatolia was divided
into a patchwork of independent states, the so-called Anatolian Beyliks. For the next few
decades, these Beyliks were under the sovereignty of Mongolians and their Iranian Kingdom
Ilkhanids. By 1300, a weakened Byzantine Empire had lost most of its Anatolian provinces to
these Turkish principalities. One of the beyliks was led by Osman I (d. 1323/4), from which the
name Ottoman is derived, son of Ertuğrul, around Eskişehir in western Anatolia. In the
foundation myth expressed in the story known as "Osman's Dream", the young Osman was
inspired to conquest by a prescient vision of empire (according to his dream, the empire is a big
tree whose roots spread through three continents and whose branches cover the sky).[4]
According to his dream the tree, which was Osman's Empire, issued four rivers from its roots, the
Tigris, the Euphrates, the Nile and the Danube.[4] Additionally, the tree shaded four mountain
ranges, the Caucasus, the Taurus, the Atlas and the Balkan ranges.[4] During his reign as Sultan,
Osman I extended the frontiers of Turkish settlement toward the edge of the Byzantine Empire.
During this period, a formal Ottoman government was created whose institutions would change
drastically over the life of the empire.
In the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over the Eastern
Mediterranean and the Balkans. Osman's son, Orhan, captured the city of Bursa in 1326 and
made it the new capital of the Ottoman state. The fall of Bursa meant the loss of Byzantine
control over Northwestern Anatolia.
After securing their flank in Asia Minor, the Ottomans then crossed into Europe from 1352
onwards; within a decade, almost all of Thrace had been conquered by the Ottomans, cutting off
Constantinople from its Balkan hinterlands. The Ottoman capital was moved to Adrianople
Edirne in 1369. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387. The
Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region,
paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe. The Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, widely
regarded as the last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages, failed to stop the advance of the
victorious Ottoman Turks. With the extension of Turkish dominion into the Balkans, the strategic
conquest of Constantinople became a crucial objective. The Empire controlled nearly all former
Byzantine lands surrounding the city, but the Byzantines were temporarily relieved when Timur
invaded Anatolia in the Battle of Ankara in 1402. He took Sultan Bayezid I as a prisoner. The
capture of Bayezid I threw the Turks into disorder. The state fell into a civil war that lasted from
1402 to 1413, as Bayezid's sons fought over succession. It ended when Mehmed I emerged as
the sultan and restored Ottoman power, bringing an end to the Interregnum.
Battle of Battle of Sultan Battle of
Kosovo Nicopolis Mehmed Varna
(1389) (1396) I. (1444)
Ottoman
miniature
, 1413-
1421
Part of the Ottoman territories in the Balkans (such as Thessaloniki, Macedonia and Kosovo)
were temporarily lost after 1402, but were later recovered by Murad II between the 1430s and
1450s. On 10 November 1444, Murad II defeated the Hungarian, Polish and Wallachian armies
under Władysław III of Poland (also King of Hungary) and János Hunyadi at the Battle of Varna,
which was the final battle of the Crusade of Varna.[5][6] Four years later, János Hunyadi prepared
another army (of Hungarian and Wallachian forces) to attack the Turks, but was again defeated
by Murad II at the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448.
The son of Murad II, Mehmed the Conqueror, reorganized the state and the military, and
demonstrated his martial prowess by capturing Constantinople on 29 May 1453, at the age of
21.
Classical Age (1453–1566)
Fall of Constantinople (1453)
Battle of Chaldiran (1514)

Siege of Rhodes (1522)
Battle of Mohács (1526)
Fall of Constantinople (1453)

Mehmed II conquered
Constantinople in 1453 and
brought an end to the Byzantine
Empire.
The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II cemented the status of the
Empire as the preeminent power in southeastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean. After
taking Constantinople, Mehmed met with the Orthodox patriarch, Gennadios and worked out an
arrangement in which the Eastern Orthodox Church, in exchange for being able to maintain its
autonomy and land, accepted Ottoman authority.[7] Because of bad relations between the latter
Byzantine Empire and the states of western Europe as epitomized by Loukas Notaras's famous
remark "Better the Sultan's turban than the Cardinal's Hat", the majority of the Orthodox
population accepted Ottoman rule as preferable to Venetian rule.[7]
Upon making Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) the new capital of the Ottoman Empire in
1453, Mehmed II assumed the title of Kayser-i Rûm (literally Caesar Romanus, i.e. Roman
Emperor.) In order to consolidate this claim, he would launch a campaign to conquer Rome, the
western capital of the former Roman Empire. To this aim he spent many years securing
positions on the Adriatic Sea, such as in Albania Veneta, and then continued with the Ottoman
invasion of Otranto and Apulia on 28 July 1480. The Turks stayed in Otranto and its surrounding
areas for nearly a year, but after Mehmed II's death on 3 May 1481, plans for penetrating deeper
into the Italian peninsula with fresh new reinforcements were given up on and cancelled and the
remaining Ottoman troops sailed back to the east of the Adriatic Sea.
Selim I conquered the Mamluk
Sultanate of Egypt, making the
Turks the dominant power in the
Islamic world.
Suleiman the Magnificent became

a prominent monarch of 16th-
century Europe, presiding over the
apex of the Ottoman Empire's
power.
During this period in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of
conquest and expansion, extending its borders deep into Europe and North Africa. Conquests on
land were driven by the discipline and innovation of the Ottoman military; and on the sea, the
Ottoman Navy aided this expansion significantly. The navy also contested and protected key
seagoing trade routes, in competition with the Italian city states in the Black, Aegean and
Mediterranean seas and the Portuguese in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
The state also flourished economically due to its control of the major overland trade routes
between Europe and Asia.[8]
The Empire prospered under the rule of a line of committed and effective Sultans. Sultan Selim I
(1512–1520) dramatically expanded the Empire's eastern and southern frontiers by defeating
Shah Ismail I of Safavid Persia, in 1514 at the Battle of Chaldiran.[9] Selim I established Ottoman
rule in Egypt, and created a naval presence on the Red Sea. After this Ottoman expansion, a
competition started between the Portuguese Empire and the Ottoman Empire to become the
dominant power in the region.[10] This conquest ended with the execution of Tuman Bay II.
Selim's successor, Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566), further expanded upon Selim's
conquests. After capturing Belgrade in 1521, Suleiman conquered the southern and central parts
of the Kingdom of Hungary (the western, northern and northeastern parts remained
independent).[11][12]
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha

defeated the Holy League at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538.
Süleymaniye Mosque (1558)
Walls of Constantinople
(Gate of Belgrade)
Rumelihisarı (Rumelian Castle 1453)
After his victory in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, he established Turkish rule in the territory of
present-day Hungary (except the western region) and other Central European territories, (See
also: Ottoman–Hungarian Wars). He then laid siege to Vienna in 1529, but failed to take the city
after the onset of winter forced his retreat.[13]
In 1532, he made another attack on Vienna, but was repulsed in the Siege of Güns, 97 kilometres
(60 mi) south of the city at the fortress of Güns.[14][15] In the other version of the story, the city's
commander, Nikola Jurišić, was offered terms for a nominal surrender.[16] However, Suleiman
withdrew at the arrival of the August rains and did not continue towards Vienna as previously
planned, but turned homeward instead.[16][17]
After further advances by the Turks in 1543, the Habsburg ruler Ferdinand officially recognized
Ottoman ascendancy in Hungary in 1547. During the reign of Suleiman, Transylvania, Wallachia
and, intermittently, Moldavia, became tributary principalities of the Ottoman Empire. In the east,
the Ottoman Turks took Baghdad from the Persians in 1535, gaining control of Mesopotamia
and naval access to the Persian Gulf. By the end of Suleiman's reign, the Empire's population
totaled about 15,000,000 people.[18]
Under Selim and Suleiman the Magnificent, the Empire became a dominant naval force,
controlling much of the Mediterranean.[19] The exploits of the Ottoman admiral Barbarossa
Hayreddin Pasha, who commanded the Ottoman Navy during Suleiman's reign, led to a number
of military victories over Christian navies. Important naval victories of the Ottoman Empire in this
period include the Battle of Preveza (1538); Battle of Ponza (1552); Battle of Djerba (1560);
conquest of Algiers (in 1516 and 1529) and Tunis (in 1534 and 1574) from Spain; conquest of
Rhodes (1522) and Tripoli (1551) from the Knights of St. John; capture of Nice (1543) from the
Holy Roman Empire; capture of Corsica (1553) from the Republic of Genoa; capture of the
Balearic Islands (1558) from Spain; capture of Aden (1548), Muscat (1552) and Aceh (1565–67)
from Portugal during the Indian Ocean expeditions; among others.
The conquests of Nice (1543) and Corsica (1553) occurred on behalf of France as a joint venture
between the forces of the French king Francis I and the Ottoman sultan Suleiman I, and were
commanded by the Ottoman admirals Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha and Turgut Reis.[20] A month
prior to the siege of Nice, France supported the Ottomans with an artillery unit during the
Ottoman conquest of Esztergom in 1543. France and the Ottoman Empire, united by mutual
opposition to Habsburg rule in both Southern and Central Europe, became strong allies during
this period. The alliance was economic and military, as the sultans granted France the right of
trade within the Empire without levy of taxation. By this time, the Ottoman Empire was a
significant and accepted part of the European political sphere. It made a military alliance with
France, the Kingdom of England and the Dutch Republic against Habsburg Spain, Italy and
Habsburg Austria.
Suleiman I's policy of expansion throughout the Mediterranean basin was however halted in
Malta in 1565. During a summer-long siege which was later to be known as the Siege of Malta,
the Ottoman forces which numbered around 50,000 fought the Knights of St. John and the
Maltese garrison of 6000 men. Stubborn resistance by the Maltese led to the lifting of the siege
in September. The unsuccessful siege (the Turks managed to capture the Isle of Gozo together
with Fort Saint Elmo on the main island of Malta, but failed elsewhere and retreated) was the
second and last defeat experienced by Suleiman the Magnificent after the likewise inconclusive
first Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1529. Suleiman I died of natural causes in his tent during the
Siege of Szigetvár in 1566. The Battle of Lepanto in 1571 (which was triggered by the Ottoman
capture of Venetian-controlled Cyprus in 1570) was another major setback for Ottoman naval
supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea, despite the fact that an equally large Ottoman fleet was
built in a short time and Tunisia was recovered from Spain in 1574.
As the 16th century progressed, Ottoman naval superiority was challenged by the growing sea
powers of western Europe, particularly Portugal, in the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and the Spice
Islands. With the Ottoman Turks 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 Ottoman
control. On land, the Empire was preoccupied by military campaigns in Austria and Persia, two
widely separated theatres 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. The overriding military need
for defence on the western and eastern frontiers of the Empire eventually made effective long-
term engagement on a global scale impossible.
Transformation of the
Ottoman Empire (1566–1700)
Ottoman miniature about the

Szigetvár campaign showing
Ottoman troops and Tatars as
avantgarde.
European states initiated efforts at this time to curb Ottoman control of the traditional overland
trade routes between East Asia and Western Europe, which started with the Silk Road. Western
European states began to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly by establishing their own maritime
routes to Asia through new discoveries at sea. The Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good
Hope in 1488 initiated a series of Ottoman-Portuguese naval wars in the Indian Ocean
throughout the 16th century. Economically, the Price Revolution caused rampant inflation in both
Europe and the Middle East. This had serious negative consequences at all levels of Ottoman
society.
The expansion of Muscovite Russia under Ivan IV (1533–1584) into the Volga and Caspian
region at the expense of the Tatar khanates disrupted the northern pilgrimage and trade routes.
A highly ambitious plan to counter this conceived by Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, Grand Vizier under
Selim II, in the shape of a Don-Volga canal (begun June 1569), combined with an attack on
Astrakhan, failed, the canal being abandoned with the onset of winter. Henceforth the Empire
returned to its existing strategy of utilizing the Crimean Khanate as its bulwark against
Russia.[21] In 1571, the Crimean khan Devlet I Giray, supported by the Ottomans, burned
Moscow.[22] The next year, the invasion was repeated but repelled at the Battle of Molodi. The
Crimean Khanate continued to invade Eastern Europe in a series of slave raids,[23] and remained
a significant power in Eastern Europe and a threat to Muscovite Russia in particular until the end
of the 17th century.[24]
Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
In southern Europe, a coalition of Catholic powers, led by Philip II of Spain, formed an alliance to
challenge Ottoman naval strength in the Mediterranean. Their victory over the Ottoman fleet at
the Battle of Lepanto (1571) was a startling blow to the image of Ottoman invincibility. However,
historians today stress the symbolic and not the strictly military significance of the battle, for
within six months of the defeat a new Ottoman fleet of some 250 sail including eight modern
galleasses[25] had been built, with the shipyards of Istanbul turning out a new ship every day at
the height of the construction. In discussions with a Venetian minister, the Ottoman Grand Vizier
commented: "In capturing Cyprus from you, we have cut off one of your arms; in defeating our
fleet you have merely shaved off our beard".[25] The Ottoman naval recovery persuaded Venice to
sign a peace treaty in 1573, and the Ottomans were able to expand and consolidate their
position in North Africa.[26] However, what could not be replaced were the experienced naval
officers and sailors. The Battle of Lepanto was far more damaging to the Ottoman navy in
sapping experienced manpower than the loss of ships, which were rapidly replaced.[27]
By contrast, the Habsburg frontier had settled into a reasonably permanent border, marked only
by relatively minor battles concentrating on the possession of individual fortresses. The
stalemate was caused by a stiffening of the Habsburg defences[28] and reflected 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 support two
separate fronts: one against the Austrians (see: Ottoman wars in Europe), and the other against
a rival Islamic state, the Safavids of Persia (see: Ottoman wars in Near East).
Mehmed III's armies defeated the
Habsburg and Transylvanian
forces at the Battle of Keresztes.
Changes in European military tactics and weaponry in the military revolution caused the Sipahi
cavalry to lose military relevance. The Long War against Austria (1593–1606) created the need
for greater numbers of infantry equipped with firearms. This resulted in a relaxation of
recruitment policy and a significant growth in Janissary corps numbers. Irregular sharpshooters
(Sekban) were also recruited for the same reasons and on demobilization turned to brigandage
in the Jelali revolts (1595–1610), which engendered widespread anarchy in Anatolia in the late
16th and early 17th centuries.[29] With the Empire's population reaching 30,000,000 people by
1600, shortage of land placed further pressure on the government.[30]
Murad IV reconquered Baghdad

from the Safavids in 1638.
The Ottoman Empire reached its
greatest extent in Europe in 1683,
under Sultan Mehmed IV and the
Köprülü Grand Vizier Merzifonlu
Kara Mustafa Pasha.
However, the 17th century was not an era of stagnation and decline, but a key period in which
the Ottoman state and its structures began to adapt to new pressures and new realities, internal
and external. The Sultanate of women (1533–1656) was a period in which the political influence
of the Imperial Harem was dominant, as the mothers of young sultans exercised power on
behalf of their sons. This was not wholly unprecedented; Hürrem Sultan, who established herself
in the early 1530s as the successor of Nurbanu, the first valide sultan, was described by the
Venetian baylo Andrea Giritti as "a woman of the utmost goodness, courage and wisdom" even
though she "thwarted some while rewarding others".[31] But the inadequacy of Ibrahim I (1640–
1648) and the minority accession of Mehmed IV in 1646 created a significant crisis of rule,
which the dominant women of the Imperial Harem filled. The most prominent women of this
period were Kösem Sultan and her daughter-in-law Turhan Hatice, whose political rivalry
culminated in Kösem's murder in 1651.[32]
Ottoman city of Estergon in 1664.
Second Siege of Vienna in 1683,

painting by Frans Geffels.
This period gave way to the highly significant Köprülü Era (1656–1703), during which effective
control of the Empire was exercised by a sequence of Grand Viziers from the Köprülü family. On
15 September 1656 the octogenarian Köprülü Mehmed Pasha accepted the seals of office
having received guarantees from the Valide Turhan Hatice of unprecedented authority and
freedom from interference. A fierce conservative disciplinarian, he successfully reasserted the
central authority and the empire's military impetus. This continued under his son and successor
Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed (Grand Vizier 1661–1676).[33] The Köprülü Vizierate saw renewed military
success with authority restored in Transylvania, the conquest of Crete completed in 1669 and
expansion into Polish southern Ukraine, with the strongholds of Khotyn and Kamianets-Podilskyi
and the territory of Podolia ceding to Ottoman control in 1676.[34]
This period of renewed assertiveness came to a calamitous end when Grand Vizier Kara
Mustafa Pasha in May 1683 led a huge army to attempt a second Ottoman siege of Vienna in
the Great Turkish War of 1683–1699. The final assault being fatally delayed, the Ottoman forces
were swept away by allied Habsburg, German and Polish forces spearheaded by the Polish king
Jan[35] at the Battle of Vienna.
The alliance of the Holy League pressed home the advantage of the defeat at Vienna and, thus,
fifteen (15) years of see-sawing warfare, culminated in the epochal Treaty of Karlowitz (26
January 1699), which ended the Great Turkish War.[36] For the first time, the Ottoman Empire
surrendered control of significant European territories (many permanently), including Ottoman
Hungary.[37] The Empire had reached the end of its ability to effectively conduct an assertive,
expansionist policy against its European rivals and it was to be forced from this point to adopt
an essentially defensive strategy within this theatre.
Only two Sultans in this period personally exercised strong political and military control of the
Empire: the vigorous Murad IV (1612–1640) recaptured Yerevan (1635) and Baghdad (1639)
from the Safavids and reasserted central authority, albeit during a brief majority reign. Mustafa II
(1695–1703) led the Ottoman counterattack of 1695–96 against the Habsburgs in Hungary, but
was undone at the disastrous defeat at Zenta (11 September 1697).[38]
Stagnation and reform (1700–
1827)
King Charles XII of Sweden

fled to the Ottoman Empire
following his defeat against
the Russians at the Battle of
Poltava in 1709.
During this period threats to the Ottoman Empire were presented by the traditional foe—the
Austrian Empire—as well as by a new foe—the rising Russian Empire. Certain areas of the
Empire, such as Egypt and Algeria, became independent in all but name, and later came under
the influence of Britain and France. Later, in the 18th century, centralized authority within the
Ottoman Empire gave way to varying degrees of provincial autonomy enjoyed by local governors
and leaders.
However, Russian expansion presented a large and growing threat.[39] Accordingly, King Charles
XII of Sweden was welcomed as an ally in the Ottoman Empire following his defeat by the
Russians at the Battle of Poltava in 1709 (part of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721.)[39]
Charles XII persuaded the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III to declare war on Russia, which resulted in
the Ottoman victory at the Pruth River Campaign of 1710–1711.[40] Following the Austro-Turkish
War (1716–1718), the subsequent Treaty of Passarowitz signed on 21 July 1718, brought a
period of peace between wars. However, the Treaty also revealed that the Ottoman Empire was
on the defensive and unlikely to present any further aggression in Europe.[41]
A Turkish hunting party with Ahmed
III. Painting by Jean-Baptiste van
Mour.
During the Tulip Era (1718–1730), 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
Empire began to improve the fortifications of its cities in the Balkan peninsula to act as a
defence against European expansionism. Cultural works, fine arts and architecture flourished,
with more elaborate styles that were influenced by the Baroque and Rococo movements in
Europe. A classic example is the Fountain of Ahmed III in front of the Topkapı Palace. The
famous Flemish-French painter Jean-Baptiste van Mour visited the Ottoman Empire during the
Tulip Era and crafted some of the most renowned works of art depicting scenes from daily life in
the Ottoman society and the imperial court.[42]
Upon the death of Peter the Great in 1725, Catherine, Peter's wife succeeded to the throne of the
Russian Empire as Czarina Catherine I. Together with Austria, Russia, under Empress Anne,
Catherine I's niece, engaged in a war against the Ottoman Empire from 1735 until 1739. The
Treaty of Belgrade signed on 18 September 1739, ended this war and resulted in Ottoman
recovery of Belgrade and other territories from Austria, but the loss of the port of Azov to the
Russians. However following the Treaty of Belgrade, the Ottoman Empire was able to enjoy a
generation of peace as Austria and Russia were forced to deal with the rise of the Prussians
under King Frederick the Great.[43]
This long period of Ottoman peace and, indeed, stagnation is typically characterized by
historians as an era of failed reforms. In the latter part of this period there were educational and
technological reforms, including the establishment of higher education institutions such as the
Istanbul Technical University.[44] 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. In 1734, when an artillery school was established with French
teachers in order to impart Western-style artillery methods, the Islamic clergy successfully
objected under the grounds of theodicy.[45] Not until 1754 was the artillery school reopened on a
semi-secret basis.[45] Earlier, the guilds of writers had denounced the printing press as "the
Devil's Invention", and were responsible for a 53-year lag between its invention by Johannes
Gutenberg in Europe in c. 1440 and its introduction to the Ottoman society with the first
Gutenberg press in Istanbul that was established by the Sephardic Jews of Spain in 1493 (who
had migrated to the Ottoman Empire a year earlier, escaping from the Spanish Inquisition of
1492.) However, the printing press was used only by the non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire
until the 18th century. In 1726, Ibrahim Muteferrika convinced the Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damat
İbrahim Pasha, the Grand Mufti, and the clergy on the efficiency of the printing press, and later
submitted a request to Sultan Ahmed III, who granted Muteferrika the permission to publish non-
religious books (despite opposition from some calligraphers and religious leaders.)[46]
Muteferrika's press published its first book in 1729, and, by 1743, issued 17 works in 23 volumes
(each having between 500 and 1,000 copies.)[46][47]
18th-century Turkish guns with

miquelet locks, c. 1750–1800.
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.
Following the period of peace, which had lasted since 1739, Russia began to assert its
expansionistic desires again in 1768. Under the pretext of pursuing fugitive Polish
revolutionaries, Russian troops entered Balta an Ottoman-controlled city on the border of
Bessarabia and massacred its citizens and burned the town to the ground.[48] This action
provoked the Ottoman Empire into the First Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. The Treaty of
Küçük Kaynarca of 1774 ended the First Russo-Turkish War and allowed that the Christian
citizens of the Ottoman-controlled Rumanian provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia would be
allowed freedom to worship.[49] Russia was made the guarantor of their right to Christian
worship.
A series of wars were fought between the Russian and Ottoman empires from the 18th to the
19th century. By the late 18th century, a number of defeats in several wars with Russia led some
people in the Ottoman Empire to conclude that the reforms of Peter the Great had given the
Russians an edge, and the Ottomans would have to keep up with Western technology in order to
avoid further defeats.[45]
Selim III receiving dignitaries during
an audience at the Gate of Felicity,
Topkapı Palace.
Ottoman military reform efforts begin with Selim III (1789–1807) who made the first major
attempts to modernize the army along European lines. These efforts, however, were hampered
by reactionary movements, 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, they created a Janissary revolt. 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
eliminated the Janissary corps in 1826.
The Serbian revolution (1804–1815) marked the beginning of an era of national awakening in the
Balkans during the Eastern Question. Suzerainty of Serbia as a hereditary monarchy under its
own dynasty was acknowledged de jure in 1830.[50][51] In 1821, the Greeks declared war on the
Sultan. A rebellion that originated in Moldavia as a diversion was followed by the main revolution
in the Peloponnese, which, along with the northern part of the Gulf of Corinth, became the first
parts of the Ottoman empire to achieve independence (in 1829). By the mid-19th century, the
Ottoman Empire was called the "sick man" by Europeans. The suzerain states – the Principality
of Serbia, Wallachia, Moldavia and Montenegro – moved towards de jure independence during
the 1860s and 1870s.
Decline and modernization

(1828–1908)
During this period, the empire faced challenges in defending itself against foreign invasion and
occupation. The empire ceased to enter conflicts on its own and began to forge alliances with
European countries such as France, the Netherlands, Britain and Russia. As an example, in the
1853 Crimean War, the Ottomans united with Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia against
Russia.
Modernization
Mahmud II started the modernization

of Turkey by paving the way for the
Edict of Tanzimat in 1839.
During the Tanzimat period (from Arabic: ‫ تنظيم‬tanẓīm, meaning "organisation") (1839–76), the
government's series of constitutional reforms led to a fairly modern conscripted army, banking
system reforms, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, the replacement of religious law with
secular law[52] and guilds with modern factories. In 1856, the Hatt-ı Hümayun promised equality
for all Ottoman citizens regardless of their ethnicity and religious confession; which thus
widened the scope of the 1839 Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane.
Overall, the Tanzimat reforms had far-reaching effects. Those educated in the schools
established during the Tanzimat period included Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and other progressive
leaders and thinkers of the Republic of Turkey and of many other former Ottoman states in the
Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa. These reforms included[53] guarantees to ensure the
Ottoman subjects perfect security for their lives, honour and property; the introduction of the
first Ottoman paper banknotes (1840) and opening of the first post offices (1840); the
reorganisation of the finance system according to the French model (1840); the reorganisation
of the Civil and Criminal Code according to the French model (1840); the establishment of the
Meclis-i Maarif-i Umumiye (1841) which was the prototype of the First Ottoman Parliament
(1876); the reorganisation of the army and a regular method of recruiting, levying the army and
fixing the duration of military service (1843–44); the adoption of an Ottoman national anthem
and Ottoman national flag (1844); the first nationwide Ottoman census in 1844 (only male
citizens were counted); the first national identity cards (officially named the Mecidiye identity
papers, or informally kafa kağıdı (head paper) documents, 1844); the institution of a Council of
Public Instruction (1845) and the Ministry of Education (Mekatib-i Umumiye Nezareti, 1847, which
later became the Maarif Nezareti, 1857); the abolition of slavery and slave trade (1847); the
establishment of the first modern universities (darülfünun, 1848), academies (1848) and teacher
schools (darülmuallimin, 1848); establishment of the Ministry of Healthcare (Tıbbiye Nezareti,
1850); the Commerce and Trade Code (1850); establishment of the Academy of Sciences
(Encümen-i Daniş, 1851); establishment of the Şirket-i Hayriye which operated the first steam-
powered commuter ferries (1851); the first European style courts (Meclis-i Ahkam-ı Adliye, 1853)
and supreme judiciary council (Meclis-i Ali-yi Tanzimat, 1853); establishment of the modern
Municipality of Istanbul (Şehremaneti, 1854) and the City Planning Council (İntizam-ı Şehir
Komisyonu, 1855); the abolition of the capitation (Jizya) tax on non-Muslims, with a regular
method of establishing and collecting taxes (1856); non-Muslims were allowed to become
soldiers (1856); various provisions for the better administration of the public service and
advancement of commerce; the establishment of the first telegraph networks (1847–1855) and
railways (1856); the replacement of guilds with factories; the establishment of the Ottoman
Central Bank (originally established as the Bank-ı Osmanî in 1856, and later reorganised as the
Bank-ı Osmanî-i Şahane in 1863)[54] and the Ottoman Stock Exchange (Dersaadet Tahvilat Borsası,
established in 1866);[55] the Land Code (Arazi Kanunnamesi, 1857); permission for private sector
publishers and printing firms with the Serbesti-i Kürşad Nizamnamesi (1857); establishment of
the School of Economical and Political Sciences (Mekteb-i Mülkiye, 1859); the Press and
Journalism Regulation Code (Matbuat Nizamnamesi, 1864); among others.[53]
The reign of Sultan Abdülmecid was
marked by the implementation of the
Tanzimat reforms; the Crimean War
and first foreign debt of the Ottoman
Empire in 1854.
The Ottoman Ministry of Post was established in Istanbul on 23 October 1840.[56][57] The first
post office was the Postahane-i Amire near the courtyard of the Yeni Mosque.[56] In 1876 the first
international mailing network between Istanbul and the lands beyond the vast Ottoman Empire
was established.[56] In 1901 the first money transfers were made through the post offices and
the first cargo services became operational.[56]
Samuel Morse received his first ever patent for the telegraph in 1847, at the old Beylerbeyi
Palace (the present Beylerbeyi Palace was built in 1861–1865 on the same location) in Istanbul,
which was issued by Sultan Abdülmecid who personally tested the new invention.[58] Following
this successful test, installation works of the first telegraph line (Istanbul-Adrianople–Şumnu)[59]
began on 9 August 1847.[60] In 1855 the Ottoman telegraph network became operational and the
Telegraph Administration was established.[56][57][59] In 1871 the Ministry of Post and the
Telegraph Administration were merged, becoming the Ministry of Post and Telegraph.[57] In July
1881 the first telephone circuit in Istanbul was established between the Ministry of Post and
Telegraph in the Soğukçeşme quarter and the Postahane-i Amire in the Yenicami quarter.[60] On
23 May 1909, the first manual telephone exchange with a 50 line capacity entered service in the
Büyük Postane (Grand Post Office) in Sirkeci.[60]
The reformist period peaked with the Constitution, called the Kanûn-u Esâsî (meaning "Basic
Law" in Ottoman Turkish), written by members of the Young Ottomans, which was promulgated
on 23 November 1876. It established the freedom of belief and equality of all citizens before the
law. The empire's First Constitutional era, was short-lived. But the idea of Ottomanism proved
influential. A group of reformers known as the Young Ottomans, primarily educated in Western
universities, believed that a constitutional monarchy would give 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 declare a constitutional monarchy, which he did on 23
November 1876. The parliament survived for only two years before the sultan suspended it.
When forced to reconvene it, he abolished the representative body instead. This ended the
effectiveness of the Kanûn-ı Esâsî.
The Christian millets gained privileges, such as in the Armenian National Constitution of 1863.
This Divan-approved form of the Code of Regulations consisted of 150 articles drafted by the
Armenian intelligentsia. Another institution was the newly formed Armenian National
Assembly.[61] The Christian population of the empire, owing to their higher educational levels,
started to pull ahead of the Muslim majority, leading to much resentment on the part of the
latter.[62] In 1861, there were 571 primary and 94 secondary schools for Ottoman Christians with
140,000 pupils in total, a figure that vastly exceeded the number of Muslim children in school at
the same time, who were further hindered by the amount of time spent learning Arabic and
Islamic theology.[62] In turn, the higher educational levels of the Christians allowed them to play a
large role in the economy.[62] In 1911, of the 654 wholesale companies in Istanbul, 528 were
owned by ethnic Greeks.[62]
Railways
New railways were built during this period, including the first in the Ottoman Empire.
Year
Railway Cities serviced
established
Cairo–Alexandria line 1856 Cairo–Alexandria
İzmir–Selçuk–Aydın
1856 İzmir–Selçuk–Aydın
line
Köstence–Boğazköy
1860 Köstence–Boğazköy
railway line
Smyrne Cassaba &

1863 İzmir, Afyon, Bandırma
Prolongements
Rusçuk–Varna
1866 Rusçuk, Varna
railway line
Bükreş–Yergöğü
1869 Bükreş, Yergöğü
railway line
Vienna, Banja Luka, Saraybosna, Niš, Sofia, Filibe,

Chemins de fer
1869 Adrianople and Istanbul (starting from 1889 between
Orientaux
Paris and Istanbul as the Orient Express)
Chemin de Fer
1871 Mudanya, Bursa
Moudania Brousse
Istanbul-Belovo
1873 Istanbul, Belovo
railway line
Üsküp–Selânik
1873 Üsküp, Selânik
railway line
Mersin-Tarsus-Adana
1882 Mersin, Tarsus, Adana
Railway
Chemins de Fer Istanbul, İzmit, Adapazarı, Bilecik, Eskişehir, Ankara,

1888
Ottomans d'Anatolie Kütahya, Konya
Jaffa–Jerusalem
1892 Jaffa, Jerusalem
railway
Beirut-Damascus
1895 Beirut, Damascus
railway
Baghdad Railway 1904 Istanbul, Konya, Adana, Aleppo, Baghdad

Year
Railway Cities serviced
established
Acre, Haifa, Bosra, Hauran, Yagur, Daraa, Samakh, Beit

Jezreel Valley railway 1905
She'an, Silat ad-Dhahr
Istanbul, Konya, Adana, Aleppo, Damascus, Amman,

Hejaz Railway 1908
Tabuk and Medina
Eastern Railway 1915 Tulkarm, Lod
Beersheba Railway 1915 Nahal Sorek, Beit Hanoun, Beersheba.
Crimean War
The Crimean War (1853–1856) was part of a long-running contest between the major European
powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Britain and France
successfully defended the Ottoman Empire against Russia.[63]
Most of the fighting took place when the allies landed on Russia's Crimean Peninsula to gain
control of the Black Sea. There were smaller campaigns in western Anatolia, the Caucasus, the
Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea. It was one of the first "modern" wars, as it
introduced new technologies to warfare, such as the first tactical use of railways and the
telegraph.[64] The subsequent Treaty of Paris (1856) secured Ottoman control over the Balkan
Peninsula and the Black Sea basin. That lasted until defeat in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–
1878.
The Ottoman Empire took its first foreign loans on 4 August 1854,[65] shortly after the beginning
of the Crimean War.[66]
Turkish refugees from Bulgaria, 1877.

The war caused an exodus of the Crimean Tatars. From the total Tatar population of 300,000 in
the Tauride Province, about 200,000 Crimean Tatars moved to the Ottoman Empire in continuing
waves of emigration.[67] Toward the end of the Caucasian Wars, 90% of the Circassians were
exiled from their homelands in the Caucasus and settled in the Ottoman Empire.[68] Since the
19th century, the exodus to present-day Turkey by the large portion of Muslim peoples from the
Balkans, Caucasus, Crimea and Crete,[69] had great influence in molding the country's
fundamental features. These people were called Muhacir under a general definition.[70] By the
time the Ottoman Empire came to an end in 1922, half of the urban population of Turkey was
descended from Muslim refugees from Russia.[62] Crimean Tatar refugees in the late 19th
century played an especially notable role in seeking to modernise Turkish education.[62]
Ethnic nationalism
Belgrade, 19th century
The rise of nationalism swept through many countries during the 19th century, and it affected
territories within the Ottoman Empire. A burgeoning national consciousness, together with a
growing sense of ethnic nationalism, made nationalistic thought one of the most significant
Western ideas imported to the Ottoman Empire. It was forced to deal with nationalism both
within and beyond its borders. The number of revolutionary political parties rose dramatically.
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.
Punch cartoon from 17 June 1876.
Russian Empire preparing to let slip
the Balkan "Dogs of War" to attack the
Ottoman Empire, while policeman
John Bull (UK) warns Russia to take
care.
In 1804 the Serbian Revolution against Ottoman rule erupted in the Balkans, running in parallel
with the Napoleonic invasion. By 1817, when the revolution ended, Serbia was raised to the
status of self-governing monarchy under nominal Ottoman suzerainty.[71][72] In 1821 the First
Hellenic Republic became the first Balkan country to achieve its independence from the Ottoman
Empire. It was officially recognised by the Porte in 1829, after the end of the Greek War of
Independence.
Balkans
The Tanzimat reforms did not halt the rise of nationalism in the Danubian Principalities and the
Principality of Serbia, which had been semi-independent for almost six decades. In 1875, the
tributary principalities of Serbia and Montenegro, and the United Principalities of Wallachia and
Moldavia, unilaterally declared their independence from the empire. Following the Russo-Turkish
War of 1877–1878, the empire granted independence to all three belligerent nations. Bulgaria
also achieved independence[73] (as the Principality of Bulgaria); its volunteers had participated in
the Russo-Turkish War on the side of the rebelling nations.
Congress of Berlin
Map of the Ottoman Empire in

1900,[74] with the names of the
Ottoman provinces between 1878 and
1908.
The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a meeting of the leading statesmen of
Europe's Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. In the wake of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–
1878) that ended with a decisive victory for Russia and her Orthodox Christian allies (subjects of
the Ottoman Empire before the war) in the Balkan Peninsula, the urgent need was to stabilise
and reorganise the Balkans, and set up new nations. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who
led the Congress, undertook to adjust boundaries to minimise the risks of major war, while
recognising the reduced power of the Ottomans, and balance the distinct interests of the great
powers.
As a result, Ottoman holdings in Europe declined sharply; Bulgaria was established as an

independent principality inside the Ottoman Empire, but was not allowed to keep all its previous
territory. Bulgaria lost Eastern Rumelia, which was restored to the Turks under a special
administration; and Macedonia, which was returned outright to the Turks, who promised reform.
Romania achieved full independence, but had to turn over part of Bessarabia to Russia. Serbia
and Montenegro finally gained complete independence, but with smaller territories.
In 1878, Austria-Hungary unilaterally occupied the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina

and Novi Pazar, but the Ottoman government contested this move and maintained its troops in
both provinces. The stalemate lasted for 30 years (Austrian and Ottoman forces coexisted in
Bosnia and Novi Pazar for three decades) until 1908, when the Austrians took advantage of the
political turmoil in the Ottoman Empire that stemmed from the Young Turk Revolution and
annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, but pulled their troops out of Novi Pazar in order to reach a
compromise and avoid a war with the Turks.
In return for British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's advocacy for restoring the Ottoman
territories on the Balkan Peninsula during the Congress of Berlin, Britain assumed the
administration of Cyprus in 1878[75] and later sent troops to Egypt in 1882 with the pretext of
helping the Ottoman government to put down the Urabi Revolt; effectively gaining control in both
territories (Britain formally annexed the still nominally Ottoman territories of Cyprus and Egypt
on 5 November 1914, in response to the Ottoman Empire's decision to enter World War I on the
side of the Central Powers.) France, on its part, occupied Tunisia in 1881.
The results were first hailed as a great achievement in peacemaking and stabilisation. However,
most of the participants were not fully satisfied, and grievances regarding the results festered
until they exploded into world war in 1914. Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece made gains, but far less
than they thought they deserved. The Ottoman Empire, called at the time the "sick man of
Europe", was humiliated and significantly weakened, rendering it more liable to domestic unrest
and more vulnerable to attack. Although Russia had been victorious in the war that occasioned
the conference, it was humiliated at Berlin, and resented its treatment. Austria gained a great
deal of territory, which angered the South Slavs, and led to decades of tensions in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Bismarck became the target of hatred of Russian nationalists and Pan-Slavists,
and found that he had tied Germany too closely to Austria in the Balkans.[76]
In the long-run, tensions between Russia and Austria-Hungary intensified, as did the nationality
question in the Balkans. The Congress succeeded in keeping Istanbul in Ottoman hands. It
effectively disavowed Russia's victory. The Congress of Berlin returned to the Ottoman Empire
territories that the previous treaty had given to the Principality of Bulgaria, most notably
Macedonia, thus setting up a strong revanchist demand in Bulgaria that in 1912 led to the First
Balkan War in which the Turks were defeated and lost nearly all of Europe. As the Ottoman
Empire gradually shrank in size, military power and wealth, many Balkan Muslims migrated to
the empire's remaining territory in the Balkans or to the heartland in Anatolia.[77][78] Muslims had
been the majority in some parts of the Ottoman Empire such as the Crimea, the Balkans and the
Caucasus as well as a plurality in southern Russia and also in some parts of Romania. Most of
these lands were lost with time by the Ottoman Empire between the 19th and 20th centuries. By
1923, only Anatolia and eastern Thrace remained Muslim land.[79]
Egypt
After gaining some amount of autonomy during the early 1800s, Egypt had entered into a period
of political turmoil by the 1880s. In April 1882, British and French warships appeared in
Alexandria to support the khedive and prevent the country from falling into the hands of anti-
European nationals. In August 1882 British forces invaded and occupied Egypt on the pretext of
bringing order. The British supported Khedive Tewfiq and restored stability with was especially
beneficial to British and French financial interests. Egypt and Sudan remained as Ottoman
provinces de jure until 1914, when the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers of World War I.
Great Britain officially annexed these two provinces and Cyprus in response. Other Ottoman
provinces in North Africa were lost between 1830 and 1912, starting with Algeria (occupied by
France in 1830), Tunisia (occupied by France in 1881) and Libya (occupied by Italy in 1912).
Armenians
Although granted their own constitution and national assembly with the Tanzimat reforms, the
Armenians attempted to demand implementation of Article 61 from the Ottoman government as
agreed upon at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.[80] Following pressure from the European powers
and Armenians, Sultan Abdul Hamid II, in response, assigned the Hamidiye regiments to eastern
Anatolia (Ottoman Armenia).[81] These were formed mostly of irregular cavalry units of recruited
Kurds.[82] From 1894 to 1896, between 100,000 and 300,000 Armenians living throughout the
empire were killed in what became known as the Hamidian massacres.[83] Armenian militants
seized the Ottoman Bank headquarters in Istanbul in 1896 to bring European attention to the
massacres, but they failed to gain any help.
Defeat and dissolution (1908–

1922)
Declaration of the Young Turk

Revolution by the leaders of the
Ottoman millets.
The Ottoman Empire had long been the "sick man of Europe" and after a series of Balkan wars
by 1914 had been driven out of nearly all of Europe and North Africa. It still controlled 28 million
people, of whom 17 million were in modern-day Turkey, 3 million in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine,
and 2.5 million in Iraq. Another 5.5 million people were under nominal Ottoman rule in the
Arabian peninsula.[84]
The Second Constitutional Era began after the Young Turk Revolution (3 July 1908) with the
sultan's announcement of the restoration of the 1876 constitution and the reconvening of the
Ottoman Parliament. It marked the beginning of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. This era
is dominated by the politics of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), and the movement
that would become known as the Young Turks. Although it began as a uniting progressive party,
the CUP splintered in 1911 with the founding of the opposition Freedom and Accord Party
(Liberal Union or Entente), which poached many of the more liberal Deputies from the CUP. The
remaining CUP members, who now took a more dominantly nationalist tone in the face of the
enmity of the Balkan Wars, dueled Freedom and Accord in a series of power reversals, which
ultimately led to the CUP (specifically its leadership, the "Three Pashas") seizing power from the
Freedom and Accord in the 1913 Ottoman coup d'état and establishing total dominance over
Ottoman politics until the end of World War I.
Profiting from the civil strife, Austria-Hungary officially annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908,
but pulled its troops out of the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, another contested region between the
Austrians and Ottomans, to avoid a war. During the Italo-Turkish War (1911–12) in which the
Ottoman Empire lost Libya, the Balkan League declared war against the Ottoman Empire. The
Empire lost the Balkan Wars (1912–13). It lost its Balkan territories except East Thrace and the
historic Ottoman capital city of Adrianople during the war. Some 400,000 Muslims, out of fear of
Greek, Serbian or Bulgarian atrocities, left with the retreating Ottoman army.[85] The Baghdad
Railway under German control was a proposal to build rail lines into Iraq. The railway was not
actually built at this time but its prospect worried the British until that issue was resolved in
1914. The railway did not play a role in the origins of World War I.
World War I (1914–1918)
Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) at the

trenches of Gallipoli Campaign in
1915.
The Young Turk government had signed a secret treaty with Germany and established the
Ottoman-German Alliance in August 1914, aimed against the common Russian enemy but
aligning the Empire with the German side. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I after the
Goeben and Breslau incident, in which it gave safe harbour to two German ships that were fleeing
British ships. These ships then—after having officially been transferred to the Ottoman Navy, but
effectively still under German control—attacked the Russian port of Sevastopol, thus dragging
the Empire into the war on the side of the Central Powers, in which it took part in the Middle
Eastern theatre. There were several important Ottoman victories in the early years of the war,
such as 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 United States never declared war
against the Ottoman Empire.[86]
January 1919 British Foreign Office
memorandum summarizing the
wartime agreements between Britain,
France, Italy and Russia regarding
Ottoman territory.
The Arabian peninsula in 1914
In 1915, as the Russian Caucasus Army continued to advance in eastern Anatolia with the help
of Armenian volunteer units from the Caucasus region of the Russian Empire,[87] and aided by
some Ottoman Armenians, the Ottoman government decided to issue the Tehcir Law, which
started the deportation of the ethnic Armenians, particularly from the provinces close to the
Ottoman-Russian front, resulting in what became known as the Armenian genocide.[88][89][90]
Through forced marches and gang skirmishes, the Armenians living in eastern Anatolia were
uprooted from their ancestral homelands and sent southwards to the Ottoman provinces in Syria
and Mesopotamia. Estimates vary on how many Armenians perished, but scholars give figures
ranging from 300,000 (per the modern Turkish state), 600,000 (per early estimates by Western
researchers)[91] to up to 1.5 million (per modern Western and Armenian
scholars).[92][93][94][95][96][97]
The Arab Revolt which began in 1916 turned the tide against the Ottomans at the Middle Eastern
front, where they initially seemed to have the upper hand during the first two years of the war.
When the Armistice of Mudros was signed on 30 October 1918, the only parts of the Arabian
peninsula that were still under Ottoman control were Yemen, Asir, the city of Medina, portions of
northern Syria and portions of northern Iraq. These territories were handed over to the British
forces on 23 January 1919. The Ottomans were also forced to evacuate the parts of the former
Russian Empire in the Caucasus (in present-day Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan), which they
had gained towards the end of World War I, following Russia's retreat from the war with the
Russian Revolution in 1917.
Under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres, the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire was solidified.
The new countries created from the former territories of the Ottoman Empire currently number
39.
Turkish War of Independence (1919–

1923)
Departure of Mehmed VI, last Sultan

of the Ottoman State, 1922.
The occupation of Constantinople along with the occupation of İzmir mobilized the
establishment of the Turkish national movement, which won the 1919–1923 Turkish War of
Independence under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha.[98] The Sultanate was abolished on
1 November 1922, and the last sultan, Mehmed VI Vahdettin (r. 1918–1922), left the country on
17 November 1922. The new independent Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNA) was
internationally recognized with the Treaty of Lausanne on 24 July 1923. The GNA officially
declared the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923. The Caliphate was constitutionally
abolished several months later, on 3 March 1924. The Sultan and his family were declared
personae non gratae of Turkey and exiled.
Ottoman dynasty after
dissolution
In 1974, descendants of the dynasty were granted the right to acquire Turkish citizenship by the
Grand National Assembly, and were notified that they could apply. Mehmed Orhan, son of Prince
Mehmed Abdul Kadir of the Ottoman Empire, died in 1994, leaving the grandson of Ottoman
Sultan Abdülhamid II, Ertuğrul Osman, as the eldest surviving member of the deposed dynasty.
Osman for many years refused to carry a Turkish passport, calling himself a citizen of the
Ottoman Empire. Despite this attitude, he put the matter of an Ottoman restoration to rest when
he told an interviewer "no" to the question of whether he wished the Ottoman Empire to be
restored. He was quoted as saying that "democracy works well in Turkey."[99] He returned to
Turkey in 1992 for the first time since the exile, and became a Turkish citizen with a Turkish
passport in 2002.[100]
On 23 September 2009, Osman died at the age of 97 in Istanbul, and with his death the last of
the line born under the Ottoman Empire was extinguished. In Turkey, Osman was known as "the
last Ottoman".[101]
Harun Osmanoğlu, the 3rd generation grandson of Abdul Hamid II, is the eldest living member of
the former ruling dynasty.
The Blue Süleyma Topkapı Piri Reis
Mosque niye Palace map
Sultan Mosque (1453) (1513)
Ahmed (Ottoman
Mosque imperial
(1616) mosque-
1556)
Fall of the Empire

In many ways, the circumstances surrounding the Ottoman Empire's fall were a result of
tensions between the Empire's different ethnic groups and the various governments' inability to
deal with these tensions. The introduction of increased cultural rights, civil liberties and a
parliamentary system during the Tanzimat proved too late to reverse the nationalistic and
secessionist trends that had already been set in motion since the early 19th century.
See also
History of the Republic of Turkey (1923–

present)
Outline of the Ottoman Empire
Territorial evolution of the Ottoman
Empire
Timeline of the Ottoman Empire
Wikilala
References
1. McNeill, American, Britain and Russia

(1953). p. 353.
2. Wittek, Paul (1938). The Rise of the
Ottoman Empire (https://archive.org/detail
s/riseofottomanemp0000witt) . It was
Wittek's formulation which became
generally (though not unanimously)
accepted among Western historians of the
Ottoman Empire for much of the twentieth
century. Kafadar, Cemal (1995). Between
Two Worlds: The Construction of the
Ottoman State. p. 41.
3. Bernard Lewis, "Some Reflections on the

Decline of the Ottoman Empire," Studia
Islamica 1 (1958) 111–127.
4. Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries

(Morrow Quill Publishers: New York, 1977)
p. 24.
5. Bodnar, Edward W. Ciriaco d'Ancona e la
crociata di Varna, nuove prospettive. Il
Veltro 27, nos. 1–2 (1983): 235–51
6. Halecki, Oscar, The Crusade of Varna. New

York, 1943
7. Stone, Norman "Turkey in the Russian

Mirror" pages 86–100 from Russia War,
Peace and Diplomacy edited by Mark &
Ljubica Erickson, Weidenfeld & Nicolson:
London, 2004 page 94
8. Karpat, Kemal H. (1974). The Ottoman state
and its place in world history. Leiden: Brill.
p. 111. ISBN 90-04-03945-7.. A lock-hold on
trade between western Europe and Asia is
often cited as a primary motivation for
Isabella I of Castile to fund Christopher
Columbus's westward journey to find a
sailing route to Asia and, more generally, for
European seafaring nations to explore
alternative trade routes (e.g. K. D. Madan,
Life and travels of Vasco Da Gama (1998),
9; I. Stavans, Imagining Columbus: the
literary voyage (2001), 5; W.B. Wheeler and
S. Becker, Discovering the American Past. A
Look at the Evidence: to 1877 (2006), 105).
This traditional viewpoint has been
attacked as unfounded in an influential
article by A.H. Lybyer ("The Ottoman Turks
and the Routes of Oriental Trade", English
Historical Review, 120 (1915), 577–588),
who sees the rise of Ottoman power and
the beginnings of Portuguese and Spanish
explorations as unrelated events. His view
has not been universally accepted (cf. K.M.
Setton, The Papacy and the Levant (1204–
1571), Vol. 2: The Fifteenth Century
(Memoirs of the American Philosophical
Society, Vol. 127) (1978), 335).
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of the Ṣafawid State during the Reign of
Ismā'īl I (907-30/1501-24)". Bulletin of the
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65. "History of the Ottoman public debt" (http
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History of Serbia and the Serbian
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Balkans, Oxford University Press, p. 175
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majority in Anatolia, the Crimea, the
Balkans and the Caucasus and a plurality in
southern Russia and sections of Romania.
Most of these lands were within or
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80. Hovannisian, Richard G. "The Armenian

Question in the Ottoman Empire, 1876–
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World War I" in Stephen Broadberry and
Mark Harrison, eds. The Economics of
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arrival in Ankara in November 1919.
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Further reading
General surveys
The Cambridge History of Turkey
Volume 1: Kate Fleet ed., "Byzantium to

Turkey 1071–1453." Cambridge
University Press, 2009.
Volume 2: Suraiya N. Faroqhi and Kate
Fleet eds., "The Ottoman Empire as a
World Power, 1453–1603." Cambridge
Volume 3: Suraiya N. Faroqhi ed., "The
Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839."
Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Volume 4: Reşat Kasaba ed., "Turkey in
the Modern World." Cambridge
Finkel, Caroline (2005). Osman's Dream: The

Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923.
Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02396-7.
Hathaway, Jane (2008). The Arab Lands
under Ottoman Rule, 1516-1800. Pearson
Education Ltd. ISBN 978-0-582-41899-8.
Imber, Colin (2009). The Ottoman Empire,
1300-1650: The Structure of Power (2 ed.).
New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-
230-57451-9.
İnalcık, Halil; Donald Quataert, eds. (1994).
An Economic and Social History of the
Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914. Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-57456-0. Two
volumes.
Kia, Mehrdad, ed. The Ottoman Empire: A
Historical Encyclopedia (2 vol 2017u)
McCarthy, Justin. The Ottoman Turks: An

Introductory History to 1923. 1997
Mikaberidze, Alexander. Conflict and

Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical
Encyclopedia (2 vol 2011)
Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700–

1922. 2005. ISBN 0-521-54782-2.
The Early Ottomans
Kafadar, Cemal (1995). Between Two Worlds:

The Construction of the Ottoman State.
University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-
520-20600-7.
Lindner, Rudi P. (1983). Nomads and
Ottomans in Medieval Anatolia. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-933070-12-
8.
Lowry, Heath (2003). The Nature of the Early
Ottoman State. Albany: SUNY Press. ISBN 0-
7914-5636-6.
The Classical Age
İnalcık; Cemal Kafadar, Halil, eds. (1993).

Süleyman the Second [i.e. the First] and His
Time. Istanbul: The Isis Press. ISBN 975-428-
052-5.
Şahin, Kaya (2013). Empire and Power in the
reign of Süleyman: Narrating the Sixteenth-
Century Ottoman World. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-1-107-03442-6.
Şahin, Kaya. “The Ottoman Empire in the
Long Sixteenth Century,” Renaissance
Quarterly 70#1 (Spring 2017): 220–234.
Military
Ágoston, Gábor (2005). Guns for the Sultan:

Military Power and the Weapons Industry in
the Ottoman Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 978-0521843133.
Aksan, Virginia (2007). Ottoman Wars, 1700-
1860: An Empire Besieged. Pearson
Education Limited. ISBN 978-0-582-30807-7.
Hall, Richard C. ed. War in the Balkans: An
Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the
Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia
(2014)
Rhoads, Murphey (1999). Ottoman Warfare,
1500-1700. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 1-
85728-389-9.
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History of the

As Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople (today named Istanbul) in 1453, transforming it

Those about the emergence of the

1. Ghaza thesis — it is formulated first,

1. Classic thesis — as a result of the

Rise of the Ottoman Empire

Classical Age (1453–1566)

Fall of Constantinople (1453)

Battle of Chaldiran (1514)

Battle of Mohács (1526)

Fall of Constantinople (1453)

Suleiman the Magnificent became

Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha

Süleymaniye Mosque (1558)

Ottoman miniature about the

Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

Murad IV reconquered Baghdad

Ottoman city of Estergon in 1664.

Second Siege of Vienna in 1683,

King Charles XII of Sweden

18th-century Turkish guns with

Decline and modernization

Mahmud II started the modernization

Cairo–Alexandria line 1856 Cairo–Alexandria

Smyrne Cassaba &

Vienna, Banja Luka, Saraybosna, Niš, Sofia, Filibe,

Chemins de Fer Istanbul, İzmit, Adapazarı, Bilecik, Eskişehir, Ankara,

Baghdad Railway 1904 Istanbul, Konya, Adana, Aleppo, Baghdad

Acre, Haifa, Bosra, Hauran, Yagur, Daraa, Samakh, Beit

Istanbul, Konya, Adana, Aleppo, Damascus, Amman,

Eastern Railway 1915 Tulkarm, Lod

Beersheba Railway 1915 Nahal Sorek, Beit Hanoun, Beersheba.

Turkish refugees from Bulgaria, 1877.

Belgrade, 19th century

Map of the Ottoman Empire in

As a result, Ottoman holdings in Europe declined sharply; Bulgaria was established as an

In 1878, Austria-Hungary unilaterally occupied the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Defeat and dissolution (1908–

Declaration of the Young Turk

Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) at the

The Arabian peninsula in 1914

Turkish War of Independence (1919–

Departure of Mehmed VI, last Sultan

Fall of the Empire

History of the Republic of Turkey (1923–

1. McNeill, American, Britain and Russia

3. Bernard Lewis, "Some Reflections on the

4. Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries

6. Halecki, Oscar, The Crusade of Varna. New

7. Stone, Norman "Turkey in the Russian

11. "Encyclopædia Britannica" (https://www.brit

13. Imber, 50.

22. Davies (2007). Warfare, State and Society

23. Subtelny, Orest (1988). "Ukraine: a history.

25. Kinross, 272.

30. L. Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries, p.281

32. Itzkowitz, pp. 74–75.

37. Itzkowitz, p. 84.

40. Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries, p.