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The Lords of the Horizon: The Rise of the Ottomans

Modern Middle East

Fall 2002

Modernization and The State

� Traditional historians tend to champion �drums and trumpets.�

� In other words, history and historians tend to emphasize political history.

� As a result they overlook the social forces that alter and change history.

� One area that breaks that mold is the ground breaking work of Carlo Cipolla.

The Military Revolution

� Cipolla studied military technology.

� Gunpowder and the advent of firearms was as momentous as the use of atomic weapons.

� Gunpowder was first used by the Chinese since the tenth century.

� The Mongols used the weapons and spread the new technology.

� By 1330 both Christian and Muslim armies were used cannons against each other in Spain.

The First Weapons

� But the cannons were either too big or too clumsy.

� The were not perfect and were only fit to unnerve horses.

� As a result they could halt or impede an enemy charge.

� By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Italian and German gunsmiths were making modifications on cannon to make them more lethal.

� Bronze gave way to Iron and the weapons were standardized.

� Improving loading and firing.

Weapons Development and Change

� Changes in weapon design contributed to changes in

� Mining

� Metallurgy

� Design

� Assembly

� And road building.

The Changes in the Military Order

� The new weapons required further changes in military organization.

� Better recruits.

� Better training.

� Establish academies to train those in the artillery and engineers.

� The same applied for the navy.

� Here, like other forms of modernization, the Ottomans failed the test.

The Home of the Turks

� The home of the Ottomans was near Sogut in central Anatolia.

� In the 13^th Century the area was part of the Rum Seljuk Turkish Sultanate.

� Legends have it that the Ertogrul helped the Rum Seljuks combat the Byzantines.

� **As a result, bestowed an Iqta, or land grant, on Ertogrul around Sogut.**

� This was based on to his son Osman.

Osman

� After the death of Ertogrul, sometime between 1280-99, leadership based to Osman.

� Osman worked closely with a Sufi leader with special arms.

� He carried a special sword and was commanded to wage a relentless Jihad against the Byzantines.

� **Osman then took the title ghazi or Holy Warrior.**

� From this time forward, until the end of the Ottoman rule in 1923, descendants of Osman ruled the Ottoman state.

History vs. Legend

� We don�t know if Ertogrul really lived.

� Current scholarship tend to support a case that Osman�s ancestors had lived in Anatolia since about 1071.

� This was when the Seljuks administered a crushing defeat on the Byzantines.

� What is important?

� Truth or what people believe to be true?

� The Ottomans believed that the Ottomans opposed not only the Byzantines, but also the Mongols.

� What did those groups have in common?

� Both were non-Muslim.

The Weakness of the Byzantine Empire

� The Byzantine Empire experienced a blow that the Empire never recovered.

� The Fourth Crusade in 1204, when the West occupied Constantinople, and subsequently established a Latin Kingdom in its place.

� The Byzantines managed to regain Constantinople in 1262.

� But by then the Empire was grievously weakened.

� However, it appeared that the Byzantines were spared since the mortal enemy of the Byzantines, the Seljuks were in trouble too.

� Especially following the Mongol victory over the Seljuks in 1243.

The State of the Seljuks

� The Seljuks no longer had control over the Turkish warriors in the region.

� The area of northern and western Anatolia were called Marches.

� Which were border regions contested between warring factions.

� The settled population in those zones were Greek and Orthodox.

� The mountain people were Muslim either Sunni or Shi�ite.

� But almost always Sufi.

� Raids were their favorite activity.

Osman�s Iqta

� Osman�s lands were small, but they overlooked Byzantine territory.

� Osman I (ca 1260-1326) conducted raids exploiting the holdings of the Byzantines.

� Other Turkish political leaders may have made peace with the Ottomans.

� Osman never did.

� For nine years, Osman besieged Bursa, and was captured shortly before Osman died.

� It became the first Ottoman capital.

Introduction

� Slowly the Turks moved in the direction of the Dardanelles and toward Ankara.

� Twice the Ottomans were invited by the Byzantines to come to the aid of the Byzantine Emperor.

� Who was threatened by internal rivals and foreign enemies.

� The rule of Orhan (1326-1360) was the start of the fall.

� He even had mints mint his likeness on coins.

� On the third time Orhan crossed the Dardenelles, his troops took Gallipoli and refused to leave.

Conquests of Murad I (1360-89)

� He was the son of Orhan and continued his father�s Ottoman policies.

� Murad I continued the Ottoman advance:

Expansion in the Balkans

� Soon the Byzantines were surrounded in Constantinople.

� Now the key Christian power was Serbia, under King Lazar.

� Leading an alliance of Bulgars, Serbs, Macedonians, and Albanians he sought to check the Turks.

� Legend has it that this number totaled 100,000 men.

� Murad I had ca. 60,000 troops.

� Murad won the day at Kosvo Filed in 1389.

� Both Murad I and Lazar died that day.

� Yet Serbia lost her independence.

Advance on Constantinople

� Under Bayezid (1389-1402), the Ottomans began to lay siege to Constantinople in 1395.

� Western knights, including Hungarians, English, French, and German warriors came to the Emperor�s aid.

� Bayezid defeated them at Nicopolis in 1396.

� Soon the capital of the Ottomans moved from Bursa in Anatolia to Edirne in Thrace.

� The Ottomans waited for the fall of Constantinople which never came.

Bayezid�s Failure

� Was not satisfied in expanding into Europe and taking Constantinople.

� Instead he ventured Eastern World and drew the attention of Tamerlane and was captured and died in captivity.

� His heirs than set out to divided his state.

� After an eleven year interregnum, Mehmet I (1413-1421) restored order and suppressed a series of enemy revolts and foreign challenges.

� Murad II managed to continue the Ottoman advance.

Problems for Murad II (1421-1451)

� Faced Challenged from John Hunyadi of Transylvania and Skanderberg of Albania.

� Faced a Christian advance to the Black Sea port of Varna.

� And was kept from retiring because of those threats.

� He actually came out of retirement to protect Ottoman holdings.

The Resumption of the Reign of Mehmet II (1451-81)

� **When Mehmet resumed his reign, he was now influenced a Vizir, a Greek Christian, who encouraged him to conquered Constantinople.**

� Now, using Western technology, Mehmet succeeded where so many Turks had failed in 1453.

� Mehmet allowed his troops free reign in the city for three days.

� The city was renamed Istanbul and repopulated with Greeks, Jews, Armenians.

� And grew in luster.

Mehmet�s Conquests Continued

� Mehmet then seized Morea, southern Greece.

� Most of Albania.

� The Adriatic coast along modern day Croatia.

� And landed in the heel of Italy.

� His landings threatened Rome.

� What would have happened if Mehmet ruled longer?

Problems for Bayezid II (1481-1512)

� Western princes held his brother and rival Jem prisoner and would unleash him if he attack the West.

� For instance the Island of Rhodes.

� Faced a spread of Shi�ism as a form of protest against the Ottomans.

� **Bayezid�s son, Selim The Grim (1512-1520) transformed the Ottoman�s from a ghazi state into a great Empire.**

Selim The Grim (1512-20)

� Transformed the Ottoman Empire from a Ghazi State to a true empire.

� Expanded the state into Central Asia.

� Defeated the Mamluks and became the new masters in Egypt and Syria including the Hajaz and the Holy Places.

� All three Muslim Holy Places were controlled by the Ottomans � Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.

Analysis of the Early Successes of the Ottomans

� The power and glory of the early Ottoman years is directly related to the abilities of the first ten Ottoman Sultans.

� Those men were able and intelligence.

� They gained from competing against their brothers.

� The loser was killed.

� The Sultans were not restrained by religious constraints.

Ottoman Political Institutions

� The strength and efficiency came from the ruling class, aka, the Ottomans.

� A competing ruling group would emerge from the former rulers, often Christians in service to the Sultan and Turkish amirs in the Anatolia.

� **As well as the Boy Levy called the Devshirme.**

� The Christian youths entered either the Army or the State Bureaucracy.

Joining the Ottoman Bureaucracy

� By standard practices any Ottoman subject could enter state service.

� But one must:

Divisions within the Ruling Class

� Administrative

� Military

� Scribal

� Cultural

The Administrative Branch

� Was the Palace

� Included the Sultan�s wives and children and the servants.

� The cabinet, known as the Divan.

� The Divan was known as the Outer Service.

� The Servants was the Inner Service.

� The Chief Administrator was the Vizir.

� Were considered Second in Command to the Sultan.

� The early vizirs were Turks, but that changed.

� Soon it was filled by Christian converts.

The Ottoman Military

� The Sipahis � the Cavalry.

� Janissary Corps � the Infantry.

� Discipline was strict and training was hard.

� The Sipahis would receive estates called Timars.

� The Janissaries were totally dependent on the Sultan for food and shelter.

Raising Revenues and Administering Justice

� Collecting revenues was reserved to Tax Farmers who could keep some of the take.

� The tax farmers were called Multezim.

� **But many officials were receiving bakhshish.**

� Which is a bribe.

� The cultural branch was called the Ulama.

� Muslim scholars took over the administration of justice.

� **They also ran the waqfs or Muslim endowments.**

The Signs of Decline

� The defeat of the Ottoman navy at Lepanto in 1571 was the first sign.

� The End of the Law of Fratricide provided substandard Sultans.

� Failure to modernize both the Army and Navy.

� After the failure of the second siege of Vienna in 1683, the Austrians forced the Turks to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz, which returned Hungary to Austria.

� Ultimately the failure to modernize contribute to the collapse of the Ottomans.

The Lords of the Horizon: The Rise of the Ottomans

Modern Middle East

Fall 2002

Modernization and The State

� Traditional historians tend to champion �drums and trumpets.�

� In other words, history and historians tend to emphasize political history.

� As a result they overlook the social forces that alter and change history.

� One area that breaks that mold is the ground breaking work of Carlo Cipolla.

The Military Revolution

� Cipolla studied military technology.

� Gunpowder and the advent of firearms was as momentous as the use of atomic weapons.

� Gunpowder was first used by the Chinese since the tenth century.

� The Mongols used the weapons and spread the new technology.

� By 1330 both Christian and Muslim armies were used cannons against each other in Spain.

The First Weapons

� But the cannons were either too big or too clumsy.

� The were not perfect and were only fit to unnerve horses.

� As a result they could halt or impede an enemy charge.

� By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Italian and German gunsmiths were making modifications on cannon to make them more lethal.

� Bronze gave way to Iron and the weapons were standardized.

� Improving loading and firing.

Weapons Development and Change

� Changes in weapon design contributed to changes in

� Mining

� Metallurgy

� Design

� Assembly

� And road building.

The Changes in the Military Order

� The new weapons required further changes in military organization.

� Better recruits.

� Better training.

� Establish academies to train those in the artillery and engineers.

� The same applied for the navy.

� Here, like other forms of modernization, the Ottomans failed the test.

The Home of the Turks

� The home of the Ottomans was near Sogut in central Anatolia.

� In the 13th Century the area was part of the Rum Seljuk Turkish Sultanate.

� Legends have it that the Ertogrul helped the Rum Seljuks combat the Byzantines.

� As a result, bestowed an Iqta, or land grant, on Ertogrul around Sogut.

� This was based on to his son Osman.

Osman

� After the death of Ertogrul, sometime between 1280-99, leadership based to Osman.

� Osman worked closely with a Sufi leader with special arms.

� He carried a special sword and was commanded to wage a relentless Jihad against the Byzantines.

� Osman then took the title ghazi or Holy Warrior.

� From this time forward, until the end of the Ottoman rule in 1923, descendants of Osman ruled the Ottoman state.

History vs. Legend

� We don�t know if Ertogrul really lived.

� Current scholarship tend to support a case that Osman�s ancestors had lived in Anatolia since about 1071.

� This was when the Seljuks administered a crushing defeat on the Byzantines.

� What is important?

� Truth or what people believe to be true?

� The Ottomans believed that the Ottomans opposed not only the Byzantines, but also the Mongols.

� What did those groups have in common?

� Both were non-Muslim.

The Weakness of the Byzantine Empire

� The Byzantine Empire experienced a blow that the Empire never recovered.

� The Fourth Crusade in 1204, when the West occupied Constantinople, and subsequently established a Latin Kingdom in its place.

� The Byzantines managed to regain Constantinople in 1262.

� But by then the Empire was grievously weakened.

� However, it appeared that the Byzantines were spared since the mortal enemy of the Byzantines, the Seljuks were in trouble too.

� Especially following the Mongol victory over the Seljuks in 1243.

The State of the Seljuks

� The Seljuks no longer had control over the Turkish warriors in the region.

� The area of northern and western Anatolia were called Marches.

� Which were border regions contested between warring factions.

� The settled population in those zones were Greek and Orthodox.

� The mountain people were Muslim either Sunni or Shi�ite.

� But almost always Sufi.

� Raids were their favorite activity.

Osman�s Iqta

� Osman�s lands were small, but they overlooked Byzantine territory.

� Osman I (ca 1260-1326) conducted raids exploiting the holdings of the Byzantines.

� Other Turkish political leaders may have made peace with the Ottomans.

� Osman never did.

� For nine years, Osman besieged Bursa, and was captured shortly before Osman died.

� It became the first Ottoman capital.

Introduction

� Slowly the Turks moved in the direction of the Dardanelles and toward Ankara.

� In the 13^th Century the area was part of the Rum Seljuk Turkish Sultanate.

� **As a result, bestowed an Iqta, or land grant, on Ertogrul around Sogut.**

� **Osman then took the title ghazi or Holy Warrior.**

� **When Mehmet resumed his reign, he was now influenced a Vizir, a Greek Christian, who encouraged him to conquered Constantinople.**

� **Bayezid�s son, Selim The Grim (1512-1520) transformed the Ottoman�s from a ghazi state into a great Empire.**

� **As well as the Boy Levy called the Devshirme.**