on the 29th of October 2023 the Republic of Turkey will have celebrated 100 years since its founding in the wake of the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire 1923 marked the end of over 600 years of Ottoman Imperial rule which had the Pinnacle of its power in the mid-16th century dominated lands across much of the Middle East North Africa and Eastern Europe rising from relative obscurity as a minor Regional power in Northwestern Anatolia the ottoman Dynasty would Usher in a period of remarkable territorial expansion coupled with rapid advancements in governmental social and economic systems that allowed for one of the most diverse and prosperous empires in the world to flourish but what became of this once Mighty and Powerful State and how that it shaped the modern Turkish nation of today this is the history of the Ottoman Empire how the Ottoman Empire came to be established could not be fully understood without first providing some context on the migration of the turkic peoples out of Eastern Asia since ancient times the Turks who were themselves originally and Asiatic people had gradually migrated from Northeastern Asia and headed westwards across the vast Eurasian step by the 7th Century they were in the region around the altai mountains near the borders of what is now Russia Kazakhstan and Mongolia from there they continued to move further south and westward in the centuries that followed before a number of them settled into a semi-nomadic way of life in an area around the Caspian and arrow Seas one of the main turkic tribes that came to inhabit this area were the ogres however some time in the late 10th Century one leader of the multiple Clans that made up this tribe A Man by the name of seljuk decided to break off from the main tribal group and established his own Dynasty over the subsequent Decades of the New Millennium seljuk and his descendants laid the foundations of the seljuk Empire by expanding into Persia they were greatly influenced by the Persian language and culture which they soon adopted for themselves as well as converting to Islam by the 1060s they'd Advanced all the way up to the borders of the Byzantine empire in Western Anatolia sporadic clashes between the two Powers eventually culminated in the outbreak of the Byzantine seljuk War at the Battle of manzacars in 1071 the cell drugs inflicted a crushing defeat on the Byzantine Army which effectively allowed them to gain control of the near East and push deeper into what is now turkey over the next two centuries the seljuk Empire gradually declined and fragmented into a patchwork of smaller turkic States the Turks themselves however continue to hold a major presence in Anatolia notably in the shape of the sultanate of rum although this too would eventually Decline and fragment by the turn of the 14th century resulting in a number of even smaller principalities known as the Anatolian balix scattered across the region it was here amongst the tribes of Northwestern turkey that a warlord emerged as the founder of what would become the Ottoman Empire although the sources for his life and Reign remain unreliable and undetailed he is credited as the founder of the dynasty the boy his namesake Osman the century or so after Osmond's Reign would be characterized by the Ottomans trying to conquer the last vestiges of the Byzantine Empire which had once ruled over most of the Eastern Mediterranean by the 14th century however this was now reduced to the southern portion of the Balkans Mainland Greece the Greek Islands as well as a small amount of territory in Turkey their empire was ruled from Constantinople the most formidable ruled City in the medieval world and one which had withstood many sieges over the centuries if the Ottomans were to expand Beyond Northwestern turkey they would have to do so at the expense of the byzantines and take their capital city for themselves a major step forward occurred in 1331 when the city of nicaea fell to the Turks some years later in 1369 Adrian opal a city just 200 kilometers from Constantinople near the borders of Greece Bulgaria and turkey today also fell to the Turks and was turned into their capital for a short time while further conquests in Serbia and Bulgaria followed a brief period of internal turmoil occurred within the Ottoman Empire in the first Decades of the 15th century but in 1451 mehmed II was restored to the Ottoman sultanate and determined to conquer Constantinople once and for all in early April 1453 he laid Siege to the great city which lasted for seven weeks before the walls were breached and the ottoman Army flooded in fittingly the last emperor of the byzantines was Constantine XI who shared his name with Constantine the first the original founder of the city over a thousand years earlier and whose eponym he had bestowed upon it Constantine the 11th fell in the fighting of the 29th of May 1453 and the city itself fell to the Ottomans later that same day Constantinople then became the capital of the burgeoning Ottoman Empire as a statement of the ottoman's conquest of the city the Cathedral of Haya Sophia which had been built by the emperor Justinian over 900 years earlier was re-consecrated as a mosque with The Four minaret Towers at Each corner of the complex being added shortly afterwards the conquest of the Byzantine Empire and the fall of Constantinople were just the beginning of the rise of the Ottoman Empire in a century that followed the Turks set out on a course of expansion and Conquest across the Eastern Mediterranean Middle East North Africa and into the Balkans and black sea in the early 1460s mehmed II quickly overran Maria in Greece the Empire of trebizond in Northern turkey and then Bosnia in the Balkans by the time he died in 1481 he had expanded into Southern and Eastern Turkey conquered Albania and also sent an expedition to the Crimean Peninsula which established an ottoman presence on the Northern Shores of the Black Sea in the mid-1470s his successor bayazid II was just as formidable a warlord and during his 30-year Reign he added new territories to the Empire in Syria and the Levant after defeating the mamluks of Egypt in a war for dominance of that region additionally he also Consolidated ottoman control over the Aegean Sea after battling against the Republic of Venice who controlled many of the islands and the passing trade routes between 1499 and 1503. his successor selim the first is also noteworthy despite only ruling for eight years between 1512 and 1520 but nevertheless conquered virtually all of North Africa in 1517 his armies defeated the monroes at the Battle of rodania and brought Egypt and much of Libya under ottoman control while hayrid in Barbarossa the ruler of much of Algeria and Tunisia agreed to become an ottoman vassal in 1519 perhaps the most famous Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and one who above all others undertook its greatest expansion to the height of its power was Suleiman the Magnificent ruling for half a century between 1520 and 1566 his Sultan ship witnessed the Ottomans emerge as one of the foremost Global Powers as he completed the conquest of much of the Balkans and took his armies all the way to the gates of Vienna which he unsuccessfully besieged in 1529 he also secured the island of Rhodes from the Christian Knights of Saint John in 1522 captured the city of Tripoli in North Africa in 1551 and expanded into the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq by the time his Reign ended ottoman rule extended from Hungary and the Northern Shores of the Black Sea South towards Egypt and Oman and from Algeria in the west to the shores of the Caspian Sea in the east much of the success of the Ottomans expansion was owed to the proficiency of its military which Incorporated a cohesive balance of well-trained infantry Cavalry and artillery that was unmatched during its heyday amongst the elite troops were soldiers known as janissaries these were men who were captured as child slaves from Christian lands in Southwestern Europe and forced to convert to Islam they were then incorporated into the ottoman Army under strict codes of discipline and professionalism which made them an extremely effective fighting force from this position of power in the early 16th century the Ottomans would consolidate their efforts and spend the next two centuries Waging War against Christendom in Western and Central Europe this became a multi-pronged conflict with much of the initial effort spent fighting for dominance of the Mediterranean against the preeminent power in the region Spain at that time the Spanish controlled much of southern Italy and the Italian islands and took it upon themselves to check the advance of the Muslim Ottomans by Leading coalitions of Christian forces against them for decades armadas were sent back and forth between the Turks and the Spanish culminating in two major clashes in 1565 and 1571. the first of these was the great Siege of Malta during which the Ottomans tried to capture the island from the Knights of Saint John who had been granted it by the Spanish Crown as compensation for the loss of the island of rose to the Turks decades earlier The Siege ended in failure for the Ottomans and six years later their advancement of the Mediterranean would be halted further by another spanish-led Christian Alliance which sent a huge Armada against them in 1571.
the Battle of Lepanto which took place off the coast of Northwestern Greece involved over 400 ships and 130 000 men and ended with another defeat for the Ottomans although this proved to the christian powers that the threat from the Turks could be contained to some extent this setback from the ottoman perspective merely shifted their focus to other areas of Europe where they wished to expand into ever since their victory over the hungarians at the Battle of mahax in 1526 complete control over Central Europe lay tantalizingly within the Ottomans grasp were it not for the Austrian capital of Vienna barring the way across the river Danube although they had failed in their previous attempts to take the city in 1529 under the leadership of grand vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha a new Siege was launched against Vienna in 1683. despite fueleding an army of over 150 000 men the Ottomans could not take the city and when a Christian holy League relief Force led by the Polish King John III Sobieski arrived on the 12th of September they were routed before the walls in what was the largest cavalry charge in history with 18 000 Horsemen charging into the Turks incumbent the defeat at Vienna marked a turning point for the ottoman Advance into Europe after which they would gain no further ground on the continent as the late 17th century progressed into the early 18th the Ottoman Empire began to slowly stagnate and enter into a relative period of decline much of this was owed to the complacency of The Sultans of this period who had over time gradually taken a more backseat approach to the governorship of their empire to this the ottoman system of government which was headquartered in the top Cappy Palace in Constantinople had generally seen active and engaged Sultans take a direct role in the Affairs of the Empire especially early on in the 15th and 16th centuries however with each passing generation the day-to-day decision making increasingly fell to the grand vizier who acted as prime minister and a small army of officials and administrators all the while The Sultans passed much of their time away in their harems and Gardens the governance of the Empire would largely decentralized in its approach insofar as taxes were collected from the provinces to maintain a large army but the regions themselves also had a fair degree of autonomy under local rulers and governors it was also a tolerant Empire whilst conversion to Islam was beneficial to those looking to advance at the social hierarchy it was by no means mandatory Christians and other religious adherents were accepted under the Ottoman Empire and it even became a primary Haven for Europe's Jews who faced persecution and expulsion from countries like Spain during this era cities such as Thessaloniki became centers of religious cosmopolitanism in the early modern era with a majority of 54 percent of its population being Jewish by as early as 1519. the Ottoman Empire was also initially a very wealthy one with extensive trade networks that flowed from as far afield as India and China along the Silk Road through to cities like Constantinople Alexandria and Egypt as well as Antioch and Damascus in the Levant Over time however as the center of world economic activity shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic large ocean-going vessels carrying trade out of the Americas in the Far East effectively bypassed the Ottomans and reduced Europe's Reliance on the Overland trade routes that passed through their territory effectively making them obsolete with this economic stagnation and Imperial decline the Ottoman Empire began to fall behind its European Rivals who are themselves experiencing a scientific revolution with developments being made on all fronts due to Rapid advancements in technology as the 18th century progressed the ottoman position came to be seen as less of a threat and more of a weakness that could be exploited with the lands they had conquered in centuries past now looking ripe for reclamation Russia and Austria in particular began to take the fights to the Turks seizing ottoman controlled lands along the Northern Shores of the Black Sea the Caucasus and Balkans meanwhile in North Africa the local Governors began to exert growing levels of Independence and by the end of the 18th century Algeria Tunisia sirenica and Egypt were practically Sovereign in all but name as Paul as the situation was for the Turks in the 18th century it was soon eclipsed by the events of the 19th as the Ottoman Empire became known as the sick man of Europe as early as 1804 an uprising occurred in Serbia which immediately called the Ottomans control over the Balkans into question the steady fracturing of the Empire continued in subsequent decades with the Greek war of independence breaking out in 1821.
this led to the emergence of an independent Greek state by 1829 which was supported economically and militarily by Great Britain France and Russia who were eager to see the ottoman presence in the region decline for their own benefit a year later the nominal ottoman hold on Algeria was ended entirely when France invaded and began establishing its own colony there throughout the 19th century but more notably during the 1850s Russia looked to expedite the decline of the Ottoman Empire further by advancing into their territories around the Black Sea unlike in previous instances where the Western Christian Powers sought to capitalize on such an opportunity enjoying the fighting against the Turks Britain and France did not want the Ottoman Empire to collapse in its entirety this was in part to preserve the balance of power in Europe with no one nation controlling too much territory or exerting influence they subsequently joined the conflict in defense of the Ottoman Empire with the Crimean War being fought somewhat successfully to bring much needed respite to the declining power of the Turks nevertheless in the 1860s 1870s and 1880s numerous new countries emerged out of the Ottoman provinces in the Balkans as Romania and Serbia declared themselves independent and Bulgaria became increasingly autonomous the Empire of Austria-Hungary and Russia once again continued in their Relentless attacks at the expense of the Ottomans in the Vulcans and the Caucasus by the early 1910s when Italy had seized Libya from their control and Albania had established itself as an independent nation they were growing talks amongst the European powers of dissecting what remained the Ottoman Empire and dividing it up between themselves this seemingly never-ending period of decline led to Growing concerns amongst the ottoman Empire's younger Generations many of whom identified as Turkish nationalists and called for political reforms to mitigate the Empire's downturn and hopefully rejuvenate its prospects after 200 years of stagnation at the Forefront of this movement were The Young Turks a group which wanted to replace the Century's old governmental system of Sultan and ministers with a modern constitutional monarchy alongside a western style Parliament and civil service in 1908 they launched a revolution which successfully managed to usher in a period of constitutional government however The Young Turks were a Loosely formed Alliance of various political groups including liberals academics and also more conservative elements including the military as a result they were unable to rule by consensus or agreement After the revolution of 1908 and for years into the 1910s the ottoman State continued to have tumultuous internal politics which only exacerbated the Empire's collapse ultimately the end for the Ottoman Empire would come from both within and without being inextricably linked to the outbreak of the first world war up until this point the Turks had avoided becoming involved the two main military alliances that had developed amongst the European great powers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries these are the triple on taunt powers of France Russia and Britain and the Triple Alliance powers of Germany Austria-Hungary and Italy when conflict finally broke out in the summer of 1914 the Turks saw an opportunity to push back against the Russian advancements made over the past Century and so decided to join Germany alongside Austria-Hungary and Italy as part of the Central Powers the Ottomans had mixed fortunes during the war on the one hand they scored a major victory against the British and Anzac forces during the ill-judged Gallipoli campaign but in the Middle East in the Levant they lost much of their territory to the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918 which was instigated by the British Adventurer T. E Lawrence better known as Lawrence of Arabia there was also a much darker and brutal aspect to ottoman activities during the war as from 1915 onwards the government engaged in Acts of genocide against its Armenian subjects resulting in the deaths of an estimated one and a half million people overall the war was a disaster for the Turks as like with Germany and Austria-Hungary it simply could not maintain the war effort and by 1918 the Turkish military was in collapse across numerous fronts with the end of the first world war in late 1918 the Victorious allies in the shape of Britain France Greece and Italy who had changed sides in 1916 occupied much of turkey and began to contemplate its post-war future the Ottomans last remaining territorial possessions in the Levant in the Middle East were divided up by Britain and France who occupied them as Imperial mandates of their own Empires the ottoman state was thus restricted largely to what is now turkey itself but even the territorial Integrity of this was soon threatened by the claims of Greece and Italy with the former looking to Annex the lands its people once occupied as far back as Byzantine and ancient Greek times and the latter seeking control of some islands such as roads as a form of compensation for its role in the war all of this resulted in a revolt against the Allied occupation of turkey in May 1919. the Turkish war of independence as it became known would last for four years and would result in the emergence of the modern Turkish State and the subsequent Terminus of the Ottoman Empire in the early stages of the war the remnants of the Ottoman government in Constantinople sided with the Allies in an effort to preserve what little of their empire remained their opponents the Turkish nationalists who were now led by the former ottoman General Mustafa came out Ataturk occupied much at the center of the country and experienced extensive military losses with Greek and other Allied Forces campaigning far inland however in the course of 1921 and 1922 the Turkish nationalists ardently fought back gradually pushing the Greeks and others out of Mainland turkey and effectively secured a favorable Armistice in October 1922.
