Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire
   Islamic state of the Osmanli branch of the Turk-ish peoples, founded in the late 13th century by Osman I. It continued to be ruled by the sultans descended from him until its dissolution at the end of World War I. The empire was the most powerful political and military force in Renaissance Europe. Its beginnings lay in the Ana-tolian peninsula, which had been settled by Turks in the late 11th cen-tury. Taking advantage of the civil wars among contenders for the throne of the Byzantine Empire, the Ottomans seized control of Gal-lipoli on the European side of the straits in 1354, and in 1356 the sul-tan established his capital at Adrianople on the European side. The Turks rapidly pushed northward into the Balkan peninsula, reducing the kingdom of Bulgaria to vassal status between 1369 and 1371, crushing the Serbs at Kossovo in 1389, and then destroying the last vestiges of an independent Bulgarian state in 1393. These victories established an Ottoman rule over the Balkans that lasted until the 19th century.
   By the end of the 14th century, the Byzantine Empire was limited to the city of Constantinople and a small area around it, and while popes and western European rulers talked of a crusade to preserve the ancient Roman capital, they were more interested in exploiting the Byzantine state than in preserving it. In 1396 a crusade organized by the Holy Ro-man Emperor Sigismund marched southward into the Balkans, but the Ottoman sultan Bayezid destroyed this army in the battle of Nicopolis. Great numbers of Latin knights were captured and, in reprisal for their massacre of all Muslim prisoners, were either put to death or sold as slaves. Bayezid then completed his conquest of most of the Greek main-land and in 1402 demanded the surrender of Constantinople. At this mo-ment, however, Tamerlane, a Turkish prince from central Asia, attacked the Ottomans and demolished their army. The sultan was taken prisoner and died in captivity. Tamerlane soon directed his military efforts else-where and died in 1405.
   This catastrophe saved Constantinople for more than a generation, but the next sultan, Murad II, reorganized his army and soon was pressing northward into the Balkans and also resuming military pres-sure on the Byzantine capital. In 1451 a new sultan, Muhammad II (1451-1481) began systematically preparing for the conquest of Constantinople. At the end of May 1453, the Turkish army breached the city's walls and overwhelmed the defenders, ending the last direct remnant of the ancient Roman Empire. Constantinople—now called Istanbul—became and remained the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Then Muhammad rounded out his conquests in the Balkans, driving the Venetians out of the Morea (southern mainland Greece), seizing most of the Greek islands, establishing control over Serbia and Bosnia, and briefly establishing a base at Otranto in southern Italy. His successor Bayezid (1481-1512) faced internal political difficul-ties. Under Selim I (1512-1520) Ottoman power turned eastward, de-feating the Persians and annexing much of northern Mesopotamia, then conquering Syria and Egypt. Under him, the Ottomans also be-came a sea power. Under Selim's successor Suleiman (1520-1566), the Ottomans reduced the Muslim states of North Africa to vassal sta-tus, and the Ottoman navy dominated the western as well as the east-ern Mediterranean.
   In 1526 Suleiman inflicted a disastrous defeat on King Louis II of Hungary and virtually wiped out the kingdom of Hungary, leaving only the western third in the hands of Louis' brother-in-law, Ferdi-nand of Habsburg, and allowing most of the country to be adminis-tered by the leading Hungarian nobleman, John Zápolyai, who be-came a vassal of the sultan. Suleiman threatened the southern regions of Bohemia and Poland, but his attempt to conquer Vienna and enter southern Germany in 1529 failed after a long siege. The Ottoman state reached its greatest extent in Suleiman's reign. Under the next Sultan, Selim II (1566-1574), the Turks easily conquered the island of Cyprus, but their attempt to end Venetian rule of Crete was thwarted by a fleet of Christian allies in the battle of Lepanto (1571) off the western coast of Greece.
   By the end of the 16th century, some of the long-term weaknesses of the empire were becoming evident, particularly the increasing in-subordination of its armies and the corruption of its officials. The Ot-tomans remained powerful even in the later 17th century, besieging Vienna again in 1683, but by the end of that century, they had lost control of most of Hungary to the Habsburgs. By the 18th century, Turkey was on its way to becoming "the sick man of Europe."

Historical Dictionary of Renaissance. . 2004.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • OTTOMAN EMPIRE — OTTOMAN EMPIRE, Balkan and Middle Eastern empire started by a Turkish tribe, led by ʿUthmān (1288–1326), at the beginning of the 14th century. This entry is arranged according to the following outline: sources …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • OTTOMAN (EMPIRE) — Édifié lentement, au début du XIVe siècle, sur les ruines de l’État seldjoukide d’Anatolie, puis, au XVe siècle, sur celles de l’Empire byzantin, l’État ottoman, après la prise de Constantinople (29 mai 1453), est devenu l’une des puissances… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Ottoman Empire — empire ( c. 1300 1918) of the Turks, including at its peak much of SE Europe, SW Asia, & NE Africa: cap. (after 1453) Constantinople …   English World dictionary

  • Ottoman Empire — دَوْلَتِ عَلِيّهٔ عُثمَانِیّه Devlet i Âliyye i Osmâniyye …   Wikipedia

  • Ottoman Empire — a former Turkish empire that was founded about 1300 by Osman and reached its greatest territorial extent under Suleiman in the 16th century; collapsed after World War I. Cap.: Constantinople. Also called Turkish Empire. * * * Former empire… …   Universalium

  • Ottoman Empire —    The Ottoman Empire originated as one of more than a dozen small Anatolian principalities that came into existence in the wake of the Mongol invasions of the thirteenth century. These Turkish principalities were Islamic warrior states whose… …   Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800–1914

  • Ottoman Empire —    Tracing its origins to the end of the 13th century, the Ottoman Empire at its zenith was one of the greatest Islamic states in history. In 1453, the Ottomans finally captured Constantinople and ended the Byzantine Empire. In the following… …   Historical Dictionary of the Kurds

  • Ottoman Empire — noun /ˈɒtəmən ˈɛmpaɪə,ˈɒtəmən ˈɛmpaɪɚ/ A large empire which began as a Turkish sultanate centered on modern Turkey; founded in the 13th century, it lasted until the end of World War I. Under their fluctuating rule an Ottoman Empire was indeed to… …   Wiktionary

  • Ottoman Empire — Ottoman Em|pire, the a large ↑empire, based in ↑Turkey and with its capital in ↑Istanbul, which also included large parts of Eastern Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It continued from the 13th century until after World War I, but it was most… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Ottoman Empire–Persian Empire relations — The history of Persian Ottoman relations started with the establishment of Safavid dynasty in the Persian Empire in the early 16th century. The initial Ottoman Safavid conflict culminated in the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, and was followed by a… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”