Turks

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Move into Byzantium

Anatolian Turks saw themselves as Ghazis (warriors for Islam)
Formed military societies
Followed an Emir (leader)
Followed strict Islamic code of conduct
Raided territories of infidels (people who dont believe in Islam) lived on
frontiers of Byzantine Empire
o Osman Establishes a State
Most successful ghazi
Aka Othman, called his followers Ottomans
Built Muslim state in Anatolia between 1300 and 1326
Expanded by: buying land, forming alliances, conquering others
Success: gunpowder, replaced archers with musket foot soldiers,
cannons
2nd leader: Orkhan I, son of Osman
Declared himself sultan (overlord) (one with power)
1361 captured Adrianople (2nd most important city in Byzantine
Empire
Kind to people they conquered
Ruled through local officials appointed by Sultan
Muslims required to serve in Turkish army but did not have to pay
personal tax
Non-Muslims did not have to serve in the army but had to pay tax
o Timur the Lame Halts Expansion
Rise interrupted in 1400s by rebellious warrior
Timur the Lame Tamerlane from Samarkand
Burned Baghdad and crushed the Ottoman force at Battle of Ankara
in 1402
Powerful Sultans Spur Dramatic Expansion
o Timur decided to invade China
o Caused war between sons, Mehmed I defeated brothers, took throne
o Murad II (son) defeated the Venetians, invaded Hungary, defeated Italian
crusaders in Belkans
First powerful sultan that lead expansion of Ottoman Empire
through 1566
o Mehmed II Conquers Constantinople
Son of Murad,
Aka Mehmed the Conqueror
Took power in 1451, age of 21
Controlled the Bosporus Strait
Choke traffic between Ottomans territories in Asia and the
Balkans
Black sea and Mediterranean sea
1453, attacked Constantinople
Cannons, one of which was a 26-foot gun that fired 1,200lbs
boulders

Chain across the Golden horn between Bosporus Strait and

Sea of Marmara kept Turkish fleet out of the citys harbor
Dragged 70 ships over a hill on greased runners from
Bosporus
Attacked now on two sides
Held out for 7 weeks until Turks found a break in the wall and
entered the city
Constantinople is now called Istanbul
Ottomans take Islams Holy Cities
Selim the Grim (Mehmeds grandson)
Came into power in 1512
1514 defeated the Safavids of Persia at the Battle of
Chaldiran
Captured Mecca and Medina (Holiest cities of Islam)
Took Cairo (intellectual center of the Muslim world)
Suleyman the Lawgiver
Suleyman I (Selims son)
Came to the throne in 1520
Ruled for 46 years
Aka Suleyman the Lawgiver, Suleyman the Magnificent
The Empire Reaches its limits
o Conquered Belgrade in 1521
o 1522 captured island pf Rhodes in the Mediterranean
o Captured Tripoli
o 1526 advanced to Hungary and Austria (Vienna)
Highly Structured Social Organization
o Crowning achievement: binding the Ottoman Empire
together in a workable social structure
Required an efficient government structure and
social organization
o Created a law code: criminal and civil actions
o Simplified taxation, reduced government bureaucracy
o Devshirme system
20,000 personal slaves that staffed the palace
bureaucracy
Drafted boys from conquered Christian
territories, which they educated and converted
to Islam, trained as soldiers
o Janissaries
Soldiers loyal to the Sultan only
o Millets: communities or nations
Allowed each millet to follow its own religious
laws and
practices
Kept religious conflicts to a minimum
Cultural Flowering

Sinans Mosque of Suleyman largest mosque in the

Ottoman Empire
The Empire Declines Slowly
o Suleyman killed ablest son, drove another to exile, 3 rd son Selim II
inherited the throne
o Custom of to have brothers strangled
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