The Ottoman Empire

1
The Ottoman Empire

• Challenge from the East

2
The Early Years

• Osman
• Also called Othman in the west
• Followers called Ottomans
• Started attacking the Byzantines
• Success came with the use of gunpowder
• Steady successes against Byzantium
• Expansion of borders to the west

3
The lot of conquered countries

• Moslems
• Had to serve in the army
• Did not have to pay taxes
• Non-moslems
• Did not have to serve in the army
• Required to pay taxes
• Generally the people of the conquered countries
  were better off with the Ottomans

4
Conquest of Constantinople

• Mehmet II
• Came to throne in 1451 as a young man
• Brought 100,000 soldiers to the battle
• Constantinople
• Reduced to a population of 50,000
• Defended by
• Strong walls
• Chain across the Golden Horn
• Only 7,000 defenders

5
Conquest of Constantinople

• Course of the battle
• Artillery pounding of the walls
• Stone cannon balls
• Huge cannon
• Repeated infantry attacks
• Ships brought to the Golden Horn
• Overland
• Section of the wall collapases
• End of the Byzantine Empire

6
Southern Expansion

• Selim the Grim conquers
• Mecca
• Medina
• Cairo

7
Janissaries

• Elite corps of 30,000
• All came from Christian families
• Boys taken from families
• Educated
• Converted to Islam
• Trained as soldiers
• Heart of the Ottoman war machine

8
Suleiman the Lawgiver

• Also known as the Magnificent
• Advanced into Hungary and Austria
• To the walls of Vienna
• Stopped here
• Only Charles V rivaled his power
• Had fought in Europe, North Africa, and Central
  Asia

9
Structure of the Empire

• Religious freedom
• Other religions free to worship
• Compare to Europe of the time
• Allowed conquered people to follow own religious
  laws and practices

10
Slow Decline

• Corruption
• Brothers of the sultan
• Fate
• Sons of the sultan
• Locked away in the harem
• No education
• No contact with outside world
• Results in a long line of weak and incompetent
  sultans

11
Conflict with Russia

• Began in the 17th century
• Russia seeks to expand to the south
• Russians want Istanbul
• Warm water access to ports
• Many wars
• Crimean War

12
Collapse

• World War I
• Sides with Central Powers
• Gallipoli
• Defeat