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THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE:FROM EXPANDING POWER TO
THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE
by Oksana Drozdova
Lecture III
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Bayezid II (1481-1512)3
NAVY In 1501 the Ottoman Empire was attacked on the sea by a joint league of Venice, the Papacy and Hungary. Although Bayezid II won this battle, he realized that it was naval power that would help him defeat Venice as a major regional actor.
In 1503 Bayezid II began a full-scale revamping of his navy:
Light, more manoeuvrable ships were built and manpower was greatly increased.
No major naval operations were undertaken for some years (with the execution of protecting the commercial routes).
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Naval strugglePossession of a powerful navy opened up new vistas for the Ottomans, as it did for other European states.
Portuguese commercial interests began to threaten centuries-old Arab commercial networks in the Indian Ocean.
They threatened Mamluk control of the spice trade from south and south-east Asia. At the same time the inability to protect their trade routes from the pirates exposed, in 1508, Mamluk’s impotence at sea.
Mamluks were obliged to call on Bayezid’s help, and Bayezid was thus able to achieve an acknowledgement of his superiority over the Mamluks in the Middle Eastern power struggle.
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MAMLUK SULTANATE (1250-1517)
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The sultanate's ruling caste was composed of Mamluks, soldiers of predominantly Cuman-Kipchaks (from Crimea), Circassian, and Georgian slave origin.
In 1510 an embassy to the Ottoman court was rewarded with substantial aid in raw materials and supplies for the Mamluk navy.
In addition to their expertise in naval matters, the Ottomans possessed artillery the equal of that used by the Europeans; they provided the Mamluk navy with cannons to use against the Portuguese and also sent their own officers to command the Mamluk fleet.
The inability of the Mamluks to protect their shipping against the Portuguese presented Bayezid II with a magnificent opportunity to intervene in Mamluk affairs and further his own interests. His motives were various:
Ottoman access to the Indian Ocean would allow him a share of the lucrative spice trade.
Support for the Mamluks would also discourage them from allying with a new enemy now appearing on the eastern frontier — the Safavid state of Iran.
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SHIA ISLAM
Religious practice and law vary little between Sunni and Shia Islam — the main difference is doctrinal: Shia Islam limits leadership of the Islamic community to the family of the Prophet Muhammad and does not recognize the legitimacy of the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties who has succeeded to this role.
They think that the Twelfth Immam, the leader of the Muslim community, has merely been hidden to usher in the kingdom of heaven on earth (equivalent of the messianic movements of early modern Europe).
Safavid doctrine declared that the shah was the reincarnation of the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law and cousin, Imam ‘Ali — succession from ‘Ali, at least, was a necessary condition for succession to the Shia imamate.
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The new power arising on the Ottoman eastern frontier was the Safavid state of Iran who developed an ideology underpinned by the beliefs of the Shia branch of Islam.
SUCCESSION CRISES
This setup distanced princes from Istanbul, making it more difficult for them to challenge the ruling sultan.
At the same time, appointment could be manipulated so that the sultan’s favourite to succeed was closer to Istanbul, and upon his death would have the best chance of arriving to the capital ahead of his rivals to seize the throne.
Janissaries interfered forcing Bayezid to appoint Selim commander-in-chief of the army thus giving him the ultimate advantage.
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All of Bayezid’s sons were prince-governors in different regions of the empire
Selim I (1512-1520)10
CONQUEST OF THE SAFAVID STATE OF IRAN
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Selim I armed himself with a religious justification for a war against fellow Muslims.
Selim’s scholar-historian Kemalpaşazade stated that the war against the Kızılbaş, was counted ‘holy war’, of equivalent merit to war against the non-Muslim enemies of Islam.
Possession of modern army, artillery, black powder and muskets allowed Selim to secured permanent control over the far eastern part of Anatolia and also over northern Iraq, and temporary control over northwestern Iran.
This victory also allowed Selim to throw his forces southward to fight the Mamluk Sultanate in the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517).
Conquest of Egypt and SyriaOn 24 August 1516 the Ottoman and Mamluk armies met north of Aleppo.
With better military technology, more cannons and muskets, the Ottomans ended 250 years of Mamluk rue in Syria.
Selim continued his victorious march and in spring 1517 Cairo fell under Ottoman rule and the Mamluk empire ceased to exist.
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AFTERMATHSelim’s conquest of the Mamluk domains shifted the centre of gravity of the Ottoman Empire eastwards culturally as well as geographically.
Selim was now visibly the most successful Isamic ruler of the time. Victory over the Mamluks made him the guardian of the Holy Places of Mecca and Medina.
This sudden Muslim predominance within the empire sealed the Ottoman tendency towards fuller adaptation of the traditional Islamic practices and mores of the Arab lands.
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SÜLEYMAN ITHE MAGNIFICENT
(1522-1566)
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Charles Vof Habsburg
Ferdinand Iof Habsburg
Philip II of Spain
Francis I ValoisKing of France
Henry II Valois
Henry VIII
Edward VI
Mary I
Elizabeth I
Ivan IVTsar of Muscovy
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Foreign PolicyOn 29 August 1521 Süleyman conquered the fortress of Belgrade after a siege of almost two months. Possession of Belgrade provided the Ottomans with a strong forward base for any push into the heart of Hungary.
On 20 December 1522 Süleyman accepted the surrender of Rhodes. The Knights were allowed to go free and after years of wanderings they were finally to settle on the island of Malta.
On 29 August 1526 the Ottomans emerged victorious over the army of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia in the marshes of Mohács in southern Hungary. This victory was momentous in its consequences and initiated a 150-year struggle between Ottomans and Habsburgs in central Europe.
In 1538 Süleyman led a campaign westwards and annexed Moldavian lands and southern Bessarabia.
In 1541 it was the turn of central Hungary to fall under the Ottoman rule, while Ferdinand I of the Habsburg empire retained the western and northern parts of the former kingdom of Hungary.
ART & CULTURE‘Classical’ Ottoman art and architecture reached its fullest expression during Süleyman’s reign.
Youth-levy enriched the state not only with gifted army leaders and administrators, but also with talented artists.
New style started dominate in the Ottoman art — bold stylized depiction of mostly plant designs, endlessly and repeatedly blended.
Except in miniature painting, representation of humans became rare.
Two major architectural masterpieces decorate the sites of Istanbul to this day — Süleymaniye mosque complex and Rüstem Pasha’s mosque in Eminönü.
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Süleymaniye Mosque (1558)19
Interior of Süleymaniye Mosque (1558)20
Rüstem Pasha Mosque (1563)21
Interior of Rüstem Pasha Mosque (1563)22
LEGISLATIONTheologist Ebüsuud is credited with bringing the dynastic law of the state, kânûn, into conformity with sacred law, shari’a.
There were thus whole areas of complex administrative practice in the Ottoman state over which sacred law had no jurisdiction. Mehmed II was the first one to bridge that gap and Süleyman continued that tradition.
Regularization of the law of the empire was accompanied by a reorganization of the religious establishment.
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Selim II (1566-1574)24
CAPTURE OF CYPRUSCapturing the island was almost easier than populating it with its own people so forcible resettlement predominated:
Single women were sent as brides for the soldiers garrisoning the island’s fortresses.
Skilled peasants of good reputation were transported there with promises of land and tax relief.
Unfortunately, many of these people escaped and the Ottoman government had to resort to banishing undesirables there.
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Mehmed III (1595-1606)26
Murad III (1574-1595)
TRANSITION OF POWERDuring the reigns of Murad III and Mehmed III the prestige of the grand vizierate declined and vezir’s independent decision-making authority was curtailed.
The status of women was transformed. They became more visible, and some even gained a new and powerful role, that of valid, queen-mother, mother of the ruling sultan.
The position of the harem’s custodian, the most senior among the black African eunuchs who supervised the women living there, has also changed.
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DISRUPTIONBy the end of 16th century the character of warfare had changed. A more static style of warfare was now becoming the norm, involving fortresses to be reduced by a lengthy siege if territory was to be won.
In the winter of 1585-6, in an attempt to raise more cash during the Iranian war, the Ottoman government debased the silver asper, reducing its silver content by half.
The government tried to close this gap by many measures one of which was borrowing from personal fortunes of wealthy members of the establishment.
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PROVINCIAL CAVALRY The provincial cavalry forces were less effective in an age of defensive, siege-based warfare, and as the borders of the empire expanded provincial cavalrymen lost their enthusiasm for campaigns.
Infantry — which in the Ottoman context meant primarily the musket-bearing janissaries — were more useful than cavalry in modern warfare, and their numbers grew accordingly.
A solution which was appealing because it was cheap to enlist men from the peasantry.
Having discovered the provincial cavalry to be unsuited for the new style of warfare, the government ordered them to pay a tax instead.
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