Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire or  (1299–1922) (: دولت عالیه عثمانیه Devlet-i Âliye-yi Osmâniyye, : Osmanlı Devleti or Osmanlı İmparatorluğu, also known as the Turkish Empire or Turkey by its contemporaries, see ), was a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state.

At the height of its power (16th – 17th century), it, controlling much of , the and , stretching from the  (and, in 1553, the  coast of  beyond Gibraltar) in the west to the  and  in the east, from the edge of ,  and parts of  in the north to , ,  and  in the south. The Ottoman Empire contained 29 provinces, in addition to the tributary principalities of, , and.

The empire was at the centre of interactions between the and  worlds for six centuries. The Ottoman Empire was in many respects an Islamic successor to earlier Mediterranean empires &mdash; namely the and  empires. As such, the Ottomans regarded themselves as the heirs to both and  traditions, and hence rulers of a "Universal Empire" through this "unification of cultures".

Rise (1299–1453)


With the demise of the, Turkish Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent states, the so-called.

By 1300, a weakened Byzantium had seen most of its Anatolian provinces lost among some ten Ghazi principalities. One of the was led by  (from which the name Ottoman is derived), son of  in the region of Eskişehir in western Anatolia. According to tradition, as Ertuğrul migrated across Asia Minor leading approximately four hundred horsemen, he chanced upon a battle between two armies. Having decided to intervene, he chose the side of the losing army and turned the battle in their favour to secure victory. The troops he supported happened to be those of a Seljuk Sultan who rewarded him with territory in Eskişehir. Following Ertuğrul's death in 1281, Osman became chief, or, and by 1299 declared himself a sovereign ruler from the Seljuk empire.

extended the frontiers of Ottoman settlement towards the edge of the. He moved the Ottoman capital to, and shaped the early political development of the nation. Given the nickname "Kara" ( for black) for his courage, Osman I was admired as a strong and dynamic ruler long after his death, as evident in the centuries-old Turkish phrase, "May he be as good as Osman." His reputation has also been burnished by the medieval Turkish story known as "", a foundation myth in which the young Osman was inspired to conquest by a prescient vision of empire.

This period saw the creation of a formal  whose institutions would remain largely unchanged for almost four centuries. The government utilized the legal entity known as the, under which religious and ethnic minorities were able to manage their own affairs with substantial independence from central control.

In the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over the Eastern Mediterranean and the. After defeat in, the Turkish victory at the effectively marked the end of  power in the region, and paved the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe. With the extension of Turkish dominion into the Balkans, the strategic conquest of became a crucial objective. The empire controlled nearly all of the former lands, the  gained a temporary reprieve when  invaded Anatolia in 1402, taking  prisoner.

Following the death of Timur Lenk in 1405, restored the Ottoman power, after the. His grandson,, reorganized the structure of both the state and military, and demonstrated his martial prowess by capturing (see: ) on  , at the age of 21. The city became the new capital of the Ottoman Empire, and Mehmed II assumed the title of Kayser-i Rûm (Roman Emperor). To consolidate this claim, Mehmed II aspired to gain control over the Western capital,, as well; and Ottoman forces occupied parts of the , starting from and  on July 28, 1480. But after Mehmed II's death on, the campaign on Italy was cancelled and the Ottoman forces retreated.

Growth (1453–1683)
This period in Ottoman history can roughly be divided into two distinct eras: an era of territorial, economic, and cultural growth prior to 1566, followed by an era of relative military and political stagnation.

Expansion and apogee (1453–1566)
The Ottoman conquest of in 1453 cemented the status of the empire as the preeminent power in southeastern  and the eastern. During this time the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of conquest and expansion, extending its borders deep into Europe and. Conquests on land were driven by the discipline and innovation of the Ottoman military; and on the sea, the Ottoman navy established the empire as a great trading power. The state also flourished economically thanks to its control of the major overland trade routes between and.

The Empire prospered under the rule of a line of committed and effective sultans. Sultan (1512–1520) dramatically expanded the empire's eastern and southern frontiers by defeating  of the , in the. Selim I established, and created a naval presence on the. After this Ottoman expansion, a competition started between the and the Ottoman Empire to become the dominant power in the region.

Selim's successor, (1520–1566), further expanded upon Selim's conquests. After capturing in 1521, Suleiman conquered the  and established the  and other an territories, after his victory in the  in 1526. He then laid in 1529, but failed to take the city after the onset of winter forced his retreat. During the reign of Suleiman,, and, intermittently, , became tributary principalities of the Ottoman Empire, but never became parts of it. In the east, the took  from the ns in 1535, gaining control of  and naval access to the.

Under Selim and Suleiman, the empire became a dominant naval force, controlling much of the. The exploits of the Ottoman admiral, who commanded the Turkish navy during Suleiman's reign, included a number of impressive military victories. Among these were the conquest of and  from Spain; the evacuation of Muslims and Jews from Spain to the safety of Ottoman lands (particularly, , and ) during the ; and the capture of  from the  in 1543. This last conquest occurred on behalf of France as a joint venture between the forces of the French king and those of Barbarossa. and the Ottoman Empire, united by mutual opposition to rule in southern and central Europe, became strong allies during this period. The alliance was economic as well as military, as the sultans granted France the right of trade within the empire without levy of taxation. In fact, the Ottoman Empire was by this time a significant and accepted part of the European political sphere, and entered into a military alliance with, and  against , Italy and. As the 16th century progressed, Ottoman naval superiority was challenged by the growing sea powers of western Europe, particularly, in the , and the. With the Ottomans blockading sea-lanes to the East and South, the European powers were driven to find another way to the ancient silk and spice routes, now under Ottoman control. On land, the empire was preoccupied by military campaigns in the and, two widely-separated theaters of war. The strain of these conflicts on the empire's resources, and the logistics of maintaining lines of supply and communication across such vast distances, ultimately rendered its sea efforts unsustainable and unsuccessful. The overriding military need for defense on the western and eastern frontiers of the empire eventually made effective long-term engagement on a global scale impossible.

Revolts and revival (1566–1683)
Suleiman's death in 1566 marked the beginning of an era of diminishing territorial gains. The rise of western European nations as naval powers and the development of alternate sea routes from Europe to and the  damaged the Ottoman economy. The effective military and bureaucratic structures of the previous century also came under strain during a protracted period of misrule by weak Sultans. But in spite of these difficulties, the empire remained a major expansionist power until the in 1683, which marked the end of Ottoman expansion into Europe.

European states initiated efforts at this time to curb Ottoman control of overland trade routes. Western European states began to circumvent the Ottoman trade monopoly by establishing their own naval routes to Asia. Economically, the huge influx of Spanish silver from the New World caused a sharp devaluation of the Ottoman currency and rampant inflation. This had serious negative consequences at all levels of Ottoman society. , who was the grand vizier of, created the projects of Suez Channel and Don-Volga Channel to save the economy but these were cancelled as well. In southern Europe, a coalition of Catholic powers, led by, formed an alliance to diminish Ottoman naval strength in the. Their victory over the Ottomans at the naval hastened the end of the empire's primacy in the Mediterranean. In fact, Lepanto was considered by some earlier historians to signal the beginning of Ottoman decline. By the end of the 16th century, the golden era of sweeping conquest and territorial expansion was over. The frontier in particular became a more or less permanent border until the 19th century, marked only by relatively minor battles concentrating on the possession of individual fortresses. This stalemate was partly a reflection of simple geographical limits: in the pre-mechanized age, marked the furthest point that an Ottoman army could march from  during the early-spring to late-autumn campaigning season. It also reflected the difficulties imposed on the empire by the need to maintain two separate fronts: one against the Austrians (see:), and the other against a rival Islamic state, the s of (see: ).

On the battlefield, the Ottomans gradually fell behind the Europeans in military technology as the innovation which fed the empire's forceful expansion became stifled by growing religious and intellectual conservatism. Changes in European military tactics caused the once-feared cavalry to lose military relevance. Discipline and unit cohesion in the army also became a problem because of relaxations in recruitment policy and the growth of the corps at the expense of other military units.

(1612–1640), who recaptured (1635) and  (1639) from the, is the only example in this era of a sultan who exercised strong political and military control of the empire. Notably, was the last Ottoman emperor who led his forces from the front.

The (1519–1610) and  (1622) caused widespread lawlessness and rebellion in Anatolia in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, and toppled several governments. However, the 17th century was not simply an era of stagnation and decline, but also a key period in which the Ottoman state and its structures began to adapt to new pressures and new realities, internal and external.

The (1530s–1660s) was a period in which the political impact of the  was unchallenged, as the mothers of young sultans exercised power on behalf of their sons. , who established herself in the early 1530s as the successor of, the first , was described by the Venetian Andrea Giritti as 'a woman of the utmost goodness, courage and wisdom' despite the fact that she 'thwarted some while rewarding others'. The last prominent women of this period were and her daughter-in-law, whose political rivalry culminated in Kösem's murder in 1651. This period gave way to the  (1656–1703), during which the Empire was controlled first by the powerful members of the, and later by a sequence of s. The relative ineffectiveness of the successive sultans and the diffusion of power to lower levels of the government have characterized the Köprülü Era.

Stagnation and reform (1699–1827)
During the many territories ceded, to  in the Balkans. Certain areas of the empire, such as and, became independent in all but name, and subsequently came under the influence of  and. The 18th century saw centralized authority giving way to varying degrees of provincial autonomy enjoyed by local governors and leaders. A series of were fought between the  and Ottoman empires from the 17th to the 19th century.

The long period of Ottoman stagnation is typically characterized by historians as an era of failed reforms. In the later part of this period there were , including the establishment of higher education institutions such as ; Ottoman had been highly regarded in medieval times, as a result of Ottoman scholars' synthesis of classical learning with Islamic philosophy and mathematics, and knowledge of such Chinese advances in technology as gunpowder and the magnetic compass. By this period though the influences had become regressive and conservative. The of writers denounced the printing press as "the Devil's Invention", and were responsible for a 43-year lag between its invention by  in  in 1450 and its introduction to the Ottoman society with the Gutenberg press in  that was established by the  of Spain in 1493. Sephardic Jews migrated to the Ottoman Empire as they escaped from the of 1492.

The  (or Lâle Devri in Turkish), named for Sultan Ahmed III's love of the flower and its use to symbolize his peaceful reign, the empire's policy towards Europe underwent a shift. The region was peaceful between 1718 and 1730, after the Ottoman victory against in the  in 1712 and the subsequent  brought a period of pause in warfare. The empire began to improve the fortifications of cities bordering the Balkans to act as a defense against European expansionism. Other tentative reforms were also enacted: were lowered; there were attempts to improve the image of the Ottoman state; and the first instances of private investment and entrepreneurship occurred.

 begin with (1789–1807) who made the first major attempts to modernize the army along European lines. These efforts, however, were hampered by reactionist movements, partly from the religious leadership, but primarily from the corps, who had become anarchic and ineffectual. Jealous of their privileges and firmly opposed to change created a. Selim's efforts cost him his throne and his life, but were resolved in spectacular and bloody fashion by his successor, the dynamic, who massacred the Janissary corps in 1826.

Decline and modernization (1828–1908)
The period of Ottoman decline (loss of huge territories) is typically characterized by historians also as an era of modern times. The empire lost territory on all fronts, and there was administrative instability because of the breakdown of centralized government, despite efforts of reform and reorganization such as the.

The  swept through many countries during the 19th century, and the Ottoman Empire was not immune. A burgeoning, together with a growing sense of , made nationalistic thought one of the most significant Western ideas imported to the Ottoman empire, as it was forced to deal with nationalism-related issues both within and beyond its borders. There was a significant increase in the number of revolutionary. Uprisings in Ottoman territory had many far-reaching consequences during the 19th century and determined much of Ottoman policy during the early 20th century. Many Ottoman Turks questioned whether the policies of the state were to blame: some felt that the sources of were external, and unrelated to issues of governance. While this era was not without some successes, the ability of the Ottoman state to have any effect on ethnic uprisings was seriously called into question. declared its independence from the Empire in 1829 after the end of the. Reforms did not halt the rise of nationalism in the and, which had been semi-independent for almost 6 decades; in 1875 , , ,  and  declared their independence from the Empire; and following the  of 1877-78, independence was formally granted to ,  and , and autonomy to , with the other Balkan territories remaining under Ottoman control. A Serbian Jew, Yehuda Solomon Alkalai, encouraged a return to Zion and independence for Israel during this wave of decolonialization.

During the  (from Tanzîmât, meaning "reorganization") (1839–1876), a series of constitutional reforms led to a fairly modern conscripted army, banking system reforms, and the replacement of s with modern. In 1856, the  promised equality for all Ottoman citizens irrespective of their ethnicity and confession, widening the scope of the 1839. The Christian millets gained privileges; such as in 1863 the (Ottoman Turkish:"Nizâmnâme-i Millet-i Ermeniyân") was  approved form of the "Code of Regulations" composed of 150 articles drafted by the "Armenian intelligentsia", and newly formed "". The reformist period peaked with the Constitution, called the  (meaning "" in Ottoman Turkish), written by members of the, which was promulgated on. It established freedom of belief and equality of all citizens before the law.

The empire's  (or Birinci Meşrûtiyet Devri in Turkish), was short-lived; however, the idea behind it, proved influential as a wide-ranging group of reformers known as the , primarily educated in Western , believed that a would provide an answer to the empire's growing social unrest. Through a in 1876, they forced Sultan  (1861–1876) to abdicate in favour of. However, Murad V was mentally ill, and was deposed within a few months. His heir-apparent (1876-1909) was invited to assume power on the condition that he would accept to declare a constitutional monarchy, which he did on. However, the parliament survived for only two years. The sultan suspended, not abolished, the parliament until he was forced to reconvene it. The effectiveness of  was then largely minimized.

During this time, the Empire faced challenges in defending itself against foreign invasion and occupation. was occupied by the French in 1798. Following defeat in the of 1877-78,  was loaned to the British in 1878 in exchange for Britain's favors at the. The empire ceased to enter conflicts on its own and began to forge alliances with European countries such as France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Russia. As an example, in the the Ottomans united with the British, French, and others against.

Economically, the empire had difficulty in repaying the to European banks, which caused the establishment of . Despite the empire's label as the "", the empire's actual weakness did not reside in its developing economy, but the cultural gap which separated it from the European powers. The empire's troubled were, in fact, the result of an inability to deal with the new problems created by the conflict between external  and rising internal.

Dissolution (1908–1922)
The (or İkinci Meşrûtiyet Devri in Turkish) marks the period of the Ottoman Empire's final dissolution. This era is dominated by the politics of the (or İttihâd ve Terakkî Cemiyeti in Turkish), and the movement that would become known as the "" (or Jön Türkler in Turkish). The began on   and quickly spread throughout the empire, resulting in the sultan's announcement of the restoration of the 1876 constitution and the reconvening of parliament. The constitutional era had a lapse between and counter-revolution  that ended with the sultan  deposed and sent to exile in Selanik, and replaced by his brother  Reşad.

Profiting from the civil strife within the Ottoman Empire during the Young Turk Revolution, officially annexed  in 1908, having occupied it following the  and the  (1878). Bosnia and Herzegovina was still de jure Ottoman territory until 1908. During the, the , which was composed of , , and , declared war against the Ottoman Empire, which lost most of its  territories during the  (1912–1913). The wars in Libya and the Balkan peninsula posed the first major tests for the Committee of Union and Progress. However, was lost following the, which was also the first war in history where s were used on the battlefield.

The new states which were formed at the end of the 19th century sought additional territories from the Ottoman provinces of, , and , on the grounds of. Initially, with acting as an intermediary, agreements were concluded between  and  in March 1912, and between  and  in May 1912. subsequently concluded agreements between Serbia and Bulgaria in October 1912.

The Serbian-Bulgarian agreement specifically called for the partition of, which was the chief  of the. The main causes of the were the disputes between the former Balkan allies over their newly gained territories; this then gave the Ottomans an opportunity to regain lost territories in Thrace. The political repercussions of the Balkan Wars led to the, and the subsequent rule of the.

World War I
The under  control became a source of international tension and played a role in the origins of the. The Ottoman Empire took part in the of, under the terms of the. The Ottomans managed to win important victories in the early years of the war, particularly at the and the ; but there were setbacks as well, such as the disastrous  against the Russians. The gave the Ottomans the opportunity to regain lost ground and Ottoman forces managed to take  in the final stages of the war, but the Empire was forced to cede these gains at the end of. A significant event in this conflict was the creation of an movement in the province of, in response to deportations and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Turkish Deportation Officials, Ottoman Soldiers, and Kurdish warlords. The core Armenian resistance group formed an independent in May 1915, prompting the Ottoman government to accuse the Armenians of being in  with the invading Russian forces in eastern  against their native state because of the  in the Russian Army. At the end of 1917 the formed the, consisting mostly of refugees of the  (see below). The eventual Ottoman defeat came from a combination of coordinated attacks on strategic targets by British forces commanded by and the  of 1916–18. Given the fact that Turkish peasantry of Anatolia dropped to 40% of the pre-war levels, regardless of the method used in calculations, during this time are enormous.

was a major cause of Ottoman Empire's defeat. started with the by Sherif Hussain of  with the help of Britain in June 1916 and ended with the Ottoman surrender of Damascus. the Ottoman commander of Medina showed stubborn resistance during more than two and half years long.

During the, the Ottoman government unleashed a wave of persecution on the Armenian minority. There were isolated instances of in eastern Anatolia. In 1915 the Ottoman government passed the and then the  deportations between   and. The or the  was created to deport (and in the case of adult males, outright kill) Armenians. The gave relief support and also the  covered the event extensively. In addition to any deliberate policy, fighting between along with the  of the World War caused trouble for both the Armenian and  populations of the region. An estimated 400,000 (according to Ottoman archives) to 600,000 (according to, envoy of the ) and according to other estimated claims more than 1,500,000 ethnic , including women, children and the elderly, died during this period which many academics refer to as the. Some prominent historians and Turkish authorities, however, do not believe the term applies. Similar arguments swirl around the concurrent mass mortalities suffered by the and later the  communities of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish of the genocide definition is viewed by the Armenians as, who often compare it to. See the main article for more information.

Partition
happened in the aftermath of World War I. The empire was forced to submit to a complete partition. The process began with the signing of the on , followed 13 days later with the ; under the shadow of  and the  followed by the subsequent. Partition of its Middle Eastern territories under the mandates of Britain and France, cede the Turkish Mediterranean coast to Italy, the Turkish Aegean coast to Greece, cede the Turkish Straits and Sea of Marmara to the Allied powers as an international zone, and recognize the, an extension of in eastern Anatolia (the historic homeland of Armenians but which at the time was mostly inhabited by Turks and Kurds). Britain obtained virtually everything it had sought under the secret it had made with  in 1916 for the partitioning of the Middle East. The other powers of the, however, soon became entangled in the.

along with the mobilized the, and led to the  and the foundation of the. The, under the leadership of resulted in the creation of the  (Büyük Millet Meclisi) in  on  , which refused to recognize the Ottoman government in Istanbul and the invading forces in Turkey. raised a "people's army" and expelled the invading Greek, Italian and French forces. They reclaimed the Turkish provinces which were given to the Republic of Armenia with the, and threatened the British forces controlling the Straits. Turkish revolutionaries eventually reclaimed the Straits and Istanbul, and abolished the Ottoman sultanate on. The last sultan, (1861–1926), left the country on , and the  was officially declared with the  on. The was constitutionally abolished several months later, on. the Sultan and his family were declared and exiled. Fifty years later, in 1974, the granted descendants of the former dynasty the right to acquire Turkish citizenship. See also:.

The from the remnants of the empire currently number 40 (including the disputed ).

The can be attributed to the failure of its economic structure; the size of the empire created difficulties in economically integrating its diverse regions. Also, the empire's was not developed enough to reach all territories. In many ways, the circumstances surrounding the Ottoman Empire's fall closely paralleled those surrounding the, particularly in terms of the ongoing tensions between the empire's different ethnic groups, and the various governments' inability to deal with these tensions. In the case of the Ottomans, the introduction of a parliamentary system during the proved too late to reverse the trends that had been set in place.

Economy
Ottoman government deliberately pursued a policy for the development of Bursa, Edirne ( Adrianople) and Istanbul, successive Ottoman capitals, into major commercial and industrial centres, considering that merchants and artisans were indispensable in creating a new metropolis. To this end, Mehmed and his successor Bayezid, also encouraged and welcomed migration of the Jews from different parts of the Europe, who were settled in Istanbul and other port cities like Salonica. Many places in Europe, Jews were suffering persecution at the hands of their Christian counterparts. The tolerance displayed by the Ottomans was welcome to the immigrants. The Ottoman economic mind was closely related to the basic concepts of state and society in the Middle East in which ultimate goal of a state was consolidation and extension of the ruler's power and the way to reach it was to get rich resources of revenues by making the productive classes prosperous. The ultimate aim was to increase the state revenues as much as possible without damaging the prosperity of subjects to prevent the emergence of social disorder and to keep the traditional organization of the society intact.

The organization of the treasury and chancery were developed under the Ottoman Empire more than any other Islamic government and, until the 17th century, they were the leading organization among all of their contemporaries. This organization developed a new group of people (scribial "man of the pen"), partly highly trained ulema which developed a financial professional body. The effectiveness of this financial professional body behind the success of many great Ottoman statesmen. The economic structure of the Empire was defined by its geopolitical structure. The Ottoman Empire stood between the West and the East, thus blocking the land route eastward and forcing Spanish and Portuguese navigators to set sail in search of a new route to the Orient. The empire controlled the spice route that once used. When first journeyed to America in 1492, the Ottoman Empire was at its zenith; an economic power which extended over three continents. Modern Ottoman studies think that the change in relations between the Ottomans and central Europe was caused by the opening of the new sea routes. It is possible to see the decline in significance of the land routes to the East (as Western Europe opened the ocean routes that bypassed the Middle East and Mediterranean) as parallel to the decline of the Ottoman Empire itself.

By developing commercial centres and routes, encouraging people to extend the area of cultivated land in the country and international trade through its dominions, the state performed basic economic functions in the empire. But in all this the financial and political interests of the state were prevalent and the Ottoman administrators could not have realized, within the social and political system they were living in, the dynamics and principles of the capitalist economy of the Modern Age.

State
The was a very complex system that had two main dimensions: the military administration and the civic administration. Sultan was the highest position in the system. The civic system was based on local administrative units based on the regions characteristics. The Ottomans practiced a system in which the state had control over the clergy, like the Byzantine. Certain pre-Islamic Turkish traditions that had survived the adoption of administrative and legal practices from Islamic remained important in Ottoman administrative circles. According to Ottoman understanding, the state's primary responsibility was to defend and extend the land of the Muslims and to ensure security and harmony within its borders within the overarching context of Islamic practice and dynastic sovereignty.

The "" or, as an institution, "" was unprecedented and unequaled in the Islamic world for its size and duration. The Ottoman dynasty was ethnically Turkish in its origins, as were some of its supporters and subjects, however the dynasty immediately lost this "" identification through intermarriage with many different ethnicities. On eleven occasions, the sultan was deposed because he was perceived by his enemies as a threat to the state. There were only two attempts in the whole of Ottoman history to unseat the ruling Osmanlı dynasty, both failures, which is suggestive of a political system which for an extended period was able to manage its revolutions without unnecessary instability. After the dissolution of the empire, the new republic abolished the and  and declared the Ottoman Dynasty as. Fifty years later, in 1974, the granted descendants of the former dynasty the right to acquire Turkish citizenship. The current head of the is, living in.

The highest position in Islam, , was claimed by the sultan which was established as. The Ottoman sultan,  or "lord of kings", served as the empire's sole regent and was considered to be the embodiment of its government, though he did not always exercise complete control. The was one of the most important powers of the Ottoman court. It was ruled by the. On occasion, the Valide Sultan would become involved in state politics. For a period of time the women of the Harem effectively controlled the state in what was termed the "". New sultans were always chosen from among the sons of the previous sultan. The strong educational system of the geared towards eliminating the unfit potential heirs, and establishing support amongst the ruling elite for a successor. The palace schools, which would also educate the future administrators of the state, were not a single track. First, the (Medrese) was designated for the Muslims, and educated scholars and state officials in accordance with Islamic tradition. The financial burden of the Medrese was supported by vakifs, allowing children of poor families to move to higher social levels and income. The second track was a free for the Christians, the , which recruited 3,000 students annually from Christian boys between eight and twenty years old from one in forty families among the communities settled in  and/or the, a process known as  (Devşirme).

Though the sultan was the supreme monarch, the sultan's political and executive authority was delegated. The politics of the state had a number of advisors and ministers gathered around a council known as (after the 17th century its name become ). The Divan, in the years when the Ottoman state was still a Beylik, was composed of the elders of the tribe. Its composition was later modified to include military officers and local elites (such as religious and political advisors). Later still, beginning in 1320, a was appointed in order to assume certain of the sultan's responsibilities. The had considerable independence from the sultan with almost unlimited powers of appointment, dismissal and supervision. Beginning with the late 16th century, sultans became withdrawn from politics and the Grand Vizier became the de facto head of state. Throughout Ottoman history, there were many instances in which local governors acted independently, and even in opposition to the ruler. After the of 1908, the Ottoman state became a constitutional monarchy. The sultan no longer had executive powers. A parliament was formed, with representatives chosen from the provinces. From th representatives the.

The rapidly expanding empire utilized loyal, skilled subjects to manage the empire, whether, , , , , or others. The incorporation of Greeks (and other Christians), Muslims, and Jews revolutionized its administrative system. This eclectic administration was apparent even in the diplomatic correspondence of the empire, which was initially undertaken in the to the west.

The were calligraphic monograms, or signatures, of the Ottoman Sultans, of which there were 35. Carved on the Sultan's seal, they bore the names of the Sultan and his father. The prayer/statement “ever victorious” was also present in most. The earliest belonged to Orhan Gazi. The ornately stylized Tughra spawned a branch of Ottoman-Turkish.

Society
One of the successes of the was the unity that it brought about among its highly varied populations through an organization named as millets. The were the major religious groups were allowed to establish their own communities under Ottoman rule. The Millets were established by retaining their own religious laws, traditions, and language under the general protection of the sultan. Plurality was the key to the longevity of the Empire. As early as the reign of, extensive rights were granted to , and were invited to settle in Ottoman territory. Ultimately, the Ottoman Empire's relatively high degree of tolerance for ethnic differences proved to be one of its greatest strengths in integrating the new regions but this non-assimilative policy became a weakness after the. The based on ethnic differentiation  brought the final end which the failed  among the citizens and participatory politics of the  or the  had successfully addressed.

was a mixture of western and eastern life. One unique characteristic of Ottoman life style was it was very fragmented. The millet concept generated this fragmentation and enabled many to coexist in a of. The Capital of the Ottoman Empire, also had a unique culture, mainly because it laid on two. The life style in the in many aspects assembled ancient traditions of the n s, but had many  and an influences. The culture that evolved around the Ottoman court was known as the Ottoman Way, which was epitomized with the. There were also large metropolitan centers where the Ottoman influence expressed itself with a diversity similar to metropolises of today:, , , , , , , and  with their own small versions of Ottoman Provincial Administration replicating the culture of the Ottoman court locally. The, which were the non imperial places, in the context of the fashion, became the subject of works of art, where non imperial prince or referring to other grand houses built around courtyards.

The was a part of Ottoman society. As late as 1908 women slaves were still sold in the Empire. During the 19th century the Empire came under pressure from Western European countries to outlaw the practice. Policies developed by various Sultans throughout the 19th century attempted to curtail the but, since slavery did have centuries of religious backing and sanction, could never directly abolish the institution outright — as had gradually happened in Western Europe and the Americas.

Culture
The Ottoman Empire had filled roughly the territories around the and, while adopting their traditions, art and institutions of cultures in these regions; and adding new dimensions to them. Many different cultures lived under the umbrella of the Ottoman Empire, and as a result, a specifically "Ottoman" culture can be difficult to define, except for those of the regional centers and capital. However, there was also, to a great extent, a specific melding of cultures that can be said to have reached its highest levels among the Ottoman elite, who were composed of myriad ethnic and religious groups. This multicultural perspective of "s" was reflected in the Ottoman State's multi-cultural and multi-religious policies. As the Ottomans moved further west, the Ottoman leaders absorbed some of the culture of the conquered regions. Intercultural s also played their part in creating the characteristic Ottoman elite culture. When compared to the Turkish folk culture, the influence of these new cultures in creating the culture of the Ottoman elite was very apparent.

"" was influenced by, , , and , but came to develop a style all of its own. During the the early or first Ottoman architecture period, the Ottoman art was in search of new ideas. The of the empire become the classical period of architecture, which Ottoman art was at its most confident. During the years of the, Ottoman architecture moved away from this style however. During the, it was under the influence of the highly ornamented styles of Western Europe; , , and other styles intermingled. Concepts of Ottoman architecture mainly circle around the. The mosque was integral to society, and communal life. Besides the mosque, it is also possible to find good examples of Ottoman architecture in s, theological schools,, s and s. Examples of Ottoman architecture of the classical period, aside from and , can also be seen in Egypt, Eritrea, Tunisia, Algiers, the Balkans and Hungary, where mosques, bridges, fountains and schools were built.

"" was a variety of Turkish, highly influenced by Persian and Arabic. Ottomans had three influential languages;, , but they did not have a parallel status. Throughout the vast Ottoman bureaucracy and, in particular, within the Ottoman court in later times, a version of Turkish was spoken, albeit with a vast mixture of both Arabic and Persian grammar and vocabulary. If the basic grammar was still largely Turkish, the inclusion of virtually any word in Arabic or Persian in Ottoman made it a language which was essentially incomprehensible to any Ottoman subject who had not mastered Arabic, Persian or both. The two varieties of the language became extremely differentiated and this resulted in a low literacy rate among the general public (about 2–3% until the early 19th century and just about 15% at the end of 19th century). Consequently, ordinary people had to hire special "request-writers" (arzıhâlcis) in order to be able to communicate with the government. The ethnic groups continued to speak within their families and neighborhoods (s) with their own languages (e.g. Jews, Greeks, Armenians etc.). In villages where two or more populations lived together, the inhabitants would often speak each other's language. In cosmopolitan cities, people often spoke their family languages, some Ottoman or Persian if they were educated, and some Arabic if they were Muslim. In the last two centuries, French and English emerged as popular languages, especially among the Christian communities. The elite learned French at school, and used European products as a fashion statement. The use of Turkish grew steadily under the Ottomans, but, since they were still interested in their two other official languages, they kept these in use as well. Usage of these came to be limited, though, and specific: Persian served mainly as a literary language, while Arabic was used solely for religious rites. At this time many famous Persian poets emerged.

"" was an important part of the education of the Ottoman elite, a number of the Ottoman sultans were accomplished musicians and composers themselves, such as, whose compositions are still frequently performed today. Ottoman classical music arose largely from a confluence of, , and. Compositionally, it is organised around ic units called, which are somewhat similar to in Western music, and  units called , which bear some resemblance to Western s. The  used are a mixture of Anatolian and Central Asian instruments (the , the , the ), other Middle Eastern instruments (the , the , the , the ), and — later in the tradition — Western instruments (the  and the ). Because of a geographic and cultural divide between the capital and other areas, two broadly distinct styles of music arose in the Ottoman Empire: Ottoman classical music, and folk music. In the provinces, several different kinds of were created. The most dominant regions with their distinguished musical styles are: Balkan-Thracian Türküs, North-Eastern Türküs, Aegean Türküs, Central Anatolian Türküs, Eastern Anatolian Türküs, and Caucasian Türküs. Some of the distinctive styles were:, , ,.

The "" refers to the cuisine of the capital —, and the regional capital cities, where the melting pot of cultures created a common cuisine that all the populations enjoyed. This diverse cuisine was honed in the Imperial Palace's kitchens by chefs brought from certain parts of the empire to create and experiment with different ingredients. The creations of the Ottoman Palace's kitchens filtered to the population, for instance through events, and through the cooking at the s of the s, and from there on spread to the rest of the population. Today, the Ottoman cuisine lives in the, and the ; i.e. in regions that are common heirs to what was once the Ottoman life-style, and their cuisines offer treacherous circumstantial evidence of this fact. Besides, one should not forget that it is typical of any great cuisine in the world to be based on local varieties and on mutual exchange and enrichment among them, but at the same time to be homogenized and harmonized by a metropolitan tradition of refined taste.

Religion
Before adopting — a process that was greatly facilitated by the  victory at the 751, which ensured Abbasid influence in Central Asia — the Turkic peoples practised a variety of. After this battle, many of the various Turkic tribes — including the Oghuz Turks, who were the ancestors of both the Seljuks and the Ottomans — gradually converted to Islam, and brought the religion with them to Anatolia beginning in the 11th century.

The Ottoman Empire was, in principle, tolerant towards and  (the "Ahl Al-Kitab", or "People of the Book", according to the ) but not towards the, in accordance with the. Such tolerance was subject to a non-Muslim tax, the.

Under the millet system, non-Muslim people were considered subjects of the empire, but were not subject to the Muslim faith or Muslim law. The Orthodox millet, for instance, was still officially legally subject to, which had been in effect in the Byzantine Empire for 900 years. Also, as the largest group of non-Muslim subjects (or ) of the Islamic Ottoman state, the Orthodox millet was granted a number of special privileges in the fields of politics and commerce, in addition to having to pay higher taxes than Muslim subjects. ,

The Ottoman Sultan allowed the local Christians to stay in   after conquering the city in 1453, and to retain their institutions such as the. In 1461 Sultan Mehmed II established the. Previously, the considered the Armenian Church as  and thus did not allow them to build churches inside the. In 1492, when the and  were expelled from  during the, the Ottoman Sultan  sent his fleet under  to save them and granted the refugees the right to settle in the Ottoman Empire.

The state's relationship with the was largely peaceful, and recurrent oppressive measures taken against the Greek church were a deviation from generally established practice. The church's structure was kept intact and largely left alone but under close control and scrutiny until the of 1821–1831 and, later in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the rise of the Ottoman, which was driven to some extent by nationalistic currents, tried to be balanced with. Other Orthodox churches, like the, were dissolved and placed under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate; until Sultan established the  in 1870 and reinstated the autonomy of the Bulgarian Church.

Similar millets were established for the Ottoman Jewish community, who were under the authority of the  or Ottoman ; the community, who were under the authority of a head ; and a number of other religious communities as well.

Law
Ottoman legal system accepted the over its subjects. The Ottoman Empire was organized around a system of local. Legal administration in the Ottoman Empire was part of a larger scheme of balancing central and local authority. Ottoman power revolved crucially around the administration of the rights to land, which gave a space for the local authority develop the needs of the local. The jurisdictional complexity of the Ottoman Empire was aimed to permit the integration of culturally and religiously different groups. The Ottoman system had three court systems: one for Muslims, one for non-Muslims, involving appointed Jews and Christians ruling over their respective religious communities, and the "trade court". The entire system was regulated from above by means of the administrative Kanun, i.e. laws. Kanun system based upon the Turkic Yasa and Töre which were developed in the pre-Islamic era. The kanun law system, on the other hand, was the secular law of the sultan, and dealt with issues not clearly addressed by the sharia system.

These court categories were not, however, wholly exclusive in nature: for instance, the Islamic courts — which were the empire's primary courts — could also be used to settle a trade conflict or disputes between litigants of differing religions, and Jews and Christians often went to them so as to obtain a more forceful ruling on an issue. The Ottoman state tended not to interfere with non-Muslim religious law systems, despite legally having a voice to do so through local governors. The Islamic Sharia law system had been developed from a combination of the ; the, or words of the ; , or  of the members of the ; , a system of analogical reasoning from previous precedents; and local customs. Both systems were taught at the empire's law schools, which were in Istanbul and Bursa.

reforms, had a drastic effect on the law system. In 1877, the (excepting ) was codified in the  code. Later codifications covered, and.

Ottoman Army
The first military unit of the Ottoman State was an army that was organized by from the tribesmen inhabiting western Anatolia in the late 13th century. The military system became an intricate organization with the advance of the Empire.

The Ottoman military was a complex system of recruiting and fief-holding. The main corps of the Ottoman Army included:


 * : units recruited at a very young age from the non-Muslim ethnic groups of the empire and raised as Muslim Turkish ; also forming the Sultan's household troops and bodyguard.


 * : Elite cavalry s who were granted s (s) throughout the empire's lands. Their alternative name was Tîmârlı Sipahi (Enfiefed Knight).


 * : Frontline units of the Ottoman Army which raided and scouted the border areas and outposts.
 * : Ottoman Army Band which played martial tunes during military campaigns. The mehterân was usually associated with the.

The Ottoman army was once among the most advanced fighting forces in the world, being one of the first to employ s. The Ottoman cavalry used bows and short swords and often applied nomad tactics similar to those of the ; such as pretending to retreat while surrounding the enemy forces inside a crescent-shaped formation and then making the real attack.

Starting from the in 1389 and the  in 1396, the Ottoman army quickly advanced towards central Europe, capturing  with the  in 1526 and twice laying siege to, in 1529 and 1683.

The modernization of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century started with the military. In 1826 Sultan abolished the Janissary corps and established the modern Ottoman army, which he named as the  (New Order). The Ottoman army was also the first institution to hire foreign experts and send its officers for training in western European countries.

Ottoman Navy
The conquest of in the  in 1308 marked the first Ottoman naval victory (for a timeline of the naval actions of the Ottoman fleet, see the ). In 1321 the Ottoman fleet made its first landings on in southeastern, and vastly contributed to the expansion of the empire's territories on the European continent. The Ottoman navy was one of the first to use s, and the in 1499 went down to history as the first naval battle where cannons were used on ships. It was also the Ottoman navy which initiated the conquest of, with the addition of and  to the Ottoman Empire in 1517. The in 1538 and the  in 1560 marked the apex of Ottoman naval domination in the. The Ottomans also confronted the forces based in  at the  in numerous battles between 1538 and 1566. In 1553, the Ottoman admiral conquered Morocco and the lands of North Africa beyond the, extending Ottoman territory into the. In 1566 the Sultan of asked for support against the Portuguese and declared allegiance to the Ottoman Empire, which sent its Indian Ocean fleet under  to. The fleet landed at Aceh in 1569, and the event marked the easternmost Ottoman territorial expansion. In 1585 the Ottoman admiral captured  of the. In 1617 the Ottoman fleet captured in the Atlantic Ocean, before raiding, , , ,  and the other counties of western  in August 1625. In 1627 Ottoman naval ships, accompanied by corsairs from the Barbary Coast, raided the, , , and. Between 1627 and 1631 the same Ottoman force also raided the coasts of and. In 1655 a force of 40 Ottoman ships captured the Isle of in the, which served as the main base for Ottoman naval and privateering operations in the North Atlantic until 1660, when Ottoman ships appeared off the eastern coasts of , particularly being sighted at the British colonies like  and. The overseas territorial acquisitions of the further expanded the extent of the Ottoman sphere of influence on distant lands in both the  and  oceans, such as the  (1569) as a vassal state to the Ottoman Empire, and temporary occupations like those of  (1585),  (1617),  (1627) and  (1655–1660).

Following defeat against the combined British-French-Russian navies at the in 1827, and the subsequent loss of  (1830) and  (1832), Ottoman naval power, and control over the empire's distant overseas territories declined. Sultan (reigned 1861–1876) attempted to reestablish a strong Ottoman navy, building the third largest fleet after that of Britain and France with 21 s and 173 other types of warships. But the collapsing Ottoman economy could not sustain the fleet strength. Sultan (reigned 1876–1908) distrusted the navy, when the admirals supported the reformist  and the  of 1876. Claiming that the large and expensive navy was of no use against the Russians during the, he locked most of the fleet inside the , where the ships decayed for the next 30 years.

Following the in 1908, the  which effectively took control of the country sought to develop a strong Ottoman naval force. The poor condition of the fleet during the Ottoman Naval Parade of 1910 saddened every Turk who saw it, and the Ottoman Navy Foundation was established in order to purchase new ships through public donations. Those who made donations received different types of medals according to the size of their contributions. With this public money, the Ottoman government ordered large s like ' and ', but despite the payment for both ships, the confiscated them at the outbreak of  and renamed them as HMS Agincourt and HMS Erin. This caused some ill-feeling towards Britain among the Ottoman public, and the took advantage of the situation by sending the  ' and  ' which entered service in the Ottoman fleet. This event significantly contributed to the decision of supporting Germany in the, with whom the Ottomans sided.

Ottoman Air Force
The Ottoman Air Force was founded in June 1909, making it one of the oldest combat aviation organizations in the world. Its formation came about after the Ottoman Empire sent two Turkish pilots to the International Aviation Conference in. After witnessing the growing importance of an air combat support branch, the Ottoman government decided to organize its own military aviation program. For this purpose, officers were sent to Europe by the end of 1910 to participate in the study of combat flight. However, because of bad living conditions, the student program was aborted and the trainees returned to Turkey in early 1911. Although left without any governmental guidelines for establishing an air force, the Ottoman Minister of Defence of the time, Mahmut Şevket Paşa, continued to encourage the idea of a military aviation program and sent officers Fesa and Yusuf Kenan, who achieved the highest maneuvering points in a piloting test conducted in 1911, to France for receiving a more satisfactory flight education. In late 1911 Süreyya Ilmen was instructed with founding the Havacılık Komisyonu (Aviation Commission) bound to the Harbiye Bakanlığı Fen Kıtaları Müstahkem Genel Müfettişliği (War Ministry Science Detachment General Inspectorship). On, Fesa and Yusuf Kenan completed their flight education and returned home with the 780th and 797th French aviation diplomas. In the same year, eight more Turkish officers were sent to for flight education.

The Ottoman Empire started preparing its first pilots and planes, and with the founding of the Hava Okulu (Air Academy) in on , the empire began to tutor its own flight officers. The founding of the Air Academy quickened advancement in the military aviation program, increased the number of enlisted persons within it, and gave the new pilots an active role in the. In May 1913 the world's first specialized Reconnaissance Training Program was activated by the Air Academy and the first separate Reconnaissance division was established by the Air Force.

Because of the lack of experience of the Turkish pilots, the first stage (1912) of the (1912–1913) ended with the loss of several aircraft. However, the second stage (1913) was marked with great success since the pilots had become more battle-hardened. Many recruits joined the Air Academy following a surge of Turkish nationalism during the war.

With the end of the Balkan Wars a modernization process started and new planes were purchased. In June 1914 a new military academy, Deniz Hava Okulu (Naval Aviation Academy) was founded, also in. With the outbreak of the, the modernization process stopped abruptly, but in 1915 some German officers came to the Ottoman Empire and some Turkish officers went to for flight education.

The Ottoman Air Force fought on many fronts during the First World War, from in the west to the  in the east and  in the south. Efforts were made to reorganize the Ottoman Air Force, but this ended in 1918 with the end of the and the occupation of.

In English

 * The Ottoman Empire: A Chronogical Outline
 * The Ottoman Empire: NAVAL MAPS
 * The Ottoman Empire: The Eternal State
 * Ottoman Website
 * The Ottoman Empire Map of Europe in year 1600 with a detailed view of the Empire.
 * History of Turkish Empire- Gives detailed timetable.
 * World Civilizations: The Ottomans — a comprehensive site that covers much about the Ottoman state and government
 * Capitals of Ottoman Empire — covers the different Ottoman capitals
 * Turkish Oral Narrative
 * Information about Ottomans
 * - covers the period 1300-1600

In Turkish

 * Osmanlı Devleti ile ilgili ansiklopedik bilgiler
 * Flags of the Ottoman Empire—contains information about Ottoman flags
 * Osmanlı İmparatorluğu Hakkında bilgi...