Part ofa series on the |
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| History of the Ottoman Empire |
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| Timeline (Territorial evolution) |
Rise(1299–1453) |
Classical Age(1453–1566)
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Transformation(1566–1703)
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Old Regime(1703–1789)
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Decline and Modernization(1789–1908)
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Dissolution(1908–1922)
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| Historiography (Ghaza,Decline) |
TheClassical Age of the Ottoman Empire (Turkish:Klasik Çağ) concerns the history of theOttoman Empire from theconquest of Constantinople in 1453 until the second half of the sixteenth century, roughly the end of the reign ofSuleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520–1566). During this period a system of patrimonial rule based on the absolute authority of thesultan reached its apex, and the empire developed the institutional foundations which it would maintain, in modified form, for several centuries.[1] The territory of theOttoman Empire greatly expanded, and led to what some historians have called thePax Ottomana. The process of centralization undergone by the empire prior to 1453 was brought to completion in the reign ofMehmed II.
The Ottoman Empire of the Classical Age experienced dramatic territorial growth. The period opened with theconquest of Constantinople byMehmed II (r. 1451–1481) in 1453. Mehmed II went on to consolidate the empire's position in theBalkans andAnatolia, conqueringSerbia in 1454–55, thePeloponnese in 1458–59,Trebizond in 1461, andBosnia in 1463. Many Venetian territories inGreece were conquered during the1463–1479 Ottoman-Venetian War. By 1474 the Ottomans had conquered their Anatolian rival, theKaramanids, and in 1475 conqueredKaffa on theCrimean Peninsula, establishing theCrimean Khanate as avassal state. In 1480 an invasion ofOtranto inItaly was launched, but the death of Mehmed II the following year led to an Ottoman withdrawal.[2]
The reign ofBayezid II (r. 1481–1512) was one of consolidation after the rapid conquests of the previous era, and the empire's territory was expanded only marginally. In 1484 Bayezid led a campaign againstMoldavia, subjecting it to vassal status and annexing the strategic ports ofKilia andAkkerman. Major Venetian ports were conquered in Greece andAlbania during the1499–1503 war, most significantlyModon,Koron, andDurazzo. However, by the end of his reign, Ottoman territory in the east was coming under threat from the newly establishedSafavid Empire.[3]
Rapid expansion resumed underSelim I (r. 1512–1520), who defeated the Safavids in theBattle of Chaldiran in 1514, annexing much of eastern Anatolia and briefly occupyingTabriz. In 1516 he led a campaign against theMamluk Sultanate, conquering firstSyria and thenEgypt the following year. This marked a dramatic shift in the orientation of the Ottoman Empire, as it now came to rule over the Muslim heartlands of theMiddle East, as well as establishing its protection over the holy cities ofMecca andMedina. This increased the influence of Islamic practices on the government of the empire, and facilitated much greater interaction between theArabic-speaking world and the Ottoman heartlands in Anatolia and the Balkans. Under Selim's reign the empire's territory expanded from roughly 341,100 sq mi (883,000 km2) to 576,900 sq mi (1,494,000 km2).[4]
Expansion continued during the first half of the reign ofSuleiman I (r. 1520–1566), who conquered firstBelgrade (1521) andRhodes, before invadingHungary in 1526, defeating and killing KingLouis II in theBattle of Mohács and briefly occupyingBuda. Lacking a king, Hungary descended into civil war over the succession, and the Ottomans gave support toJohn Zápolya as a vassal prince. When their rivals theHabsburgs began to achieve the upper hand, Suleiman directly intervened by again conqueringBuda and annexing it to the empire in 1541. Elsewhere, Suleiman led major campaigns againstSafavid Iran, conqueringBaghdad in 1534 and annexingIraq. Ottoman rule was further extended with the incorporation of much ofNorth Africa, the conquest of coastalYemen in 1538, and the subsequent annexation of the interior.
After the annexation ofBuda in 1541 the pace of Ottoman expansion slowed as the empire attempted to consolidate its vast gains, and became engrossed in imperial warfare on three fronts: in Hungary, in Iran, and in the Mediterranean. Additional conquests were marginal, and served to shore up the Ottoman position. Ottoman control over Hungary was expanded in a series of campaigns, and a second Hungarian province was established with the conquests ofTemeşvar in 1552. Control over North Africa was increased with the conquest ofTripoli in 1551, while the Ottomans shored up their position in theRed Sea with the annexation ofMassawa (1557) and the extension of Ottoman rule over much of coastalEritrea andDjibouti. By the end of Suleiman's reign the empire's territory had expanded to approximately 5,000,000 km2 (1,900,000 sq mi).[5]
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Theconquest of Constantinople allowed Mehmed II to turn his attention toAnatolia. Mehmed II tried to create a single political entity in Anatolia by capturingTurkish states calledBeyliks and theGreekEmpire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia and allied himself with theCrimean Khanate. Uniting theAnatolian Beyliks was first accomplished by SultanBayezid I, more than fifty years earlier than Mehmed II, but after the destructiveBattle of Ankara back in 1402, the newly formed Anatolian unification was gone. Mehmed II recovered the Ottoman power on other Turkish states. These conquests allowed him to push further intoEurope.
Another important political entity which shaped the Eastern policy of Mehmed II was theWhite Sheep Turcomans. With the leadership ofUzun Hasan, this Turcoman kingdom gained power in the East but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers likeEmpire of Trebizond and theRepublic of Venice and the alliance between Turcomans andKaramanid tribe, Mehmed saw them as a threat to his own power. He led a successful campaign againstUzun Hasan in 1473 which resulted with the decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire in theBattle of Otlukbeli.
After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed would also go on to conquer theDespotate of Morea in thePeloponnese in 1460, and the Empire of Trebizond in northeasternAnatolia in 1461. The last two vestiges ofByzantine rule were thus absorbed by the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Constantinople bestowed immense glory and prestige on the country.
Mehmed II advanced towardEastern Europe as far asBelgrade, and attempted to conquer the city fromJohn Hunyadi at theSiege of Belgrade in 1456. Hungarian commanders successfully defended the city and Ottomans retreated with heavy losses, but at the end, Ottomansoccupied nearly all of Serbia.
In 1463, after a dispute over the tribute paid annually by theBosnian kingdom, Mehmedinvaded Bosnia and conquered it very quickly, executing the last Bosnian kingStephen Tomašević and his uncleRadivoj.
In 1462 Mehmed II came into conflict with PrinceVlad III Dracula ofWallachia, who had spent part of his childhood alongside Mehmed.[6] Vlad had ambushed, massacred or captured several Ottoman forces, then announced his impalement of over 23,000 captive Turks. Mehmed II abandoned his siege ofCorinth to launch a punitive attack against Vlad inWallachia[7] but suffered many casualties in a surprisenight attack led by Vlad, who was apparently bent on personally killing the Sultan.[8] Confronted by Vlad's scorched earth policies and demoralizing brutality, Mehmed II withdrew, leaving his allyRadu cel Frumos, Vlad's brother, with a small force in order to win over localboyars who had been persecuted by Vlad III. Radu eventually managed to take control of Wallachia, which he administered asBey, on behalf of Mehmet II. Vlad eventually escaped to Hungary, where he was imprisoned on a false accusation of treason againsthis overlord.
In 1475, the Ottomans suffered a great defeat at the hands ofStephen the Great ofMoldavia at theBattle of Vaslui. In 1476, Mehmed won apyrrhic victory against Stephen at theBattle of Valea Albă. He besieged the capital ofSuceava, but could not take it, nor could he take theCastle of Târgu Neamț. With a plague running in his camp and food and water being very scarce, Mehmed was forced to retreat.
Skanderbeg, a member of theAlbanian nobility and a former member of the Ottoman ruling elite, ledSkanderbeg's rebellion against the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe. Skanderbeg, son ofGjon Kastrioti (who had joined the unsuccessfulAlbanian revolt of 1432–1436), united theAlbanian Principalities in a military and diplomatic alliance, theLeague of Lezhë, in 1444. Mehmed II was never successful in his efforts to subjugate Albania while Skanderbeg was alive, even though he twice (1466 and 1467) led the Ottoman armies himself againstKrujë. During this period Albanians achieved many victories against the Ottomans like theBattle of Torvioll,Battle of Otonetë,Battle of Oranik,Siege of Krujë 1450,Battle of Polog,Battle of Ohrid,Battle of Mokra 1445, and many others, culminating at theBattle of Albulena where the Albanian army destroyed the Ottoman army, inflicting nearly 30,000 casualties on the Ottomans. After Skanderbeg died in 1468, the Albanians could not find a leader to replace him, and Mehmed II eventually conquered Krujë and Albania in 1478. The final act of Mehmed II's Albanian campaigns was the troublesomeSiege of Shkodra in 1478–79, a siege he led personally against the combined Venetian and Albanian force.
Mehmed II invadedItaly in 1480. The intent of his invasion was to captureRome and "reunite the Roman Empire", and, at first, looked like he might be able to do it with the quick (15-days to completion)Ottoman invasion of Otranto in 1480, but Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481 after the death of Mehmed. After his death, he was succeeded by his son,Bayezid II.
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When Bayezid II was enthroned upon his father's death in 1481, he first had to fight his younger brotherCem Sultan, who tookInegöl andBursa and proclaimed himself Sultan of Anatolia. After a battle atYenişehir, Cem was defeated and fled toCairo. The very next year he returned, supported by theMameluks, and took eastern Anatolia,Ankara andKonya, but eventually he was beaten and forced to flee toRhodes.
Sultan Bayezid attackedVenice in 1499. Peace was signed in 1503, and the Ottomans gained the last Venetian strongholds on thePeloponnesos and some towns along theAdriatic coast. In the 16th century, Mameluks andPersians under ShahIsmail I allied against the Ottomans. The war ended in 1511 in favor of the Turks.
Later that year, Bayezid's son Ahmet forced his father into making him regent. His brother Selim was forced to flee toCrimea. When Ahmet was about to be crowned, the Janissaries intervened, killed the prince and forced Bayezid into calling Selim back and making him the sultan. Bayezid abdicated, and he died immediately after leaving the throne.
During his reign,Selim I (calledYavuz "the Grim") was able to expand the empire's borders greatly to the south and east.[9] Around 1512 theOttoman naval fleet developed under his rule,[9] such that the Ottoman Turks were able to challenge theRepublic of Venice, anaval power which established itsthalassocracy alongside the otherItalianmaritime republics upon theMediterranean Region.[10] At theBattle of Chaldiran in eastern Anatolia in 1514, Ottoman forces under Selim I won a decisive victory against the Safavids, ensuring Ottoman security on their eastern front and leading to the conquest ofeastern Anatolia and northernIraq. He defeated theMamluk Sultanate and conquered most of Syria and Egypt, including Jerusalem as well as Cairo, the residence of theAbbasid caliph.[11]
Suleiman the Magnificent first put down a revolt led by the Ottoman-appointed governor inDamascus. By August 1521, Suleiman had captured the city of Belgrade, which was then under Hungarian control. In 1522, Suleiman captured Rhodes. On August 29, 1526, Suleiman defeatedLouis II of Hungary at theBattle of Mohács. In 1541 Suleiman annexed most of present-day Hungary, known as theGreat Alföld, and installed Zápolya's family as rulers of the independent principality ofTransylvania, avassal state of the Empire. While claiming the entire kingdom,Ferdinand I of Austria ruled over the so-called "Royal Hungary" (present-daySlovakia, North-Western Hungary and westernCroatia), a territory which temporarily fixed the border between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans.
TheShi'iteSafavid Empire ruledPersia and modern-dayIraq. Suleiman waged three campaigns against the Safavids. In the first, the historically important city ofBaghdad fell to Suleiman's forces in 1534. The second campaign, 1548–1549, resulted in temporary Ottoman gains inTabriz andAzerbaijan, a lasting presence inVan Province, and some forts inGeorgia. The third campaign (1554–55) was a response to costly Safavid raids into the provinces of Van and Erzurum in eastern Anatolia in 1550–1552. Ottoman forces captured Yerevan, Karabakh and Nakhjuwan and destroyed palaces, villas and gardens. Although Sulieman threatened Ardabil, the military situation was essentially a stalemate by the end of the 1554 campaign season.[12] Tahmasp sent an ambassador to Suleiman's winter quarters in Erzurum in September 1554 to sue for peace.[13] Influenced at least in part by the Ottoman Empire's military position with respect to Hungary, Sulieman agreed to temporary terms.[14] The formalPeace of Amasya signed the following June was the first formal diplomatic recognition of the Safavid Empire by the Ottomans.[15] Under the Peace, the Ottomans agreed to restore Yerevan, Karabakh and Nakhjuwan to the Safavids and in turn would retain Iraq and eastern Anatolia. Suleiman agreed to permit Safavid Shi’a pilgrims to make pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina as well as tombs of imams in Iraq and Arabia on condition that the shah abolished thetaburru, the cursing of the first three Rashidun caliphs.[16] The Peace ended hostilities between the two empires for 20 years.
Huge territories of North Africa up to west of Algeria were annexed. TheBarbary States ofTripolitania,Tunisia andAlgeria became provinces of the Empire. Thepiracy carried on thereafter by theBarbary pirates of North Africa remained part of the wars against Spain, and the Ottoman expansion was associated with naval dominance for a short period in the Mediterranean.
Ottoman navies also controlled theRed Sea, and held thePersian Gulf until 1554, when their ships were defeated by the navy of thePortuguese Empire in theBattle of the Gulf of Oman. The Portuguese would continue to contest Suleiman's forces for control ofAden. In 1533Khair ad Din known to Europeans as Barbarossa, was made Admiral-in-Chief of the Ottoman navies who were actively fighting theSpanish navy.
In 1535 the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (Charles I of Spain) won an important victory against the Ottomans atTunis, but in 1536 KingFrancis I of France allied himself with Suleiman against Charles. In 1538, the fleet of Charles V was defeated at theBattle of Preveza by Khair ad Din, securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks for 33 years. Francis I asked for help from Suleiman, then sent a fleet headed by Khair ad Din who was victorious over the Spaniards, and managed to retakeNaples from them. Suleiman bestowed on him the title ofbeylerbey. One result of the alliance was the fierce sea duel betweenDragut andAndrea Doria, which left the northern Mediterranean and the southern Mediterranean in Ottoman's hands.
