The Ottoman State (1299-1923). The Ottoman Empire was founded by a member of the Kayi Tribe of the Gülhan branch, of the Oghuz Turks. Osman Bey came to power as a result of an Oghuz beylik coalition and married the daughter of one of the Ani chiefs, thus gaining more power and prestige. The Ottomans who succeeded in uniting the Turkish Beyliks in Anatolia in a short period of time, crossed over to Rumelia. Süleyman Bey, the son of Orhan Ghazi, went to Thrace in 1353 with an army of five thousand men to capture the region to the north of Istanbul. One of the important events in Turkish history was Süleyman Pasha's entrance into Europe by way of the Gallipoli Peninsula . The Ottomans advanced speedily in Rumelia. Sultan Murad Khan I, who became sultan after the death of Orhan Ghazi was the true conqueror of the Balkans. The Ottoman armies started to advance towards the west through Thrace and Bulgaria in the 1350's. In 1362 Edirne was taken and the capital was moved from Bursa to this city. In 1363 Filibe and Zagra and the Maritza Valley were taken. Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Mehmet the Conqueror), conquered Istanbul in 1453. The Byzantine Empire fell and what is qualified as the Middle Ages ceased with the New Age beginning at this point in time.
The Ottomans fought against the Serbs, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Venetians, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Britain, the Vatican, Poland, Spain and also France and Russia from time to time in the west; and in the east and in the southeast against the Akkoyunlus, Tamerlanes, Mamelukes, Safavids and the Karamanids, which were Turkish states. They formed a world empire that would continue to exist on three continents until the 19th century. Sultan Selim I (Selim the Grim) conquered Egypt and the "Caliphate" passed from the Abbasids to the Ottoman dynasty. During the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent (1520-1566), the Ottoman State had a developed state organization, powerful army and was in excellent financial condition. The borders of the Empire extended from the Crimea in the north to Yemen and Sudan in the south, and from Iran and the Caspian Sea in the east to Vienna in the northwest and Spain in the southwest.
However, in the 16th century the Ottoman Empire lost its economic and military superiority in comparison to Europe . The nationalist movements that started in the 19th century and the rebellions of the Balkan nations provoked by the European States
Piri Reis' Map, 1500. Piri Reis was the first to chart the details of
BESIK Bay and the ÇANAKKALE Straits .
and Russia followed one another. The reform efforts of the Ottomans throughout the 19th century were of no use. The most significant characteristic of the First Constitutional Period in 1876, which coincided with the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II (1876- 1909), was that it provided a constitution based on a Western model for the first time. The constitution was prepared by a group of intellectuals called the "Young Turks" who forced Sultan Abdülhamid to accept this constitution and thus the Ottoman State was transformed into a constitutional state. However, Sultan Abdülhamid disbanded Parliament in 1877 and terminated constitutional rule, using the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-1879 as a pretext. The Committee of Union and Progress which began activities as an opposition organization founded by the Young Turks, first forced the Sultan to repromulgate the Constitution in 1908 and later seized power after the rebellion of March 31. This led to new problems and adventures for the Empire. The defeats experienced in the Tripoli War (1911-1912) against the Italians and the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) led the country to a single-party autocracy of the Union and Progress. The First World War (1914 - 1918) in which the empire sided with Germany brought about the end of the Empire. After the armistice signed at the conclusion of the war, the Russians, British, and Greeks began their invasion of Ottoman lands.
Ottoman Culture and Civilization. The Ottoman Empire , who ruled three continents for 600 years, left a rich cultural heritage. Furthermore, it contributed significantly to the history of civilization by embracing the cultural, artistic, and scientific heritages of the previous Turkish and non-Turkish states. The Ottoman Empire created rare monuments illustrating architectural design and engineering. Stone and wood carvings, the art of tile-making, ornamentation, miniature painting, calligraphy and bookbinding also led to the creation of masterpieces during this period. Above all, the Ottoman Empire was influential for hundreds of years in world politics. The citizens of the empire of various religions, languages and nationalities were treated justly and with tolerance. The Empire allowed the nations within its borders to preserve their languages and cultures by granting them religious freedom.
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