The collapse of the Ottoman Empire: history, causes, consequences and interesting facts. Sultans of the Ottoman Empire and years of reign

§ 1. Education and main stages of development of the Ottoman Empire

IN XI century The Seljuk Rum Sultanate was defeated by the Turks and moved closer to the borders of Byzantium, the process of Turkization of the local population began: Greeks, Slavs, Georgians, Persians. True, these peoples retained their own religions, including Christianity. In the 13th century. The Rum Sultanate completely collapsed. At the turn of the XIII - XIV centuries. Bey Osman created the Ottoman Sultanate. The Ottomans gradually ousted Byzantium in the southeast of Asia Minor, then captured the Balkans. In 1389 they defeated the Serbian army on Kosovo, and in 1396 they defeated the united militia of the crusaders from almost all of Europe. In 1453, Constantinople was taken by storm. In 1475, the Crimean Khanate became a vassal of the Turkish Sultanate, as a fragment of the Golden Horde. At the beginning of the 16th century. The Ottomans conquered Iran, Kurdistan, Syria, Arabia, then Egypt and almost all of North Africa. The power of the descendants of the Arab caliphs in Cairo was abolished, while the Sultan seemed to become the successor of the caliph as a religious leader, although in fact the Ottoman sultans, not being descendants of Muhammad, had no right to be considered the heads of the Muslim church, but in fact they found themselves at the head of the Muslim world. Almost the entire Mediterranean, Middle East and Transcaucasia became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The state system of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th - 17th centuries.

Ottoman Empire - typical eastern state. The ancient Eastern despotism states were characterized by the absolute all-encompassing power of the monarch. K. Marx believed that supreme property gave rise to the supreme absolute power of the monarch. Hegel derived the form of property from the form of power. So what is primary, what is secondary in ancient Eastern states - power or property?

In our opinion, there is no absolute primacy here. In the East, there is primary property and secondary power, and vice versa - primary power and secondary property, but most often they form a unity: power - property or property - power, in other words, power over property and at the same time property over power. This is an alternative to the European model of the relationship between property and power. In general, the European model is only suitable for Europe. Most of humanity did not live according to the European model. The European model is an offshoot from the universal main line of world development of the state. The Crusaders' attempt to seize the East failed in the 16th - 17th centuries. Europeans, relying on a powerful shipbuilding industry, began a new expansion of firearms in the world. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Having conquered almost the entire non-Christian world, Europeans imposed on public consciousness and scientific developments that the optimal and most progressive model for the development of civilizations is the European model, based primarily on private property, where state power is secondary to production relations.

Thus, it is believed that despotism appears where there is no private property. Primitive communal forms of power (potestas) gradually develop into tribal ones government bodies authorities. In the East, all power passes to the leader; communal democracy, with its people's assemblies and councils of elders, remains in the lower tier of government bodies, and the upper tier is occupied by monarchs and their administration. Thus, military-communal democracy developed into a tribal state, which also gradually developed into an absolutely totalitarian monarchical state. Over the course of many years, a powerful centralized administrative system has been developing. Power-property is primordial in it. The market, private property, social strata are subordinate to power-property.

In the Ottoman Empire, on the basis of a tribal state, a “theocratic military-administrative monarchy” was formed, based on the eastern model of ownership of land, water, mines and other real estate. Initially, a tribal system of power develops according to this model, gradually it is superimposed on the territory, the economy, and covers politics, management, administration, the armed forces, and law enforcement. Gradually, clan and tribal bodies merged with military-territorial, military-administrative bodies; they also merged with forms of ownership, rent, and allotments for service. According to European terminology and ideas, it seems that a military system of government is taking shape here, but the Ottoman system of ownership and use of land, water, and other property, territorial, military, administrative management represent a completely different system.

It is organized according to the tribal, military-territorial principle. The territorial unit of the country became sanjak(“banner”) - the battle banner of a clan, a clan unit of warriors led by the head of the clan, the sanjak bey. Warriors on the territory of the sanjak sipahi(“cavalrymen”) received timar- conditional hereditary ownership of a territory with the right to levy a strictly defined amount of taxes from the population. Timar - the fee in favor of the timariot should not exceed the amount necessary to maintain the warrior’s family, horse and military equipment. The state strictly monitored this. Timar was neither an estate nor a possession; timariot should not exceed his rights and powers and infringe on state interests.

In connection with large land conquests, large land grants appear - zeamety. The Timariots and Zeamets formed the basis of the Ottoman army. Subsequently arose Khassi And arpalyki- territories with tax immunity. The tax on them went entirely to the owner, was strictly recorded by the financial authorities of the country, but was never inherited, remaining strictly in state ownership, and infringement of state interests was also not allowed. This is how a military-administrative monarchy developed, which was based on the power-property formula. All land belonged to the state in the person of the Sultan, it was managed by the state apparatus.

The top of the state pyramid was crowned by the Sultan. However, in the empire there was no law on succession to the throne, all members of the next generation potentially had the right to power, the throne, brutal dynastic battles were inevitable and often ended in bloody massacres. Considering polygamy and a harem, there could be dozens of brothers and in this case all of them were destroyed, in a word, blood flowed like a river.

The Sultan was the personification of omnipotent power over his subjects, the system of indiscriminate slavery. Each subject could end his life on a stake at any time. The Sultan's personality was not deified, but his power was sacred, sacrificial. However, he was not the representative of Allah on Earth; he was considered his shadow. At the same time, the Sultan was not required to have any outstanding abilities or charisma. He and his personality had to meet a number of requirements:

1. Belonging to the Sunni sense in Islam.

2. Only male, since according to Sharia, a woman is not equal to a man.

1. 
   Good appearance without external defects.
2. 
   Be an adult, at least 15 years old.
3. 
   Mental and mental integrity.
4. 
   Free status in the past and present.
5. 
   Moral qualities go back to traditional norms: prudence, wisdom, justice, greatness, dexterity. But it was not required that the ruler of the faithful surpass his subjects in knowledge and deeds.
6. 
   The person of the Sultan, vested with the highest power, is sacred and inviolable.
7. 
   All temporal and spiritual power was concentrated in the hands of the Sultan, the ruler of the Sunni Muslims.

1. Opening of common prayer on holidays and daily.

2. Minting of coins.

3. Maintenance general order in the country.

4. Control over the implementation of sacred laws.

5. Supreme Command.

6. The highest judicial power belongs to him.

7. He is obliged to suppress rebellions.

8. Issues laws that must be consistent with Sharia.

As the Ottoman Empire grew, a powerful centralized system of government was formed.

The Sultan entrusted his power to the Vezir, who ruled on his behalf. He headed the Great Council - the government of the country (Diwan-i-Khumayun), consisting of ministers - viziers. The government in its activities was guided by Sharia and the Code of Laws of Kanun-name.

The central administrative apparatus consisted of three main departments (systems) of management: military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious.

Military administrative department, which was headed by the Grand Vizier himself, was the backbone of the entire governing structure of the empire. The country was divided into 16 regions - eyalets headed by beylarbeys(governors), subordinate to the Grand Vizier and possessing all types of power in the territory of the eyalets. Subordinate to them were sanjakbeys - military leaders - managers of sanjaks - counties, of which there were 250. The power of the sanjakbey was quite strong, it was controlled from above by the beylarbey and regulated by county laws and Kanun-name. The lowest level of military-administrative power in the empire were the timariots - land holders who were responsible for the safety and equipment of the warriors (sipahi), who had to be represented by their timars. The Timariots also observed order in the Timara territory.

Finance department led by the vizier-defterdar, had special officials in the eyalets and sanjaks. The functions of the central department and its local officials included: accounting of treasury resources and revenues; determining the amount of taxes, duties and other duties; control over the income of the Timars, Khasses and Arpalyks. Types of taxes: legal taxes - tithe from Muslims, “haraj” and poll tax “jizya” from non-Muslims; Zakat is a tax in favor of the poor from all those who have. There were additional duties, emergency and local.

Forensic-religious department in the very in a general sense controlled the lifestyle and behavior of the population and every Muslim. The department was headed by Sheikh-ul-Islam. In the eyalets (provinces), this department was headed by two Qadis - judges. The qadis had very broad judicial, religious, financial and administrative functions. They resolved matters concerning Muslims, in addition, they were notaries, intermediaries in transactions, resolved trade, financial and other disputes, monitored the collection of taxes, prices, and order; were confessors and officials. In non-Muslim areas, the same functions were performed by community leaders.

The heyday of this state system occurred in the 16th century. during the reign of Suleiman I Kanuni (the Lawgiver) or Suleiman the Magnificent (1520 -1566).

§ 2. Development of statehood of the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the 16th - early 20th centuries. Major government reforms

By the middle of the 16th century. The political system and management system of the Ottoman Empire were experiencing a certain crisis. First of all, the causes of the crisis were seen in the shortcomings of the timariot system. Timariots were an integral part of the military, administrative, tax and police system. Important factors, which led to the weakening of the empire, were the distribution of state lands, a decrease in military production, and a cessation of territorial expansion.

The first reforms in the Ottoman Empire were practically military reforms. In the 16th century instead of warriors - sipahis, a corps was created and increased many times janissary(“yeni cheri” - new army), who were in the public service and received state salaries, which sharply increased government spending on the army. In addition, the Janissaries, being the Sultan's guard, often interfered in the political and palace life of the country. After this failed reform in the middle of the 17th century. a new reform was carried out by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Keprelu. He again strengthened the Timariot system by seizing the lands of the Khass and waqf lands.

The end of the 18th, 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The Ottoman Empire witnessed centuries of major government reforms.

The first two rounds of reforms are associated with the activities of Sultan Selim III (1789 - 1807) and Mahmud II (1808 - 1839). The first round concerned mainly the reform of the allotment timar system, military and partly religious spheres:

1. 
   The formation of a new army according to the European model, the creation of modern artillery, navy and engineering troops.
2. 
   Liquidation of the Janissary Corps (1826).
3. 
   Removal of the Bektashi Sufi order from political life empire (1826 onwards).
4. 
   Complete abolition of the timar system.

1.Reform central control following the European model, the creation of new ministries and departments.

2. Tax reform.

3. Reform of the post office, hospitals, education system.

The reforms of the second round quickly faded away. The wars of Muhammad Ali of Egypt weakened the empire. Among the great powers of Europe, the question arose about the division of the “sick man” of Europe - the Ottoman Empire. In 1839, the West took the Ottoman Empire under “collective trusteeship.” Sultan Abdul Mejadid received him.

The next stage of reforms is 40 - 70. received the name “tanzimat” (transformation, reform). The more complete name of the reforms is “Tanzimat-i-hairie” - “beneficent reform”.

On November 3, 1839, the “Gulhaney Khatt-i-Sherif” (rescript), sometimes simply called the Gulhaney Act, was signed. Khatt-i-Sherif ordered:

1. 
   Provide all subjects, representatives of all religions with guarantees of the inviolability of life, honor and property.
2. 
   Abolish tax farming systems and streamline taxation.
3. 
   Change the procedure for conscription into military service.

In 1865, a movement of “new Ottomans” arose in the Ottoman Empire, who advocated the creation of a constitutional monarchy. After nine to ten years, their activities bore some fruit. In 1876, Sultan Abdul Hamid adopted the constitution of the Ottoman Empire. She proclaimed the rights and freedoms of citizens of the empire, and a bicameral parliament was created. However, already in February 1878, Abdul-Hamid carried out a coup d'etat, dissolved the already elected parliament and established tyranny - “Zulum”. Under this regime, newspapers were closed, censorship was tightened, and many new ones were closed. educational establishments. For the first time, the doctrine of “pan-Islamism” was proclaimed, the purpose of which was to adapt the world of Islam to existence in new conditions; to oppose Muslim unity to the onslaught of European colonialism. At the same time, Abdul-Hamid saw pan-Islamism as a tool for strengthening his power. However, his ambitious plans soon failed. The country had long been mired in foreign debt and was declared bankrupt in 1879. The Western powers began to prepare the tools to establish their control over the empire. First of all, financial control became an instrument of Western management of the country. In 1881, the Ottoman Debt Office was created, and then the Ottoman (Ottoman) Bank, the main purpose of which was the control of the Western powers over the Ottoman government, the country's budget, through control or even participation of foreign representatives in the collection of taxes and expenditure of budget funds. Of course, as in other cases in Europe and Asia, Western governments, bankers and entrepreneurs sought to destroy the remaining empires on earth in order to, having destroyed them, establish control and even seize the parts that had broken away from the empires.

The failure of the reforms and the establishment of foreign control over the country caused protest both in the ruling circles and among the bureaucrats, military and intelligentsia of the country. Secret anti-government circles and organizations began to emerge. The “New Ottomans” movement was replaced by the “Young Turks” movement. In 1889, in Istanbul, an underground cell was created among cadets of the military medical school, whose members set the goal of ridding the country of despotism and restoring the constitution. In Paris, Riza Bey created the society “Ittihad ve Terraki” (“Unity and Progress”). His program included: the struggle for freedom, justice and equality of all subjects; preserving the empire on the path of reform; establishment of a constitutional order; non-interference of foreigners in the affairs of the empire.

In 1902, the first, apparently, founding congress of the Young Turks took place. In 1907, the Second Congress of the Young Turks adopted a Declaration calling for an uprising against Adul Hamid. In 1908, there was an uprising of Turkish troops in Macedonia. The Sultan accepted their demands. The Chamber of Deputies was created, a third of the seats in which went to the Young Turks. In 1909, Abdul Hamid tried to carry out a counter-coup, but the Young Turks occupied the capital with their troops and, possessing real power, enthroned the new Sultan Mehmed V. This is how the Young Turk revolution took place.

The Young Turks carried out a number of reforms, the essence of which was the preservation of the empire; the doctrine of Ottomanism was proclaimed - the retention of non-Turkish lands and peoples within the empire. Since 1910, under the slogans of pan-Islamism and pan-Turkism, they began persecuting non-Islamic peoples.

In 1912, the Young Turks were overthrown by Islamic liberals “Ittilafists” - members of the Hürriyet ve Ittilaf (Freedom and Harmony) association, who stood for granting autonomy to other peoples. Taking advantage of Turkey's failures in the Balkan War of 1912, the Young Turks overthrew them. In 1914, the Young Turk triumvirate came to power: Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Cemal Nami. They pushed the Ottoman Empire into the world war on the side of Germany and the Triple Alliance. As a result of Germany's defeat, the dictatorship of the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire also fell, and the Young Turks fled the country. The empire was in its death throes, the outskirts sought to secede, and the nationalist idea increasingly matured - to preserve the Turkish lands in Asia Minor in a single strong state. The Allies decided that they could dictate their peace terms to the Ottoman Empire. On October 30, 1918, they signed the “Truce of Mudros,” which provided for the opening of watering routes to foreign, including military, shipping, the demobilization of the army, the surrender of warships to the Allies, and the establishment of Entente control over the country's railways, telegraph and radio, the occupation of the Armenian eyalets. The Ottoman Empire was ending its centuries-long existence.

The history of legislation in the Ottoman Empire in all its details has not yet been researched or written, although it is of great interest to researchers of Islamic law. Muslim law arose and developed within the framework of the Arab Caliphate. Since the Ottoman Empire can rightfully be considered the successor to the Arab Caliphate and one of the largest Muslim powers of all times, for a more complete understanding of the development of Islamic law, it is necessary to consider its development in the Ottoman Empire.

In historiography it is believed that, to one degree or another, legislative activity took place under all Ottoman sultans. It is recorded in many decrees, resolutions, etc., which were in an unsystematized state until the second half of the 15th century. The first codification dates back to the reign of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih. The code of laws compiled by him contains three parts: 1) a table of ranks; 2) the basics of court ceremonial and the rules for appointing dignitaries and their children to government positions; 3) several articles on punishments for criminal offenses, determination of content for dignitaries and their title. There was another set of laws compiled under the same Sultan. It differed significantly from the first in content, structure and style, and consisted of the following sections: 1) on punishments for adultery; 2) about punishments for fight and murder; 3) about taxes and trade duties; 4) about nomads (Yuryuks); 5) about taxes and duties from non-Muslims (kafirs). The further development of legal concepts in the Ottoman Empire is connected precisely with these, still quite primitive provisions, set out in the second code of Mehmed II.

Turkish historians associate the main stages in the development of Ottoman legislation after Mehmed II with the names of Sultans Selim I (1512-1520), Suleiman Kanuni (1520-1566), Ahmed I (1603-1617), and the activities of lawyers in the 16th century. XVII centuries and legal reforms of the Tanzimat period.

In the Ottoman Empire, for centuries, there were two systems of law - religious laws - Sharia and secular ones, issued on behalf of the Sultan - qanun.

Muslim legal doctrine allowed for the introduction of legal changes. Muslim jurists believed that since the rules of conduct on those issues that are not regulated by the Koran and Sunnah are formulated by people and are not guaranteed against erroneous judgments, they can be replaced by other judgments. The works of medieval Muslim jurists cited the opinions of all jurists belonging to the same madhhab. Even if these opinions were contradictory, they were all recognized as valid. Kadiy could choose the norm at his own discretion when making a decision. Direct abolition of outdated standards that did not meet the needs was also not practiced. 1

Thus, traditionally it was uncharacteristic of Turkish lawmaking to create unified legislative structures.

The religious system of law in the Ottoman Empire was associated with the general principles of Islamic law and corresponded to the officially accepted interpretation of the Hanafi legal school in that country. The difference between this madhhab is that it is more flexibly applied to local circumstances, trying to adapt the rigid framework of Sharia to the practical needs of life. When solving specific issues, the Hanifites operated with three methods of interpretation: paradise, qiyas and istikhsan (see page of the manual). At the same time, this teaching was fraught with the danger of arbitrary actions of the Qadis. On controversial issues, fatwas were issued by Sheikh-ul-Islams, which became the legal basis for subsequent court decisions. Since both the fatwas and the actions of the qadis had to correspond to the Hanafi sense, the Hanafi law had primacy in the empire and invaded those areas where other schools of Sunni Islam had previously dominated. Qadis and muftis could join any of the Sunni madhhabs, but judge and make conclusions only according to the Hanafi interpretation. 1

Another system of law in the Ottoman Empire is secular laws - qanuns, issued in the name of the Sultan. The coexistence of kanuns and Sharia is a specific feature of the Ottoman state. Kanuns, originally conceived as unofficial - only for the information of the Sultan, later became mandatory in solving state problems and in the practice of the Cadian courts. Moreover, in many cases, the Sultan’s decrees differed significantly from Sharia dogma.

The reasons for the emergence of such a system of law as the eves in the Ottoman Empire are as follows. Firstly, by the XV-XVI centuries. The Ottoman state, as a result of its aggressive campaigns, achieved the maximum expansion of its borders. A tendency began to emerge for the Ottoman sultans to become absolute monarchs, whose power was not limited by any corrective institutions. In their desire to expand the scope of power, the sultans began to rely on the Turkic-Mongol and Byzantine models of political organization, based on the primacy of the secular principle. An expression of this was the publication of the first eve-names under Sultan Mehmed II. The Sultan in his actions relied on divine destiny, reflected in the norms of Sharia and on his statesmanship. The first determined the order of the material and spiritual world, and the second made it possible to maintain this order. The Sultan, through his absolute power, had to determine the place of each person in society, ensure social order, and the safety of people. This was achieved with the help of qanuns, which, unlike the norms of Sharia, were temporary and were valid only during the reign of one sultan. In addition, Sharia and Qanun, according to Muslim views, have never been on the same level. The purpose of Sharia is to lead believers to perfection during life and happiness after death. Kanun had a lower status and was aimed only at establishing order in the state and protecting citizens from violence. The eves were never abolished, but only supplemented religious laws.

Such a system is called smear and is accepted today in all Muslim states. The Ottoman peculiarity consisted only in the more complete inclusion of qadi in the management system and the more frequent use of qanuns in public administration. 1

In order to have a more complete understanding of the eves of the 15th-16th centuries, let us consider the Book of Laws of Sultan Selim I - one of the authoritative collections of laws of this period.

The book of laws of Sultan Selim I is not divided into any structural units, but there is a certain system. The first provisions of the law contain criminal law provisions. There are few of them, they talk about punishments for libertines and libertines, about blood feud, murder and theft. Much of the law is devoted to taxation. It is noteworthy that the criminal law speaks about the death penalty only in cases of malicious theft, and very little about self-harm punishment. Most crimes are subject to a fine, even if this does not comply with Sharia law. For example, in the case of committing adultery, the Koran speaks of only one punishment - “striking with a hundred stripes” in public. In accordance with the regulations of adat in Muslim states, adulterers were traditionally stoned. The book of laws of Sultan Selim I provided for a fine, the amount of which varied depending on social status the culprit. The rich and married paid more than the poor and single; a slave paid less than a free Muslim for committing any crime, a non-Muslim paid more. The punishment for murder was legalized blood feud, but if there was no one to take revenge or for some other reason the revenge was not accomplished, a fine was also paid. The death penalty is mentioned in this law only once, it is provided for committing theft by breaking into a house or repeatedly: “Whoever stole a prisoner, stole a slave, a slave or a boy, who broke into a shop, climbed into a house and was repeatedly convicted of theft, “Let them hang.”

A fine was also provided for minor thefts, despite the fact that the Koran is very strict towards thieves and prescribes cutting off hands for any theft.

A distinctive feature of this law is that it was unusual for Muslim society at the beginning of the 16th century. humanity. However, one should not think that during this period there were fewer executions in the Ottoman Empire than in any other. Firstly, the kanuns were in force only during the reign of the Sultan, who accepted them, which means this law existed as valid for only 8 years (the reign of Selim I: 1512-1520), and, secondly, Sharia law in relation to the kanun always had dominance and decisions were made largely on its basis. And the eves only complemented it. The qadis could make decisions both on the basis of Sharia and on the basis of qanuns. For example, the more secular provisions of the qanuns were more often applied to non-believers rather than the Sharia. 1

In general, the criminal laws of the Ottoman Empire were one of the branches of law that were most free from Sharia law. Most of the vital criminal law norms were not mentioned in the Koran and Sunnah, so the missing ones were developed by jurists through interpretation, mainly in the Sultan's eves.

As W. Heid notes, much work in this direction was done in the 16th century. under Sultan Suleiman I. The code of criminal laws was improved, systematized, and supplemented with new articles containing elements of the legal culture of the conquered peoples. 1

During the reign of this sultan, the peak of activity in the publication of kanuns occurred, for this reason Suleiman I was nicknamed Kanuni - the Lawgiver. Under him, the General Code of Laws of the Ottoman Empire was compiled. IN general outline This legislative code is as follows. It consists of three chapters, each of which includes a number of sections.

Any Hollywood script pales in comparison with the life path of Roksolana, who became the most influential woman in the history of the great empire. Her powers, contrary to Turkish laws and Islamic canons, could only be compared with the capabilities of the Sultan himself. Roksolana became not just a wife, she was a co-ruler; They didn’t listen to her opinion; it was the only one that was correct and legal.
Anastasia Gavrilovna Lisovskaya (born c. 1506 - d. c. 1562) was the daughter of the priest Gavrila Lisovsky from Rohatyn, a small town in Western Ukraine, located southwest of Ternopil. In the 16th century, this territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and was constantly subject to devastating raids by the Crimean Tatars. During one of them, in the summer of 1522, the young daughter of a clergyman was caught by a detachment of robbers. Legend has it that the misfortune happened just before Anastasia’s wedding.
First, the captive ended up in Crimea - this is the usual route for all slaves. The Tatars did not drive valuable “live goods” on foot across the steppe, but carried them on horseback under vigilant guard, without even tying their hands, so as not to spoil the delicate girl’s skin with ropes. Most sources say that the Crimeans, struck by the beauty of Polonyanka, decided to send the girl to Istanbul, hoping to sell her profitably at one of the largest slave markets in the Muslim East.

“Giovane, ma non bella” (“young, but ugly”), Venetian nobles said about her in 1526, but “graceful and short in stature.” None of her contemporaries, contrary to legend, called Roksolana a beauty.
The captive was sent to the capital of the sultans on a large felucca, and the owner himself took her to sell her - history has not preserved his name. On the very first day, when the Horde took the captive to the market, she accidentally caught the eye of the all-powerful vizier of the young Sultan Suleiman I, the noble Rustem, who happened to be there - Pasha. Again, the legend says that the Turk was struck by the dazzling beauty of the girl, and he decided to buy her to give a gift to the Sultan.
As can be seen from the portraits and confirmations of contemporaries, beauty clearly has nothing to do with it - I can call this coincidence of circumstances with only one word - Fate.
During this era, the sultan was Suleiman I the Magnificent (Luxurious), who ruled from 1520 to 1566, considered the greatest sultan of the Ottoman dynasty. During the years of his rule, the empire reached the apogee of its development, including all of Serbia with Belgrade, most of Hungary, the island of Rhodes, significant territories in North Africa to the borders of Morocco and the Middle East. Europe gave the Sultan the nickname Magnificent, while in the Muslim world he is more often called Kanuni, which translated from Turkish means Lawgiver. “Such greatness and nobility,” the report of the 16th-century Venetian ambassador Marini Sanuto wrote about Suleiman, “was also adorned by the fact that he, unlike his father and many other sultans, had no inclination towards pederasty.” An honest ruler and uncompromising fighter against bribery, he encouraged the development of the arts and philosophy, and was also considered a skilled poet and blacksmith - few European monarchs could compete with Suleiman I.
According to the laws of faith, the padishah could have four legal wives. The children of the first of them became heirs to the throne. Or rather, one firstborn inherited the throne, and the rest often faced a sad fate: all possible contenders for supreme power were subject to destruction.
In addition to wives, the Commander of the Faithful had any number of concubines that his soul desired and his flesh required. IN different time under different sultans, from several hundred to a thousand or more women lived in the harem, each of whom was certainly an amazing beauty. In addition to women, the harem consisted of a whole staff of castrati eunuchs, maids of various ages, chiropractors, midwives, masseuses, doctors and the like. But no one except the padishah himself could encroach on the beauties belonging to him. All this complex and hectic economy was supervised by the “chief of the girls” - the eunuch of Kyzlyaragassy.
However, amazing beauty alone was not enough: the girls destined for the padishah’s harem were required to be taught music, dancing, Muslim poetry and, of course, the art of love. Naturally, the course of love sciences was theoretical, and the practice was taught by experienced old women and women experienced in all the intricacies of sex.
Now let’s return to Roksolana, so Rustem Pasha decided to buy the Slavic beauty. But her Krymchak owner refused to sell Anastasia and presented her as a gift to the all-powerful courtier, rightly expecting to receive for this not only an expensive return gift, as is customary in the East, but also considerable benefits.
Rustem Pasha ordered it to be fully prepared as a gift to the Sultan, in turn hoping to achieve even greater favor with him. The padishah was young, he ascended the throne only in 1520 and greatly appreciated female beauty, and not just as a contemplator.
In the harem, Anastasia receives the name Khurrem (laughing). And for the Sultan, she always remained only Khurrem. Roksolana, the name under which she went down in history, is just the name of the Sarmatian tribes in the 2nd-4th centuries AD, who roamed the steppes between the Dnieper and Don, translated from Latin as “Russian”. Roksolana will often be called, both during her life and after her death, nothing more than “Rusynka” - a native of Rus' or Roxolanii, as Ukraine was previously called.

The mystery of the birth of love between the Sultan and a fifteen-year-old unknown captive will remain unsolved. After all, there was a strict hierarchy in the harem, and anyone who violated it would face severe punishment. Often - death. The female recruits - adzhemi, step by step, first became jariye, then shagird, gedikli and usta. No one except the mouth had the right to be in the Sultan's chambers. Only the mother of the ruling sultan, the valide sultan, had absolute power within the harem, and decided who and when to share a bed with the sultan from her mouth. How Roksolana managed to occupy the Sultan’s monastery almost immediately will forever remain a mystery.
There is a legend about how Hurrem came to the attention of the Sultan. When new slaves (more beautiful and expensive than she) were introduced to the Sultan, a small figure suddenly flew into the circle of dancing odalisques and, pushing away the “soloist,” laughed. And then she sang her song. The harem lived on cruel laws. And the eunuchs were waiting for only one sign - what to prepare for the girl - clothes for the Sultan’s bedroom or a cord used to strangle the slaves. The Sultan was intrigued and surprised. And that same evening, Khurrem received the Sultan’s scarf - a sign that in the evening he was waiting for her in his bedroom. Having interested the Sultan with her silence, she asked for only one thing - the right to visit the Sultan’s library. The Sultan was shocked, but allowed it. When he returned from a military campaign some time later, Khurrem already spoke several languages. She dedicated poems to her Sultan and even wrote books. This was unprecedented at that time, and instead of respect it aroused fear. Her learning, plus the fact that the Sultan spent all his nights with her, created Khurrem's lasting fame as a witch. They said about Roksolana that she bewitched the Sultan with the help of evil spirits. And in fact he was bewitched.
“Finally, let us unite with soul, thoughts, imagination, will, heart, everything that I left mine in you and took with me yours, oh my only love!”, the Sultan wrote in a letter to Roksolana. “My lord, your absence has kindled a fire in me that does not go out. Have pity on this suffering soul and hurry up your letter so that I can find at least a little consolation in it,” answered Khurrem.
Roksolana greedily absorbed everything that she was taught in the palace, took everything that life gave her. Historians testify that after some time she actually mastered the Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages, learned to dance perfectly, recite her contemporaries, and also play according to the rules of the foreign, cruel country in which she lived. Following the rules of her new homeland, Roksolana converted to Islam.
Her main trump card was that Rustem Pasha, thanks to whom she got to the palace of the padishah, received her as a gift, and did not buy her. In turn, he did not sell it to the kyzlyaragassa, who replenished the harem, but gave it to Suleiman. This means that Roxalana remained a free woman and could lay claim to the role of the padishah’s wife. According to the laws of the Ottoman Empire, a slave could never, under any circumstances, become the wife of the Commander of the Faithful.
A few years later, Suleiman enters into an official marriage with her according to Muslim rites, elevates her to the rank of bash-kadyna - the main (and in fact, the only) wife and addresses her “Haseki,” which means “dear to the heart.”
Roksolana’s incredible position at the Sultan’s court amazed both Asia and Europe. Her education made scientists bow down, she received foreign ambassadors, responded to messages from foreign sovereigns, influential nobles and artists. She not only came to terms with the new faith, but also gained fame as a zealous orthodox Muslim, which earned her considerable respect at court.
One day the Florentines placed ceremonial portrait Hurrem, for whom she posed Venetian artist, in the art gallery. It was the only one female portrait among images of hook-nosed bearded sultans in huge turbans. “There was never another woman in the Ottoman palace who had such power” - Venetian ambassador Navajero, 1533.
Lisovskaya gives birth to the Sultan four sons (Mohammed, Bayazet, Selim, Jehangir) and a daughter, Khamerie. But Mustafa, the eldest son of the padishah’s first wife, Circassian Gulbekhar, was still officially considered the heir to the throne. She and her children became mortal enemies of the power-hungry and treacherous Roxalana.

Lisovskaya understood perfectly well: until her son became the heir to the throne or sat on the throne of the padishahs, her own position was constantly under threat. At any moment, Suleiman could be carried away by a new beautiful concubine and make her his legal wife, and order one of the old wives to be executed: in the harem, an unwanted wife or concubine was put alive in a leather bag, an angry cat and a poisonous snake were thrown in there, the bag was tied and a special stone chute was used to lower him with a tied stone into the waters of the Bosphorus. The guilty considered it lucky if they were simply quickly strangled with a silk cord.
Therefore, Roxalana prepared for a very long time and began to act actively and cruelly only after almost fifteen years!
Her daughter turned twelve years old, and she decided to marry her to... Rustem Pasha, who was already over fifty. But he was in great favor at court, close to the throne of the padishah and, most importantly, was something of a mentor and “godfather” to the heir to the throne, Mustafa, the son of the Circassian Gulbehar, Suleiman’s first wife.
Roxalana's daughter has grown up similar face and a chiseled figure like a beautiful mother, and Rustem Pasha with great pleasure became related to the Sultan - this is a very high honor for a courtier. Women were not forbidden to see each other, and the sultana deftly found out from her daughter about everything that was going on in the house of Rustem Pasha, literally collecting the information she needed bit by bit. Finally, Lisovskaya decided it was time to strike the fatal blow!
During a meeting with her husband, Roxalana secretly informed the Commander of the Faithful about the “terrible conspiracy.” Merciful Allah granted her time to learn about the secret plans of the conspirators and allowed her to warn her adored husband about the danger that threatened him: Rustem Pasha and the sons of Gulbehar planned to take the life of the padishah and take possession of the throne, placing Mustafa on it!
The intriguer knew well where and how to strike - the mythical “conspiracy” was quite plausible: in the East during the time of the sultans, bloody palace coups were the most common thing. In addition, Roxalana cited as an irrefutable argument the true words of Rustem Pasha, Mustafa and other “conspirators” that the daughter of Anastasia and the Sultan heard. Therefore, the seeds of evil fell on fertile soil!
Rustem Pasha was immediately taken into custody, and an investigation began: Pasha was terribly tortured. Perhaps he incriminated himself and others under torture. But even if he was silent, this only confirmed the padishah in the actual existence of a “conspiracy.” After torture, Rustem Pasha was beheaded.
Only Mustafa and his brothers were spared - they were an obstacle to the throne of Roxalana’s first-born, red-haired Selim, and for this reason they simply had to die! Constantly instigated by his wife, Suleiman agreed and gave the order to kill his children! The Prophet forbade the shedding of the blood of the padishahs and their heirs, so Mustafa and his brothers were strangled with a green silk twisted cord. Gulbehar went crazy with grief and soon died.
The cruelty and injustice of her son struck Valide Khamse, the mother of Padishah Suleiman, who came from the family of the Crimean khans Giray. At the meeting, she told her son everything she thought about the “conspiracy,” the execution, and her son’s beloved wife Roxalana. It is not surprising that after this Valide Khamse, the Sultan’s mother, lived for less than a month: the East knows a lot about poisons!
The Sultana went even further: she ordered to find in the harem and throughout the country other sons of Suleiman, whom wives and concubines gave birth to, and to take the lives of all of them! As it turned out, the Sultan had about forty sons - all of them, some secretly, some openly, were killed by order of Lisovskaya.
Thus, over forty years of marriage, Roksolana managed the almost impossible. She was proclaimed the first wife, and her son Selim became the heir. But the sacrifices did not stop there. Roksolana's two youngest sons were strangled. Some sources accuse her of involvement in these murders - allegedly this was done in order to strengthen the position of her beloved son Selim. However, reliable data about this tragedy has never been found.
She was no longer able to see her son ascend the throne, becoming Sultan Selim II. He reigned after the death of his father for only eight years - from 1566 to 1574 - and, although the Koran forbids drinking wine, he was a terrible alcoholic! His heart once simply could not withstand the constant excessive libations, and in the memory of the people he remained as Sultan Selim the drunkard!
No one will ever know what they were like true feelings the famous Roksolana. What is it like for a young girl to find herself in slavery, in a foreign country, with a foreign faith imposed on her. Not only not to break, but also to grow into the mistress of the empire, gaining glory throughout Asia and Europe. Trying to erase the shame and humiliation from her memory, Roksolana ordered the slave market to be hidden and a mosque, madrasah and almshouse to be erected in its place. That mosque and hospital in the almshouse building still bear the name of Haseki, as well as the surrounding area of ​​the city.
Her name, shrouded in myths and legends, sung by her contemporaries and covered in black glory, remains forever in history. Nastasia Lisovskaya, whose fate could be similar to hundreds of thousands of the same Nastya, Khristin, Oles, Mari. But life decreed otherwise. No one knows how much grief, tears and misfortunes Nastasya endured on the way to Roksolana. However, for the Muslim world she will remain Hurrem - LAUGHING.
Roksolana died either in 1558 or 1561. Suleiman I - in 1566. He managed to complete the construction of the majestic Suleymaniye Mosque - one of the largest architectural monuments of the Ottoman Empire - near which Roksolana’s ashes rest in an octagonal stone tomb, next to the also octagonal tomb of the Sultan. This tomb has stood for more than four hundred years. Inside, under the high dome, Suleiman ordered to carve alabaster rosettes and decorate each of them with a priceless emerald, Roksolana’s favorite gem.
When Suleiman died, his tomb was also decorated with emeralds, forgetting that his favorite stone was ruby.

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OTTOMAN (OTTOMAN) EMPIRE. This empire was created by Turkic tribes in Anatolia and existed since the decline of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th century. until the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1922. Its name came from the name of Sultan Osman I, founder of the Ottoman dynasty. The influence of the Ottoman Empire in the region began to gradually be lost from the 17th century, and it finally collapsed after its defeat in the First World War.

Rise of the Ottomans.

The modern Turkish Republic traces its origins to one of the Gazi beyliks. The creator of the future mighty power, Osman (1259–1324/1326), inherited from his father Ertogrul a small border fief (uj) of the Seljuk state on the southeastern border of Byzantium, near Eskisehir. Osman became the founder of a new dynasty, and the state received his name and went down in history as the Ottoman Empire.

In the last years of Ottoman power, a legend arose that Ertogrul and his tribe arrived from Central Asia just in time to save the Seljuks in their battle with the Mongols, and were rewarded with their western lands. However, modern research does not confirm this legend. Ertogrul's inheritance was given to him by the Seljuks, to whom he swore allegiance and paid tribute, as well as to the Mongol khans. This continued under Osman and his son until 1335. It is likely that neither Osman nor his father were ghazis until Osman came under the influence of one of the dervish orders. In the 1280s, Osman managed to capture Bilecik, İnönü and Eskişehir.

At the very beginning of the 14th century. Osman, together with his ghazis, annexed to his inheritance the lands that extended all the way to the coasts of the Black and Marmara Seas, as well as most of the territory west of the Sakarya River, right up to Kutahya in the south. After Osman's death, his son Orhan occupied the fortified Byzantine city of Brusa. Bursa, as the Ottomans called it, became the capital of the Ottoman state and remained so for more than 100 years until it was taken by them. In almost one decade, Byzantium lost almost all of Asia Minor, and such historical cities as Nicaea and Nicomedia received the names Iznik and Izmit. The Ottomans subjugated the beylik of Karesi in Bergamo (formerly Pergamon), and Ghazi Orhan became the ruler of the entire northwestern part of Anatolia: from the Aegean Sea and the Dardanelles to the Black Sea and the Bosphorus.

Conquests in Europe.

The formation of the Ottoman Empire.

In the period between the capture of Bursa and the victory in Kosovo Polje, the organizational structures and management of the Ottoman Empire were quite effective, and already at this time many features of the future huge state were emerging. Orhan and Murad did not care whether the new arrivals were Muslims, Christians or Jews, or whether they were Arabs, Greeks, Serbs, Albanians, Italians, Iranians or Tatars. The state system of government was built on a combination of Arab, Seljuk and Byzantine customs and traditions. In the occupied lands, the Ottomans tried to preserve, as far as possible, local customs so as not to destroy existing social relations.

In all newly annexed regions, military leaders immediately allocated income from land allotments as a reward to valiant and worthy soldiers. The owners of these kind of fiefs, called timars, were obliged to manage their lands and from time to time participate in campaigns and raids into distant territories. The cavalry was formed from feudal lords called sipahis, who had timars. Like the Ghazis, the Sipahis acted as Ottoman pioneers in newly conquered territories. Murad I distributed many such inheritances in Europe to Turkic families from Anatolia who did not have property, resettling them in the Balkans and turning them into a feudal military aristocracy.

Another notable event of that time was the creation in the army of the Janissary Corps, soldiers who were included in the military units close to the Sultan. These soldiers (Turkish yeniceri, lit. new army), called Janissaries by foreigners, were subsequently recruited from captured boys from Christian families, particularly in the Balkans. This practice, known as the devshirme system, may have been introduced under Murad I, but did not become fully established until the 15th century. under Murad II; it continued continuously until the 16th century, with interruptions until the 17th century. Having the status of slaves of the sultans, the Janissaries were a disciplined regular army consisting of well-trained and armed infantrymen, superior in combat effectiveness to all similar troops in Europe until the advent of the French army of Louis XIV.

Conquests and fall of Bayezid I.

Mehmed II and the capture of Constantinople.

The young Sultan received an excellent education at the palace school and as governor of Manisa under his father. He was undoubtedly more educated than all the other monarchs of Europe at that time. After the murder of his underage brother, Mehmed II reorganized his court in preparation for the capture of Constantinople. Huge bronze cannons were cast and troops were assembled to storm the city. In 1452, the Ottomans built a huge fort with three majestic castles within the fortress in a narrow part of the Bosphorus Strait, approximately 10 km north of the Golden Horn of Constantinople. Thus, the Sultan was able to control shipping from the Black Sea and cut off Constantinople from supplies from the Italian trading posts located to the north. This fort, called Rumeli Hisarı, together with another fortress Anadolu Hisarı, built by the great-grandfather of Mehmed II, guaranteed reliable communication between Asia and Europe. The most spectacular step of the Sultan was the ingenious crossing of part of his fleet from the Bosphorus to the Golden Horn through the hills, bypassing the chain stretched at the entrance to the bay. Thus, cannons from the Sultan's ships could fire at the city from the inner harbor. On May 29, 1453, a breach was made in the wall, and Ottoman soldiers rushed into Constantinople. On the third day, Mehmed II was already praying in Hagia Sophia and decided to make Istanbul (as the Ottomans called Constantinople) the capital of the empire.

Owning such a well-located city, Mehmed II controlled the situation in the empire. In 1456 his attempt to take Belgrade ended unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, Serbia and Bosnia soon became provinces of the empire, and before his death the Sultan managed to annex Herzegovina and Albania to his state. Mehmed II captured all of Greece, including the Peloponnese Peninsula, with the exception of a few Venetian ports, and the largest islands in the Aegean Sea. In Asia Minor, he finally managed to overcome the resistance of the rulers of Karaman, take possession of Cilicia, annex Trebizond (Trabzon) on the Black Sea coast to the empire and establish suzerainty over the Crimea. The Sultan recognized the authority of the Greek Orthodox Church and worked closely with the newly elected patriarch. Previously, over the course of two centuries, the population of Constantinople had been constantly declining; Mehmed II resettled many people from various parts of the country to the new capital and restored its traditionally strong crafts and trade.

The rise of the empire under Suleiman I.

The power of the Ottoman Empire reached its apogee in the mid-16th century. The period of the reign of Suleiman I the Magnificent (1520–1566) is considered the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman I (the previous Suleiman, son of Bayazid I, never ruled over its entire territory) surrounded himself with many capable dignitaries. Most of them were recruited through the devşirme system or captured during army campaigns and pirate raids, and by 1566, when Suleiman I died, these “new Turks” or “new Ottomans” already firmly held power over the entire empire. They formed the backbone of the administrative authorities, while the highest Muslim institutions were headed by indigenous Turks. Theologians and jurists were recruited from among them, whose duties included interpreting laws and performing judicial functions.

Suleiman I, being the only son of the monarch, never faced any claim to the throne. He was an educated man who loved music, poetry, nature, and philosophical discussions. Yet the military forced him to adhere to a militant policy. In 1521, the Ottoman army crossed the Danube and captured Belgrade. This victory, which Mehmed II could not achieve at one time, opened the way for the Ottomans to the plains of Hungary and the upper Danube basin. In 1526 Suleiman took Budapest and occupied all of Hungary. In 1529 the Sultan began the siege of Vienna, but was unable to capture the city before the onset of winter. Nevertheless, the vast territory from Istanbul to Vienna and from the Black Sea to the Adriatic Sea formed the European part of the Ottoman Empire, and Suleiman during his reign carried out seven military campaigns on the western borders of the power.

Suleiman led fighting and in the east. The borders of his empire with Persia were not defined, and vassal rulers in the border areas changed their masters depending on whose side was powerful and with whom it was more profitable to enter into an alliance. In 1534, Suleiman took Tabriz and then Baghdad, incorporating Iraq into the Ottoman Empire; in 1548 he regained Tabriz. The Sultan spent the entire year 1549 in pursuit of the Persian Shah Tahmasp I, trying to fight him. While Suleiman was in Europe in 1553, Persian troops invaded Asia Minor and captured Erzurum. Having expelled the Persians and devoted most of 1554 to the conquest of the lands east of the Euphrates, Suleiman, according to an official peace treaty concluded with the Shah, received a port in the Persian Gulf at his disposal. Squadrons of the naval forces of the Ottoman Empire operated in the waters of the Arabian Peninsula, in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez.

From the very beginning of his reign, Suleiman paid great attention to strengthening the naval power of the state in order to maintain Ottoman superiority in the Mediterranean. In 1522 his second campaign was directed against Fr. Rhodes, located 19 km from the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. After the capture of the island and the eviction of the Johannites who owned it to Malta, the Aegean Sea and the entire coast of Asia Minor became Ottoman possessions. Soon, the French king Francis I turned to the Sultan for military assistance in the Mediterranean and with a request to move against Hungary in order to stop the advance of the troops of Emperor Charles V, who were advancing on Francis in Italy. The most famous of Suleiman's naval commanders is Hayraddin Barbarossa, the supreme ruler of Algeria and North Africa, devastated the coasts of Spain and Italy. Nevertheless, Suleiman's admirals were unable to capture Malta in 1565.

Suleiman died in 1566 in Szigetvár during a campaign in Hungary. The body of the last of the great Ottoman sultans was transferred to Istanbul and buried in a mausoleum in the courtyard of the mosque.

Suleiman had several sons, but his favorite son died at the age of 21, two others were executed on charges of conspiracy, and his only remaining son, Selim II, turned out to be a drunkard. The conspiracy that destroyed Suleiman's family can be partly attributed to the jealousy of his wife Roxelana, a former slave girl of either Russian or Polish origin. Another mistake of Suleiman was the elevation in 1523 of his beloved slave Ibrahim, appointed chief minister (grand vizier), although among the applicants there were many other competent courtiers. And although Ibrahim was a capable minister, his appointment violated the long-established system of palace relations and aroused the envy of other dignitaries.

Mid 16th century was the heyday of literature and architecture. More than a dozen mosques were erected in Istanbul under the leadership and designs of the architect Sinan; the masterpiece was the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, dedicated to Selim II.

Under the new Sultan Selim II, the Ottomans began to lose their position at sea. In 1571, the united Christian fleet met the Turkish in the battle of Lepanto and defeated it. During the winter of 1571–1572, the shipyards in Gelibolu and Istanbul worked tirelessly, and by the spring of 1572, thanks to the construction of new warships, the European naval victory was nullified. In 1573 they managed to defeat the Venetians, and the island of Cyprus was annexed to the empire. Despite this, the defeat at Lepanto foreshadowed the coming decline of Ottoman power in the Mediterranean.

Decline of the Empire.

After Selim II, most of the sultans of the Ottoman Empire were weak rulers. Murad III, son of Selim, reigned from 1574 to 1595. His tenure was accompanied by unrest caused by palace slaves led by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Sokolki and two harem factions: one led by the Sultan's mother Nur Banu, a Jewish convert to Islam, and the other by his beloved Safiye's wife. The latter was the daughter of the Venetian governor of Corfu, who was captured by pirates and presented to Suleiman, who immediately gave her to his grandson Murad. However, the empire still had enough strength to advance east to the Caspian Sea, as well as to maintain its position in the Caucasus and Europe.

After the death of Murad III, 20 of his sons remained. Of these, Mehmed III ascended the throne, strangling 19 of his brothers. His son Ahmed I, who succeeded him in 1603, tried to reform the system of power and get rid of corruption. He moved away from the cruel tradition and did not kill his brother Mustafa. And although this, of course, was a manifestation of humanism, from that time all the brothers of the sultans and their closest relatives from the Ottoman dynasty began to be kept in captivity in a special part of the palace, where they spent their lives until the death of the reigning monarch. Then the eldest of them was proclaimed his successor. Thus, after Ahmed I, few who reigned in the 17th and 18th centuries. sultans had a sufficient level intellectual development or political experience to manage such a huge empire. As a result, the unity of the state and the central power itself began to quickly weaken.

Mustafa I, brother of Ahmed I, was mentally ill and reigned for only one year. Osman II, the son of Ahmed I, was proclaimed the new sultan in 1618. Being an enlightened monarch, Osman II tried to transform state structures, but was killed by his opponents in 1622. For some time, the throne again went to Mustafa I, but already in 1623 Osman’s brother Murad ascended the throne IV, who led the country until 1640. His reign was dynamic and reminiscent of Selim I. Having come of age in 1623, Murad spent the next eight years tirelessly trying to restore and reform the Ottoman Empire. In an effort to improve the health of government structures, he executed 10 thousand officials. Murad personally stood at the head of his armies during the eastern campaigns, prohibited the consumption of coffee, tobacco and alcoholic beverages, but he himself showed a weakness for alcohol, which led the young ruler to death at the age of only 28 years.

Murad's successor, his mentally ill brother Ibrahim, managed to significantly destroy the state he inherited before he was deposed in 1648. The conspirators placed Ibrahim's six-year-old son Mehmed IV on the throne and actually led the country until 1656, when the Sultan's mother achieved the appointment of grand vizier with unlimited powers talented Mehmed Köprülü. He held this position until 1661, when his son Fazil Ahmed Köprülü became vizier.

The Ottoman Empire still managed to overcome the period of chaos, extortion and crisis state power. Europe was torn apart by religious wars and the Thirty Years' War, and Poland and Russia were in turmoil. This gave both Köprül the opportunity, after a purge of the administration, during which 30 thousand officials were executed, to capture the island of Crete in 1669, and Podolia and other regions of Ukraine in 1676. After the death of Ahmed Köprülü, his place was taken by a mediocre and corrupt palace favorite. In 1683, the Ottomans besieged Vienna, but were defeated by the Poles and their allies led by Jan Sobieski.

Leaving the Balkans.

The defeat at Vienna marked the beginning of the Turkish retreat in the Balkans. Budapest fell first, and after the loss of Mohács, all of Hungary fell under the rule of Vienna. In 1688 the Ottomans had to leave Belgrade, in 1689 Vidin in Bulgaria and Nis in Serbia. After this, Suleiman II (r. 1687–1691) appointed Mustafa Köprülü, Ahmed's brother, as grand vizier. The Ottomans managed to recapture Niš and Belgrade, but were utterly defeated by Prince Eugene of Savoy in 1697 near Senta, in the far north of Serbia.

Mustafa II (r. 1695–1703) attempted to regain lost ground by appointing Hüseyin Köprülü as grand vizier. In 1699, the Treaty of Karlowitz was signed, according to which the Peloponnese and Dalmatia peninsulas went to Venice, Austria received Hungary and Transylvania, Poland received Podolia, and Russia retained Azov. The Treaty of Karlowitz was the first in a series of concessions that the Ottomans were forced to make when leaving Europe.

During the 18th century. The Ottoman Empire lost much of its power in the Mediterranean. In the 17th century The main opponents of the Ottoman Empire were Austria and Venice, and in the 18th century. – Austria and Russia.

In 1718, Austria, according to the Pozarevac (Passarovitsky) Treaty, received a number of more territories. However, the Ottoman Empire, despite defeats in the wars it fought in the 1730s, regained the city according to the treaty signed in 1739 in Belgrade, mainly due to the weakness of the Habsburgs and the intrigues of French diplomats.

Surrender.

As a result of the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of French diplomacy in Belgrade, an agreement was concluded between France and the Ottoman Empire in 1740. Called the "Capitulations", this document was for a long time the basis for the special privileges received by all states within the empire. The formal beginning of the agreements was laid back in 1251, when the Mamluk sultans in Cairo recognized Louis IX the Saint, King of France. Mehmed II, Bayezid II and Selim I confirmed this agreement and used it as a model in relations with Venice and other Italian city-states, Hungary, Austria and most others European countries. One of the most important was the 1536 treaty between Suleiman I and the French king Francis I. In accordance with the 1740 treaty, the French received the right to freely move and trade in the territory of the Ottoman Empire under the full protection of the Sultan, their goods were not subject to taxes, with the exception of import-export duties, French envoys and consuls acquired judicial power over their compatriots, who could not be arrested in the absence of a consular representative. The French were given the right to erect and freely use their churches; the same privileges were reserved within the Ottoman Empire for other Catholics. In addition, the French could take under their protection the Portuguese, Sicilians and citizens of other states who did not have ambassadors at the court of the Sultan.

Further decline and attempts at reform.

The end of the Seven Years' War in 1763 marked the beginning of new attacks against the Ottoman Empire. Despite the fact that the French king Louis XV sent Baron de Tott to Istanbul to modernize the Sultan's army, the Ottomans were defeated by Russia in the Danube provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia and were forced to sign the Küçük-Kaynardzhi Peace Treaty in 1774. Crimea gained independence, and Azov went to Russia, which recognized the border with the Ottoman Empire along the Bug River. The Sultan promised to provide protection for Christians living in his empire and allowed a presence in the capital Russian Ambassador, who received the right to represent the interests of his Christian subjects. From 1774 until the First World War, Russian tsars referred to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty to justify their role in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire. In 1779, Russia received rights to Crimea, and in 1792, the Russian border, in accordance with the Treaty of Iasi, was moved to the Dniester.

Time dictated change. Ahmed III (r. 1703–1730) invited architects to build him palaces and mosques in the style of Versailles, and opened a printing press in Istanbul. The Sultan's immediate relatives were no longer kept in strict confinement, some of them began to study the scientific and political heritage Western Europe. However, Ahmed III was killed by conservatives, and his place was taken by Mahmud I, under whom the Caucasus was lost to Persia, and the retreat in the Balkans continued. One of the outstanding sultans was Abdul Hamid I. During his reign (1774–1789), reforms were carried out, French teachers and technical specialists were invited to Istanbul. France hoped to save the Ottoman Empire and prevent Russia from accessing the Black Sea straits and the Mediterranean Sea.

Selim III

(reigned 1789–1807). Selim III, who became Sultan in 1789, formed a 12-member cabinet of ministers similar to European governments, replenished the treasury and created a new military corps. He created new educational institutions designed to educate civil servants in the spirit of the ideas of the Enlightenment. Printed publications were allowed again, and the works of Western authors began to be translated into Turkish.

In the early years French Revolution The Ottoman Empire was left alone by the European powers with its problems. Napoleon viewed Selim as an ally, believing that after the defeat of the Mamluks the Sultan would be able to strengthen his power in Egypt. Nevertheless, Selim III declared war on France and sent his fleet and army to defend the province. Only the British fleet, located off Alexandria and off the coast of the Levant, saved the Turks from defeat. This move of the Ottoman Empire involved it in the military and diplomatic affairs of Europe.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, after the departure of the French, Muhammad Ali, a native of the Macedonian city of Kavala, who served in the Turkish army, came to power. In 1805 he became governor of the province, which opened a new chapter in Egyptian history.

After the conclusion of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, relations with France were restored, and Selim III managed to maintain peace until 1806, when Russia invaded its Danube provinces. England provided assistance to its ally Russia by sending its fleet through the Dardanelles, but Selim managed to speed up the restoration of defensive structures, and the British were forced to sail to the Aegean Sea. French victories in Central Europe strengthened the position of the Ottoman Empire, but a rebellion against Selim III began in the capital. In 1807, during the absence of the commander-in-chief of the imperial army, Bayraktar, in the capital, the Sultan was deposed, and his cousin Mustafa IV took the throne. After the return of Bayraktar in 1808, Mustafa IV was executed, but first the rebels strangled Selim III, who was imprisoned. The only male representative from ruling dynasty Mahmud II remained.

Mahmud II

(reigned 1808–1839). Under him, in 1809, the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain concluded the famous Treaty of the Dardanelles, which opened the Turkish market for British goods on the condition that Great Britain recognized the closed status of the Black Sea Straits for military vessels in peacetime for the Turks. Previously, the Ottoman Empire agreed to join the continental blockade created by Napoleon, so the agreement was perceived as a violation of previous obligations. Russia began military operations on the Danube and captured a number of cities in Bulgaria and Wallachia. According to the Treaty of Bucharest of 1812, significant territories were ceded to Russia, and it refused to support the rebels in Serbia. At the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the Ottoman Empire was recognized as a European power.

National revolutions in the Ottoman Empire.

During the French Revolution, the country faced two new problems. One of them had been brewing for a long time: as the center weakened, separated provinces slipped away from the power of the sultans. In Epirus, the revolt was raised by Ali Pasha of Janin, who ruled the province as sovereign and maintained diplomatic relations with Napoleon and other European monarchs. Similar protests also occurred in Vidin, Sidon (modern Saida, Lebanon), Baghdad and other provinces, which undermined the power of the Sultan and reduced tax revenues to the imperial treasury. The most powerful of the local rulers (pashas) eventually became Muhammad Ali in Egypt.

Another intractable problem for the country was the growth of the national liberation movement, especially among the Christian population of the Balkans. At the peak of the French Revolution, Selim III in 1804 faced an uprising raised by the Serbs led by Karadjordje (George Petrovich). The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) recognized Serbia as a semi-autonomous province within the Ottoman Empire, led by Miloš Obrenović, Karageorgje's rival.

Almost immediately after the defeat of the French Revolution and the fall of Napoleon, Mahmud II faced the Greek national liberation revolution. Mahmud II had a chance to win, especially after he managed to convince the nominal vassal in Egypt, Muhammad Ali, to send his army and navy to support Istanbul. However, the Pasha's armed forces were defeated after the intervention of Great Britain, France and Russia. As a result of the breakthrough of Russian troops in the Caucasus and their attack on Istanbul, Mahmud II had to sign the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, which recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Greece. A few years later, the army of Muhammad Ali, under the command of his son Ibrahim Pasha, captured Syria and found itself dangerously close to the Bosporus in Asia Minor. Only the Russian naval landing, which landed on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus as a warning to Muhammad Ali, saved Mahmud II. After this, Mahmud never managed to get rid of Russian influence until he signed the humiliating Unkiyar-Iskelesi Treaty in 1833, which gave the Russian Tsar the right to “protect” the Sultan, as well as close and open the Black Sea straits at his discretion for the passage of foreigners. military courts.

Ottoman Empire after the Congress of Vienna.

The period following the Congress of Vienna was probably the most destructive for the Ottoman Empire. Greece separated; Egypt under Muhammad Ali, who, moreover, having captured Syria and South Arabia, became virtually independent; Serbia, Wallachia and Moldova became semi-autonomous territories. During Napoleonic wars Europe has significantly strengthened its military and industrial power. The weakening of the Ottoman power is attributed to a certain extent to the massacre of the Janissaries carried out by Mahmud II in 1826.

By concluding the Unkiyar-Isklelesi Treaty, Mahmud II hoped to gain time to transform the empire. The reforms he carried out were so noticeable that travelers visiting Turkey in the late 1830s noted that more changes had occurred in the country in the last 20 years than in the previous two centuries. Instead of the Janissaries, Mahmud created a new army, trained and equipped according to the European model. Prussian officers were hired to train officers in the new art of war. Fezs and frock coats became the official clothing of civil officials. Mahmud tried to introduce the latest methods developed in young European states into all areas of management. It was possible to reorganize the financial system, streamline the activities of the judiciary, and improve the road network. Additional educational institutions were created, in particular military and medical colleges. Newspapers began to be published in Istanbul and Izmir.

In the last year of his life, Mahmud again entered into war with his Egyptian vassal. Mahmud's army was defeated in Northern Syria, and his fleet in Alexandria went over to the side of Muhammad Ali.

Abdul-Mejid

(reigned 1839–1861). The eldest son and successor of Mahmud II, Abdul-Mejid, was only 16 years old. Without an army and navy, he found himself helpless against the superior forces of Muhammad Ali. He was saved by diplomatic and military assistance from Russia, Great Britain, Austria and Prussia. France initially supported Egypt, but concerted action by the European powers broke the deadlock: the pasha received the hereditary right to rule Egypt under the nominal suzerainty of the Ottoman sultans. This provision was legitimized by the Treaty of London in 1840 and confirmed by Abdülmecid in 1841. In the same year, the London Convention of European Powers was concluded, according to which warships were not to pass through the Dardanelles and the Bosporus in times of peace for the Ottoman Empire, and the signatory powers took undertake an obligation to assist the Sultan in maintaining sovereignty over the Black Sea Straits.

Tanzimat.

During the struggle with his strong vassal, Abdulmecid in 1839 promulgated the hatt-i sherif (“sacred decree”), announcing the beginning of reforms in the empire, which was addressed to the highest state dignitaries and invited ambassadors by the chief minister, Reshid Pasha. The document abolished the death penalty without trial, guaranteed justice for all citizens regardless of their race or religion, established a judicial council to adopt a new criminal code, abolished the tax farming system, changed the methods of recruiting the army, and limited the length of military service.

It became obvious that the empire was no longer able to defend itself in the event of a military attack from any of the great European powers. Reshid Pasha, who had previously served as ambassador to Paris and London, understood that it was necessary to take certain steps that would show the European states that the Ottoman Empire was capable of self-reform and manageable, i.e. deserves to be preserved as an independent state. Khatt-i Sherif seemed to be the answer to the doubts of the Europeans. However, in 1841 Reshid was removed from office. Over the next few years, his reforms were suspended, and only after his return to power in 1845 they began to be implemented again with the support of the British ambassador Stratford Canning. This period in the history of the Ottoman Empire, known as the Tanzimat ("ordering"), involved the reorganization of the system of government and the transformation of society in accordance with ancient Muslim and Ottoman principles of tolerance. At the same time, education developed, the network of schools expanded, and sons from famous families began to study in Europe. Many Ottomans began to lead a Western lifestyle. The number of newspapers, books and magazines published increased, and the younger generation professed new European ideals.

At the same time, it grew rapidly international trade, but the influx of European industrial products had a negative impact on the finances and economy of the Ottoman Empire. Imports of British factory fabrics destroyed cottage textile production and siphoned gold and silver from the state. Another blow to the economy was the signing of the Balto-Liman Trade Convention in 1838, according to which import duties on goods imported into the empire were frozen at 5%. This meant that foreign merchants could operate in the empire on an equal basis with local merchants. As a result most of trade in the country fell into the hands of foreigners, who, in accordance with the “Capitulations”, were freed from control by officials.

Crimean War.

The London Convention of 1841 abolished the special privileges which Russian Emperor Nicholas I received a secret annex to the Unkiyar-Iskelesi Treaty of 1833. Referring to the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty of 1774, Nicholas I launched an offensive in the Balkans and demanded special status and rights for Russian monks in holy places in Jerusalem and Palestine. After Sultan Abdulmecid refused to satisfy these demands, the Crimean War began. Great Britain, France and Sardinia came to the aid of the Ottoman Empire. Istanbul became the forward base for preparations for hostilities in the Crimea, and the influx of European sailors, army officers and civilian officials left an indelible mark on Ottoman society. The Treaty of Paris of 1856, which ended this war, declared the Black Sea a neutral zone. European powers again recognized Turkish sovereignty over the Black Sea Straits, and the Ottoman Empire was accepted into the “union of European states.” Romania gained independence.

Bankruptcy of the Ottoman Empire.

After the Crimean War, the sultans began to borrow money from Western bankers. Even in 1854, having practically no external debt, the Ottoman government very quickly became bankrupt, and already in 1875 Sultan Abdul Aziz owed European bondholders almost one billion dollars in foreign currency.

In 1875, the Grand Vizier declared that the country was no longer able to pay interest on its debts. Noisy protests and pressure from European powers forced the Ottoman authorities to increase taxes in the provinces. Unrest began in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The government sent troops to “pacify” the rebels, during which unprecedented cruelty was shown that amazed the Europeans. In response, Russia sent volunteers to help the Balkan Slavs. At this time, a secret arises in the country revolutionary society“New Ottomans”, who advocated constitutional reforms in their homeland.

In 1876 Abdul Aziz, who had succeeded his brother Abdul Mecid in 1861, was deposed for incompetence by Midhat Pasha and Avni Pasha, leaders of the liberal organization of constitutionalists. They placed on the throne Murad V, the eldest son of Abdul-Mecid, who turned out to be mentally ill and was deposed just a few months later, and Abdul-Hamid II, another son of Abdul-Mecid, was placed on the throne.

Abdul Hamid II

(reigned 1876–1909). Abdul Hamid II visited Europe, and many had high hopes for a liberal constitutional regime with him. However, at the time of his accession to the throne, Turkish influence in the Balkans was in danger despite the fact that Ottoman troops had managed to defeat Bosnian and Serbian rebels. This development of events forced Russia to threaten open intervention, which Austria-Hungary and Great Britain sharply opposed. In December 1876, a conference of ambassadors was convened in Istanbul, at which Abdul Hamid II announced the introduction of a constitution for the Ottoman Empire, which provided for the creation of an elected parliament, a government responsible to it and other attributes of European constitutional monarchies. However, the brutal suppression of the uprising in Bulgaria still led in 1877 to war with Russia. In this regard, Abdul Hamid II suspended the Constitution for the duration of the war. This situation continued until the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.

Meanwhile, at the front, the military situation was developing in favor of Russia, whose troops were already camped under the walls of Istanbul. Great Britain managed to prevent the capture of the city by sending a fleet to the Sea of ​​Marmara and presenting an ultimatum to St. Petersburg demanding an end to hostilities. Initially, Russia imposed on the Sultan the extremely unfavorable Treaty of San Stefano, according to which most of the European possessions of the Ottoman Empire became part of a new autonomous entity - Bulgaria. Austria-Hungary and Great Britain opposed the terms of the treaty. All this prompted the German Chancellor Bismarck to convene the Berlin Congress in 1878, at which the size of Bulgaria was reduced, but the full independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania was recognized. Cyprus went to Great Britain, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary. Russia received the fortresses of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi (Batumi) in the Caucasus; to regulate navigation on the Danube, a commission was created from representatives of the Danube states, and the Black Sea and the Black Sea Straits again received the status provided for by the Treaty of Paris of 1856. The Sultan promised to govern all his subjects equally fairly, and the European powers believed that the Berlin Congress had forever resolved the difficult Eastern problem.

During the 32-year reign of Abdul Hamid II, the Constitution never actually came into force. One of the most important unresolved issues was the bankruptcy of the state. In 1881, under foreign control, the Office of the Ottoman Public Debt was created, which was given responsibility for payments on European bonds. Within a few years, confidence in the financial stability of the Ottoman Empire was restored, which facilitated the participation of foreign capital in the construction of such large projects as the Anatolian Railway, which linked Istanbul with Baghdad.

Young Turk revolution.

During these years, national uprisings occurred in Crete and Macedonia. In Crete, bloody clashes took place in 1896 and 1897, leading to the Empire's war with Greece in 1897. After 30 days of fighting, European powers intervened to save Athens from being captured by the Ottoman army. Public opinion in Macedonia leaned towards either independence or union with Bulgaria.

It became obvious that the future of the state was connected with the Young Turks. The ideas of national uplift were propagated by some journalists, the most talented of whom was Namik Kemal. Abdul-Hamid tried to suppress this movement with arrests, exile and executions. At the same time, Turkish secret societies flourished in military headquarters around the country and in places as far away as Paris, Geneva and Cairo. The most effective organization turned out to be the secret committee “Unity and Progress”, which was created by the “Young Turks”.

In 1908, the troops stationed in Macedonia rebelled and demanded the implementation of the Constitution of 1876. Abdul-Hamid was forced to agree to this, not being able to use force. Elections to parliament followed and the formation of a government consisting of ministers responsible to this legislative body. In April 1909, a counter-revolutionary rebellion broke out in Istanbul, which, however, was quickly suppressed by armed units arriving from Macedonia. Abdul Hamid was deposed and sent into exile, where he died in 1918. His brother Mehmed V was proclaimed Sultan.

Balkan wars.

The Young Turk government soon faced internal strife and new territorial losses in Europe. In 1908, as a result of the revolution that took place in the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria declared its independence, and Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Young Turks were powerless to prevent these events, and in 1911 they found themselves drawn into a conflict with Italy, which invaded the territory of modern Libya. The war ended in 1912 with the provinces of Tripoli and Cyrenaica becoming an Italian colony. In early 1912, Crete united with Greece, and later that year, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria began the First Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire.

Within a few weeks, the Ottomans lost all their possessions in Europe, with the exception of Istanbul, Edirne and Ioannina in Greece and Scutari (modern Shkodra) in Albania. The great European powers, watching with concern as the balance of power in the Balkans was being destroyed, demanded a cessation of hostilities and a conference. The Young Turks refused to surrender the cities, and in February 1913 the fighting resumed. In a few weeks, the Ottoman Empire completely lost its European possessions, with the exception of the Istanbul zone and the straits. The Young Turks were forced to agree to a truce and formally give up the already lost lands. However, the winners immediately began an internecine war. The Ottomans clashed with Bulgaria in order to recapture Edirne and the European areas adjacent to Istanbul. The Second Balkan War ended in August 1913 with the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest, but a year later the First World War broke out.

The First World War and the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Developments after 1908 weakened the Young Turk government and isolated it politically. It tried to correct this situation by offering alliances to stronger European powers. On August 2, 1914, shortly after the outbreak of war in Europe, the Ottoman Empire entered into a secret alliance with Germany. On the Turkish side, the pro-German Enver Pasha, a leading member of the Young Turk triumvirate and the Minister of War, took part in the negotiations. A few days later, two German cruisers, Goeben and Breslau, took refuge in the straits. The Ottoman Empire acquired these warships, sailed them into the Black Sea in October and shelled Russian ports, thus declaring war on the Entente.

In the winter of 1914–1915, the Ottoman army suffered huge losses when Russian troops entered Armenia. Fearing that local residents would take their side there, the government authorized the massacre of the Armenian population in eastern Anatolia, which many researchers later called the Armenian genocide. Thousands of Armenians were deported to Syria. In 1916, the Ottoman rule in Arabia came to an end: the uprising was launched by the sheriff of Mecca, Hussein ibn Ali, supported by the Entente. As a result of these events, the Ottoman government completely collapsed, although Turkish troops, with German support, achieved a number of important victories: in 1915 they managed to repulse an Entente attack on the Dardanelles Strait, and in 1916 they captured a British corps in Iraq and stopped the Russian advance in the east. During the war, the capitulation regime was abolished and the customs tariffs to protect domestic trade. The Turks took over the business of the evicted national minorities, which helped create the core of a new Turkish commercial and industrial class. In 1918, when the Germans were recalled to defend the Hindenburg Line, the Ottoman Empire began to suffer defeats. On October 30, 1918, Turkish and British representatives concluded a truce, according to which the Entente received the right to “occupy any strategic points” of the empire and control the Black Sea straits.

Collapse of the empire.

The fate of most of the Ottoman provinces was determined in secret treaties of the Entente during the war. The Sultanate agreed to the separation of areas with a predominantly non-Turkish population. Istanbul was occupied by forces that had their own areas of responsibility. Russia was promised the Black Sea straits, including Istanbul, but the October Revolution led to the annulment of these agreements. In 1918, Mehmed V died, and his brother Mehmed VI ascended the throne, who, although he retained the government in Istanbul, actually became dependent on the Allied occupation forces. Problems grew in the interior of the country, far from the locations of the Entente troops and the power institutions subordinate to the Sultan. Detachments of the Ottoman army, wandering around the vast outskirts of the empire, refused to lay down their arms. British, French and Italian military contingents occupied various parts of Turkey. With the support of the Entente fleet, in May 1919, Greek armed forces landed in Izmir and began advancing deep into Asia Minor to take the protection of the Greeks in Western Anatolia. Finally, in August 1920, the Treaty of Sèvres was signed. No area of ​​the Ottoman Empire remained free from foreign surveillance. An international commission was created to control the Black Sea Straits and Istanbul. After unrest occurred in early 1920 as a result of rising national sentiments, British troops entered Istanbul.

Mustafa Kemal and the Treaty of Lausanne.

In the spring of 1920, Mustafa Kemal, the most successful Ottoman military leader of the war, convened the Great National Assembly in Ankara. He arrived from Istanbul to Anatolia on May 19, 1919 (the date from which the Turkish national liberation struggle began), where he united around himself patriotic forces striving to preserve Turkish statehood and the independence of the Turkish nation. From 1920 to 1922, Kemal and his supporters defeated enemy armies in the east, south and west and made peace with Russia, France and Italy. At the end of August 1922, the Greek army retreated in disarray to Izmir and the coastal areas. Then Kemal's troops headed to the Black Sea straits, where British troops were located. After the British Parliament refused to support the proposal to begin hostilities, British Prime Minister Lloyd George resigned, and war was averted by the signing of a truce in the Turkish city of Mudanya. The British government invited the Sultan and Kemal to send representatives to the peace conference, which opened in Lausanne (Switzerland) on November 21, 1922. However, the Grand National Assembly in Ankara abolished the Sultanate, and Mehmed VI, the last Ottoman monarch, left Istanbul on a British warship on November 17.

On July 24, 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, which recognized the full independence of Turkey. The Office of the Ottoman State Debt and Capitulation were abolished, and foreign control over the country was abolished. At the same time, Türkiye agreed to demilitarize the Black Sea straits. The province of Mosul with its oil fields was transferred to Iraq. It was planned to carry out a population exchange with Greece, from which the Greeks living in Istanbul and the West Thracian Turks were excluded. On October 6, 1923, British troops left Istanbul, and on October 29, 1923, Turkey was proclaimed a republic, and Mustafa Kemal was elected its first president.

All the sultans of the Ottoman Empire and the years of their reign are divided into several stages in history: from the period of creation to the formation of the republic. These time periods have almost exact boundaries in Ottoman history.

Formation of the Ottoman Empire

It is believed that the founders Ottoman state arrived in Asia Minor (Anatolia) from Central Asia (Turkmenistan) in the 20s of the 13th century. Sultan of the Seljuk Turks Keykubad II provided them with areas near the cities of Ankara and Segut for their residence.

The Seljuk Sultanate perished in 1243 under the attacks of the Mongols. Since 1281, Osman came to power in the possession allocated to the Turkmen (beylik), who pursued a policy of expanding his beylik: he captured small towns, proclaimed ghazawat - a holy war with the infidels (Byzantines and others). Osman partially subjugates the territory of Western Anatolia, in 1326 he takes the city of Bursa and makes it the capital of the empire.

In 1324, Osman I Gazi dies. He was buried in Bursa. The inscription on the grave became a prayer said by the Ottoman sultans upon ascending the throne.

Successors of the Ottoman dynasty:

Expansion of the empire's borders

In the middle of the 15th century. The period of the most active expansion of the Ottoman Empire began. At this time, the empire was headed by:

• Mehmed II the Conqueror - reigned 1444 - 1446. and in 1451 - 1481. At the end of May 1453, he captured and plundered Constantinople. He moved the capital to the plundered city. St. Sophia Cathedral was converted into main temple Islam. At the request of the Sultan, the residences of the Orthodox Greek and Armenian patriarchs, as well as the chief Jewish rabbi, were located in Istanbul. Under Mehmed II, the autonomy of Serbia was terminated, Bosnia was subordinated, and Crimea was annexed. The death of the Sultan prevented the capture of Rome. The Sultan did not value human life at all, but he wrote poetry and created the first poetic duvan.

  

• Bayezid II the Holy (Dervish) - reigned from 1481 to 1512. Almost never fought. Stopped the tradition of the Sultan's personal leadership of troops. He patronized culture and wrote poetry. He died, transferring power to his son.
• Selim I the Terrible (Merciless) - reigned from 1512 to 1520. He began his reign by destroying his closest competitors. Brutally suppressed the Shiite uprising. Captured Kurdistan, western Armenia, Syria, Palestine, Arabia and Egypt. A poet whose poems were subsequently published by the German Emperor Wilhelm II.

  

• Suleiman I Kanuni (Lawgiver) - reigned from 1520 to 1566. Expanded the borders to Budapest, the upper Nile and the Strait of Gibraltar, the Tigris and Euphrates, Baghdad and Georgia. Conducted many government reforms. The last 20 years have passed under the influence of the concubine and then the wife of Roksolana. He is the most prolific among the sultans in poetic creativity. He died during a campaign in Hungary.

  

• Selim II the Drunkard - reigned from 1566 to 1574. There was an addiction to alcohol. A talented poet. During this reign, the first conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Principality of Moscow and the first major defeat at sea occurred. The only expansion of the empire was the capture of Fr. Cyprus. He died from hitting his head on stone slabs in a bathhouse.

  

• Murad III - on the throne from 1574 to 1595. A “lover” of numerous concubines and a corrupt official who was practically not involved in managing the empire. During his reign, Tiflis was captured, and imperial troops reached Dagestan and Azerbaijan.

  

• Mehmed III - reigned from 1595 to 1603. Record holder for the destruction of competitors for the throne - on his orders, 19 brothers, their pregnant women and son were killed.

  

• Ahmed I - reigned from 1603 to 1617. The reign is characterized by a leapfrog of senior officials, who were often replaced at the request of the harem. The Empire lost Transcaucasia and Baghdad.

  

• Mustafa I - reigned from 1617 to 1618. and from 1622 to 1623. He was considered a saint for his dementia and sleepwalking. I spent 14 years in prison.
• Osman II - reigned from 1618 to 1622. Enthroned at the age of 14 by the Janissaries. He was pathologically cruel. After the defeat near Khotyn from the Zaporozhye Cossacks, he was killed by the Janissaries for attempting to escape with the treasury.

  

• Murad IV - reigned from 1622 to 1640. At the cost of great blood, he brought order to the corps of the Janissaries, destroyed the dictatorship of the viziers, and cleared the courts and government apparatus of corrupt officials. Returned Erivan and Baghdad to the empire. Before his death, he ordered the death of his brother Ibrahim, the last of the Ottomanids. Died of wine and fever.

  

• Ibrahim ruled from 1640 to 1648. Weak and weak-willed, cruel and wasteful, greedy for female caresses. Deposed and strangled by the Janissaries with the support of the clergy.

  

• Mehmed IV the Hunter - reigned from 1648 to 1687. Proclaimed Sultan at age 6. The true administration of the state was carried out by the grand viziers, especially in the early years. During the first period of reign, the empire strengthened its military power, conquered about. Crete. The second period was not so successful - the Battle of St. Gotthard was lost, Vienna was not taken, the Janissaries revolt and the overthrow of the Sultan.

  

• Suleiman II - reigned from 1687 to 1691. Enthroned by the Janissaries.
• Ahmed II - reigned from 1691 to 1695. Enthroned by the Janissaries.
• Mustafa II - reigned from 1695 to 1703. Enthroned by the Janissaries. The first partition of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 and the Treaty of Constantinople with Russia in 1700.

  

• Ahmed III - reigned from 1703 to 1730. He sheltered Hetman Mazepa and Charles XII after the Battle of Poltava. During his reign, the war with Venice and Austria was lost, part of his possessions in Eastern Europe, as well as Algeria and Tunisia, were lost.

  

The Ottoman Empire arose in 1299 in the north-west of Asia Minor and existed for 624 years, managing to conquer many peoples and become one of the greatest powers in human history.

From place to quarry

The position of the Turks at the end of the 13th century looked hopeless, if only because of the presence of Byzantium and Persia in the neighborhood. Plus the sultans of Konya (the capital of Lycaonia - a region in Asia Minor), depending on whom, albeit formally, the Turks were.

However, all this did not prevent Osman (1288-1326) from territorially expanding and strengthening his young state. By the way, the Turks began to be called Ottomans after the name of their first sultan.
Osman was actively involved in the development of internal culture and treated others with care. Therefore, many Greek cities located in Asia Minor preferred to voluntarily recognize his supremacy. In this way they “killed two birds with one stone”: they received protection and preserved their traditions.
Osman's son, Orhan I (1326-1359), brilliantly continued his father's work. Having announced that he was going to unite all the faithful under his rule, the Sultan set out to conquer not the countries of the east, which would be logical, but the western lands. And Byzantium was the first to stand in his way.

By this time, the empire was in decline, which the Turkish Sultan took advantage of. Like a cold-blooded butcher, he "chopped off" area after area from the Byzantine "body". Soon the entire northwestern part of Asia Minor came under Turkish rule. They also established themselves on the European coast of the Aegean and Marmara Seas, as well as the Dardanelles. And the territory of Byzantium was reduced to Constantinople and its environs.
Subsequent sultans continued the expansion of Eastern Europe, where they successfully fought against Serbia and Macedonia. And Bayazet (1389 -1402) was “noted” by the defeat of the Christian army, which in Crusade King Sigismund of Hungary led against the Turks.

From defeat to triumph

Under the same Bayazet, one of the most severe defeats of the Ottoman army occurred. The Sultan personally opposed Timur's army and in the Battle of Ankara (1402) he was defeated, and he himself was captured, where he died.
The heirs tried by hook or by crook to ascend to the throne. The state was on the verge of collapse due to internal unrest. Only under Murad II (1421-1451) did the situation stabilize and the Turks were able to regain control of the lost Greek cities and conquer part of Albania. The Sultan dreamed of finally dealing with Byzantium, but did not have time. His son, Mehmed II (1451-1481), was destined to become the killer of the Orthodox empire.

On May 29, 1453, the hour of X came for Byzantium. The Turks besieged Constantinople for two months. Such a short time was enough to break the city's inhabitants. Instead of everyone taking up arms, the townspeople simply prayed to God for help, without leaving their churches for days. The last emperor, Constantine Palaiologos, asked the Pope for help, but he demanded in return the unification of churches. Konstantin refused.

Perhaps the city would have held out longer if not for the betrayal. One of the officials agreed to the bribe and opened the gate. He did not take into account one important fact - Turkish Sultan In addition to the female harem, there was also a male harem. That's where the pretty son of the traitor ended up.
The city fell. The civilized world froze. Now all the states of both Europe and Asia realized that the time had come for a new superpower - the Ottoman Empire.

European campaigns and confrontations with Russia

The Turks did not even think of stopping there. After the death of Byzantium, no one blocked their path to rich and unfaithful Europe, even conditionally.
Soon, Serbia (except for Belgrade, but the Turks would capture it in the 16th century), the Duchy of Athens (and, accordingly, most of all of Greece), the island of Lesbos, Wallachia, and Bosnia were annexed to the empire.

In Eastern Europe, the territorial appetites of the Turks intersected with the interests of Venice. The ruler of the latter quickly gained the support of Naples, the Pope and Karaman (Khanate in Asia Minor). The confrontation lasted 16 years and ended in complete victory for the Ottomans. After that, no one stopped them from “getting” the remaining Greek cities and islands, as well as annexing Albania and Herzegovina. The Turks were so keen on expanding their borders that they even successfully attacked the Crimean Khanate.
Panic began in Europe. Pope Sixtus IV began to make plans for the evacuation of Rome, and at the same time hastened to declare a Crusade against the Ottoman Empire. Only Hungary responded to the call. In 1481, Mehmed II died and the era of great conquests came to a temporary end.
In the 16th century, when internal unrest in the empire subsided, the Turks again turned their weapons on their neighbors. First there was a war with Persia. Although the Turks won it, their territorial gains were insignificant.
After success in North African Tripoli and Algeria, Sultan Suleiman invaded Austria and Hungary in 1527 and besieged Vienna two years later. It was not possible to take it - bad weather and widespread illness prevented it.
As for relations with Russia, the interests of states collided for the first time in Crimea.

The first war took place in 1568 and ended in 1570 with the victory of Russia. The empires fought with each other for 350 years (1568 - 1918) - one war occurred on average every quarter of a century.
During this time there were 12 wars (including the Azov War, the Prut Campaign, the Crimean and Caucasian Fronts during the First World War). And in most cases, victory remained with Russia.

Dawn and sunset of the Janissaries

When talking about the Ottoman Empire, one cannot fail to mention its regular troops - the Janissaries.
In 1365, by personal order of Sultan Murad I, the Janissary infantry was formed. It was staffed by Christians (Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, and so on) aged from eight to sixteen years. This is how the devshirme—the blood tax—worked, which was imposed on the non-believing peoples of the empire. It is interesting that at first life for the Janissaries was quite difficult. They lived in monasteries-barracks, they were forbidden to start a family or any kind of household.
But gradually the Janissaries from an elite branch of the army began to turn into a highly paid burden for the state. In addition, these troops took part in hostilities less and less often.

The decomposition began in 1683, when Muslim children began to be taken into the Janissaries along with Christian children. Rich Turks sent their children there, thereby solving the issue of their successful future - they could make a good career. It was the Muslim Janissaries who began to start families and engage in crafts, as well as trade. Gradually they turned into a greedy, arrogant political force that interfered in state affairs and participated in the overthrow of unwanted sultans.
The agony continued until 1826, when Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissaries.

Death of the Ottoman Empire

Frequent unrest, inflated ambitions, cruelty and constant participation in any wars could not but affect the fate of the Ottoman Empire. The 20th century turned out to be especially critical, in which Turkey was increasingly torn apart by internal contradictions and the separatist spirit of the population. Because of this, the country fell far behind the West technically, and therefore began to lose the territories it had once conquered.

The fateful decision for the empire was its participation in the First World War. The Allies defeated the Turkish troops and organized a division of its territory. On October 29, 1923, a new state emerged - the Turkish Republic. Its first president was Mustafa Kemal (later, he changed his surname to Ataturk - “father of the Turks”). Thus ended the history of the once great Ottoman Empire.