Osman I Ghazi (1258-1326) ruled from 1281, founder of the Ottoman Empire in 1299

The first Turkish sultan, Osman I, at the age of 23, inherited vast territories in Phrygia from his father, Prince Ertogrul. He united the scattered Turkish tribes with the Muslims who fled from the Mongols, later they all became known as the Ottomans, and conquered a significant part of the Byzantine state, gaining access to the Black and Marmara Seas. In 1299 he founded an empire named after him. Capturing the Byzantine city of Yenisehir in 1301, Osman made it the capital of his empire. In 1326, he stormed the city of Bursa, which already under his son Orhan became the second capital of the empire.

The territory in Asia Minor, on which Turkey is located today, was called Anatolia in ancient times and was the cradle of many civilizations. Among them, one of the most developed was the Byzantine Empire - a Greco-Roman Orthodox state with its capital in Constantinople. Created in 1299 by Sultan Osman, the Ottoman Empire actively expanded its borders and seized neighboring lands. Gradually, many provinces of the weakening Byzantium came under his rule.

The reasons for the victories of Sultan Osman lay primarily in his ideology, he declared war on Christians and intended to seize their lands and enrich his subjects. Many Muslims flocked under his banner, including Turkic nomads and artisans who fled from the invasion of the Mongols, there were also non-Muslims. The Sultan welcomed everyone. He first formed an army of Janissaries - the future regular Turkish infantry, created from Christians, slaves and prisoners, later it was replenished with the children of Christians brought up in Islamic traditions.

The authority of Osman was so high that poems and songs began to be composed in his honor during his lifetime. Many scientists of that time - dervishes - pointed to the prophetic meaning of his name, which, according to one source, meant "beating the bones", that is, a warrior who knows no barriers and knocks the enemy down, according to others - a "vulture hawk" that feeds on the carrion of the slain. But in the West, Christians called him not Osman, but Ottoman (hence the word ottoman came from - a soft Turkish seat without a back), which simply meant "Ottoman Turk".

The broad offensive of Osman, his well-armed army, led to the fact that the Byzantine peasants, who were not protected by anyone, were forced to flee, abandoning their well-cultivated agricultural areas. And the Turks got pastures, vineyards, orchards. The tragedy of Byzantium was that its capital Constantinople in 1204 was captured by the knights-crusaders who were making the Fourth Crusade. The completely plundered city became the capital of the Latin Empire, which collapsed by 1261. At the same time, Byzantium was created again, but already weakened and unable to resist external invasion.

The Byzantines concentrated their efforts on creating a fleet, they wanted to stop the Turks at the sea, to prevent them from advancing deep into the mainland. But nothing could stop Osman. In 1301, his army inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined Byzantine forces near Nicaea (now the Turkish city of Iznik). In 1304, the Sultan captured the city of Ephesus on the Aegean Sea - the center of early Christianity, in which, according to legend, the Apostle Paul lived, John wrote the Gospel. The Turks sought to Constantinople, to the Bosporus.

The last conquest of Osman was the Byzantine city of Bursa. This victory was very important - it opened the way to Constantinople. The sultan, who was dying, ordered his subjects to turn Bursa into the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Osman did not live to see the fall of Constantinople. But other sultans continued his work and created the great Ottoman Empire, which lasted until 1922.

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine

National University of Internal Affairs

Test

on the course “History of the state and the law of foreign countries”

on the topic

"Law of the Ottoman Empire"

Completed:
Shevtsov I.P.

Checked by: Assoc. Etc.

Plan

1. State structure of the Ottoman Empire.

2. Sharia.

3. Sultan's eve-names.

4. "Majallat al-Ahkam al-Adliyya" (Code of Laws, 1869-1876).

5. Conclusions.

This paper discusses the basic principles and evolution of the legal system of one of the largest states of the Middle Ages - the Ottoman Empire. The task of the study is to use the preserved or reconstructed legal monuments of this state, as well as sources reflecting modern research in this area. It is necessary to note both the general importance of the role of the Ottoman Empire among other countries of the Medieval East, and its influence on the Ukrainian lands located in the immediate vicinity. It should be emphasized some factors that give additional relevance to the problem under study in our time. Perhaps one of the most important features of the geopolitical situation in the world is the so-called East-West conflict: the conflict between Western and Eastern cultures, Western and Eastern values. In the autumn of 2005 in France (pogroms of immigrants from Muslim countries) one profile of the conflict emerged, and the events surrounding the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in early 2006 are a new confirmation of tense relations, a round of a long confrontation between civilizations. One of the central problems of the modern world community is terrorism. Moreover, very often he is associated with radical Islamist movements. In this regard, it is important to note the relationship between the Islamist manifestation of terrorism and jihad, which includes a "holy war against the infidels" (jihad of the sword or small jihad (ghazawat) - armed resistance to the enemies of Islam). It is this theory, perhaps formally, that formed the basis of modern radical Islamist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda, which resulted in one of the most high-profile terrorist attacks in world history - September 11 in New York. Some of the legitimized rules of jihad come from the Qur'an or from hadiths - information about the deeds, approvals or sayings of the prophet Muhammad. And the hadiths, in turn, are the source of Sharia - Islamic law. Particular attention should be paid to the evolution that took place in the legal system of the successor to the Ottoman Empire. The Republic of Turkey is practically the only state in which the influence of the previously dominant Muslim law has not been preserved. The new legal system was built on the European model, for example, the Turkish civil code, based on Swedish, granted civil rights to women and banned polygamy. The Turkish Constitution of 1982 declared the republic a democratic, secular and social-legal state.

Separately, it should be said about the sources used in this work. To obtain general information on the history of the Ottoman Empire and Islamic law, textbooks for law and history faculties were mainly used. Their names are included in the bibliography at the end of the work. In particular, this is a textbook Skakun O.F. "Theory of State and Law" and the book by Vasiliev L.S. "History of the East". Also, translations into Russian, directly, of individual legal monuments were used, such as, for example, “The Book of Laws of Sultan Selim I” (translated by Tveritinova A.S., 1969). It is necessary to say about the characteristic feature of the medieval legal monuments of the Ottoman Empire. The most serious works containing data analysis on this topic belong to a prominent Turkish specialist, professor of Istanbul University Omer Lutfi Barkan. O.L. Barkan noted that great difficulties for a comprehensive study of Turkish legislation in the Middle Ages are created by the absence in the archives of Turkey of official texts, even of those legislative codes that are known to historians from various publications. Obviously, the consequence of this is insufficiently extensive information in the literature on the general history of the state and law. And in conclusion, the author of this work analyzed a number of contemporary articles in the media devoted to Muslim law and culture, including foreign (English-language) ones.

The high Ottoman State (Ottoman Empire) appeared as a result of the conquests of Anatolia (Asia Minor) in the 11th century. the Seljuk Turks, who took possession of the lands that previously belonged to Byzantium and assimilated it, mainly the Greek population. The heirs of the first Turkic conquerors became the Ottoman Empire, which completed the conquest of Byzantium with the capture of Constantinople in 1453. At the height of its power, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1555), the empire stretched from Vienna to the Persian Gulf, from the Crimea to Morocco. The period of the Ottoman Empire ended after the end of the First World War, when it broke up into many independent states, and the Turkish lands became part of the modern Republic of Turkey.

The Ottoman Empire over 6 centuries developed a rather complex state structure. During the reign of Osman (1288 - 1326), a powerful military state was formed, absolutist, in fact, although the generals, to whom the sultan gave different areas to control, often turned out to be independent and reluctantly recognized the supreme authority of the sultan. This period is marked by the creation of the Ottoman system of state administration, which remained virtually unchanged for four centuries. Mostly for practical reasons (trade, taxes), the Ottoman state was relatively tolerant of non-Muslims, in particular, forced conversion to Islam was not practiced. The concept of "millet" was introduced, according to which religious and ethnic minorities were given the opportunity to be independent from the central government in resolving their issues. Millet was an interpretation of the Muslim rules for the treatment of non-Muslim minorities (dhimmi). The leader of each millet was an ethnarch, most often a religious hierarch, such as the Patriarch of Constantinople, who reported directly to the Ottoman Sultan. The Millets had real power—they made their own laws and collected and distributed taxes. When a member of one millet committed a crime against a member of another, the law of the victim was applied, but if the case involved a member of the Muslim community, then the primary Islamic law, Sharia, was used. Neighboring states that were in vassalage in relation to the Ottoman Empire were forced to pay taxes to the Sultan, as well as to provide their formations in the event of Ottoman military campaigns. Many vassal states were eventually transformed into provinces of the empire itself. However, there were those that did not become provinces, such as the Crimean Khanate, which later became part of the Russian Empire.

In the Ottoman Empire, there was no strict rule for the transfer of the Sultan's power by birthright (from father to eldest son) or by seniority (older brother). Although the crown often passed to the sultan's son, the system of succession changed frequently and was unstable. The state apparatus, like the entire system of administration, the entire internal structure of the empire, was very close to the classical standard, which corresponds to the general scheme of the command and administrative structure of the traditional East, including institutions of power - property and centralized redistribution (redistribution). All the lands of the empire were considered state lands, and the apparatus of power disposed of them on behalf of the Sultan. In the conquered territories, the forms of land ownership partly changed in accordance with Ottoman standards, partly remained the same, but at the same time they were still brought into line with the orders that were adopted in the empire. Although the sultan was the supreme monarch, he had many advisers and ministers. The most powerful among them were the viziers and the Diwan (essentially the government), subordinate to the Grand Vizier. The sofa was a council where the viziers discussed the policy of the empire. The duty of the Grand Vizier was to inform the Sultan of the opinion of the Divan. The sofa consisted of 3 viziers in the 14th century to 11 in the 17th century. The activities of the government were regulated by the code of laws of Kanun-name adopted under Mehmed II (1444-1481), as well as Islamic law, Sharia. Organizationally, the central apparatus of power consisted of three main systems - military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious. Each of them was presented both in the center and in the field. The military-administrative system, headed by the Grand Vizier himself, was the backbone of the entire structure of the empire. Country to the XVI century. was divided into 16 large regions-eyalets, headed by governors-beylerbeys, subordinate to the Grand Vizier and responsible for the state of affairs in their regions - primarily for the combat capability of those units that this or that region should always be ready to put forward. The Beylerbeys, in turn, were subordinate to the uyezd sanjakbey governors (there were about 250 sanjak uyezds in the country), who were administratively responsible for their uyezds. In the counties, the power of the sanjakbey was very strong, although formally it was regulated by the county Kanun-name, which over time were created for each sanjak. And, finally, at the lowest level of power, the entire military-administrative system relied on the timariots, subordinate to the sanjakbeys and responsible to them both for the combat capability and equipment of the sipahi warriors sent from their timar-landownership, and for maintaining administrative order among the local population.

The functions of the financial department, headed by the vizier-defterdar and represented at the regional and district levels by special officials with scribes subordinate to them, included keeping a strict record of the resources and income of the treasury, determining the amount of taxes and taxes, and various duties. Apparently, it was the officials of this department that had to strictly control the amount of taxes from each timar, including the share that went to the timariot, and which he had no right to exceed. The system of taxes in the empire was quite complex, especially considering that some of the outlying provinces that were in a semi-autonomous position had their own traditional types of taxes. On the whole, however, the system was coherent and rigidly obligatory. It was divided into two main parts - legal taxes (i.e., those corresponding to Sharia - tithe-ushr from Muslims, kharaj and poll tax jiziya from non-Muslims, zakat from the wealthy and the corresponding heavier duties from non-Muslims, especially from wealthy citizens, etc.). etc.) and additional fees, which included various local and emergency taxes, duties, taxes. The Muslim clergy, both serving (judge-kadi, etc.) and non-serving (ulema), were exempted from taxes, except for servicemen.

The judicial-religious system, within the framework of the general administrative-political structure of the empire, had the function of controlling the way of life and behavior of the population. Headed at the level of the central government by the sheikh-ul-Islam and represented at the governorate level by a few (initially only two) qadi-askers, this system was closed at the county level by Muslim qadi judges and their assistants. Qadi judges were, first of all, judges who decided on behalf of Islam and on behalf of the authorities all court cases concerning Muslims. But this was only a part of their functions, although the main, most important. In addition, qadis acted as notaries who recorded documents and transactions, as well as mediators resolving trade, financial and other disputes, controllers who monitored the regulation of income and the procedure for collecting taxes, the setting of prices, the procedure and nature of public works, etc. . In a word, in conditions of fusion of politics and religion typical for Islamic structures, qadis who were in the administrative service were both confessors and officials. As far as other, non-Muslim strata of the population were concerned, similar functions were entrusted to the leaders of the respective religious millet communities - Greek Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian, Jewish, who received wide powers for this.

As a result, it should be noted the basic principles on which the concept of the Ottoman state was based. It is important to highlight the religious component, which is an integral basis, the foundation of statehood. From this follows the root of the entire legal system of the Ottoman Empire - Sharia. The next feature is the weak centralization of state power. Indicative in this case is the presence of millets - ethnic-religious autonomies that exercised self-government quite independent of the sultan's power.

The next topic to be considered will be the basic principles and scope of Shariah. Sharia (- the proper (correct) way, mode of action) - a set of - and, covering all aspects of life, proclaimed "eternal and unchanging". This legal system, which eventually acquired world significance, arose and took shape within the framework of the Arab Caliphate. The process of its development was closely connected with the evolution of the Arab statehood from a small patriarchal-religious community at the beginning of the 7th century. (under the Prophet Muhammad) to one of the largest empires of the 8th-10th centuries. under the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. After the fall of the Arab Caliphate, Muslim law became effective in a number of medieval countries in Asia and Africa that adopted Islam to one degree or another (including the Ottoman Empire).

According to Islamic traditions, the main sources of sharia are the Koran and the Sunnah, and all other sources should not contradict them. Below is a list of the basic sources of Shariah:

As an additional source of law, Sharia also allowed local customs that were not directly included in Muslim law itself during its formation, but did not directly contradict its principles and norms. At the same time, the legal customs that had developed in the Arab society itself (urf), as well as among numerous peoples conquered as a result of the Arab conquests or later subjected to the influence of Muslim law (adat), were recognized.

Thus, it can be summarized that Sharia is the core of the Islamic religious and legal system of most Muslim countries. This system spread to the territories of all countries under the influence of the Arab Caliphate, in particular, the Ottoman Empire. And now, even though it is not really effective legislation, it still has an impact on the social life of the heiress of the Ottoman Empire - Turkey.

A source of law derived from Sharia was the decrees and orders of the caliphs - firmans. Subsequently, with the development of legislative activity, laws - eve - began to be considered and play an ever-increasing role as a source of law. Firmans and kanuns were not supposed to contradict the principles of Sharia and supplemented it, first of all, with the norms regulating the activities of state bodies and regulating the administrative and legal relations of state power with the population. The legal system, built on eve laws, resolved issues not directly reflected in Sharia law, and, in fact, was the secular legislation of the Sultan. By the first half of the XV century. also include the first attempts to codify Ottoman feudal law in the form of sets of legislative provisions (qanun-name) for individual provinces of the state. They summarized the provisions on administrative, financial and criminal cases, established the principles of taxation of various groups of the taxable population, regulated issues of land relations, taking into account the practice that had developed in these areas by the time they were included in the Ottoman state. From the point of view of Islamic law, such codes were an innovation that detracted from the role of Sharia. The legal provisions that constituted them were based mainly on the norms of customary law and regulations that were in force before the Ottoman conquest, and therefore sometimes significantly diverged from the Sharia dogmas, which were usually guided by Muslim judges - qadis. Later, during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (1451-1481), on their basis, general kanun-names (Fatih Kanunnamesi) were compiled, which became mandatory guidelines for solving state affairs and in the practice of Sharia courts. The texts of the decrees of the first Ottoman rulers have not reached us. It is known only from the writings of chroniclers and the later records of jurists that Osman established the rules for collecting bazaar duties and announced a law on the procedure for distributing timar possessions, and under Orkhan, in 1328, it was decided to mint his own coins (akche), to introduce a special clothes (in particular, white caps) for military captives (sipahis; persons in vassal dependence), “so that you can see the differences between them and commoners (rayats)”, about the creation of an irregular infantry army of yay and mucellems, kept on salary in wartime and dispersed through the villages to engage in agriculture at the end of the war. Sultan Murad I, on the advice of Beylerbey Rumelia Timurtash Pasha, clarified the procedure for the succession of Timars and the execution of military duties by their owners, and also established a law on the deduction in favor of the treasury of 1/5 of the value of the spoils delivered by Turkish conquerors from campaigns, including prisoners , having determined the price of each captive-slave at 25 Akçe. Under Sultan Bayazid I, a fee was set for qadis for writing testimonies, petitions and similar documents, as well as for performing various judicial duties. The listed and many other decrees of the first Ottoman sultans, apparently, remained in a scattered, unsystematized state, at least until the second half of the 15th century. Their first codification refers to the period of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih, which we can judge from the texts of two legislative codes (kanun-name) of this time that have come down to us. One of them contains three parts: 1) a table of ranks, 2) the basics of court ceremonial and the rules for appointing dignitaries and their children to public office, 3) several articles on punishments for criminal offenses, determining the maintenance of dignitaries and their titles.

After Mehmed II Fatih, Sultan Bayezid II (1418-1512) became the publisher of the kanun-name. In this collection of laws, the rules for religious fees and taxes from the Timars were expanded. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1556), also called Kanuni (Legislator), established an even more complex system of kanun-name rules: from the rights and responsibilities of the Timar-sipahi warriors to the rules of appearance. New laws were also issued for the conquered countries and regions. So, for example, in 1520, the eve-name of Amfissa (Kanun-name-i Salna) was published, which regulated mainly the procedure for collecting taxes and customs duties in areas of Central Greece, which was under Ottoman rule. So, for example, in the kanun-name of Amfissa it is said: “From infidels who have reached adulthood, 25 akche is charged as ispendje (land tax); Married [infidels] are charged 6 Akçe as a tax on hay, and widows of infidels (i.e. non-Muslims) are charged Ispendje of 6 Akçe.” Or about customs duties (baj) on food, clothes, etc.: “For the sale of a slave or a slave, 4 akçe are charged from both the seller and the buyer, which in general is 8 akçe.”

Turkish historians associate the main stages in the development of Ottoman legislation after Mehmed II with the names of the sultans Suleiman Kanuni (1520-1666), Ahmed I (1603-1617) and with the activities, mainly in the 16th-17th centuries, of many jurists (Sheikh ul-Islams and etc.).

From the foregoing, we can conclude that the sultan's kanun-names were one of the most important sources of law in the Ottoman Empire. It is also very significant that the further development of Ottoman legal concepts is connected precisely with those, albeit still insufficiently systematized, provisions that are set forth in these codes of Sultan's laws.

In 1869-1877. The Majallat al-Ahkam al-Adliyya (Code of Laws) was adopted, which is also called the Civil Code of the Ottoman Empire. After the appearance of the code, the judges (qadi) were obliged, first of all, to apply its norms, and not to base their decisions on doctrinal interpretations. The Code forbade the interpretation of issues regulated by its norms. Primary attention in this code (another name - Majalla) is given to issues of civil and judicial law. Majalla was the first serious attempt to codify the norms of Islamic law, the importance of which cannot be overestimated, some civil codes of Arab countries still include certain provisions of this source, for example, to this day, separate norms borrowed from Majalla remain in the legislation of Kuwait and other countries . Its action extended to most of the Arab countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire (with the exception of Egypt). The Code regulated issues of legal capacity, but did not affect family relations, which, in accordance with the principle of freedom of belief and personal rights of followers of numerous sects and persuasions, continued to be regulated by various traditional schools of Muslim law. Majalla operated in Turkey until 1926, in Lebanon until 1931, in Syria until 1949, in Iran until 1953, in Jordan until 1976. Currently, its operation is partially preserved in Israel, Kuwait and Cyprus. The principles of legal regulation are widely represented in Majalla, formulated as a result of the interpretation of the causal prescriptions of Islamic law and considered as a starting point for the application of specific legal norms. A significant number of these articles are devoted to liability for harm caused. These included such rules as “damage is not eliminated by damage” (Article 25), “damage is not long-standing” (Article 7), “greater harm is eliminated by lesser” (Article 27), “harm is avoided as far as possible” ( Article 31), “recovery for acquired” (Article 87), etc. Violation of the terms of the contract, illegal taking of another's property and causing damage to another's property (“itlaf”) are considered the grounds for civil liability. Muslim jurists also included unintentional crimes against a person (murder, bodily harm) in the “itlaf”, the responsibility for which was also of a compensatory nature. At the same time, responsibility for crimes came under criminal law. The concept of "itlaf" distinguishes between direct and indirect damage to someone else's property. In the second case, there must necessarily be a gap between the qualifying action and the occurrence of damage in the form of another action or event. According to the rule of Art. 92 and 93 of the Majalla, the burden of liability for damage rests with the person whose actions directly led to the damage: the person who caused it indirectly is liable only if his actions were intentional.

Thus, the "Code of Legal Norms" is the first legislative act that consolidated the norms of Muslim law as an integral system in the form of state law. Subsequently, these provisions were adopted by the legislation of a number of countries in Asia and Africa at the level of industries or even individual norms.

Some conclusions should be drawn from this work. First, it is necessary to state the fact that a feature of the legal systems in states where Islam has become the dominant religion is a rigid connection between law and the state system of power with religion. This type of legal systems is fundamentally different from the Western (European type). Researchers usually call a class of such systems traditional-religious. The main sources of law in this case are the holy books, the statements of the prophets (in particular, in Islam - the Koran and the Sunnah), as well as the legal traditions and customs inherent in this ethnic group or region. Another characteristic feature of Muslim law is the widespread principle of authority: individual decisions of prophets, historical figures, religious leaders, starting from the Prophet Muhammad, and ending with individual muftis (fatwas) became the norms of law. Secondly, in addition to analyzing the very essence of the law of the Ottoman Empire, it is necessary to draw conclusions based on a temporary perspective, that is, the transformation of the legal system over time. Significant changes have taken place over 7 centuries in Asia Minor, starting from the strict application of Sharia norms during the period of the Seljuk Turks who conquered Anatolia. An important role was played by the Arab Caliphate, which laid the foundations of the Muslim religious and legal system. Further, the relationship between religious norms and the Sultan's law developed in the direction of increasing the role of the latter, although it never abolished Sharia law. Indicative in this regard are the codes of laws issued by Suleiman the Magnificent (Kanuni). And, finally, the most important event in the history of the law of the Ottoman Empire was the publication of the "Code of Legal Norms" (Majalla) at the end of the 19th century, which further limited the operation of the norms of religious law. There was a principle indicating, first of all, to use the norms written in Majalla. As a conclusion, it must be said that even after the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire from the political map of the world in 1923, the trend of reducing the role of religious law remained unchanged, which, in the end, led to the declaration of Turkey as a democratic and secular state.

Add at least some literature on Majalla

Is in Anthology of world legal thought. Volume 1. Ancient World and Eastern Civilizations / Ruk. scientific project G.Yu. Semigin. - M.: Thought, 1999. - 750 p.

List of used sources and literature

1. Vasiliev L.S. History of the East: In 2 vols. T. 1. -M., 1998.

2. Regulations on Amfissa. (translated by J. Kabrda) // Eastern sources on the history of the peoples of southeastern and central Europe. T. 1. - M., Institute of Oriental Studies, 1964.

3. History of the East. In 6 volumes. V.2. / Ch. ed. R.B. Rybakov. - M.: Eastern Literature, RAS, 1997.

4. History of the State and Law of Foreign Countries: A Textbook for Universities: At 2 pm, Part 1 / Ed. ed. prof. Krasheninnikova I. A. and prof. Zhidkova O. A. - M .: NORMA Publishing House, 2003.

5. The book of laws of Sultan Selim I. (translated by Tveritinova A.S.) - M., Main edition of Eastern literature, 1969

6. Nersesyants V.S. General theory of law and state. Textbook for law schools and faculties. - M .: Publishing group NORMA-INFRA, 2002.

7. Skakun O.F. Theory of State and Law: Textbook. – Kharkiv: Consum; University int. cases, 2000.

8. Syukiyainen L.R. West and East - a smoldering conflict // Nezavisimaya Gazeta. -<#"#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title="">Sukiyainen L.R. West and East - a smoldering conflict // Nezavisimaya Gazeta. -<#"#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title="">Fiona Simon. Analysis: The roots of jihad // BBC News. – #"#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""> Nersesyants VS General theory of law and state. Textbook for law schools and faculties. - M.: Publishing group NORMA-INFRA - M., 2002. - p. 471-473

Skakun O.F. Theory of State and Law: Textbook. – Kharkiv: Consum; University int. cases, 2000. - p. 650.

Vasiliev L.S. History of the East: In 2 vols. T. 1. -M., 1998. Chapter 4, - p. 225-227.

History of the State and Law of Foreign Countries: A Textbook for Universities: At 2 pm, Part 1 / Ed. ed. prof. Krasheninnikova I. A. and prof. Zhidkova O. A. - M .: Publishing house NORMA, 2003. - p. 551.

Tutoring

Need help learning a topic?

Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Submit an application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.

The Ottoman Empire arose in 1299 in the northwest of Asia Minor and lasted 624 years, having managed to conquer many peoples and become one of the greatest powers in the history of mankind.

From the spot to the quarry

The position of the Turks at the end of the 13th century looked unpromising, 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 which, albeit formally, the Turks were.

However, all this did not prevent Osman (1288-1326) from expanding and strengthening his young state. By the way, by the name of their first sultan, the Turks began to be called the Ottomans.
Osman was actively engaged in the development of internal culture and carefully treated someone else's. Therefore, many Greek cities located in Asia Minor preferred to voluntarily recognize his supremacy. Thus, they "killed two birds with one stone": they both received protection and preserved their traditions.
Osman's son Orkhan I (1326-1359) brilliantly continued his father's work. Declaring that he was going to unite all the faithful under his rule, the Sultan set off 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 the rule of the Turks. 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 "marked" by the defeat of the Christian army, which King Sigismund of Hungary led on a crusade against the Turks.

From defeat to triumph

Under the same Bayazet, one of the most severe defeats of the Ottoman army happened. The Sultan personally opposed Timur's army and in the Battle of Ankara (1402) he was defeated, and he himself was taken prisoner, where he died.
The heirs by hook or by crook tried to ascend 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 cracking down on 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 inhabitants of the city. Instead of everyone taking up arms, the townspeople simply prayed to God for help, not leaving churches for days. The last emperor, Constantine Palaiologos, asked for help from the Pope, but he demanded in return the unification of churches. Konstantin refused.

Perhaps the city would have held out even 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 - the Turkish Sultan, in addition to the female harem, also had a male one. That's where the comely son of a traitor got.
The city fell. The civilized world has stopped. Now all the states of both Europe and Asia have realized that the time has come for a new superpower - the Ottoman Empire.

European campaigns and confrontations with Russia

The Turks did not think to stop there. After the death of Byzantium, no one blocked their way to rich and unfaithful Europe, even conditionally.
Soon, Serbia was annexed to the empire (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.

In Eastern Europe, the territorial appetites of the Turks intersected with those of Venice. The ruler of the latter quickly enlisted the support of Naples, the Pope and Karaman (Khanate in Asia Minor). The confrontation lasted 16 years and ended with the complete victory of the Ottomans. After that, no one prevented them from "getting" the remaining Greek cities and islands, as well as annexing Albania and Herzegovina. The Turks were so carried away by the expansion of their borders that they successfully attacked even the Crimean Khanate.
Panic broke out in Europe. Pope Sixtus IV began to make plans for the evacuation of Rome, and at the same time hastened to announce a Crusade against the Ottoman Empire. Only Hungary responded to the call. In 1481, Mehmed II died, and the era of great conquests ended temporarily.
In the 16th century, when internal unrest in the empire subsided, the Turks again directed their weapons at their neighbors. First there was a war with Persia. Although the Turks won it, the territorial acquisitions were insignificant.
After success in North African Tripoli and Algiers, Sultan Suleiman invaded Austria and Hungary in 1527 and laid siege to Vienna two years later. It was not possible to take it - bad weather and mass diseases prevented it.
As for relations with Russia, for the first time the interests of states clashed in Crimea.

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

Dawn and sunset of the Janissaries

Talking about the Ottoman Empire, one cannot fail to mention its regular troops - the Janissaries.
In 1365, on the personal order of Sultan Murad I, the Janissary infantry was formed. It was completed by Christians (Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs, and so on) at the age of eight to sixteen years. Thus, devshirme worked - a blood tax - which was imposed on the unbelieving peoples of the empire. It is interesting that at first the life of the Janissaries was quite difficult. They lived in monasteries-barracks, they were forbidden to start a family and any household.
But gradually the Janissaries from the elite branch of the military began to turn into a highly paid burden for the state. In addition, these troops were less and less likely to take part in hostilities.

The beginning of decomposition was laid in 1683, when, along with Christian children, Muslims began to be taken as Janissaries. Wealthy 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, impudent political force that interfered in state affairs and participated in the overthrow of objectionable sultans.
The agony continued until 1826, when Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissaries.

The death of the Ottoman Empire

Frequent troubles, 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 mood of the population. Because of this, the country fell behind the West in technical terms, so it began to lose the once conquered territories.

The fateful decision for the empire was its participation in the First World War. The allies defeated the Turkish troops and staged a division of its territory. On October 29, 1923, a new state appeared - the Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal became its first president (later, he changed his surname to Atatürk - "father of the Turks"). Thus ended the history of the once great Ottoman Empire.

Why did the power of the Sublime Porte begin to decline? It is impossible to name a single reason. Usually they point to the consequences of the opening of America, when the directions of the largest trade communications changed, and the influx of Spanish-American gold led to the devaluation of the Turkish currency and high inflation.

Ivan Aivazovsky Battle of Sinop (daytime version, 1853)

Perhaps the reasons for the decline accumulated gradually in the multidimensional communication space of the empire. In the space of succession to the throne, this is the transition of the throne from Suleiman the Magnificent to Selim II, known as the “bitter drunkard” (the Ukrainian concubine Roksolana, Suleiman’s concubine, contributed to her son’s ascent to power). In geopolitical space, this is the last great naval battle of the rowing fleets in 1571 off the coast of Greece, which ended with the defeat of the Ottomans and the liberation of the Christian world from the delusion - belief in the invincibility of the Turks. Ruined the Ottoman Empire and corruption, especially intensified when the Sultan began to receive his share from the sale of his own benefits (preferences). This idea was suggested to the Sultan by a favorite, a native of the Seljuk rulers, who consider the Ottomans as blood enemies. When the numerous causes and consequences of the decline in each of the geostrats (geopolitical, geoeconomic, confessional, sociocultural and sociopsychological) stratified (overlapped) in a multidimensional communication space, a frontier energy with a destructive charge was formed.

Ivan Aivazovsky Battle of Sinop November 18, 1853 (the night after the battle, 1853)

Ivan Aivazovsky Review of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in 1849

Literature

Braudel F. Time of the world. Material civilization, economy and capitalism (XV-XVIII centuries), volume 3. - M .: Progress, 1992.
Dergachev V.A. - In the book. Civilization geopolitics (Geophilosophy). - Kyiv: VIRA-R, 2004.
Kinross Lord The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire/Translated from English by M. Palnikova. - M.: KRON-PRESS, 1999.
Lawrence T.E. Changes in the East. - Foreign Literature, 1999, No. 3.

"Geopolitics of the Superpowers"

History of the Ottoman Empire

History of the Ottoman Empire is over one hundred years old. The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 to 1923.

Rise of an empire

Expansion and fall of the Ottoman Empire (1300-1923)

Osman (r. 1288-1326), the son and heir of Ertogrul, in the fight against the powerless Byzantium, annexed region after region to his possessions, but, despite his growing power, recognized his dependence on Lycaonia. In 1299, after the death of Alaeddin, he assumed the title "Sultan" and refused to recognize the authority of his heirs. By his name, the Turks began to be called Ottoman Turks or Ottomans. Their power over Asia Minor spread and strengthened, and the sultans of Konya could not prevent this.

Since that time, they have developed and rapidly increased, at least quantitatively, their own literature, although very little independent. They take care of maintaining trade, agriculture and industry in the conquered areas, create a well-organized army. A powerful state is developing, military, but not hostile to culture; in theory it is absolutist, but in reality the commanders, to whom the sultan gave different areas to control, often turned out to be independent and reluctantly recognized the supreme authority of the sultan. Often the Greek cities of Asia Minor voluntarily gave themselves under the patronage of the powerful Osman.

Osman's son and heir Orhan I (1326-59) continued his father's policy. He considered it his calling to unite all the faithful under his rule, although in reality his conquests were directed more to the west - to the countries inhabited by Greeks, than to the east, to the countries inhabited by Muslims. He very skillfully used internal strife in Byzantium. More than once the disputing parties turned to him as an arbitrator. In 1330 he conquered Nicaea, the most important of the Byzantine fortresses on Asian soil. Following that, Nicomedia and the entire northwestern part of Asia Minor to the Black, Marmara and Aegean seas fell into the power of the Turks.

Finally, in 1356, a Turkish army under the command of Suleiman, the son of Orhan, landed on the European coast of the Dardanelles and captured Gallipoli and its environs.

Bâb-ı Âlî, High Port

In the activities of Orhan in the internal government of the state, his permanent adviser was his older brother Aladdin, who (the only example in the history of Turkey) voluntarily renounced his rights to the throne and accepted the post of grand vizier, established especially for him, but preserved after him. To facilitate trade, the coinage was settled. Orkhan minted a silver coin - akche in his own name and with a verse from the Koran. He built himself in the newly conquered Bursa (1326) a luxurious palace, by the high gate of which the Ottoman government received the name "High Port" (literal translation of the Ottoman Bab-ı Âlî - "high gate"), often transferred to the Ottoman state itself.

In 1328, Orhan gave his domains a new, largely centralized administration. They were divided into 3 provinces (pashalik), which were divided into districts, sanjaks. The civil administration was connected with the military and subordinated to it. Orkhan laid the foundation for an army of Janissaries, recruited from Christian children (at first 1000 people; later this number increased significantly). Despite a significant share of tolerance towards Christians, whose religion was not persecuted (even though Christians were taxed), Christians converted to Islam en masse.

Conquests in Europe before the capture of Constantinople (1306-1453)

• 1352 - capture of the Dardanelles.
• 1354 Capture of Gallipoli.
• From 1358 to Kosovo field

After the capture of Gallipoli, the Turks fortified on the European coast of the Aegean, the Dardanelles and the Sea of ​​Marmara. Suleiman died in 1358, and Orkhan was succeeded by his second son, Murad (1359-1389), who, although he did not forget about Asia Minor and conquered Angora in it, transferred the center of gravity of his activity to Europe. Having conquered Thrace, in 1365 he moved his capital to Adrianople. Byzantine Empire was reduced to one Constantinople with its immediate environs, but continued to resist the conquest for almost a hundred years.

The conquest of Thrace brought the Turks into immediate contact with Serbia and Bulgaria. Both states went through a period of feudal fragmentation and could not be consolidated. In a few years, they both lost a significant part of their territory, pledged themselves to tribute and became dependent on the Sultan. However, there were periods when these states managed, taking advantage of the moment, to partially restore their positions.

At the accession to the throne of the following sultans, beginning with Bayazet, it became customary to kill the next of kin to avoid family rivalry over the throne; this custom was observed, although not always, but often. When the relatives of the new sultan did not represent the slightest danger due to their mental development or for other reasons, they were left alive, but their harem was made up of slaves made sterile through an operation.

The Ottomans clashed with the Serbian rulers and won victories at Chernomen (1371) and Savra (1385).

Battle of Kosovo

In 1389, the Serbian prince Lazar began a new war with the Ottomans. On the Kosovo field on June 28, 1389, his army of 80,000 people. agreed with Murad's army of 300,000 people. The Serbian army was destroyed, the prince was killed; Murad also fell in the battle. Formally, Serbia still retained its independence, but it paid tribute and undertook to supply an auxiliary army.

Assassination of Murad

One of the Serbs who took part in the battle (that is, from the side of Prince Lazar) was the Serbian prince Miloš Obilić. He understood that the Serbs had little chance of winning this great battle, and decided to sacrifice his life. He came up with a cunning operation.

During the battle, Miloš sneaked into Murad's tent, pretending to be a defector. He approached Murad as if to convey some secret and stabbed him to death. Murad was dying, but managed to call for help. Consequently, Miloš was killed by the Sultan's guards. (Milos Obilic kills Sultan Murad) From that moment on, the Serbian and Turkish versions of what happened began to differ. According to the Serbian version, having learned about the murder of their ruler, the Turkish army succumbed to panic and began to scatter, and only taking control of the troops by Murad's son Bayazid I saved the Turkish army from defeat. According to the Turkish version, the murder of the Sultan only angered the Turkish soldiers. However, the version that the main part of the army learned about the death of the Sultan after the battle seems to be the most realistic option.

Early 15th century

Murad's son Bayazet (1389-1402) married the daughter of Lazar and thereby acquired the formal right to intervene in the solution of dynastic issues in Serbia (when Stefan, son of Lazar, died without heirs). In 1393, Bayazet took Tarnovo (he strangled the Bulgarian king Shishman, whose son escaped death by converting to Islam), conquered all of Bulgaria, imposed tribute on Wallachia, conquered Macedonia and Thessaly, and penetrated Greece. In Asia Minor, his possessions expanded far to the east beyond Kyzyl-Irmak (Galis).

In 1396, near Nikopol, he defeated the Christian army, gathered in a crusade by the king Sigismund of Hungary.

The invasion of Timur at the head of the Turkic hordes into the Asian possessions of Bayazet forced him to lift the siege of Constantinople and personally rush to meet Timur with significant forces. AT battle of Ankara in 1402 he was utterly defeated and taken prisoner, where he died a year later (1403). In this battle, a significant Serbian auxiliary detachment (40,000 people) was also killed.

The captivity and then the death of Bayazet threatened the state with disintegration into parts. In Adrianople, the son of Bayazet Suleiman (1402-1410) proclaimed himself sultan, who seized power over the Turkish possessions on the Balkan Peninsula, in Brousse - Isa, in the eastern part of Asia Minor - Mehmed I. Timur received ambassadors from all three applicants and promised his support to all three, obviously wanting to weaken the Ottomans, but he did not find it possible to continue its conquest and went to the East.

Mehmed soon won, killed Isa (1403) and reigned over all of Asia Minor. In 1413, after the death of Suleiman (1410) and the defeat and death of his brother Musa, who succeeded him, Mehmed restored his power over the Balkan Peninsula. His reign was comparatively peaceful. He tried to maintain peaceful relations with his Christian neighbors, Byzantium, Serbia, Wallachia and Hungary, and concluded treaties with them. Contemporaries characterize him as a just, meek, peaceful and educated ruler. More than once, however, he had to deal with internal uprisings, which he dealt with very vigorously.

Similar uprisings began the reign of his son, Murad II (1421-1451). The brothers of the latter, in order to avoid death, managed to escape in advance to Constantinople, where they met with a friendly welcome. Murad immediately moved to Constantinople, but managed to collect only 20,000 troops and therefore was defeated. However, with the help of bribery, he succeeded soon after in capturing and strangling his brothers. The siege of Constantinople had to be lifted, and Murad turned his attention to the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula, and later to the south. In the north, a thunderstorm gathered against him from the side of the Transylvanian governor Matthias Hunyadi, who defeated him at Hermannstadt (1442) and Nis (1443), but due to the significant superiority of the Ottoman forces, he was utterly defeated in the Kosovo field. Murad took possession of Thessalonica (previously conquered by the Turks three times and again lost by them), Corinth, Patras and a large part of Albania.

A strong opponent of him was the Albanian hostage Iskander-beg (or Skanderbeg), who was brought up at the Ottoman court and was a favorite of Murad, who converted to Islam and contributed to its spread in Albania. Then he wanted to make a new attack on Constantinople, not dangerous to him militarily, but very valuable in its geographical position. Death prevented him from fulfilling this plan, carried out by his son Mehmed II (1451-81).

Capture of Constantinople

Mehmed II enters Constantinople with his army

The pretext for war was that Konstantin Paleolog, the Byzantine emperor, did not want to give Mehmed his relative Orhan (son of Suleiman, grandson of Bayazet), whom he reserved for inciting unrest, as a possible contender for the Ottoman throne. In the power of the Byzantine emperor was only a small strip of land along the banks of the Bosporus; the number of his troops did not exceed 6000, and the nature of the management of the empire made it even weaker. Many Turks already lived in the city itself; the Byzantine government, starting as early as 1396, had to allow the construction of Muslim mosques next to Orthodox churches. Only the extremely convenient geographical position of Constantinople and strong fortifications made it possible to resist.

Mehmed II sent an army of 150,000 against the city. and a fleet of 420 small sailing ships that blocked the entrance to the Golden Horn. The armament of the Greeks and their military art was somewhat higher than the Turkish, but the Ottomans also managed to arm themselves quite well. Murad II also set up several factories for casting cannons and making gunpowder, which were managed by Hungarian and other Christian engineers who converted to Islam for the benefits of renegacy. Many of the Turkish guns made a lot of noise, but did no real harm to the enemy; some of them exploded and killed a significant number of Turkish soldiers. Mehmed began preliminary siege work in the autumn of 1452, and in April 1453 he began a regular siege. The Byzantine government turned to the Christian powers for help; the pope hastened to answer with the promise of preaching a crusade against the Turks, if Byzantium would only agree to the unification of the churches; the Byzantine government indignantly rejected this proposal. Of the other powers, Genoa alone sent a small squadron with 6,000 men. under the command of Giustiniani. The squadron bravely broke through the Turkish blockade and landed troops on the coast of Constantinople, which doubled the forces of the besieged. The siege continued for two months. A significant part of the population lost their heads and, instead of joining the ranks of the fighters, prayed in churches; the army, both Greek and Genoese, resisted extremely courageously. The Emperor was at its head. Konstantin Paleolog who fought with the courage of desperation and died in the skirmish. On May 29, the Ottomans opened the city.

conquests

The era of power of the Ottoman Empire lasted more than 150 years. In 1459, all of Serbia was conquered (except for Belgrade, taken in 1521) and turned into an Ottoman pashalik. In 1460 conquered Duchy of Athens and after him almost all of Greece, with the exception of some seaside towns, which remained in the power of Venice. In 1462, the island of Lesbos and Wallachia were conquered, in 1463 - Bosnia.

The conquest of Greece brought the Turks into conflict with Venice, which entered into a coalition with Naples, the Pope and Karaman (an independent Muslim khanate in Asia Minor, ruled by Khan Uzun Hasan).

The war lasted 16 years in Morea, in the Archipelago and in Asia Minor at the same time (1463-79) and ended with the victory of the Ottoman state. Venice, according to the Peace of Constantinople in 1479, ceded to the Ottomans several cities in Morea, the island of Lemnos and other islands of the Archipelago (Negropont was captured by the Turks as early as 1470); Karaman Khanate recognized the authority of the sultan. After the death of Skanderbeg (1467), the Turks captured Albania, then Herzegovina. In 1475 they were at war with the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray and forced him to recognize himself as dependent on the Sultan. This victory was of great military importance for the Turks, since the Crimean Tatars supplied them with an auxiliary army, at times 100 thousand people; but subsequently it became fatal for the Turks, as it brought them into conflict with Russia and Poland. In 1476, the Ottomans devastated Moldova and made it a vassal.

This ended the period of conquests for a while. The Ottomans owned the entire Balkan Peninsula up to the Danube and the Sava, almost all the islands of the Archipelago and Asia Minor up to Trebizond and almost to the Euphrates, beyond the Danube, Wallachia and Moldavia were also heavily dependent on them. Everywhere was ruled either directly by the Ottoman officials, or by local rulers, who were approved by the Porte and were completely subordinate to her.

Reign of Bayazet II

None of the previous sultans did so much to expand the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire as Mehmed II, who remained in history with the nickname "Conqueror". He was succeeded by his son Bayazet II (1481-1512) in the midst of unrest. The younger brother Jem, relying on the Grand Vizier Mogamet-Karamaniya and taking advantage of the absence of Bayazet in Constantinople at the time of his father's death, proclaimed himself a sultan.

Bayazet gathered the remaining loyal troops; hostile armies met at Angora. The victory remained with the elder brother; Cem fled to Rhodes, from there to Europe, and after long wanderings found himself in the hands of Pope Alexander VI, who offered Bayazet to poison his brother for 300,000 ducats. Bayazet accepted the offer, paid the money, and Jem was poisoned (1495). The reign of Bayazet was marked by several more uprisings of his sons, which ended (except for the last one) safely for their father; Bayazet took the rebels and executed them. Nevertheless, Turkish historians characterize Bayazet as a peace-loving and meek person, a patron of art and literature.

Indeed, there was some halt in the Ottoman conquests, but more due to failure than to the peacefulness of the government. Bosnian and Serbian pashas repeatedly raided Dalmatia, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola and subjected them to severe devastation; several attempts were made to take Belgrade, but to no avail. The death of Matthew Corvinus (1490), caused anarchy in Hungary and seemed to favor the Ottomans' plans against this state.

The long war, waged with some interruptions, ended, however, not particularly favorably for the Turks. According to the peace concluded in 1503, Hungary defended all its possessions and although it had to recognize the right of the Ottoman Empire to tribute from Moldavia and Wallachia, it did not renounce the supreme rights to these two states (rather in theory than in reality). In Greece, Navarino (Pylos), Modon and Coron (1503) were conquered.

By the time of Bayazet II, the first relations of the Ottoman state with Russia date back: in 1495, ambassadors of the Grand Duke Ivan III appeared in Constantinople to ensure unimpeded trade in the Ottoman Empire for Russian merchants. Other European powers also entered into friendly relations with Bayazet, especially Naples, Venice, Florence, Milan and the pope, seeking his friendship; Bayazet skillfully balanced between everyone.

At the same time, the Ottoman Empire was at war with Venice over the Mediterranean, and defeated her in 1505.

His main focus was on the East. He started a war with Persia, but did not have time to finish it; in 1510, his youngest son Selim rebelled against him at the head of the Janissaries, defeated him and overthrew him from the throne. Bayazet soon died, most likely from poison; Other relatives of Selim were also exterminated.

Reign of Selim I

The war in Asia continued under Selim I (1512–20). In addition to the usual desire of the Ottomans to conquer, this war also had a religious reason: the Turks were Sunnis, Selim, as an extreme zealot of Sunnism, passionately hated Persian Shiites, on his orders, up to 40,000 Shiites living on Ottoman territory were destroyed. The war was fought with varying success, but the final victory, although far from complete, was on the side of the Turks. According to the peace of 1515, Persia ceded to the Ottoman Empire the regions of Diyarbakir and Mosul, lying along the upper reaches of the Tigris.

The Egyptian Sultan Kansu-Gavri sent an embassy to Selim with an offer of peace. Selim ordered to kill all the members of the embassy. Kansu stepped forward to meet him; the battle took place in the Dolbec valley. Thanks to his artillery, Selim won a complete victory; the Mamluks fled, Kansu died during the escape. Damascus opened the gates to the winner; after him, all of Syria submitted to the sultan, and Mecca and Medina surrendered under his protection (1516). The new Egyptian sultan Tuman Bay, after several defeats, had to cede Cairo to the Turkish vanguard; but at night he entered the city and exterminated the Turks. Selim, not being able to take Cairo without a stubborn struggle, invited its inhabitants to surrender to capitulation with the promise of their favors; the inhabitants surrendered - and Selim carried out a terrible massacre in the city. Tuman Bey was also beheaded when, during the retreat, he was defeated and captured (1517).

Selim reproached him for not wanting to submit to him, the ruler of the faithful, and developed a bold theory in the mouth of a Muslim, according to which he, as the ruler of Constantinople, is the heir to the Eastern Roman Empire and, therefore, has the right to all the lands, ever included in its composition.

Realizing the impossibility of ruling Egypt exclusively through his pashas, ​​who in the end would inevitably have to become independent, Selim kept next to them 24 Mameluke leaders, who were considered subordinate to the pasha, but enjoyed a certain independence and could complain about the pasha to Constantinople. Selim was one of the most cruel Ottoman sultans; in addition to his father and brothers, in addition to countless captives, he executed seven of his grand viziers during the eight years of his reign. At the same time, he patronized literature and himself left a significant number of Turkish and Arabic poems. In the memory of the Turks, he remained with the nickname Yavuz (inflexible, stern).

Reign of Suleiman I

Tughra Suleiman the Magnificent (1520)

The son of Selim Suleiman I (1520-66), nicknamed by Christian historians the Magnificent or the Great, was the exact opposite of his father. He was not cruel and understood the political price of mercy and formal justice; he began his reign by releasing several hundred Egyptian captives from noble families who were kept in chains by Selim. European silk merchants, robbed in Ottoman territory at the beginning of his reign, received generous monetary rewards from him. More than his predecessors, he loved the splendor with which his palace in Constantinople amazed the Europeans. Although he did not refuse conquests, he did not like war, only in rare cases did he personally become the head of the army. He especially appreciated the diplomatic art, which brought him important victories. Immediately after accession to the throne, he began peace negotiations with Venice and concluded with her in 1521 an agreement recognizing the Venetians' right to trade in Turkish territory and promising them the protection of their security; both sides pledged to hand over fugitives to each other. Since then, although Venice did not keep a permanent envoy in Constantinople, embassies from Venice to Constantinople and back were sent more or less regularly. In 1521, the Ottoman troops took Belgrade. In 1522, Suleiman landed a large army on Rhodes. six month siege the main citadel of the Knights of St. John ended with its surrender, after which the Turks proceeded to conquer Tripoli and Algeria in North Africa.

Battle of Mohacs (1526)

In 1527, Ottoman troops under the command of Suleiman I invaded Austria and Hungary. At first, the Turks achieved very significant successes: in the eastern part of Hungary, they managed to create a puppet state that became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, they captured Buda, and ravaged vast territories in Austria. In 1529, the Sultan moved his army to Vienna, intending to capture the Austrian capital, but he failed. September 27 began siege of Vienna, the Turks at least 7 times outnumbered the besieged. But the weather was against the Turks - on the way to Vienna, due to bad weather, they lost many guns and pack animals, and diseases began in their camp. And the Austrians did not waste time - they fortified the city walls in advance, and the Archduke of Austria Ferdinand I brought German and Spanish mercenaries to the city (his older brother Charles V Habsburg was both the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the king of Spain). Then the Turks relied on undermining the walls of Vienna, but the besieged constantly made sorties and destroyed all Turkish trenches and underground passages. In view of the impending winter, diseases and mass desertion, the Turks had to leave already 17 days after the start of the siege, on October 14.

Union with France

Austria was the closest neighbor of the Ottoman state and its most dangerous enemy, and it was risky to enter into a serious fight with it without enlisting anyone's support. The natural ally of the Ottomans in this struggle was France. The first relations between the Ottoman Empire and France began as early as 1483; since then, both states have exchanged embassies several times, but this has not led to practical results.

In 1517, the French king Francis I offered the German emperor and Ferdinand the Catholic an alliance against the Turks with the aim of expelling them from Europe and dividing their possessions, but this alliance did not take place: the interests of the named European powers were too opposed to each other. On the contrary, France and the Ottoman Empire did not come into contact with each other anywhere and they had no immediate reasons for enmity. Therefore, France, which once took such an ardent part in crusades, decided on a bold step: a real military alliance with a Muslim power against a Christian power. The last impetus was given by the unfortunate battle of Pavia for the French, during which the king was captured. The regent Louise of Savoy sent an embassy to Constantinople in February 1525, but it was beaten by the Turks in Bosnia in spite of [source not specified 466 days] the wishes of the Sultan. Not embarrassed by this event, Francis I from captivity sent an envoy to the Sultan with an offer of alliance; the sultan was to attack Hungary, and Francis promised war with Spain. At the same time, Charles V made similar proposals to the Ottoman Sultan, but the Sultan preferred an alliance with France.

Soon after, Francis sent a request to Constantinople to allow the restoration of at least one Catholic church in Jerusalem, but received a decisive refusal from the Sultan in the name of the principles of Islam, along with the promise of all protection for Christians and protection of their safety (1528).

Military successes

According to the truce of 1547, the entire southern part of Hungary, up to and including Ofen, turned into an Ottoman province, divided into 12 sanjaks; the northern one passed into the power of Austria, but with the obligation to pay the Sultan 50,000 ducats of tribute annually for it (in the German text of the treaty, the tribute was called an honorary gift - Ehrengeschenk). The supreme rights of the Ottoman Empire over Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania were confirmed by the peace of 1569. This peace could take place only because Austria spent huge sums of money on bribing Turkish representatives. The war between the Ottomans and Venice ended in 1540 with the transfer of the last possessions of Venice in Greece and the Aegean to the Ottoman Empire. In a new war with Persia, the Ottomans occupied Baghdad in 1536, and Georgia in 1553. In this way they reached the apogee of their political power. The Ottoman fleet sailed freely throughout the Mediterranean to Gibraltar and in the Indian Ocean often plundered the Portuguese colonies.

In 1535 or 1536, a new treaty "of peace, friendship and trade" was concluded between the Ottoman Empire and France; France henceforth had a permanent envoy in Constantinople and a consul in Alexandria. The subjects of the sultan in France and the subjects of the king in the territory of the Ottoman state were guaranteed the right to freely travel around the country, buy, sell and exchange goods under the protection of local authorities at the beginning of equality. Litigation between the French in the Ottoman Empire had to be dealt with by French consuls or envoys; in case of litigation between a Turk and a Frenchman, the French were protected by their consul. During the time of Suleiman, some changes took place in the order of internal management. Previously, the sultan was almost always personally present in the sofa (ministerial council): Suleiman rarely appeared in it, thus providing more scope for his viziers. Previously, the positions of the vizier (minister) and the grand vizier, and also the viceroy of the pashalik, were usually granted to people more or less experienced in government or military affairs; under Suleiman, the harem began to play a prominent role in these appointments, as well as cash gifts given by applicants for high posts. This was caused by the government's need for money, but soon became, as it were, the rule of law and was the main cause of the decline of the Porte. The extravagance of the government has reached unprecedented proportions; True, the revenues of the government, thanks to the successful collection of tributes, also increased significantly, but, despite this, the Sultan often had to resort to defacing coins.

Reign of Selim II

The son and heir of Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II (1566-74), ascended the throne without having to beat the brothers, since his father took care of this, wanting to secure the throne for him for the sake of his beloved last wife. Selim, reigned prosperously and left his son a state that not only did not decrease territorially, but even increased; this, in many respects, he owed to the mind and energy of the vizier Mehmed Sokollu. Sokollu completed the conquest of Arabia, which was previously only weakly dependent on the Porte.

Battle of Lepanto (1571)

He demanded that Venice cede the island of Cyprus, which led to a war between the Ottoman Empire and Venice (1570-1573); the Ottomans suffered a heavy naval defeat at Lepanto (1571), but despite this, at the end of the war they captured Cyprus and were able to keep it; in addition, they obliged Venice to pay 300 thousand ducats of military indemnity and pay tribute for the possession of the island of Zante in the amount of 1500 ducats. In 1574 the Ottomans took possession of Tunisia, which had previously belonged to the Spaniards; Algeria and Tripoli have previously recognized their dependence on the Ottomans. Sokollu conceived two great things: the connection of the Don and the Volga by a canal, which, in his opinion, was supposed to strengthen the power of the Ottoman Empire in the Crimea and re-subordinate to it Astrakhan Khanate, already conquered by Moscow - and digging Isthmus of Suez. However, this was beyond the power of the Ottoman government.

Under Selim II took place Ottoman expedition to Aceh, which led to the establishment of long-term ties between the Ottoman Empire and this remote Malay sultanate.

Reign of Murad III and Mehmed III

During the reign of Murad III (1574-1595), the Ottoman Empire emerged victorious from a stubborn war with Persia, capturing all of Western Iran and the Caucasus. Murad's son Mehmed III (1595-1603) executed 19 brothers upon accession to the throne. However, he was not a cruel ruler, and even went down in history under the nickname of the Just. Under him, the state was largely ruled by his mother through 12 grand viziers, who often succeeded each other.

Increased damage to the coin and the rise of taxes more than once led to uprisings in various parts of the state. The reign of Mehmed was filled with a war with Austria, which began under Murad in 1593 and ended only in 1606, already under Ahmed I (1603-17). It ended with the Peace of Sitvatorok in 1606, which marked a turn in mutual relations between the Ottoman Empire and Europe. No new tribute was imposed on Austria; on the contrary, she freed herself from her former tribute for Hungary by paying a lump sum indemnity of 200,000 florins. In Transylvania, Stefan Bochkay, hostile to Austria, was recognized as the ruler with his male offspring. Moldova, repeatedly tried to get out from vassalage, managed to defend during border conflicts with Commonwealth and the Habsburgs. From that time on, the territories of the Ottoman state no longer expanded except for a short period. The war with Persia of 1603-12 had sad consequences for the Ottoman Empire, in which the Turks suffered several serious defeats and had to cede the East Georgian lands, Eastern Armenia, Shirvan, Karabakh, Azerbaijan with Tabriz and some other areas.

The decline of the empire (1614-1757)

The last years of the reign of Ahmed I were filled with rebellions that continued under his successors. His brother Mustafa I (1617-1618), a protege and favorite of the Janissaries, to whom he made millions of gifts from state funds, after a three-month rule was overthrown by the fatwa of the mufti as insane, and the son of Ahmed Osman II (1618-1622) came to the throne. After the unsuccessful campaign of the Janissaries against the Cossacks, he made an attempt to destroy this violent army, which every year became less and less useful for military purposes and more and more dangerous for the state order - and for this he was killed by the Janissaries. Mustafa I was re-erected to the throne and again deposed from the throne a few months later, and died a few years later, probably from poisoning.

Osman's younger brother, Murad IV (1623-1640), seemed to intend to restore the former greatness of the Ottoman Empire. He was a cruel and greedy tyrant, reminiscent of Selim, but at the same time a capable administrator and an energetic warrior. According to estimates, the accuracy of which cannot be verified, up to 25,000 people were executed under him. Often he executed wealthy people solely in order to confiscate their property. He again won in the war with the Persians (1623-1639) Tabriz and Baghdad; he also managed to defeat the Venetians and conclude an advantageous peace with them. He subdued the dangerous Druze uprising (1623-1637); but the uprising of the Crimean Tatars almost completely freed them from Ottoman rule. The devastation of the Black Sea coast, produced by the Cossacks, remained unpunished for them.

In internal administration, Murad sought to introduce some order and some savings in finances; however, all his attempts proved unworkable.

Under his brother and heir Ibrahim (1640-1648), under whom the harem was again in charge of state affairs, all the acquisitions of his predecessor were lost. The sultan himself was overthrown and strangled by the Janissaries, who enthroned his seven-year-old son Mehmed IV (1648-1687). The true rulers of the state in the early days of the latter's reign were the Janissaries; all government posts were replaced by their henchmen, management was in complete disarray, finances reached an extreme decline. Despite this, the Ottoman fleet managed to inflict a serious naval defeat on Venice and break the blockade of the Dardanelles, which had been held with varying success since 1654.

Russian-Turkish war 1686-1700

Battle of Vienna (1683)

In 1656, the post of grand vizier was taken over by the energetic man Mehmet Köprülü, who managed to strengthen the discipline of the army and inflict several defeats on the enemies. Austria was to conclude in 1664 a not particularly advantageous peace in Vasvar; in 1669, the Turks conquered Crete, and in 1672, at peace in Buchach, they received Podolia and even part of Ukraine from the Commonwealth. This peace aroused the indignation of the people and the diet, and the war began again. Russia also took part in it; but on the side of the Ottomans stood a significant part of the Cossacks, led by Doroshenko. During the war, Grand Vizier Ahmet Pasha Köprülü died after 15 years of ruling the country (1661–76). The war, which went on with varying success, ended Bakhchisarai truce, imprisoned in 1681 for 20 years, at the beginning of the status quo; Western Ukraine, representing after the war a real desert, and Podolia remained in the hands of the Turks. The Ottomans easily agreed to peace, since their next step was a war with Austria, which was undertaken by the successor of Ahmet Pasha, Kara-Mustafa Köprülü. The Ottomans managed to penetrate to Vienna and besiege it (from July 24 to September 12, 1683), but the siege had to be lifted when the Polish king Jan Sobieski made an alliance with Austria, hurried to the aid of Vienna and won near it a brilliant victory over the Ottoman army. In Belgrade, Kara-Mustafa was met by messengers from the Sultan, who had orders to deliver to Constantinople the head of an incapable commander, which was done. In 1684, Venice joined the coalition of Austria and the Commonwealth against the Ottoman Empire, and later Russia.

During the war, in which the Ottomans had not to attack, but to defend themselves on their own territory, in 1687 the Grand Vizier Suleiman Pasha was defeated at Mohacs. The defeat of the Ottoman troops irritated the Janissaries, who remained in Constantinople, rioting and plundering. Under the threat of an uprising, Mehmed IV sent them the head of Suleiman, but this did not save him himself: the Janissaries overthrew him with the help of a mufti's fatwa and forcibly elevated his brother, Suleiman II (1687-91), a man devoted to drunkenness and completely incapable of governing, to the throne. The war continued under him and under his brothers, Ahmed II (1691–95) and Mustafa II (1695–1703). The Venetians took possession of the Morea; the Austrians took Belgrade (soon again inherited by the Ottomans) and all the significant fortresses of Hungary, Slavonia, Transylvania; Poles occupied a significant part of Moldova.

In 1699 the war was over Treaty of Karlowitz, which was the first for which the Ottoman Empire did not receive any tribute or temporary indemnity. Its value significantly exceeded the value Peace of Sitwatorok. It became clear to everyone that the military power of the Ottomans was not at all great and that internal troubles were shaking their state more and more.

In the empire itself, the Peace of Karlovtsy aroused among the more educated part of the population the consciousness of the need for some reforms. This consciousness had previously been possessed by the Köprülü family, which gave the state during the 2nd half of the 17th and early 18th centuries. 5 Grand Viziers, who belonged to the most remarkable statesmen of the Ottoman Empire. Already in 1690 led. the vizier Koprulu Mustafa issued Nizami-Cedid (Ottoman Nizam-ı Cedid - "New Order"), which established the maximum norms for total taxes levied on Christians; but this law had no practical application. After the Peace of Karlovica, Christians in Serbia and the Banat were forgiven for a year's taxes; the highest government in Constantinople began at times to take care of the protection of Christians from extortions and other oppressions. Insufficient to reconcile Christians with Turkish oppression, these measures irritated the Janissaries and Turks.

Participation in the Northern War

Ambassadors at Topkapi Palace

Mustafa's brother and heir, Ahmed III (1703-1730), elevated to the throne by the uprising of the Janissaries, showed unexpected courage and independence. He arrested and hastily executed many officers of the army of the Janissaries and dismissed and exiled the grand vizier (sadr-azam) Ahmed Pasha, who had been imprisoned by them. The new grand vizier, Damad-Ghassan Pasha, pacified uprisings in various parts of the state, patronized foreign merchants, and founded schools. He was soon overthrown as a result of intrigue emanating from the harem, and the viziers began to be replaced with amazing speed; some remained in power for no more than two weeks.

The Ottoman Empire did not even take advantage of the difficulties experienced by Russia during the Great Northern War. Only in 1709 did she receive Charles XII, who had fled from Poltava, and, under the influence of his convictions, began a war with Russia. By this time, in the Ottoman ruling circles, there was already a party that dreamed not of a war with Russia, but of an alliance with it against Austria; at the head of this party was led. vizier Numan Keprilu, and his fall, which was the work of Charles XII, served as a signal for war.

The position of Peter I, surrounded on the Prut by an army of 200,000 Turks and Tatars, was extremely dangerous. The death of Peter was inevitable, but the Grand Vizier Baltaji-Mehmed succumbed to bribery and released Peter for the relatively unimportant concession of Azov (1711). The war party overthrew Baltaji-Mehmed and exiled to Lemnos, but Russia diplomatically secured the removal of Charles XII from the Ottoman Empire, for which they had to resort to force.

In 1714-18 the Ottomans were at war with Venice and in 1716-18 with Austria. By Peace of Passarovica(1718) The Ottoman Empire got back Morea, but gave Austria Belgrade with a significant part of Serbia, Banat, part of Wallachia. In 1722, taking advantage of the end of the dynasty and the subsequent unrest in Persia, the Ottomans began religious war against the Shiites, which they hoped to reward themselves for their losses in Europe. Several defeats in this war and the Persian invasion of Ottoman territory caused a new uprising in Constantinople: Ahmed was deposed, and his nephew, the son of Mustafa II, Mahmud I, was elevated to the throne.

Mahmud I's reign

Under Mahmud I (1730–54), who was an exception among the Ottoman sultans with his mildness and humanity (he did not kill the deposed sultan and his sons and generally avoided executions), the war with Persia continued, without definite results. The war with Austria ended with the Peace of Belgrade (1739), according to which the Turks received Serbia with Belgrade and Orsova. Russia acted more successfully against the Ottomans, but the conclusion of peace by the Austrians forced the Russians to make concessions; of its conquests, Russia retained only Azov, but with the obligation to tear down the fortifications.

During the reign of Mahmud, the first Turkish printing house was founded by Ibrahim Basmaji. The mufti, after some hesitation, gave a fatwa, with which, in the name of the interests of enlightenment, he blessed the undertaking, and the sultan allowed it as a gatti-sheriff. It was only forbidden to print the Koran and holy books. During the first period of the existence of the printing house, 15 works were printed in it (Arabic and Persian dictionaries, several books on the history of the Ottoman state and general geography, military art, political economy, etc.). After the death of Ibrahim Basmaji, the printing house was closed, a new one appeared only in 1784.

Mahmud I, who died of natural causes, was succeeded by his brother Osman III (1754-57), whose reign was peaceful and who died in the same way as his brother.

Reform attempts (1757-1839)

Osman was succeeded by Mustafa III (1757–74), son of Ahmed III. Upon his accession to the throne, he firmly expressed his intention to change the policy of the Ottoman Empire and restore the brilliance of its weapons. He conceived rather extensive reforms (by the way, digging channels through Isthmus of Suez and through Asia Minor), openly did not sympathize with slavery and set free a significant number of slaves.

The general discontent, which had never been news in the Ottoman Empire before, was especially intensified by two cases: a caravan of the faithful returning from Mecca was robbed and destroyed by an unknown person, and a Turkish admiral's ship was captured by a detachment of sea robbers of Greek nationality. All this testified to the extreme weakness of state power.

To settle the finances, Mustafa III began with savings in his own palace, but at the same time he allowed the coins to be damaged. Under the patronage of Mustafa, the first public library, several schools and hospitals were opened in Constantinople. He very willingly concluded an agreement with Prussia in 1761, by which he provided Prussian merchant ships with free navigation in Ottoman waters; Prussian subjects in the Ottoman Empire were subject to the jurisdiction of their consuls. Russia and Austria offered Mustafa 100,000 ducats for the abolition of the rights given to Prussia, but to no avail: Mustafa wanted to bring his state as close as possible to European civilization.

Further attempts at reform did not go. In 1768, the Sultan had to declare war on Russia, which lasted 6 years and ended Kuchuk-Kainarji peace 1774. Peace was already concluded under Mustafa's brother and heir, Abdul-Hamid I (1774-1789).

The reign of Abdul-Hamid I

The empire at this time was almost everywhere in a state of ferment. The Greeks, excited by Orlov, were worried, but, left without help by the Russians, they were soon and easily pacified and severely punished. Ahmed Pasha of Baghdad declared himself independent; Taher, supported by Arab nomads, accepted the title of Sheikh of Galilee and Acre; Egypt under the rule of Muhammad Ali did not even think of paying tribute; Northern Albania, which was ruled by Mahmud, Pasha of Scutaria, was in a state of complete rebellion; Ali, the Pasha of Yaninsky, clearly aspired to establish an independent kingdom.

The entire reign of Adbul-Hamid was occupied with the suppression of these uprisings, which could not be achieved due to the lack of money and a disciplined army from the Ottoman government. This was joined by a new war with Russia and Austria(1787-91), again unsuccessful for the Ottomans. She ended Treaty of Jassy with Russia (1792), according to which Russia finally acquired the Crimea and the space between the Bug and the Dniester, and the Treaty of Sistov with Austria (1791). The latter was comparatively favorable to the Ottoman Empire, since its main enemy, Joseph II, died, and Leopold II directed all his attention to France. Austria returned to the Ottomans most of the acquisitions she made in this war. Peace was already concluded under the nephew of Abdul Hamid, Selim III (1789-1807). In addition to territorial losses, the war made one significant change in the life of the Ottoman state: before it began (1785), the empire entered into its first public debt, first internal, guaranteed by some state revenues.

Reign of Selim III

Sultan Selim III was the first to realize the deep crisis of the Ottoman Empire and set about reforming the military and state organization of the country. With energetic measures, the government cleared the Aegean from pirates; it patronized trade and public education. His main focus was on the army. The Janissaries proved their almost complete uselessness in war, while at the same time keeping the country in periods of peace in a state of anarchy. The Sultan intended to replace their formations with a European-style army, but since it was obvious that it was impossible to immediately replace the entire old system, the reformers paid some attention to improving the position of traditional formations. Among other reforms of the Sultan were measures to strengthen the combat capability of artillery and fleet. The government took care of translating the best foreign writings on tactics and fortification into Ottoman; invited French officers to teaching positions in the artillery and naval schools; during the first of them, she founded a library of foreign writings on military sciences. Workshops for casting cannons were improved; military ships of the new model were ordered in France. These were all preliminary measures.

Sultan Selim III

The Sultan clearly wanted to move on to reorganizing the internal structure of the army; he established a new form for her and began to introduce a stricter discipline. Janissaries until he touched. But then, firstly, the uprising of the Viddin Pasha, Pasvan-Oglu (1797), who clearly neglected the orders coming from the government, became in his way, and secondly - Egyptian expedition Napoleon.

Kuchuk-Hussein moved against Pasvan-Oglu and waged a real war with him, which did not have a definite result. The government finally entered into negotiations with the rebellious governor and recognized his lifelong rights to rule the Vidda Pashalik, in fact, on the basis of almost complete independence.

In 1798, General Bonaparte made his famous attack on Egypt, then on Syria. Great Britain took the side of the Ottoman Empire, destroying the French fleet in battle of Aboukir. The expedition had no serious results for the Ottomans. Egypt remained formally in the power of the Ottoman Empire, in fact - in the power of the Mamluks.

As soon as the war with the French ended (1801), an uprising of the Janissaries began in Belgrade, dissatisfied with the reforms in the army. Harassment on their part caused a popular movement in Serbia (1804) under the command of Karageorgi. The government supported the movement at first, but it soon took the form of a real popular uprising, and the Ottoman Empire had to start hostilities (see below). Battle of Ivankovac). The matter was complicated by the war started by Russia (1806-1812). The reforms had to be postponed again: the grand vizier and other senior officials and the military were in the theater of operations.

coup attempt

Only the kaymaqam (assistant to the grand vizier) and the deputy ministers remained in Constantinople. Sheikh-ul-Islam took advantage of this moment to plot against the Sultan. Ulema and Janissaries took part in the conspiracy, among whom rumors spread about the intention of the Sultan to disperse them into regiments of the standing army. The kaimaks also joined the conspiracy. On the appointed day, a detachment of Janissaries unexpectedly attacked the garrison of the standing army stationed in Constantinople, and carried out a massacre among them. Another part of the Janissaries surrounded Selim's palace and demanded from him the execution of persons they hated. Selim had the courage to refuse. He was arrested and taken into custody. The son of Abdul-Hamid, Mustafa IV (1807-1808), was proclaimed sultan. The massacre in the city continued for two days. On behalf of the powerless Mustafa, sheikh-ul-Islam and kaymaks ruled. But Selim had his adherents.

During the coup of Kabakchi Mustafa (tur. Kabakçı Mustafa isyanı), Mustafa Bayraktar(Alemdar Mustafa Pasha - Pasha of the Bulgarian city of Ruschuk) and his followers began negotiations on the return of Sultan Selim III to the throne. Finally, with an army of sixteen thousand, Mustafa Bayraktar went to Istanbul, having previously sent Haji Ali Aga there, who killed Kabakchi Mustafa (July 19, 1808). Mustafa Bayraktar with his army, having destroyed a fairly large number of rebels, arrived in the High Port. Sultan Mustafa IV, having learned that Mustafa Bayraktar wanted to return the throne to Sultan Selim III, ordered to kill Selim and Shahzade's brother Mahmud. The Sultan was killed immediately, and Shahzade Mahmud, with the help of his slaves and servants, was released. Mustafa Bayraktar, having removed Mustafa IV from the throne, declared Mahmud II Sultan. The latter made him sadrazam - the great vizier.

Reign of Mahmud II

Not inferior to Selim in energy and in understanding the need for reforms, Mahmud was much tougher than Selim: angry, vindictive, he was more guided by personal passions, which were moderated by political far-sightedness than by a real desire for the good of the country. The ground for innovations was already somewhat prepared, the ability not to think about the means also favored Mahmud, and therefore his activities still left more traces than those of Selim. He appointed Bayraktar as his grand vizier, who ordered the beating of the participants in the conspiracy against Selim and other political opponents. Mustafa's own life was spared for a time.

As the first reform, Bayraktar outlined the reorganization of the corps of the Janissaries, but he had the imprudence to send part of his army to the theater of operations; he had only 7,000 soldiers left. 6,000 Janissaries made a surprise attack on them and moved towards the palace in order to free Mustafa IV. Bayraktar, with a small detachment, locked himself in the palace, threw out the corpse of Mustafa to them, and then blew up part of the palace into the air and buried himself in the ruins. A few hours later, a three thousandth army loyal to the government arrived, headed by Ramiz Pasha, defeated the Janissaries and exterminated a significant part of them.

Mahmud decided to postpone the reform until the end of the war with Russia, which ended in 1812. Bucharest peace. Congress of Vienna made some changes in the position of the Ottoman Empire, or, more correctly, defined more precisely and approved in theory and on geographical maps what had already taken place in reality. Dalmatia and Illyria were approved for Austria, Bessarabia for Russia; seven ionian islands received self-government under the English protectorate; English ships received the right of free passage through the Dardanelles.

Even in the territory that remained with the empire, the government did not feel confident. In Serbia in 1817 an uprising began, which ended only after the recognition of Serbia by peace of Adrianople 1829 as a separate vassal state, with its own prince at the head. In 1820 the uprising began Ali Pasha Yaninsky. As a result of the betrayal of his own sons, he was defeated, captured and executed; but a significant part of his army formed a cadre of Greek rebels. In 1821, the uprising, which grew into war for independence started in Greece. After the intervention of Russia, France and England and the unfortunate for the Ottoman Empire Navarino (sea) battle(1827), in which the Turkish and Egyptian fleets perished, the Ottomans lost Greece.

Military casualties

Getting rid of the Janissaries and Dervishes (1826) did not save the Turks from defeat both in the war with the Serbs and in the war with the Greeks. These two wars, and in connection with them, were followed by the war with Russia (1828–29), which ended Peace of Adrianople 1829 The Ottoman Empire lost Serbia, Moldavia, Wallachia, Greece, the eastern coast of the Black Sea.

Following this, Muhammad Ali, Khedive of Egypt (1831-1833 and 1839), broke away from the Ottoman Empire. In the struggle against the latter, the empire suffered blows that put its very existence at stake; but twice (1833 and 1839) she was saved by the unexpected intercession of Russia, caused by the fear of a European war, which would probably be caused by the collapse of the Ottoman state. However, this intercession brought real benefits to Russia: in terms of peace in Gunkjar Skelessi (1833), the Ottoman Empire provided Russian ships with passage through the Dardanelles, closing it to England. At the same time, the French decided to take away Algeria from the Ottomans (since 1830), and earlier, however, was only nominally dependent on the empire.

Civil reforms

Mahmud II begins modernization in 1839.

The wars did not stop the reformist plans of Mahmud; private transformations in the army continued throughout his reign. He also cared about raising the level of education among the people; under him (1831), the first newspaper in the Ottoman Empire began to appear in French, which had an official character (“Moniteur ottoman”). From the end of 1831, the first official newspaper in Turkish, Takvim-i Vekai, began to appear.

Like Peter the Great, perhaps even consciously imitating him, Mahmud sought to introduce European mores into the people; he himself wore a European costume and encouraged his officials to do so, forbade the wearing of a turban, arranged festivities in Constantinople and other cities with fireworks, with European music, and in general according to the European model. Before the most important reforms of the civil system, conceived by him, he did not live; they were already the work of his heir. But even the little that he did went against the religious feelings of the Muslim population. He began to mint a coin with his image, which is directly prohibited in the Koran (the news that previous sultans also took portraits of themselves is highly doubtful).

Throughout his reign, in different parts of the state, especially in Constantinople, revolts of Muslims caused by religious feelings incessantly occurred; the government dealt with them extremely cruelly: sometimes 4,000 corpses were thrown into the Bosphorus in a few days. At the same time, Mahmud did not hesitate to execute even the ulema and dervishes, who were generally his fierce enemies.

During the reign of Mahmud there were especially many fires in Constantinople, partly due to arson; the people explained them as God's punishment for the sins of the sultan.

Board results

The extermination of the Janissaries, which at first damaged the Ottoman Empire, depriving it of a bad, but still not useless army, after a few years turned out to be extremely beneficial: the Ottoman army rose to the height of the European armies, which was clearly proven in the Crimean campaign and even more in the war of 1877-1878 and in the Greek war of 1897. Territorial reduction, in particular the loss of Greece, also turned out to be beneficial rather than harmful for the empire.

The Ottomans never allowed military service for Christians; areas with a continuous Christian population (Greece and Serbia), without increasing the Turkish army, at the same time required significant military garrisons from it, which could not be set in motion in a moment of need. This applies especially to Greece, which, due to its extended maritime frontier, did not even represent strategic advantages for the Ottoman Empire, which was stronger on land than at sea. The loss of territories reduced the state revenues of the empire, but during the reign of Mahmud, the trade of the Ottoman Empire with European states revived somewhat, and the country's productivity increased somewhat (bread, tobacco, grapes, rose oil, etc.).

Thus, despite all external defeats, despite even the terrible battle of nizibe, in which Muhammad Ali destroyed a significant Ottoman army and which was followed by the loss of an entire fleet, Mahmud left Abdul-Majid with a state strengthened rather than weakened. It was strengthened by the fact that henceforth the interest of the European powers was more closely connected with the preservation of the Ottoman state. The significance of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles has increased unusually; The European powers felt that the capture of Constantinople by one of them would deal an irreparable blow to the rest, and therefore they considered it more profitable for themselves to preserve the weak Ottoman Empire.

In general, the empire nevertheless decayed, and Nicholas I rightly called it a sick person; but the death of the Ottoman state was postponed indefinitely. Beginning with the Crimean War, the empire began to intensively make foreign loans, and this acquired for it the influential support of its many creditors, that is, mainly the financiers of England. On the other hand, internal reforms that could raise the state and save it from destruction became in the 19th century. more and more difficult. Russia was afraid of these reforms, as they could strengthen the Ottoman Empire, and through its influence at the court of the Sultan tried to make them impossible; so, in 1876-1877, she killed Midhad Pasha, who turned out to be able to carry out serious reforms that were not inferior in importance to the reforms of Sultan Mahmud.

The reign of Abdul-Mejid (1839-1861)

Mahmud was succeeded by his 16-year-old son Abdul-Mejid, who was not distinguished by his energy and inflexibility, but who was a much more cultured and gentle person.

Despite everything done by Mahmud, the battle of Nizib could have completely destroyed the Ottoman Empire if Russia, England, Austria and Prussia had not concluded an alliance to protect the integrity of the Port (1840); they drew up a treatise by virtue of which the Egyptian viceroy retained Egypt at the hereditary beginning, but undertook to immediately clear Syria, and in case of refusal he had to lose all his possessions. This alliance aroused indignation in France, which supported Muhammad Ali, and Thiers even made preparations for war; however, Louis-Philippe did not dare to do so. Despite the inequality of forces, Muhammad Ali was ready to resist; but the English squadron bombarded Beirut, burned the Egyptian fleet and landed a corps of 9000 people in Syria, which, with the help of the Maronites, inflicted several defeats on the Egyptians. Muhammad Ali relented; The Ottoman Empire was saved, and Abdulmejid, supported by Khozrev Pasha, Reshid Pasha and other associates of his father, began reforms.

Gulhane Hutt Sheriff

At the end of 1839, Abdul-Mejid published the famous Gulhane hatti-sheriff (Gulhane - “house of roses”, the name of the square where the hatt-sheriff was announced). It was a manifesto that set out the principles that the government intended to follow:

• providing all subjects with perfect security regarding their life, honor and property;
• the right way to distribute and levy taxes;
• an equally correct way to recruit soldiers.

It was recognized as necessary to change the distribution of taxes in the sense of their equalization and to abandon the system of handing them over, to determine the costs of land and sea forces; publicity was established legal proceedings. All these benefits extended to all subjects of the Sultan without distinction of religion. The Sultan himself took an oath of allegiance to the Hatti Sheriff. The only thing left to do was keep the promise.

Humayun

After the Crimean War, the Sultan published a new Gatti Sheriff Gumayun (1856), in which the principles of the first were confirmed and developed in more detail; especially insisted on the equality of all subjects, without distinction of religion and nationality. After this Gatti Sheriff, the old law on the death penalty for converting from Islam to another religion was abolished. However, most of these decisions remained only on paper.

The higher government was partly unable to cope with the willfulness of lower officials, and partly did not want to resort to some of the measures promised in the Gatti Sheriffs, such as the appointment of Christians to various posts. Once it made an attempt to recruit soldiers from Christians, but this caused discontent among both Muslims and Christians, especially since the government did not dare to abandon religious principles during the production of officers (1847); this measure was soon abolished. The massacres of the Maronites in Syria (1845 and others) confirmed that religious tolerance was still alien to the Ottoman Empire.

During the reign of Abdul-Mejid, roads were improved, many bridges were built, several telegraph lines were laid, and mail was organized according to the European model.

The events of 1848 did not resonate at all in the Ottoman Empire; only hungarian revolution prompted the Ottoman government to make an attempt to restore its dominance on the Danube, but the defeat of the Hungarians dispelled his hopes. When Kossuth and his comrades escaped on Turkish territory, Austria and Russia turned to Sultan Abdul-Majid demanding their extradition. The Sultan replied that religion forbade him to violate the duty of hospitality.

Crimean War

1853-1856 were the time of the new Eastern War, which ended in 1856 with the Peace of Paris. On the Paris Congress a representative of the Ottoman Empire was admitted on the basis of equality, and by this the empire was recognized as a member of the European concern. However, this recognition was more formal than real. First of all, the Ottoman Empire, whose participation in the war was very large and which proved an increase in its fighting ability compared with the first quarter of the 19th or the end of the 18th century, actually received very little from the war; the demolition of Russian fortresses on the northern coast of the Black Sea was of negligible importance to her, and Russia's loss of the right to keep a navy on the Black Sea could not be long and was canceled already in 1871. Further, consular jurisdiction was retained and proved that Europe was still watching on the Ottoman Empire as a barbarian state. After the war, the European powers began to set up their own postal institutions on the territory of the empire, independent of the Ottoman ones.

The war not only did not increase the power of the Ottoman Empire over the vassal states, but weakened it; the Danubian principalities in 1861 united into one state, Romania, and in Serbia, friendly to Turkey, the Obrenovici were overthrown and replaced by friendly ones to Russia Karageorgievichi; a little later, Europe forced the empire to remove its garrisons from Serbia (1867). During the Eastern campaign, the Ottoman Empire made a loan in England of 7 million pounds; in 1858,1860 and 1861 I had to make new loans. At the same time, the government issued a significant amount of paper money, the rate of which soon and strongly fell. In connection with other events, this caused the commercial crisis of 1861, which severely affected the population.

Abdulaziz (1861-76) and Murad V (1876)

Abdulaziz was a hypocritical, voluptuous, and bloodthirsty tyrant, more like the sultans of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries than his brother; but he understood the impossibility under the given conditions to stop on the path of reforms. In the Gatti Sheriff published by him upon accession to the throne, he solemnly promised to continue the policy of his predecessors. Indeed, he released from prison the political criminals imprisoned in the previous reign, and retained his brother's ministers. Moreover, he declared that he was giving up the harem and would be content with one wife. The promises were not fulfilled: a few days later, as a result of palace intrigue, the Grand Vizier Mehmed Kybrysly Pasha was overthrown, and replaced by Aali Pasha, who in turn was overthrown a few months later and then again took the same post in 1867.

In general, the grand viziers and other officials were replaced with extreme speed due to the intrigues of the harem, which was very soon reinstated. Some measures in the spirit of the Tanzimat were nevertheless taken. The most important of them is the publication (far, however, not exactly true) of the Ottoman state budget (1864). During the ministry of Aali Pasha (1867-1871), one of the most intelligent and dexterous Ottoman diplomats of the 19th century, the waqfs were partially secularized, Europeans were granted the right to own real estate within the Ottoman Empire (1867), reorganized state council(1868), issued a new law on public education, introduced formally metric system of measures and weights, not grafted, however, in life (1869). Censorship was organized in the same ministry (1867), the creation of which was caused by the quantitative growth of periodicals and non-periodicals in Constantinople and other cities, in Ottoman and foreign languages.

Censorship under Aali Pasha was distinguished by extreme pettiness and severity; she not only forbade writing about what seemed inconvenient to the Ottoman government, but directly ordered to print praising the wisdom of the sultan and government; in general, it made the whole press more or less official. Its general character remained the same after Aali Pasha, and only under Midhad Pasha in 1876-1877 was it somewhat softer.

War in Montenegro

In 1862, Montenegro, seeking complete independence from the Ottoman Empire, supporting the rebels of Herzegovina and counting on the support of Russia, began a war with the empire. Russia did not support it, and since a significant preponderance of forces was on the side of the Ottomans, the latter quickly won a decisive victory: the troops of Omer Pasha penetrated to the very capital, but did not take it, as the Montenegrins began to ask for peace, to which the Ottoman Empire agreed .

Revolt in Crete

In 1866, a Greek uprising began in Crete. This uprising aroused warm sympathy in Greece, which began to hastily prepare for war. The European powers came to the aid of the Ottoman Empire and firmly forbade Greece to intercede for the Cretans. Forty thousand troops were sent to Crete. Despite the extraordinary courage of the Cretans, who waged a guerrilla war in the mountains of their island, they could not hold out for long, and after three years of struggle, the uprising was pacified; the rebels were punished with executions and confiscation of property.

After the death of Aali Pasha, the grand viziers began to change again with extreme speed. In addition to harem intrigues, there was another reason for this: two parties fought at the court of the Sultan - English and Russian, acting on the instructions of the ambassadors of England and Russia. The Russian ambassador in Constantinople in 1864-1877 was Count Nikolai Ignatiev, who had undoubted relations with the disaffected in the empire, promising them Russian intercession. At the same time, he had a great influence on the Sultan, convincing him of the friendship of Russia and promising him assistance in the change of order planned by the Sultan. succession not to the eldest in the family, as it was before, but from father to son, since the Sultan really wanted to transfer the throne to his son Yusuf Izedin.

coup d'état

In 1875, an uprising broke out in Herzegovina, Bosnia and Bulgaria, which dealt a decisive blow to Ottoman finances. It was announced that from now on, the Ottoman Empire on its foreign debts pays only one half of the interest in cash, the other half - in coupons payable no earlier than after 5 years. The need for more serious reforms was recognized by many of the highest officials of the empire and, at their head, Midhad Pasha; however, under the capricious and despotic Abdul-Aziz, their holding was completely impossible. In view of this, the Grand Vizier Mehmed Rushdi Pasha plotted with the ministers Midhad Pasha, Hussein Avni Pasha and others and the Sheikh-ul-Islam to overthrow the Sultan. Sheikh-ul-Islam gave this fatwa: “If the ruler of the faithful proves his madness, if he does not have the political knowledge necessary to govern the state, if he makes personal expenses that the state cannot bear, if his stay on the throne threatens with disastrous consequences, should it be deposed or not? The law says yes.

On the night of May 30, 1876, Hussein Avni Pasha, putting a revolver to the chest of Murad, the heir to the throne (son of Abdul-Majid), forced him to accept the crown. At the same time, a detachment of infantry entered the palace of Abdul-Aziz, and it was announced to him that he had ceased to reign. Murad V ascended the throne. A few days later it was reported that Abdul-Aziz cut his veins with scissors and died. Murad V, who had not been quite normal before, under the influence of the murder of his uncle, the subsequent murder of several ministers in the house of Midkhad Pasha by the Circassian Hassan Bey, who was avenging the Sultan, and other events, completely went crazy and became just as inconvenient for his progressive ministers. In August 1876, he was also deposed with the help of the mufti's fatwa and his brother Abdul-Hamid was elevated to the throne.

Abdul Hamid II

Already at the end of the reign of Abdul-Aziz began uprising in Herzegovina and Bosnia, caused by the extremely difficult situation of the population of these regions, partly obliged to serve corvee in the fields of large Muslim landowners, partly personally free, but completely without rights, oppressed by exorbitant exactions and at the same time constantly fueled in their hatred of the Turks by the close proximity of free Montenegrins.

In the spring of 1875, some communities turned to the Sultan with a request to reduce the tax on rams and the tax paid by Christians in return for military service, and to organize a police force of Christians. They didn't even answer. Then their inhabitants took up arms. The movement quickly covered all of Herzegovina and spread to Bosnia; Niksic was besieged by the rebels. Volunteer detachments moved from Montenegro and Serbia to help the rebels. The movement aroused great interest abroad, especially in Russia and in Austria; the latter appealed to the Porte demanding religious equality, tax cuts, revision of laws on real estate, and so on. The Sultan immediately promised to fulfill all this (February 1876), but the rebels did not agree to lay down their weapons until the Ottoman troops were withdrawn from Herzegovina. The fermentation also spread to Bulgaria, where the Ottomans, in the form of a response, carried out a terrible massacre (see Bulgaria), which caused indignation throughout Europe (Gladstone's brochure on atrocities in Bulgaria), entire villages were completely slaughtered, up to and including infants. The Bulgarian uprising was drowned in blood, but the Herzegovinian and Bosnian uprising continued into 1876 and finally caused the intervention of Serbia and Montenegro (1876-1877; see. Serbo-Montenegrin-Turkish War).

On May 6, 1876, in Thessaloniki, a fanatical crowd, in which there were also some officials, killed the French and German consuls. Of the participants or conniving in the crime, Selim Bey, the chief of police in Thessaloniki, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, one colonel to 3 years; but these punishments, far from being carried out in their entirety, satisfied no one, and the public opinion of Europe was strongly stirred up against a country where such crimes might be committed.

In December 1876, at the initiative of England, a conference of the great powers in Constantinople was convened to settle the difficulties caused by the uprising, which did not achieve its goal. The Grand Vizier at this time (since December 13, New Style, 1876) was Midhad Pasha, a liberal and an Anglophile, head of the Young Turk Party. Considering it necessary to make the Ottoman Empire a European country and wanting to present it as such as authorized by the European powers, he drafted a constitution in a few days and forced Sultan Abdul-Hamid to sign and publish it (December 23, 1876).

Ottoman parliament, 1877

The constitution was drawn up on the model of European ones, especially the Belgian one. It guaranteed individual rights and established a parliamentary regime; the parliament was to consist of two chambers, from which the chamber of deputies was elected by universal closed voting of all Ottoman subjects without distinction of religion and nationality. The first elections were made during the reign of Midhad; his candidates were chosen almost universally. The opening of the first parliamentary session took place only on March 7, 1877, and even earlier, on March 5, Midhad was overthrown and arrested due to palace intrigues. Parliament was opened with a speech from the throne, but dissolved a few days later. New elections were held, the new session was just as short, and then, without the formal repeal of the constitution, even without the formal dissolution of Parliament, it did not meet again.

Main article: Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878

In April 1877 the war with Russia began, in February 1878 it ended San Stefano world, then (June 13 - July 13, 1878) by the modified Berlin Treaty. The Ottoman Empire lost all rights to Serbia and Romania; Bosnia and Herzegovina were given to Austria to establish order in it (de facto - in full possession); Bulgaria constituted a separate vassal principality, Eastern Rumelia, an autonomous province, which soon (1885) united with Bulgaria. Serbia, Montenegro and Greece received territorial increments. In Asia, Russia received Kars, Ardagan, Batum. The Ottoman Empire had to pay Russia an indemnity of 800 million francs.

Riots in Crete and in the regions inhabited by Armenians

Nevertheless, the internal conditions of life remained approximately the same, and this was reflected in the riots that constantly arose in one place or another in the Ottoman Empire. In 1889 an uprising began in Crete. The rebels demanded the reorganization of the police so that it did not consist of only Muslims and patronize more than one Muslims, a new organization of the courts, etc. The Sultan rejected these demands and decided to use weapons. The uprising was put down.

In 1887 in Geneva , in 1890 in Tiflis the political parties Hunchak and Dashnaktsutyun were organized by the Armenians . In August 1894, the organization of the Dashnaks and under the control of a member of this party, Ambartsum Boyajiyan, began unrest in Sasun. These events are explained by the disenfranchised position of the Armenians, especially by the robberies of the Kurds, who made up part of the troops in Asia Minor. The Turks and Kurds responded with a terrible massacre, reminiscent of the Bulgarian horrors, where rivers bled for months; whole villages were slaughtered [source unspecified 1127 days] ; many Armenians taken prisoner. All these facts were confirmed by European (mainly English) newspaper correspondence, which very often spoke from the standpoint of Christian solidarity and caused an explosion of indignation in England. To the presentation made on this occasion by the British ambassador, the Porte replied with a categorical denial of the validity of the "facts" and a statement that it was a question of the usual suppression of a riot. Nevertheless, the ambassadors of England, France and Russia in May 1895 presented the Sultan with demands for reforms in the areas inhabited by Armenians, based on the decrees Berlin Treaty; they demanded that the officials governing these lands be at least half Christian and that their appointment depend on a special commission in which Christians would also be represented; [ style!] The Porte replied that she did not see any need for reforms for individual territories, but that she meant general reforms for the whole state.

On August 14, 1896, members of the Dashnaktsutyun party in Istanbul itself attacked the Ottoman Bank, killed the guards and exchanged fire with the arriving army units. On the same day, as a result of negotiations between the Russian ambassador Maksimov and the Sultan, the Dashnaks left the city and headed for Marseille, on the yacht of Edgard Vincent, the general director of the Ottoman Bank. The European ambassadors made a presentation to the Sultan on this occasion. This time the sultan saw fit to reply with a promise of reform, which was not fulfilled; only a new administration of vilayets, sanjaks and nakhiyas was introduced (see. State structure of the Ottoman Empire), which made very little difference to the merits of the matter.

In 1896, new unrest began in Crete and immediately took on a more dangerous character. The session of the national assembly opened, but it did not enjoy the slightest authority among the population. Nobody counted on the help of Europe. The uprising flared up; rebel detachments in Crete disturbed the Turkish troops, more than once inflicting heavy losses on them. The movement found a lively echo in Greece, from which in February 1897 a military detachment under the command of Colonel Vassos set off for the island of Crete. Then the European squadron, consisting of German, Italian, Russian and English warships, under the command of the Italian admiral Canevaro, assumed a threatening position. On February 21, 1897, she began to bombard the rebels' military camp near the city of Kanei and forced them to disperse. A few days later, however, the rebels and the Greeks managed to take the city of Kadano and capture 3,000 Turks.

At the beginning of March, a riot of Turkish gendarmes took place in Crete, dissatisfied with not receiving salaries for many months. This rebellion could have been very useful for the rebels, but the European landing disarmed them. On March 25, the rebels attacked Kanea, but came under fire from European ships and had to retreat with heavy losses. At the beginning of April 1897, Greece moved its troops into Ottoman territory, hoping to penetrate as far as Macedonia, where minor riots were taking place at the same time. Within one month, the Greeks were utterly defeated, and the Ottoman troops occupied all of Thessaly. The Greeks were forced to ask for peace, which was concluded in September 1897 under pressure from the powers. There were no territorial changes, except for a small strategic correction of the border between Greece and the Ottoman Empire in favor of the latter; but Greece had to pay a war indemnity of 4 million Turkish pounds.

In the autumn of 1897, the uprising on the island of Crete also ended, after the sultan once again promised self-government to the island of Crete. Indeed, at the insistence of the powers, Prince George of Greece was appointed governor-general of the island, the island received self-government and retained only vassal relations with the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the XX century. in Crete, there was a noticeable desire for a complete separation of the island from the empire and for joining Greece. At the same time (1901) fermentation continued in Macedonia. In the autumn of 1901, Macedonian revolutionaries captured an American woman and demanded a ransom for her; this causes great inconvenience to the Ottoman government, which is powerless to protect the safety of foreigners on its territory. In the same year, the movement of the Young Turk party, at the head of which was once Midhad Pasha, manifested itself with comparatively greater strength; she began to intensively produce brochures and leaflets in the Ottoman language in Geneva and Paris for distribution in the Ottoman Empire; in Istanbul itself, quite a few persons belonging to the bureaucratic and officer class were arrested and sentenced to various punishments on charges of participating in the Young Turk agitation. Even the son-in-law of the sultan, married to his daughter, went abroad with his two sons, openly joined the Young Turk party and did not want to return to his homeland, despite the insistent invitation of the sultan. In 1901, the Porte made an attempt to destroy European postal institutions, but this attempt was unsuccessful. In 1901, France demanded that the Ottoman Empire meet the claims of some of its capitalists, creditors; the latter refused, then the French fleet occupied Mytilene and the Ottomans hurried to satisfy all demands.

Departure of Mehmed VI, the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire, 1922

• In the 19th century, separatist sentiments intensified on the outskirts of the empire. The Ottoman Empire began to gradually lose its territories, yielding to the technological superiority of the West.
• In 1908, the Young Turks overthrew Abdul-Hamid II, after which the monarchy in the Ottoman Empire began to have a decorative character (see article Young Turk Revolution). The triumvirate of Enver, Talaat and Dzhemal was established (January 1913).
• In 1912, Italy seizes Tripolitania and Cyrenaica (now Libya) from the empire.
• AT First Balkan War 1912-1913 the empire loses the vast majority of its European possessions: Albania, Macedonia, northern Greece. During 1913, she manages to win back a small part of the land from Bulgaria during Inter-Allied (Second Balkan) War.
• Weakening, the Ottoman Empire tried to rely on the help of Germany, but this only dragged it into World War I ending in defeat Quadruple union.
• October 30, 1914 - The Ottoman Empire officially announced its entry into the First World War, having actually entered it the day before by shelling the Black Sea ports of Russia.
• In 1915, the Armenian Genocide, Assyrians, Greeks.
• During 1917-1918, the allies occupy the Middle Eastern possessions of the Ottoman Empire. After the First World War, Syria and Lebanon came under the control of France, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq - Great Britain; in the west of the Arabian Peninsula with the support of the British ( Lawrence of Arabia) formed independent states: Hejaz, Najd, Asir and Yemen. Subsequently, Hijaz and Asir became part of Saudi Arabia.
• October 30, 1918 was concluded Truce of Mudros followed by Treaty of Sèvres(August 10, 1920), which did not enter into force because it was not ratified by all signatories (ratified only by Greece). According to this agreement, the Ottoman Empire was to be dismembered, and one of the largest cities in Asia Minor Izmir (Smyrna) was promised to Greece. The Greek army took it on May 15, 1919, after which the war for independence. Turkish military statesmen led by a pasha Mustafa Kemal refused to recognize the peace treaty and the armed forces remaining under their command expelled the Greeks from the country. By September 18, 1922, Turkey was liberated, which was recorded in Treaty of Lausanne 1923, which recognized the new borders of Turkey.
• On October 29, 1923, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed, and Mustafa Kemal, who later took the surname Atatürk (father of the Turks), became its first president.
• March 3, 1924 - Grand National Assembly of Turkey Caliphate was abolished.