Ottoman Empire - History, Timeline, Major Rulers, Administration, Religion, Economy And More

The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I in 1299, uniting many of the independent states of Anatolia under one rule. He expanded his kingdom into the territories of the erstwhile Byzantine Empire in the mid-14th century. The Ottoman Empire ruled a large portion of the Middle East and Eastern Europe for over 600 years and finally dissolved in 1922, becoming the country of Turkey. You can also register for the best coaching for history optional and begin your UPSC IAS preparation journey with Testbook.

Here through this article, we will take a comprehensive view of ‘The Ottoman Empire’ considering its relevance to the UPSC IAS Exam (GS Paper I).

About Ottoman Empire (1299-1922)

• Towards the end of the 13th century, a series of small principalities emerged in Anatolia, which was between the Byzantine and Mongol kingdoms.
• Ghazis were dominated by these regions, ghazi- considered a warrior and dedicated to fighting for Islam – and ruled by a prince, or “bey”.
• Osman I was the leader of the Turkmen Nomads who gave their name to the Ottoman principality, a region that developed into a huge world power during its first few centuries.
• As a result the Ottoman Empire, which ruled large areas of Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean Sea, survived until 1922 when the rest of the region turned to Turkey.

Overview Of Ottoman Empire
FOUNDED	1299
CAPITAL	First Administered from the City of Bursa. In 1363 the capital was moved to Edirne by Murad I, and then to Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453 by Mehmed II.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE	Ottoman Turkish language (Mixture of both Persian and Arabic vocabulary and grammar).
FORM OF GOVERNMENT	Absolute monarchy: The central government system was mainly composed of the Sultan and his own staff (Bookkeepers, etc. or House of Osman- Advised by Grand Vizier).
OFFICIAL RELIGION	Islam, but it also contained non-muslim with Christians, Jews, and other religious minorities.
DECLINED	1922

Ottoman Empire: Historical Background

• In the mid-11th century, the Seljuk Turks, a people from the Asian steppe, who had accepted the Sunni version of Islam, migrated to Persia and neighbouring eastern regions and then moved west to Anatolia.
• In 1071, after a disastrous defeat of the Byzantine Empire (330–1453) at Manzikert, several Turkic tribes settled in the southeastern regions of the Byzantine Empire.
• By the end of the 13th century, the several Anatolian beyliks (small kingdoms), were virtually independent but were feuding among themselves.
• Osman I (1299–1326), was a bey (chieftain) of Bithynia, a region located to the west, near the Sea of Marmara, began a war with its frontier Byzantine Empire, expanded his domains at his own expense and established Prusa (Bursa).
• Gradually Osman’s successors conquered the territories of the Byzantine Empire in Anatolia and Europe, even the Balkans by the end of the 14th century.
• Finally, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, which became the new Ottoman capital, Mehmed launched several military campaigns in both the east and west.
• As a result, the regions of Serbia, Greece and Bosnia soon came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman Empire Timeline

• 1299 – Osman I declared his independence from the Seljuk Sultan and laid the foundation of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1389 – Much of the Balkan Peninsula came under Ottoman rule including Serbia.
• 1453 – Sultan Mehmed II ended the Byzantine Empire and captured Constantinople.
• 1517 – The Ottomans conquered Egypt and annexed their territory and included it in their empire.
• 1520 – Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent became the ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1529 – The Siege of Vienna.
• 1533 – The Ottomans conquer Iraq.
• 1551 – The Ottomans conquer Libya.
• 1566 – Suleiman dies.
• 1569 – Much of Istanbul burned in a great fire and around 36,000 houses were destroyed by this fire.
• 1683 – The Ottomans were defeated in the Battle of Vienna and this marks the beginning of the decline of the empire.
• 1699 – The Ottomans give up their control from Austria to Hungary.
• 1718 – The beginning of the Tulip period (Between 1718 and 1730) in which the Ottomans experienced a peaceful and prosperous period.
• 1821 – The war for Greek independence begins.
• 1914 – The Ottomans joined the side of the Central Powers in World War I.
• 1922 – The Ottoman Empire is completely dissolved and the Republic of Turkey becomes an independent country.

तुर्क साम्राज्य 1299-1922 के बारे में हिंदी में पढ़ें!

Ottoman Empire Religion

Official religion of the Ottoman Empire was Islam, although the people they conquered did not force them to convert.

• Rather, Christians and Jews were allowed to worship without any persecution.
• As a result, this kept the people they conquered from rebelling and allowed them to rule for so many centuries.

Key Facts About Ottoman Empire

• The Sultan lived in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul with several of his wives.
• Janissaries- The elite war soldiers of the Sultan were selected from Christian families from the Balkan states at an early age.
• Janissaries were treated as slaves, but they were treated well and given regular salaries and allowances.
• The tulip period was the time of peace – when art flourished in the Ottoman Empire.
• It was considered a symbol of the perfection and beauty of the Ottoman Empire.
• According to documents from Bursa, considered the oldest economic source of the Ottoman Empire, commercial relations between India and the Ottoman Empire.
• Sultan Mehmed II had emerged as an outlet for Indian textiles from at least the late fifteenth century.

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Major Rulers of Ottoman Empire

The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was made up solely of the members of the Ottoman Dynasty (House of Osman), there were a total of 36 sultans who ruled between 1299-1922. The Sultans of the Ottoman Empire are listed in the table below in chronological order:

OTTOMAN RULERS NAME	REIGNED	COMMENTS
Osman Gazi or Osman I	1299-1324 or 1326	Declared independence from the Anatolian Seljuk Empire in 1299. Reigned until his death.
Orhan Gazi	1326-1362	Son of Osman I
Murad I or Sultan-i Azam	1362-1389	The most exalted sultan. Reigned until his death. On June 15, 1389, Killed on the battlefield at the battle of Kosovo.
Yildirim Bayazid I	1389-1402	Captured on the battlefield at the battle of Ankara and died in captivity in Aksehir on 8 March 1403).
Celebi Mehmet I	1413-1421	Note: Ottoman Empire Interregnum (From 20 July 1402 – 5 July 1413). Bowstring maker for his support. Reigned until his death.
Murad II	First reign- 1421-1444	Abdicated of his own free will in favour of his son Faith Mehmet II.
Fatih Mehmed II	First reign- 1444-1446	Surrendered the throne to his father due to increasing threats from Janissaries.
Murad II	Second reign- 1446-1451	Later, the following Janissary rebellion was forced to return the throne. Reigned until his death.
Mehmed II	Second reign- 1451-1481	Kayser-i-rum (Caesar of the Roman Empire). Conquered Constantinople in 1453. Reigned until his death.
Bayezid II	1481-1512	Died near Didymoteicho on 26 May 1512.
Yavuz Selim I	1512-1520	Known as Hadim-ul Haramain-al-Sharifain (Servant of Mecca and Medina). Reigned until his death.
Suleiman the magnificent or Suleiman I	1520-1566	Most powerful Ottoman Sultan. Codified a central legal system for the Ottoman state. Expanded both territory (Into Mecca-Medina, Yemen and took Persian territory) and revenue. Built up Constantinople as the Ottoman empire’s capital.
Selim II	1566-1574	Son of Suleiman I. His reign was considered a Less fortune against Russia. In 1572, Before his death, the Ottomans regained control of Tunisia from Spain.
Murad III	1574-1595	His reign saw fighting with the Habsburg monarchy and some exhausting wars with the Safavids empire. Reigned until his death.
Mehmed III	1595-1603	His reign saw the Ottoman forces defeat the Habsburgs and Transylvanians forces in the decisive battle of Keresztes in 1596. He was buried in Hagia Sophia Mosque (Originally a Church, Present day- Turkey).
Ahmed I	1603-1617	Constructed the Blue Mosque (Present day- Istanbul, Turkey). He led the wars against Safavid Persia. Safavid offered a peace treaty (Treaty of Nasuh Pasha in 1612) agreed to end the war. Strengthened the Ottomans trade- signed a trade agreement with the Dutch republic.
Mustafa I	First reign- 1617-1618	Dismissed due to his non-syndromic mental retardation in favour of his young nephew Osman II.
Osman II	1618-1622	Dismissed from the throne in a Janissary riot on 19 May 1622. Then, He was murdered on 20 May 1622 by the Grand Vizier Kara Davud Pasha.
Mustafa I	Second reign- 1622-1623	Return to the throne after the assassination of his nephew Osman II. Later, Dismissed from the throne due to his poor mental health and confined until his death.
Murad IV	1623-1640	Baghdad was conquered by him. Reigned until his death.
Ibrahim	1640-1648	The Conqueror of Crete. Dismissed on 8 Aug 1648 in a coup led by the Sheikh ul-Islam.
Mehmed IV	1648-1687	Dismissed on 8 Nov 1687 following the Ottoman defeat at the second battle of Mohacs.
Suleiman II	1687-1691	Relations with the Mughal Empire, India: In 1688, Sultan Suleiman II made an urgent request for assistance from the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb against the Austrians during the Ottoman–Habsburg War. Then, the Mughals were heavily engaged in the Deccan wars against the Marathas.
Ahmed II	1691-1695	He saw continued wars with the Holy League (Poland, Austria and Vence). His reigned Ottomans suffered substantial territorial losses in Hungary.
Mustafa II	1695-1703	Dismissed on 22 Aug 1703 by a Janissary uprising known as the Edirne event.
Ahmed III	1703-1730	Dismissed as a result of the Janissary rebellion led by Patrona Halil.
Mahmud I	1730-1754	He assumed the throne after the Patrona Halil rebellion in 1730 and maintained good relations with the Safavid and Mughal empires. Reigned until his death.
Osman III	1754-1757	25th Ottoman Sultan& 90th of the Islamic caliph. He lived most of his life as a prisoner and succeeded to the throne at the age of 56.
Mustafa III	1757-1774	By removing Osman III from the throne, He became the next Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. His reign saw the Russo-Turkish wars of 1768-1774. Later, He was removed from the throne by his brother- Abdulhamid I.
Abdulhamid I	1774-1789	He tried to renovate the military system. He installed new artillery troops. Reigned until his death.
Selim III	1789-1807	Dismissed as a result of the Janissary revolt led by Kabakci Mustafa against his reforms. Assassinated in Istanbul on 28 July 1808 at the behest of Mustafa IV.
Mustafa IV	1807-1808	Dismissed in an insurrection led by Alemdar Mustafa Pasha. Executed in Istanbul by order of Sultan Mahmud II.
Mahmud II	1808-1839	Modernization of the Ottoman empire. In 1826, The Janissaries were dissolved as a result of an auspicious event.
Abdulmejid I	1839-1861	Proclaimed the Hatt-i-Sharif (Imperial Edict). Launched the Tanzimat period of reforms at the behest of reformist Grand Vizier Great Mustafa Rashid Pasha.
Abdulaziz I	1861-1876	Deposed by his ministers.
Mehmed Murad V	Between May – Aug 1876	Dismissed due to his efforts to implement democratic reforms in the empire.
Abdulhamid II	1876-1909	He ruled the Ottomans for 33 years (Known as the Hamidian Era).
Mehmed V	1909-1918	Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
Mehmed VI	1918-1922	The Sultanate was abolished. Left Istanbul in Nov 1922. Died in exile in Sanremo, Italy.
Abdulmejid II	1922-1924	Republican Caliphate. Exiled after the abolition of the caliphate post.

Expansion of the Ottoman Empire

• In 1299 the Ottoman Empire was founded and expanded rapidly from its origins as one of several Turkish states that came to power after the fall of the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia (Present day Turkey).
• In the middle of the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Empire really began to expand and consolidate its power, especially after the conquest of Constantinople.
• Much of these successes were the result of an efficient Ottoman army and an elite fighting force called the Janissaries.
• The Janissaries consisted of Christian young male slaves brought from the Balkan countries (Present-day Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, Slovenia, etc).
• They grew up in the Islamic faith and became either the Sultan’s administrator or the Sultan’s personal bodyguard and members of the army.
• These soldiers used new weapons called ‘Harquebus’ to make the Ottomans one of the first gunpowder empires.
• In world history, the Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest empires.
• The Ottoman Empire, at its maximum, extended to three continents. Which included areas of the Balkans in Southeast Europe in Central Asia, Arabia, Anatolia, and North Africa, the Ottomans ruled such a large area, thanks to their army and the weapons of gunpowder they invented.

The Decline of the Ottoman Empire

• In the 1600s, the Ottoman Empire began to lose its military and economic control over Europe.
• After the next hundred years, the Ottoman Empire began to lose its major territories. After a rebellion, Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1830.
• During 1878, the Congress of Berlin declared the independence of Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.
• During the Balkan Wars (between 1912 and 1913), the Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its territories in Europe.
• At the start of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was already in a state of disintegration.
• In 1914, the Ottoman forces entered world war I on the side of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary, etc.) and were defeated in October 1918.
• In 1922, The Ottoman Empire was officially abolished and the title of Ottoman Sultan was also abolished.
• Finally, On October 29, 1923, Turkey was declared a republic, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (an army officer) established the independent Republic of Turkey.

Check out the Cold War Confronation here.

Art and Science of Ottoman Empire

The Ottomans gained recognition for their contributions to art, science, and medicine. Cities like Istanbul flourished as artistic centers, particularly during Suleiman the Magnificent's reign. Various art forms thrived, including calligraphy, painting, poetry, textiles, carpet weaving, ceramics, and music. Ottoman architecture, characterized by intricate mosques and public buildings, played a pivotal role in shaping the cultural landscape.

In the realm of science, the Ottomans held a strong emphasis on advanced studies. They delved into mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, physics, geography, and chemistry.

Furthermore, the Ottomans achieved notable breakthroughs in medicine, introducing surgical instruments still in use today. Innovations such as forceps, catheters, scalpels, pincers, and lancets originated from their advancements in the field.

Administration and Economy of Ottoman Empire

• The Ottoman administration had two main aspects: civilian and military.
• The Sultan held the highest authority in the system.
• Local administrative units were structured based on regional characteristics in the civil system.
• While the Sultan was the supreme monarch, political and executive authority was delegated.
• The state's politics involved advisors and ministers in a council known as the Divan.
• Initially composed of elders from Turkish tribes, the Divan later included military officers and local elites.
• In 1320, a Grand Vizier assumed specific responsibilities.
• The Grand Vizier held significant power independently from the Sultan.
• From the late 16th century, Sultans stepped back from politics, making the Grand Vizier the de facto head of state.
• The Ottoman legal system incorporated religious law and the secular Qanun.
• Local jurisprudence balanced central and local authority in the Ottoman Empire's legal administration.

Conclusion

In the end, the Ottoman Empire collapsed, mainly due to the decline of the Sultanate in government, the Renaissance in Europe, the failure of modern industrialization, and Germany’s support in World War I. After the defeat in World War I, the empire was completely destroyed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

Previous Years UPSC Mains Exam Questions

“By 1914, the sick man of Europe was no longer just Turkey: it was Europe itself.” Explain. (UPSC Mains 2011)

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