Parts 3-4
Control of Other Lands/Imperial Culture and Political Control
 At the start of the 14th Century was when the main wave of Ottoman expansion began. Though there were leaders in the Ottoman Empire before Osman I, he is still regarded as the founder of the empire, as he was the first leader to declare his independence, as well as begin expansion. Under Osman, the Ottomans moved their capital to Bursa. At about the same time, Osman started an Ottoman currency to be used throughout the empire.
Soon after Osman came the rule of Mehmed II, who was only 12 when he became sultan. In 1453, Mehmed brought an end to the over thousand year old Byzantine Empire under the Siege of Constantinople. The gain of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire was extremely advantageous to the Ottomans, who seized a main European city. Constantinople was strategically located, which was one of the reasons that it had withstanded attacks for so long. It was surrounded on three sides by water, and was enclosed by triple walls. Such a defeat made the Ottomans a force to beware of, especially in Europe.
After conquering Constantinople, making it the new Ottoman capitol and renaming it Istanbul (the same name as today), Mehmed turned his attention to Anatolia. He tried to create a single political party in Anatolia by capturing the Turkish states of Beyliks and the Empire of Trebizond and allying himself with the Golden Horde in Cremea, which made it possible for him to push further into Europe. Mehmed invaded Italy in 1480, intending to capture Rome, but he was pushed back by Pope Sixtus IV and George Kastrioti Skanderbeg. He also came into conflict with a former ally, Prince Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia in 1462 in a night attack. The Ottomans also suffered a defeat at the hands of Stephen the Great in 1475 at the Battle of Vasuli in Moldavia. Despite these defeats, the Ottomans were able to begin creating an empire that would last up until the 1900s.
The Ottomans took over Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, which began the Ottoman’s European expansion. The sultan Selim I (1512-1520) expanded the eastern borders temporarily by defeating the rival Safavid Empire’s forces under Ismail I of Persia in the Battle of Chaldiran and established a naval force in the Red Sea.
Suleiman I, called Suleiman the Magnificent or Suleiman the Lawgiver, in power between 1520 and 1566, increased the size and power of the Empire even further than any other sultan before him. He captured the Belgian city of Belgrade, which was a major advancement into Europe and forced the Europeans to believe that they should be wary of the Ottomans. He also caused the kingdom of Hungary to fall into an anarchy after the 1526 Battle of Mohacs, then failing to take Vienna in 1529. Both large battles caused major chaos years afterwards. Under Suleiman, Transylvanian, Walachia, and Moldavia became principalities of the Ottoman Empire. Suleiman also expanded into the east when he took Baghdad from the Safavids in 1535, and gained major control of the Middle East. Under Suleiman, the Ottomans reached their peak time, or the “Golden Age of Suleiman.”
Some technological advancements made all of these expansious victories possible. One of the most famous and fruitful of these battles was that that took Constantinople, and When Mehmed started his conquest of Constantinople, he commissioned large cannons to be built: larger than cannons had ever been made and able to fire cannonballs at great force and as far as a catapult. Another large advancement was their utilization of gunpowder. The Ottomans were one of the first states to effectively embrace gunpowder weapons and use them to great effect in their conquering of the Middle East, Northern Africa, and parts of the Balkans.
Many different cultures lived in the Ottoman Empire, vast as it was, and this makes Ottoman culture rather difficult to specifically define. Subcultures in the Ottoman Empire include Turkish Ottoman, Greek Ottoman, and Armenian Ottoman, among others. Following Mehmed II’s capture of Constantinople, many Byzantine and European cultures began to become integrated into Ottoman culture.
Ottoman policies were considerate of the fact that the Empire encompassed many cultures. One of the reasons that it was such a long-lived empire was because of their highly tolerant policies, as it pursued multicultural and multi-religious policies to keep order among its people. A perfect example of this are the three law codes that the Ottomans kept: one for Muslims based on Shari’ah, the Islamic law code or code of ethics; one for Christians, Jewish people, and people of other religions; and one for trading. There were 15 main Books of Law, and they encompassed all religions and ethnicity's. All three of these sets of laws were said to be quite fair to every culture in the Ottoman Empire, as well as promoting peace and order among all classes. In conquered areas, of Europe, they also incorporated European laws into the Ottoman justice system.
A main factor in the Ottoman’s encroaching upon other cultures was the conquest of the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia was an Orthodox Church in Constantinople. It was a principal setting for imperial ceremonies, and the largest enclosed space in the northern hemisphere at the time of its creation, and for many years afterwards. It became a Roman Catholic cathedral during the Latin Occupation in the 1200s. After the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks under Medmed, it was converted into a mosque, the Ayasofya. This had a huge impact on culture in the area, and was a major signal to the Roman Catholic Church, as well as the rest of Europe, that the Ottomans were not a force to be trifled with. However, due to the tolerance of the Ottomans, not many modifications were made to the Hagia Sophia.
During the time of Suleiman, the Ottoman Empire not only flourished politically, expanding into many territories, but also culturally. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the best court artists were organized as a group called Ehl-i-Hiref. This translates to the “Society of the Talented.” The artists were of many ethnicity's, which enriched the Byzantine art with influences from Chinese and Persian motifs. In the palaces of Suleiman, there were multitudes of plants and many seemly endless arabesques, an architectural style of tower. Architecture itself was an art form at this time, and may buildings and homes were lavishly made and decorated. There was an almost fixation to tulips as an artistic model at this time also. Tulips were a main export to Europe, and this was reflective in the palace décor.
Diwani is a calligraphic form of Arabic script. It was developed by Housam Roumi, an Islamic philosopher, and it reached its height of popularity under the reign of Suleiman. Suleiman used Diwani to write all of the royal decrees, endowments, and resolutions. To be able to read Diwani was seen as a sign of respect and wealth. In Suleiman’s palace, only masters and a few students were taught to read Diwani.
Poetry also flourished at this time. A British historian, E. J. W. Gibb, wrote that, “at no time, even in Turkey, was greater encouragement given to poetry than during the reign of this Sultan.” Suleiman himself was a noted poet, who sometimes wrote under the name “Muhibbi.” Some of his verses have become Turkish proverbs, such as, “Everyone aims at the same meaning, but many are the versions of the story,” and, “In this world a spell of good health is the best state.”
Suleiman called for many new mosques to be built. Suleiman hired many architects for the building of these mosques, and possibly the most notable of these was Mimar Sanin, who constructed 84 great mosques (cami) for Suleiman, as well as 52 smaller mosques (mescit). The first mosque that Suleiman had commissioned was the Sultan Selim Mosque in memory of his father. Then, he built the Sehzade Mosque in memory of Suleiman’s son Mehmed. Before Suleiman’s time, there were no mosques with half cubic roofs. Began building them based off of an idea from Hagia Sophia. The Suleiman Mosque (Süleymaniye Camii) is a grand mosque in Istanbul. It was constructed by Sanin for Suleiman. Construction began in 1550 and ended in 1557 on the Suleiman Mosque. The mosque is the second largest to the Ayasofya, but indisputably the finest and richest in architecture, wealth, and culture in Istanbul. Upon his death in 1566, Suleiman and Roxelana, his favorite wife, were buried in domed mausoleums attached to the mosque.
Suleiman had many bridges built during his reign for decoration, military use, and trade. There were many notable bridges built in Suleiman’s time. One is the Mostar, which was built because Suleiman felt that the chain bridge before it was unsafe for everyone. The Mostar still stands today in Istanbul. Another is the bridge built to connect Buda and Pest in the area of Budapest.
Bibliography of Sources
"Ottoman Empire." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003. Answers.com 28 Apr. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/ottoman-empire
"Ottoman Empire." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 2005. Answers.com 29 Apr. 2006. http://www.answers.com/topic/ottoman-empire
pictures of the Ottoman Empire and Ayasofya found on http://www.turkey.info/
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