Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire (Ottoman Turkish: Devlet-i Aliye-i Osmaniye; Modern Turkish: Osmanl? ?mparatorlu?u; Arabic: ?????? ?????????, Al-Dawla Al-?Uthmaniyya) was an imperial power, centered around the borders of the Mediterranean Sea, that existed from 1299 to 1922. At the height of its power, it included Anatolia, the Middle East, parts of North Africa, and much of south-eastern Europe. It was established by a tribe of Oghuz Turks in western Anatolia, and was ruled by the Osmanl? dynasty, the descendants of those Turks.

State

There are some Ottoman State characters which did not change throughout the centuries.

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The rise of the Ottomans had a couple of reasons. While other states were holding on to their religion and national identity, the Ottoman state revolutionized the system with the aid and experience of Christians, and Jews. That was an eclectic path for the rapidly expanding state, which needed local sources to manage the system, such as the adaptation of advisors (vizier) to the sultans being selected from loyal Christians, Greeks, Italians, and so many others. Even from the western perspective the developments over the Byzantine structure were highly apparent in the diplomatic correspondence of the rising state, which was performed in Greek language.

Related Topics:
Vizier - Greek language

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The Ottoman State never officially enforced religious conformity, nor did it harshly pursue a policy of individual conversion. The fact that opposition to the Ottoman state had always been on a national scale supports this idea. Going back to 1391, Bayzid I with Thessalonica, Ottoman state actively adapted policies of lenient behaviors towards who opposed him. The Sultans knew that their primary concern was to serve the interests of the state. The Ottoman state, could not survive without the toil, co-operation and taxes. Turks have never interested in the souls. The hierarchy of the Christian religion provided machinery to governance of the rias. There was no reason to apply influence on the public and private life?s of Christians. For centuries, the Ottoman Empire was often a refuge of the Jews of Europe, who were often persecuted, or expelled, from the countries of Christian Europe (see History of the Jews in Turkey). The Ottoman State's relation with the Orthodox Church was very peaceful; given the fact that current Orthodoxy extends directly back to Jesus and his Apostles through unbroken Apostolic Succession. Ottoman state kept the orthodox structure intact until the national uprisings. Currently under Patriarch Bartholomew I of ?stanbul we can see encompassing national Orthodox jurisdictions such as Bulgarian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox. Some of these policies were slowly changed with the adaptation of parliamentary monarch.

Related Topics:
Thessalonica - Jew - History of the Jews in Turkey - Orthodox Church - Apostolic Succession - Patriarch Bartholomew I of ?stanbul - Bulgarian Orthodox

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Sultans

The first rulers never called themselves Sultan, but rather bey thereby acknowledging the sovereignty of the Seljuk sultanate and its successor the Ilkhanid sultanate. The sultan title was established by Murad I in 1383. Turks generally used Padishah.

Related Topics:
Bey - Seljuk - Ilkhanid - Murad I - 1383 - Padishah

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The Sultan, also known as the Padishah, in Europe sometimes the Grand Turk, was the sole regent and government of the empire, at least officially. The dynasty is most often called the Osmanli or the House of Osman. The sultan enjoyed many titles such as Sovereign of the House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans, Khan of Khans, and from 1517 onwards, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe, i.e. Caliph, which theoretically also gave him overlordship over other Muslim rulers around the world. For example, among the Mughal Emperors of India, only Aurangzeb had the Khutba read in his own name.

Related Topics:
Sultan - Padishah - Osmanli - Khan - 1517 - Prophet - Caliph - Mughal Emperors - India - Aurangzeb - Khutba

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Organization

Ottoman state had many reorganizations. However couple of the main structures have stayed the same. There was a person who was totally responsible, always in command of the state. That was called the Sultan of the Empire. The decisions were always taken by a court of people, with the last word on Sultan. The word Porte was used for this court. At the initial stages, court was composed from the elders of the tribe. Then it was modified to include professionals from military and local elites, such as high-ranking religious and political advisors. They were named as the vizier's. This structure was later modified to include Grand Vizier to lift of some of the responsibilities from the Sultan. The Sublime Porte was the open court of the Sultan, named after the gate to the headquarters to the Grand Vizier, where the sultan held the greeting ceremony for foreign ambassadors. At times, the Grand Vizier became as or more important than the Sultan. After Beyaz?t II Sultans used the title of the Caliph. From 1908 onwards the state was constitutional monarch without executive powers, with parliament consisting of chosen representatives.

Related Topics:
Sultan - Vizier - Sublime Porte - Caliph

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Subdivisions

Even though there is no election, there was a very interesting democratic structure within the Ottoman State. From an outside view, Ottoman state organization was based on a hierarchy with the Sultan, but there were many historical incidences that local governors acted by their own, sometimes just opposite of the Sultan. There are eleven incidences that Sultans were dethroned as they were perceived threats to the state. Sultans were chosen from the sons of the previous Sultan, but one has to understand the educational system and how it eliminates the unfit, or builds a common trust among the ruling elite for the son before they were throned. There were only two failed attempts to overthrow the ruling family, which suggests an extreme political stability.

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At the height of its power, the Ottoman Empire had 29 provinces plus three tributary principalities and Transylvania, a kingdom which swore allegiance to the Porte.

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Failures

The fall of the Ottoman state is attributed to the failure of its economic structure. Many of the Ottoman Empire failures are commonly attributed to an inability to turn itself into an establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations, even if it was an empire. The term "the sick man of Europe" originated from the frustration the Turks in their efforts to reform their state.

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With the change of trade roads, the Ottoman State lost its main income source. Inability to industrialize the state and depending too much on the farmers through taxation were also factors.

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Inefficiencies originated from size of the empire was also mentioned. Trying to keep the empire intact through internal and external wars, eliminated the adaptation of reforms and doubled the size of the problems with added costs.

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With the changing trade routes and improvements in communication, the population that was distributed along the trade routes became concentrated on the centers. This population was highly affected by the economic competition of that time. The population that moved into cities were faced with hardships which tested their patience, persistence, and adaptability. The Ottomans had to keep the system running under these social pressures.

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The dynamics of this control were very interesting, such as happened with the Greece. Even in 1470s Greeks and Jews were at the center of trade dynamics, not the Ottomans. In an interesting way, Ottoman system was forced to protect the Greek elite to continue economical functions of the empire by dealing with a Greek social unrest. When the Greek elite turned against the Ottomans, the Empire lost the control. Greek elite blame the economical problems on the Ottomans and offered an escape route to Greeks by perusing a nation of their own. In reality, even after the Greek revolution, the same elite were controlling the economy, and the trade routes were already altered.

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In many sources, fall of the empire is attributed to the same reasons attributed to the fall of Byzantine, inability to associate with the dynamics of the populations. In Ottoman case, parliamentary system was too late to recover the damage.

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