Post by yenilira on Dec 13, 2011 21:36:33 GMT 1
or....The Fall of the Ottoman Empire.
What is, or was, the “Ottoman Empire”?
“Devlet-i Âliyye-i Osmâniyye” in Turkish, was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history. It was an empire inspired and sustained by Islam, and Islamic institutions, and, at its height, in the 16th and 17th Centuries, its territories covered south-east Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.
With Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Ottoman Turkish - Kostantiniyye) as its capital city, and vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520 to 1566), the empire was at the center of interactions between the eastern and western worlds for six centuries.
The Ottoman Turkish administrative genius lay in retaining and governing what they had conquered. The survival of any government for six centuries is in itself a testimony to its greatness. The Turks proved to be adaptable to new circumstances. They managed to turn their system from a nomadic state whose members were more naturally wanderers than statesmen to a settled empire with laws, land registers, taxation systems, and economic might. Their system was not without troubles, but revolts and sometimes poor politicians could not bring it down. The state was based on tolerance of differences among its subjects. Christians and Jews were allowed to keep their religious practices and their means of gaining livelihood. This was good for the Ottomans, because satisfied subjects did not rebel. It was also good for the subjects.
Tolerance and administrative ability were not enough for the Empire to last forever. In the 1600s and 1700s the Ottoman central government weakened just as European power immensely increased. The Europeans were translating the benefits of the Renaissance, the scientific revolution, and the discovery of the Americas into military and economic advantage. Europeans began to dismantle the Empire, taking Ottoman lands for themselves, causing the great exile of Turks and other Muslims mentioned in other threads.
Ethnic and religious groups, such as the Bulgarians and Greeks, became affected by European ideas of nationalism. In the nineteenth century they revolted and created their own nation states, once again expelling many of the Turks who lived within their new borders.
www.naqshbandi.org/ottomans/maps/
As the Ottoman Empire compressed, the Turks also began to develop a national consciousness. Driven into Anatolia, the Turkish exiles and the Turks of Anatolia began a slow process of thinking of themselves not only as a religious group, Muslim, or the mainstay of an empire, Ottoman, but as the Turkish People. Turkish philosophers and politicians called upon the Turks to think of themselves as a nation.
The ultimate push toward Turkish nationhood came after World War I. Following Ottoman defeat in the war, the Arab and Muslim provinces had been stripped from the Empire. Anatolia, Istanbul, and a small portion of Europe were all that was left to the Turks.
Then, in 1919, Anatolia was also invaded. Aided by Britain, France, and Italy, the Greek army landed and took control of Western Anatolia and Eastern Thrace. The European allies took Istanbul themselves. Many Turks already had been driven from both Europe and Asia into Anatolia, and Anatolia seemed about to be also lost. Drawing on their old military skills, the Turks organized to save what remained. They rallied under the leadership of General Mustafa Kemal, defeated the Greeks, and created a new state, the Turkish Republic, in Anatolia and Eastern Thrace.
The rest, as they say, is history.
What is, or was, the “Ottoman Empire”?
“Devlet-i Âliyye-i Osmâniyye” in Turkish, was one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history. It was an empire inspired and sustained by Islam, and Islamic institutions, and, at its height, in the 16th and 17th Centuries, its territories covered south-east Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa.
With Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Ottoman Turkish - Kostantiniyye) as its capital city, and vast control of lands around the eastern Mediterranean during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520 to 1566), the empire was at the center of interactions between the eastern and western worlds for six centuries.
The Ottoman Turkish administrative genius lay in retaining and governing what they had conquered. The survival of any government for six centuries is in itself a testimony to its greatness. The Turks proved to be adaptable to new circumstances. They managed to turn their system from a nomadic state whose members were more naturally wanderers than statesmen to a settled empire with laws, land registers, taxation systems, and economic might. Their system was not without troubles, but revolts and sometimes poor politicians could not bring it down. The state was based on tolerance of differences among its subjects. Christians and Jews were allowed to keep their religious practices and their means of gaining livelihood. This was good for the Ottomans, because satisfied subjects did not rebel. It was also good for the subjects.
Tolerance and administrative ability were not enough for the Empire to last forever. In the 1600s and 1700s the Ottoman central government weakened just as European power immensely increased. The Europeans were translating the benefits of the Renaissance, the scientific revolution, and the discovery of the Americas into military and economic advantage. Europeans began to dismantle the Empire, taking Ottoman lands for themselves, causing the great exile of Turks and other Muslims mentioned in other threads.
Ethnic and religious groups, such as the Bulgarians and Greeks, became affected by European ideas of nationalism. In the nineteenth century they revolted and created their own nation states, once again expelling many of the Turks who lived within their new borders.
www.naqshbandi.org/ottomans/maps/
As the Ottoman Empire compressed, the Turks also began to develop a national consciousness. Driven into Anatolia, the Turkish exiles and the Turks of Anatolia began a slow process of thinking of themselves not only as a religious group, Muslim, or the mainstay of an empire, Ottoman, but as the Turkish People. Turkish philosophers and politicians called upon the Turks to think of themselves as a nation.
The ultimate push toward Turkish nationhood came after World War I. Following Ottoman defeat in the war, the Arab and Muslim provinces had been stripped from the Empire. Anatolia, Istanbul, and a small portion of Europe were all that was left to the Turks.
Then, in 1919, Anatolia was also invaded. Aided by Britain, France, and Italy, the Greek army landed and took control of Western Anatolia and Eastern Thrace. The European allies took Istanbul themselves. Many Turks already had been driven from both Europe and Asia into Anatolia, and Anatolia seemed about to be also lost. Drawing on their old military skills, the Turks organized to save what remained. They rallied under the leadership of General Mustafa Kemal, defeated the Greeks, and created a new state, the Turkish Republic, in Anatolia and Eastern Thrace.
The rest, as they say, is history.