The Ottoman Empire

By the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire was already becoming a major power. Extending into modern-day Turkey as well as to the Balkan areas of Europe and parts of North Africa and Southeast Asia, the Ottoman Empire was the largest and most enduring of the great Islamic empires of this period. Founded by the Osman Dynasty in the 1300s, the empire lasted until its defeat in 1918 by the Allies in World War I. Thus a single dynasty controlled the empire for more than 600 years.

Mehmed II Called the Conqueror, Mehmed II (ruled 1451–1481) firmly established the empire’s capital after his forces besieged Constantinople (once the center of the Byzantine Empire) in 1453. Despite its triple fortifications, the city fell as its walls crumbled under the bombardment of Ottoman cannons. The Ottomans used a 26-foot bronze cannon and several other cannons from 15 to 22 feet in length. Under Mehmed II’s rule, the city—its name changed to Istanbul—prospered because of its location. A nexus for trade, the city controlled the Bosporus Strait, the only waterway linking the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea.

The armies of Mehmed II next seized lands around the western edge of the Black Sea. Then they moved into the Balkans in Southeast Europe. To counter the power of Venice, an expanding state on the Adriatic Sea with a robust maritime trade, Mehmed strengthened the Ottoman navy and attacked various areas of Italy. Although he did not conquer Venice, he forced the city to pay him a yearly tax. In the early 16th century, the Ottomans added to their empire lands in present-day Syria, Israel, Egypt, and Algeria. When the Mamluk Dynasty’s power declined, Istanbul became a center of Islam. (For more on the Mamluk Empire, see Topic 1.2.)

Suleiman I The Ottoman Empire reached its peak under Suleiman I (ruled 1520–1566). His armies overran Hungary in 1526 and, by 1529, were hammering at the gates of Vienna, the main city in Austria. Their attempt to take Vienna failed twice, but the ability of the Ottomans to send troops so far into Christian Europe caused great fear there.

In 1522, Suleiman’s navy captured the island of Rhodes (now part of Greece) in the eastern Mediterranean, which had long been a stronghold of Christian knights. In the 1550s, the Ottoman navy took control of Tripoli in North Africa. The Ottoman Empire would experience a transformation as the state adapted to new internal and external pressures. A period of reform would follow by the 18th century. Challenges in defending Ottoman territory against foreign invasion and occupation led to the Ottoman defeat and dissolution by 1922.