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Yıldırım Bayezid (1389-1402)
The Ottoman Empire spread over 500 thousand kilometres when Yıldırım "the Thunderbolt " Bayezid was proclaimed the Ottoman Sultan. After uniting all the Anatolian beylicates and maintaining political unity, Bayezid continued to enlarge the territory of the Ottoman Empire in Rumeli.
Murad II (1421-1451)
Murad II, the eldest son of Mehmed Çelebi, first restored the political integrity of Anatoli. Defeating the troops of the Balkan alliance under the command of Janos Hunyadi at the Battle of Varna in 1444, Murad II totally destroyed the Hungarians and their allies four years later Battle of kosova (1448). With this victory, the Turks were supreme in southeast Europe for the ensuing centuries.
Mehmet II-Conquest of Istanbul
Political integrty in Anatolia was restored and the enemies in the Balkans were defeated when Mehmet II ("the Conqueror"), the son of Murad II, came to the throne but there was domestic strife in Byzantium. Strenghening his ground forces and navy, Mehmet II conquered Istanbul on May 29, 1453, after difficult and long siege, thus opening a new are in the history of the world. During this period Mora, Eflak, Buğdan, Bosna-Hersek and Serbia in the west and the Karaman State the Isfendiyar Beylicate and the Trabizon Pontus Empire in the east were conquered. The total area of the Ottoman Empire had reached two-million square kilometres when Mhmet II died on May 3, 1481.
Beyazid II (1481-1512)
The Empire, after the rapid expansionist period of Mehmet II, entered a period of stagnation. Bayezid II was the Sultan during this period which continued from 1481 to 1512. During Bayezid's reign the Ottoman navy was strengthened.
Yavuz Sultan Selim (1512-1520)
Durign his short reign, Yavuz ("the Formidable"), exered painstaking efforts to integrate Islamıc countries under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire. He won the Battles of Çaldıran (Chaldıran) in 1514, Ridaniye 1516 and Merc-i Dabık in 1518. With these battles, Syria, Palestine, Hegira and Egypt were annexed to the territories of the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Egypt provided the Ottomans the Calithate.
Süleyman I (The magnificent) (1520-1566)
In 1520, Selim was succeded by his son Süleyman (Suleiman or Solyman) who was known in the West as "the magnificent" and in the East as "Kanuni" (the Lawgiver). During his reign of 46 years, the Ottoman conquered Belgrade (1521) and Rhodes (1522). Taking stock of the situation in Europe, he left aside his father's policy oriented to the east and concentrated his polices on the west. Although the Ottoman Army besieged Vienna in 1259, the result was unsuccessful.
While this was happening in the west, the Persians conquered Tebriz. Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha who was appointed Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Fleet seized Libya, Morocco and Algeris.
The total area of the empire was 15 million square kilometres when Süleyman died in this battle tent at Szigetvar in 1566. The renaissance was just beginning in Europe when the Ottoman Empire was entering a period of stagnation and decline.
The Sultans succeeding Süleyman ( Selim II (1566-1574), Murat III (1574-1595), Mehmet III (1595-1603), Ahmet I (1603-1612) were not successful in taking measures ta halt this stagnation but in fact the total area of the Ottoman Empire in the year 1593 including its affiliated countries, was about 20million square kilometres.
During the reign of Murat IV (1623-1640), who became Sultan after the murder of reformist Sultan Osman II (1618-1622), measures were takne to restore the empire. Unfortunately, these were not successful and as a consequence daring the reign of his successors., Sultan Ibrahim (Deli Ibrahim, 1640-1648), Mehmet IV (1648-1687), Suleiman II (1687-1691), and Ahmed II (1691-1695), the stagnation and decline could not be halted.
The Sultans of this period, Mushapta II (1695-1703), Ahmet III (1703-1730), Mahmoud I (1730-1754), Osman III (1754-1757),Mushapta II (1757-1774), and Abdülhamit I ( 1774-1789) were unskilled and unsuccessful, compared with their predecessors.
Tanzimat (1839) and Meşrutiyet I (Constitutional government 1876) were the important incidets of the 19th century. Modernisation introduced by these were not successful because result could not be reflected to the people. Meanwhile the "Düyunu Umumiye Idaresi" ( Ottoman Public Dept Administration) was established to force ottomans to pay their depts and Abdülhamit II closed down the Meclis_i Mebusan (Assembly). |
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The Committee of Union and Progress (Ittihak ve Terakki Cemiyeti) which was exerting efforts to restore Meşrutiyet (Constituonal government), forced Abdülhamit II to declare Meşrutiyet on July 23, 1908, for the second time.
In 1908, Bulgaria declared its independence. Bosnia and Hersek joined Austria. The Ottomans re-captured Edirne taking advantage of the struggle between the allied powers which once reached Çatalca. By the 1913 agreement the Maritza river was accepted as the border.
The Ottomans joined the First World War in 1914 as a result of a fait accompli. Following this armistice, the ottomans were forced to sign the Serves Treat on August 10, 1920 which aimed at dividing the lands of the empire.
The Modern Turkish Republic
The National Struggle started when Mustafa Kemal Pasha landed in Samsun May 19,1919; and a new Turkish State was established with the meeting of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on April 23, 1920. After the National Struggle ended in victory and the Mudanya Armistice was signed, the Ottoman Empire and the instituons under its control were necessarily liquidated. The Entente Powers decided to call the Ottoman Government together with the Ankara Government to the peace conference to be held, and the Ottoman Government accepted. On the other hand, on November 1,1922, the Grand national Assembly announced that the Caliphate and the Sultanate were separate and the Sultanate was abolished. the second step was taken with the establishment of the republic on October 29,1923. It was followed by the acceptance of a law, on March 3,1924, stating that the Caliphate was abolished and the Ottoman Dynasty was to be deported. On April 20, 1920, the new Constitution reorganising the state was promulgated by the Turkish Grand National Assembly .
Reorganisation continued with new reforms, in addition to the foundation of the Republic, the unification of instruction and the abolition of the Sultanate and Caliphate. On November 25,1925 the Hat Reform was accepted and the fez which had caused revolts when it had been first ordered to be worn, was considered illegal.
In order to prevent the confusion caused by the use of different calendars by Moslems, Orthodox and Catholics, the Christian calender was accepted on December 26,1925 and began to be used on january 1, 1926.
Reforms of the Trade Penal Law started during the Tanzimat period, continued as the principles of Sheriat were abolished. The Civil Code came into force on April 4, 1926, and the Law of Obligations on October 4, 1926.
After the Turks accepted Islam, they abandoned their original alphabets, Orhon and Uigur, and began to use the Arabic script. However, the Arabic script was not suitable for the Turkish language: especially the vowels widely used in Turkish caused problems in reading Turkish texts written in Arabic. They tried to solve this problem in 1878, but could not.In 1908, the problem was dealt with again. Different opinions were put forward. Some people supported maintaining the Arabic script, others proposed that Arabic characters should be written separately with some special signs to read vpwels. On the other hand, many people proposed to use the Latin script instead of Arabic and these different opinions could not be reconciled. Also, the Ministry of National Education formed a commission to study the new Turkish alphabet. This ended in the promulgation of the law concerning the use of the new alphabet on November 1, 1928. Also, on April 10,1928, the phrase "Islam is the official religion of the state" was removed from the Constitution in accordance with secular principles.
The changes in the judicial system were accomplished by the Surname Act accepted in the Grand national Assembly on June 21, 1924; every Turkish citizen should have a surname.
After his death, on November 10, 1938, the Turkish people followed in his path.
The Second World War seriously effected the self-sufficient Turkey, but thanks to the intelligent antitudes of the Turkish administration, the country and the nation were saved from the great danger of war.
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