Tughril, a valiant warrior, was the head of the Genghis Khan hordes that appeared in Europe and later vanished. They eventually settled on the borders of the Rum Empire. They were a few people hence the settlement in this new region went almost unnoticed. One day, Ertughrul noticed a cloud of dust from the horizon, which was as a result of a battle near Eskic involving the Seljuk and Mongol. Ertughrul made a very historic decision, which brought about unexpected consequences. He helped the losing side to win and because of his assistance, he played a very great role in saving the Rum Empire.
As a sign of gratitude, the Seljuk Sultan Kaihusrev II (Kaikosrau) gave a strip of land encircling the battlefield to Ertughrul (Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006). This strip of land ran from Eskic along Sakarya and was commensurate with the Roman province of Bithynia that had been captured by the Seljuks from the Byzantines almost a century earlier. It was here that Osman I established a small empire known as the “Memalik Osmanya”/ “The Principality of Osman” as indicated in Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006. He later made Bursa the capital city in 1305. He captured Gemlik in 1326 and this enabled him to establish the Ottoman Empire (Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006).
Bursa grew and flourished very fat while the Rum Empire on the other hand declined gradually. The Rum Empire eventually became part of the Ottoman Empire alongside the tomb of the Seljuks, which was transformed to become the cradle of the Ottomans.
The Ottoman’s expansion continued to prevail. They occupied the whole Mediterranean coast of Asia Minor and Sultan Orhan (1326-1359), son of Osman ensured the achievement of the goal set to conquer the Balkans and capture Constantinople (Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006). Orhan strengthened his army and expanded his territories just as earlier Ottomans had done. However, it was during the reign of Orhan that coins were used for the first time. Murad I (1359-1389) succeeded him after his death.
Murad, I benefited from the reforms set in place by his father. He also captured new lands and used them to expand and strengthen the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Serbia in the battle of Kosovo in 1989 has a great significance with regard to the Ottoman Empire because it was this battle that saw the death of Murad. Bayazid later succeeded his father Murad. Bayazid conquered several regions especially in Anatolia but his greatest achievement was his defeat against the Hungarian army in 1396. Unfortunately, he did not live long to enjoy his victory because he was later defeated in 1402 at Ankara by Timur, a Mongol. During the period 1402-1413, the empire created by Osman was shaken off.
In 1413 however, Mehmed I (1413-21), reconstructed the Ottoman state and by the end of his son’s (Murad II) reign (1421-1451), eastern and central Anatolia, as well as southern and eastern Balkans was under the Ottoman’s control (Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006). The Ottoman rule at the time was less oppressive than the one which superseded it. The earlier Ottoman rule comprised of feudal dues imposed labor, and peasantry as Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006 implies. Mehmed II/the conqueror (1451-81) was the reason for the emergence of the Ottoman state as a world power after conquering Constantinople in 1453 hence allowing the expansion of the Ottoman’s state into northern Anatolia and gaining dominance in the Straits and southern shores of the Black Sea (Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006).
The Ottoman empire culminated in the golden age, the reign of Sultan Suleyman I (1520-66). Suleyman I was referred to as the lawgiver due to the new codification prevalent during his reign. During Suleyman’s reign, the Ottoman Empire had regained its power and a majority of the great cities were under the sultan’s crescent flag. Other provinces and several other regions were under the sultan. Suleyman is considered to be the best Islamic ruler in all history. He embodied the theme of justice and harmony in most Islamic states.
Suleyman was known as ‘the magnificent’ by the Europeans and ‘Kanuni/law giver’ by the Ottomans. He was greatly involved in the politics of Europe. He is known to stir up trouble in Europe hence the split of Europe based on Christianity, where there emerged Catholic and Protestant states. He is in a large part linked to the success and spread of Protestantism. His golden age is associated with building projects including palaces, bridges, and mosques that were incomparable to any other building in the world during that century (Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006).
Pasha Sinan was an employee of Suleyman and who, because of his intelligence, is deemed as the greatest and most brilliant architect in human history. Sinan built mosques that are seen as the greatest architectural achievements in Islam and possibly the rest of the entire world as told in the Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006. The greatest unique ability of Sinan is in his capability of handling engineering setbacks that are seen as nearly insurmountable.
Suleyman, since he was an artist himself through poetry, cultivated the theme of art during the Ottoman Empire (Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006). During his reign, Istanbul became the center of visual art, philosophy, writing, and music in the Islamic world. The reign of Suleyman represented and possibly continues to represent the most creative period during the Ottoman Empire. Suleyman’s reign was the peak of the Ottoman’s culture and history but on the other hand, the internal and external power of the state continually declined (Karalahana Karadeniz Forum, 2006).
The decline in power was attributed to reduced vigilance over the government’s functionality by Suleyman and resultant corruption. The British Empire was deemed to principally contribute to the decline of the Ottoman Empire during its last century (19th) of existence.
References
Karalahana Karadeniz Forum. (2006). The Ottomans. Karalahana. Web.
The major emphasis in the study of history has always been put on the political and social processes that were considered to be the dominant ones in the history of mankind. However, the recent research data have proven that the determinant factor in the development of every country is its economy. Consequently, when studying the history of a nation, one should pay close and careful attention to the economic context of the development of this nation because economics greatly influences all other spheres of life, including social and political ones (Cameron and Neal, 2003). Thus, the present paper will focus on economic history. The nation whose history will be considered is the Ottoman Empire. This paper will analyze its economic development and influence upon the economics of modern Turkey in the political and social contexts.
Ottoman Empire
General overview
The Ottoman Empire was the state on the territory of modern Turkey, which existed from the late 13th till the early 20th century and was one of the most powerful states in the world in respect of its financial and military forces. Founded and developed as the Empire of the expansion, conquest, and military force, Ottoman Turkey placed these branches of its economy to the paramount positions (Clay, 2001). The wealth of the country depended greatly upon its wars abroad and the benefit it could obtain from those wars in the form of contributions and captured goods and money. Another important branch of the economy of the country was agriculture which was considered to be the dominant domestic source of state benefit and development. State property over the land and material means for goods production excluded every possibility of private entrepreneurship and industrial development of the country. At the same time, the conservative administrative structure of the Ottoman Empire and the way of ruling the country, which was the authoritative monarchy, allowed only for the development of the already existing branches of the economy but not for the progress. Nevertheless, in the 19th – 20th centuries, the modern economic demands, especially in international relations, made the Ottoman government change its policies and modernize economics.
Demographics
Demographics is one of the major economic factors that predetermine other factors, including the extent of the agricultural and industrial development, urbanization, export- or import-oriented economy, etc. Thus, the demographical factors of the Ottoman Empire were formed by the permanent changes in the territory and in population. Waging wars, Ottomans enlarged their Empire to the greatest extent in the 18th – 19th century when the European, African and Asian provinces constituted over one-third of the whole population – 10 million people out of about 30 million in the whole Empire. Urbanization increased in the middle of the 19th century when the development of transport and industry was on the rise, thus transferring the majority of the population from rural agricultural areas to industrialized urban territories (Quataert, 2005).
Agriculture, industry, and trade
As it has already been said, agriculture was the dominant income source of the economy of the Ottoman Empire for several centuries. It could be explained by the fact that the soil is rather fertile in such provinces as Anatolia, Egypt, etc., and the majority of the population of the Empire was initially rural. Besides, the irrigational programs and favorable conditions for agrarian development were the basic factors for the agricultural wealth of the Ottoman Empire. The conservative way of the state organization also allowed for little progress and did not provide for the fitting of the country’s economy to the international standards (Quataert, 2005).
However, the demands of time and technological progress could not but influence the Turkish economy to a certain extent, thus reflecting the rightfulness of the mercantilist viewpoint according to which industry is the most significant point in the economy (Heilbroner, 1995). The impact of the shift in interest from agriculture to industry was the emergence of the great numbers of the labor force in the urban areas as contrasted to the constantly decreasing labor supplies in the villages. Thus, by the beginning of the 20th century, over 100 000 people were employed in the industry to satisfy the demands of over 26 million domestic and foreign consumers (Heilbroner, 1995).
Consequently, trade was one of the major points in the budget of the Ottoman Empire. Domestic trade constituted a large part of it, with the goods produced by the Ottoman Empire being rather successful in the international markets as well. However, domestic trade, although rather important and supplying over 20 million citizens with the goods they needed, was not the only way of trade and was accompanied by international trade. Thus, the export of cotton and goods made of it doubled in the middle of the 18th century, while the bulk of the goods were produced by slave labor force and exported from the province ports like Salonika or Smyrna. Thus, the modern Turkish economy is greatly influenced by its Ottoman past (Pamuk, 2001).
Modern Turkey
Thus, the economy of modern Turkey is the combination of the influences of the Ottoman past and the modern trends and directions of the economic development in the world. The economy of this country is nowadays dominated by industry mixed with the huge development of private entrepreneurship, tourism, banking, etc. Consequently, Turkey, as the country which is a member of almost all European financial and political organizations, including G-20 Industrial Nations, WTO, IMF, EU Customs Union, and many others, is aimed at satisfying the European standards in economy and becoming the EU member. The GDP of Turkey increases yearly, and the major parts of it are constituted by the three sectors. They are services, industry, and agriculture (Cameron and Neal, 2005).
In more detail, the sphere of services comprises over 55% of GDP for the current year and reflects the attractive position of Turkey for the development of international tourism. The industry is the second branch of the economy according to the speed of its development. Over 30% of GDP per year is produced by it, and industrial development is the major objective of the Turkish government. Agriculture, although paid less attention to, is the third branch of the economy according to its importance, and it still constitutes about 9% of the GDP. Export and foreign trade also are important factors of the Turkish economy nowadays (Cameron and Neal, 2005).
Conclusion
To conclude the present paper, the economy of modern Turkey is a phenomenon that is determined by numerous factors, among which its history and economic development of the Ottoman Empire play one of the central roles. Such factors as the modern economic trends, liberalism, and globalization are also rather significant for the Turkish economy, but the basis for it was formed during the centuries of Ottoman rule. The economy became export-oriented, rather dependant upon international trade and such spheres of domestic revenue as tourism, finance, banking, industry, and agriculture.
Works Cited
Cameron, Rondo, and Neal, Larry. A Concise Economic History of the World: From Paleolithic Times to the Present. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Clay, C. “A Monetary History of the Ottoman Empire”. The Economic History Review, Economic History Society 54.1 (2001): 204.
Heilbroner, Robert. The Worldy Philosophers, The Lives, Times and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers, 7th edition. London: Penguin, 1995.
Quataert, D. “Dilemma of Development: The Agricultural Bank and Agricultural Reform in Ottoman Turkey, 1888-1908”. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Cambridge University Press (2005): 210-11.
Pamuk, S. “The Ottoman Empire and the World Economy: The Nineteenth Century”, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Cambridge University Press 23.3 (2001): 221 – 223.
The Ottomans are one of the greatest and most powerful civilizations of the modern world” (Hooker, 1996, para.1)
The moment of glory” – the sixteenth century.
Islamic Empire. “The largest and most influential of the Muslim empires” (Hooker, 1996, papa.2).
Period of Existence: 1299-November 1, 1922.
Richard Hooker (1996) calls the Ottomans “one of the greatest and most powerful civilizations of the modern world” (para.1). The researcher stresses the importance of “the moment of glory” that was in the sixteenth century and it was the time when the Ottoman Empire was the perfect example of “human creativity, optimism, and artistry” (Hooker, 1996, para.1).
In fact, the Ottoman Empire had the ground for boasting. It was an Islamic empire that was rightfully called “the largest and the most influential of the Muslim empires of the Modern period” (Hooker, 1996, para.2).
As for the whole period of the existence of the Ottoman Empire, it covered seven centuries from 1299 to 1922.
The Territory of the Ottoman Empire
The whole territory captured and controlled by the Ottoman Empire during the military campaigns they undertook included Western Asia, southeastern European regions, as well as large territories of Eastern Europe, Anatolia (modern Turkey), the Caucuses, and the territories in Middle East to Iran. The Northern regions of Africa also belonged to the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
Thus, it is possible to state that during the age of expansion and prosperity, the Ottoman Empire set its power on three continents at the same time.
It is evident that it was a very hard task to establish strict and continuous control over such a vast territory and this was one of the main factors that caused rebellious mood of the peoples who belonged to the Ottoman Empire due to its military victories, but not traditionally . The center of the Ottoman Empire was in Anatolia, the control over other regions was the result of the policy of aggressive expansion.
Due to a number of regions that were traditionally alien to Anatolia in many aspects (for example, religion as the Ottoman Empire included religiously diverse regions, suck as Christian), even the Golden Age, the period of rise of the Empire can be characterized by internal conflicts that resulted in rebellions against the Empire.
The Rebellions During the Age of Rise of the Ottoman Empire
The revolt lead by Sheikh Bedrettin (Bedreddin): 1416.
Reasons:
Military reason: The Battle of Ankara
Political reason: Fratricide between the sultans.
Social reasons:
taxation
exploitation of people
Sheikh Bedrettin, or Bedrettin was a prominent figure in the history of the Ottoman Empire of the fifteenth century as he was the person who organized and lead the most significant internal revolt of that century. There were several reasons and circumstances that in complex created a favorable ground for his revolt.
The Battle of Ankara of 1402 brought defeat to Bayazid who was captured and died in captivity. An interesting idea was offered by Singh (2000) who said that the end of this battle “paved the way to the rise of Europe” (p.11). As the result of Bayazid’s defeat, there started a fratricide between the sultans, it became impossible to rule and govern the Empire accordingly. The sultans were trying to capture power and their attempts were so violent that the cases of fratricide became common.
Since the sultans had no time to take care of the well-being of the people and the Empire, the people suffered from enormous taxes imposed on them by the central Ottoman government and local representatives of the government were strict in the matter of tax extraction from the exploited people.
Since common people were deprived of land, Sheikh Bedrettin wanted to stop their exploitation by with the help of the division of land among all citizens. However, the revolt was suppressed and the leader and his companion were crucified and hung.
The Revolts During the 16th-17th Centuries
The Serb Uprising in Banat, 1594.
The Holy War
Reasons:
Taxation pressure
Plundering of the monasteries
Religious pressure
Noblemen wanted to get their privileges back (Circovic, 2004).
The notion of “the Holy War” presupposes that the main reasons for the war have religious nature, people who start such a war are either trying to protect their own religion or impose it on the other people.
On the whole, the nature of the Serb uprising in Banat in 1594 corresponded to the definition of the Holy War. A bright fact is that the Serbs struggled under the flags that had the image of Saint Sava (that can be seen in the picture). If the main reason for Bedrettdin’s revolt was tax pressure of the people, it also remained among the reason for this very rebellion since Serbian people were under great taxation pressure imposed by the Ottoman Empire.
Besides, the list of reasons for the rebellion was extended by religious pressure that the Orthodox Serbian church suffered from the Muslim Ottomans. Among the main claims of the chieftains were that the Turks had to give back everything they had seized from the Serbian monasteries and let them retain their revenues again.
Also, the chieftains of the revolt were noblemen, they wanted to get their estates, privileges, titles back (Circovik, 2004). This shows that all social layers of the conquered Serbian people were under pressure and this was the reason why they disapproved of the Ottoman rule.
Jelali Revolts
Place: Anatolia
The rebels – Turkmen clans
Participants: sekbans, sipahis.
Reasons:
Social and economic crisis
Depreciation of currency
Heavy taxation
Decline in the devsirme system
Admission of Muslims into the army
Increase of the Janissaries (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002, p.525).
Jelali revolts started when the Ottoman Empire started to lose its authority gradually. This process started in the 16th century. It took place in Anatolia, the rightful territory of the Ottoman Empire, not the one they captured. As for the rebels, they were the Turkmen clans that feat that they were deprived of influence on their land.
The relolts based on “the sekbans” that were irregular troops of musketeers and “the sipahis” – the cavalrymen that were maintained by land grants (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002, p.525). It is necessary to mention that the people who took part in the revolts had no intention to attack the government of the Ottoman Empire. Instead, the people decided to take aggressive measure because they were not satisfied with economic situation in the Empire.
Such factors as depreciation of national currency, heavy taxes impose on the peasant population and bad living conditions that were their results caused unrest and people’s dissatisfaction with life they lead.
Decline in the devsirme system that was levy of the young men and boys that came from Christian families and the increase of admission of Islamic men into the army also contributed to unrest of the Turkmen clans and Kurdish nomands (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002, p.525).
The increase of the Janissaries, elite troops, which can be seen in the picture, was one more reason for the revolt. These troops were very important and prestigious in the Ottoman Empire and it turned out that they could even influence the government. Also, Janissaries used their power and influence to make themselves richer as they could become landlords and own vast lands as well as took part in trade and became well-off people. All these factors caused Jelali revolts.
Internal Rebellions in the 19th Century
Serbian Revolution (1804-1835)
Main Events:
The First Serbian Uprising
Second Serbian Uprising
Recognition of Serbian State
Serbian Revolution (1804-1835) is a perfect example of resistance of the part of the Ottoman Empire to the rule imposed on the Serbian people. The revolution included three main uprisings: the first Serbian uprising, the Second Serbian Uprising and the Recognition of Serbian State. It is necessary to consider the reasons for these two main revolts during the time of the Ottoman occupation of Serbia.
The First Serbian Uprising
General reason: “The desire for national emancipation” (Trbovich, 2008, p.67).
Concrete Reasons: False promises
Proclamation of firmans
Introduction of knezes
Freedoms: religion and trade.
The First Serbian Uprising followed the annexation of Belgrade Pashaluck to the Ottoman Empire as the result of the Austro-Turkish War of 1787-1791.
After 400 years of the Ottoman occupation Serbs started a fight for their rights on their land. A general reason for that was “The desire for national emancipation” (Trbovich, 2008, p.67). However, it is possible to define the concrete reasons for the beginning of the First Serbian Uprising.
Sultan Selim III (that is shown in the picture) promised autonomy to Serbia. He introduced firmans in 1793, 1796 and they granted additional rights to Serbs (Inc Icon Group International, 2008). In addition, the Sultan promised to introduce knezes, which were local rulers inSerbia. Also, freedom of religion and trade was promised to the population of Serbia. However, Selim III was powerless, he was too weak in comparison with the Janissaries who revolted against his rule and acted by their own will. Thus, Serbia did not get what was promised.
Reasons: The Janissaries’ atrocities
increased taxes
čitlučenje (labor by force)
The Slaughter of the Knezes
The Janissaries disobeyed Selim III and invaded Serbia. Again, the factors that provoked the Serb’s revolt were doubled taxes introduced in the country, a new form of oppression of people, called “čitlučenje” that meant forced labor.
However, the final event that turned out to be the factual reason for the revolt was the Slaughter of the Knezes or Dukes that was the massive execution of the Serbian noblemen ordered by the head of the Janissaries.
Karađorđe Petrović was the man who headed the revolt. As for the outcome of the revolt, it cannot be called a successful one, though it created the ground for the Second Serbian Uprising. Besides, Serbia got assistance and support of Russia that helped to put recognition of Serbian state into practice.
Bosnian Revolt (1831)
Introduction of new reforms:
Increase of the nizam
Introduction of new taxes
The Ottaman bureaucracy
Though according to historic tradition, Bosnia was not a disadvantaged part of the Ottaman Empire, and enjoyed certain privileges in comparison with other European states included into the Empire, the beginning of the nineteenth century turned out to be stressful for Bosnia.
It was the time when Sultan Mahmud II (see the picture on the slide) was in power. The Ottaman Empire experienced awful decline that could be seen by the numerous revolts of that time. Sultan, as the power-bearer, had to take measures. However, these measures turned out to be the reasons for dissatisfaction of the Bosnians. Especially strict were the military reforms, the reforms of the nizam that was the name of the army that was centrally controlled, though new taxes and bureaucracy were also harmful for the Bosnian population.
So, nizam turned out to be the extension of the autocrat’s ideological existence, it gave the rule the opportunity to dominate his subjects by force and extract the funds for the Ottoman rule. Brutal and annihilating tactics of the nizam was outrageous for Bosnian people (Hovannisian, 1992, p.24).
Cretan Insurrection (1866-1869)
Reasons for Insurrection:
relative freedom,
mountain regions,
Christianity.
The outcome: Open way to local administration.
The time of the Cretan uprising covers three years, from 1866 to 1869. It is necessary to mention that among the Ottoman territories Crete was the last of all Greek-speaking regions to be occupied by the Ottomans. It happened in 1669. Due to the landscape of Crete that covered great mountainous territories, it was difficult for the Empire to control them.
As for the reasons for the uprising, this relative freedom due to weak military control of the Ottoman army was one of the reasons for the desire to be free. Those people who lived a free life in the mountains inspired the population that was under the Ottoman Empire to revolt and set themselves free.
The Greek Revolution was one more reason why the people of Crete who were Christians joined Greece in its war of liberation fro the Ottoman oppression. Their main aim was unity with Greece. However, the revolt was suppressed though Turkish government open Cretan Christians the way to local administration of Crete that was a valuable achievement.
Two Epirus Revolts
The First Revolt (1854)
Reasons:
Military reason: the Crimean War (1854-1856).
Memories of the recent War of Independence
Support given by Russia
Religious motives.
Suppression of the revolt. Greek world that was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire wanted liberation as it was suggested by the Greek War of Independence in 1821-1829.
The middle of the nineteenth century was the perfect time to start a revolt at historic situation favored such actions. The main reason for the revolt was that Russia was in the state of war with the Ottomans and since Russia was a powerful Empire at that time Greeks felt that the War was a chance to get the territory where Greek people lived but the territory did not belong to Greece.
Also, people remembered the help of Russia during the Greek War of Independence and they hoped for such help. Religious motives also inspired the revolt taking into consideration the same religion (Orhtodox) practiced in Russia. Unfortunately, the revolt was doomed due to numerical superiority and British and French support of the Ottoman Empire.
The Second Revolt (1878)
Reason for its breaking out – the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878)
Reason for the failure – absence of centralized support
The first revolt in Epirus was followed by the second one as soon as the situation became favorable. Such a frequent occurrence of revolts is a perfect sign of the doom of the Ottoman Empire due to its lost of power and influence of the world arena it used to dominate in the past. So, the reason for the revolt was the same as for the previous revolt described by us. Since Russia started the Russo-Turkish War in 1877, it inspired Epirus to the act of liberation again.
However, though that it was clear that the Ottoman Empire was at its last grasp and its defeat was evident, the Greek government chose to stay aside. They did not provide centralized support for the revolt and it was the main cause for it suppression.
The Herzegovinian Revolt (1875-1878)
Reasons:
Lean year + growing taxes
Bad treatment of the Christian population by aghas
Ignoring of reforms of Sultan
Abdulmecid
Result: Contribution to the Russo-Turkish War.
Herzegovina was one more part of the Ottoman Empire and its life under occupation was as unbearable as the life of other nations or even worse. The population suffered from unjust taxes and cruel treatment of the Bosnian aghas, the people who bore military or civil titles granted by the Ottoman Empire.
It so happened that 1875 was a lean year that brought poor harvest but the taxes remained the same and were even raised. It proved to be awfully unjust and the Herzegovinians could not bear such treatment.
Though Sultan Abdulmecid made changes in the Herzegovinian laws as he abolished the part of taxes and reorganized the system of taxes, the reforms were ignored by the landlords who continued their oppression of the peasants.
The revolt occurred when the Ottoman Empire was almost dead and its enemies (Russia) experienced rise. This is why the Ottoman Empire could not cope with the revolt that became one of the factors that inspired the Russo-Turkish War.
Conclusion
Reasons for the revolts inside the Empire:
Too large territories
Tax oppression of the population
Weakness of the Empire
Growth of nationalism
Strength of the Empire’s enemies
Weak and powerless Sultans
Corruption of the local authorities
Religious diversity
By means of concluding, let us sum up the main reasons for the decay of the Ottoman Empire that eventually lead to its collapse:
Too large territories
Tax oppression of the population
Weakness of the Empire
Growth of nationalism
Strength of the Empire’s enemies
Weak and powerless Sultans
Corruption of the local authorities
Religious diversity
All these reasons in complex with constant military aggression instead of cooperation with the people under the rule of the Empire resulted in the eventual disappearance of the Ottoman Empire.
Reference List
Cirkovic, SM 2004, The Serbs. Willey-Blackwell, Malden, MA.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002, Encyclopedia Britannica. The University of Michigan, Michigan.
Hooker, R 1996, The Ottomans. Web.
Hovannisian, RG 1992. The Armenian Genocide: History, Politics, Ethics. Palgrave Macmillan, NY.
Inc Icon Group International, 2008, Sultans: Webster’s Quotations, Facts, and Phrases. ICON Group International, USA.
Singh, NKr 2000, International Encycolaedia of Islamic Dynasties. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD, New Delhi .
Trbovich, AS 2008, A Legal Geography of Yugoslavia’s Disintegration. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
The Ottoman Empire was one of the most powerful states in the Middle Ages. The laws of Islam governed the empire and it is often believed that women who lived in the Ottoman Empire were oppressed. Thus, academic work on the development of the empire concentrates on “all-embracing context of Islam”, segregation, and the harem (Köksal & Falierou, 2013). In many cases, females did not enjoy many rights and could have only limited roles in their families. However, this was true for people of less privileged social strata.
When it came to the royal court, the traditions were somewhat different. Females could affect the policy of the entire empire and often played an important role in the life of the country. It is noteworthy that some believe that excessive influence of the sultan’s harem led to the decline of the empire (Fleischer, 2014). Whereas some argue that the rule of females in some period of development of the Ottoman Empire was effective and enabled the country to remain powerful in the times when male rulers were unable to reign properly (Keddie, 2012). This paper dwells upon gender roles in the Ottoman Empire with specific emphasis on the role of women in the country’s political agenda.
Gender Roles in the Society
As has been mentioned above, the Ottoman Empire was a Muslim state and the laws of Islam were the laws of the country. The society was highly patriarchal and fathers (in some cases, brother) made all decisions. Females did not have any property of their own and they could hardly choose a husband as marriages were pre-arranged. Notably, the concept of marriage was of paramount importance and the rules were well established since the marriage was seen as a primary tool of controlled demographic situation in the empire and its colonies (Kern, 2014).
At the same time, women’s rights were also protected by the law and it was especially true when it came to divorce. Thus, a woman could divorce her husband if he could not “adequately provide financial support” (Öztürk, 2014, p. 57). Therefore, it is possible to note that women had certain rights and could be protected by the law. However, females could not participate in any part of social life as they were assigned particular roles.
The sphere where women had boundless control was their households. Taking care of the household was the primary concern of a woman. Once the female became a wife, she had to take control over the household as well as her children. Importantly, mothers played a crucial role in their children’s education and development. Women were often involved in arranging marriages for their sons. It is necessary to add that wealthy men could have harems where wives and concubines lived. More so, all men who could provide for their wives could have several wives. This led to development of strict hierarchies in the families and harems. The hierarchy was especially apparent in the Imperial Harem.
Gender Roles in the Royal Court
The Imperial Harem
The Imperial Harem was the “private quarters” of the Sultan where his wives, concubines and “his imperial offspring” dwelt (Iyigun, 2013). The harem was a sanctum of the sultan and, hence, it was hidden from other people’s eyes. Females who lived in the harem rarely left its borders and could only leave it in special cases (when they got married to a man, were sent to keep their sons’ households in distant colonies).
The Sultan had a great number of concubines and he could have only four wives whose children could be heirs to the throne (Inalcik, 2013). The Sultan’s wives chose concubines for the sultan and were responsible for keeping the harem. Notably, some concubines and sometimes daughters of the sultan became wives of noble people of the empire (Lapidus, 2014). Again, the sultan’s wives and/or the queen mother played an important role in this process.
It is noteworthy that prior to the fifteenth century the queen mother with her imperial son went to one of the provincial governorates and settled her son’s harem there. However, in the middle of the fifteenth century and in the sixteenth century the queen mother acquired significant institutional and often political power and could affect the policies of the empire. Iyigun (2013) notes that this can be a result of the influence the queen mothers had on future sultans as they were responsible for their son’s education and spend a lot of time together. It is possible to provide an example of one of the most powerful women in the sultan’s harems as well as in the entire empire.
Hurrem Sultan
That powerful female was the third wife of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Hurrem Sultan also known as Roxelana. The woman was one of women sold to the sultan’s harem but she soon obtained great influenced over the ruler of the empire. An example of this influence was the exile of the sultan’s son who was his heir (Talhami, 2013). It is also believed that she was the designer of the plot against the heir and his death.
Kunt and Woodhead (2014) note that this was one of her most serious interferences in the political agenda of the empire as the sultan’s son Mustafa had lots of supporters and his death led to certain tension in the society and the court life. The woman played quite an important role in the society as she order to build mosques and baths. She also donated a lot of money to help the poor. This made her even more influential as she gained support of many people. It is also believed that Hurrem affected her husband’s and then her son’s political decisions including international affairs.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is possible to note that the notion that women in the Ottoman Empire were deprived of any rights in the society is rather controversial. On the one hand, ordinary females did not play a meaningful role in the society and did not even have property of their own or could not hold a post. On the other hand, they were totally free to run their households and their rights (especially when it came to marriage issues) were protected by the law.
More so, sultan’s wives and the queen mother often played a significant role in the political agenda of the empire through their influence on the sultan. Those women also played an important part in development of the society through donations and charity. Such females as Hurrem Sultan can be regarded as a bright example of such influence as the sultan’s wife is still referred to as one of the most influential female rulers in the world. Hence, it is possible to conclude that women in the Ottoman Empire had particular roles and contributed greatly to the development of the country.
Reference List
Fleischer, C.H. (2014). Bureaucrat and intellectual in the Ottoman Empire: The historian Mustafa Ali (1541-1600). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Inalcik, H. (2013). The Ottoman Empire: 1300-1600. London: Hachette UK.
Iyigun, M. (2013). Lessons from the Ottoman harem (On ethnicity, religion and war). Economic Development and Cultural Change, 61(4), 693-730.
Keddie, N.R. (2012). Women in the Middle East: Past and present. Woodstock, Oxfordshire: Princeton University Press.
Kern, K.M. (2014). Imperial citizen: Marriage and citizenship in the Ottoman frontier provinces of Iraq. New York, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Köksal, D., & Falierou, A. (2006). Introduction: Historiography of late Ottoman women. In D. Köksal & A. Falierou (Eds.), A social history of late ottoman women: New perspectives (pp. 1-31). Danvers, MA: BRILL.
Kunt, I.M., & Woodhead, C. (2014). Suleyman the Magnificent and his age: The Ottoman Empire in the early modern world. New York, NY: Routledge.
Lapidus, I.M. (2014). A history of Islamic societies. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Öztürk, F. (2014). Ottoman and Turkish law. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.
Talhami, G.H. (2013). Historical dictionary of women in the Middle East and North Africa. Plymouth, UK: Rowman & Littlefield.
The Ottoman Empire was considered the most effective dynasties in the ancient world. The fame is because of its rapid expansion spread to North Africa, Asia, and Central Europe. The main motive that led to its successful expansion and conquest in the 16th century was its naval powers. Furthermore, the Empire played a significant role. It was also referred to as the Turkish Empire, which comprised various institutions perpetrated in the kingdom, including the deshirme, military, the seat of the Sultan, and the Islamic culture, which played a significant role in shaping Turkey’s foreign policy today. However, during the 16th century, Ottoman conquered and led Cyprus despite it being ruled by various suzerains but never came under Greek rule through its history. During the Ottoman regime, the Greeks and Turks of Cyprus lived in harmony and peace, considering the differences in communal traditions, culture, language, religion, and ethnicity.
Thesis Statement
Ottoman Empire’s Conquest of Cyprus In The 16th Century involved numerous aspects that facilitated its victory. Therefore, this research paper will discuss the various elements, the Empire’s naval power, and how it helped shape the Turkeys’ foreign policies to this day.
The Conquest of Cyprus by the Ottoman’s Empire
Conquering the island of Cyprus was the principal motive of Ottoman Empire leaders even before they ascended to power. For instance, when Selim II was crowned the Sultan, he wanted to achieve his objective, and all the pashas supported his concept apart from the Great Vizier (Aksakal, 2011). The great Vizier was against his ideology since he was more focused on preserving collaboration with the Venetians. However, on realizing the firm decision that Selim II took, he tried to convince him to settle the matter in a diplomatic strategy instead of using firearms. Thus, Vizier sent some of his envoys to Venice to send a petition to the Venetians for the sake of assuring them of his intentions. On the other side, the Ottoman envoy declared to the Venetians that it was not acceptable for Vizier to avoid the announcement of war since it is impossible for anyone to resist the idea of the most powerful monarch (Hadjikyriacou, 2014). The demand was met with numerous rejections by the Venetians, who requested the pope and other protestants for support and helped protect their territorial possession of Cyprus.
The pope of Rome and Phillipe II agreed to help. The latter contributed 12 warships and the former 148 (Brambilla, 2009). Despite the aid and support, this great movement, whose intention was to protect Cyprus from being conquered by the Ottoman Empire, failed because of bad organizations and disputes that arose. In addition, Sultan Salim II had already armed and prepared himself and his troops to be ready for war. He allocated military commanding to fleet Admiral Piali and Lala, Mustafa, who were mandated with organizing the movements against Cyprus.
In 1570, the first collection of Ottoman fleet warships was flagged off from Constantinople, with commander Pasha heading the troop (Jennings, 1993). This showed how ready they were to conquer the island. They were destined to take over the island of Cyprus no matter what they would encounter along the way. The Ottoman fleet’s 30 galleys and 80 galliots attempted unproductively to besiege the Tinos that the Venetians heavily occupied. Lala Mustafa also came in with another cluster of warships from Constantinople to join the Ottoman fleet, awaiting him at Rhodes. This occurred in early June, while the land forces of the Ottoman were mustering the minor coastal regions of Asia that were directly opposite Cyprus so that they wait for transportation into the island. The first successful attempt happened towards the end of June on the North West costs of Cyprus Island.
The commander who led the first landing decided that his team was the one to carry out a combat action, particularly in the Lara area, on the Pafos’ southeastern region (Hurewitz, 1961). According to Calepio, this information was familiar with the events that led to the occupation of the islands by the Ottoman Empire. The troops were then forced to go into battle even after being overwhelmed and attacked by an army of soldiers commanded by Petros.
At the beginning of July, a fleet let by the Ottoman Empire gathered opposite the Lemesos coast. Still, their landing was hindered by the troop which Vincent Mali Piero and Rontakis commanded. Despite the hindrance on the advancement of the Ottoman, a part of Polemida village up to Lemesos was ablaze with fire. Another fleet that was transporting the troops arrived at the bay of Larnaka since there was a lack of adequate defense, making it easier to invade the island of Cyprus (Jennings, 1993). Regarding the invasion, the leaders who were fighting back the Ottomans during the siege were taken to a captive, but they managed to escape safely to Venice after the conquest of Cyprus. One of them was Sozomenti, who claimed that the landing of the troops on the island could cause more damage to the rivals, and it was too late for them to make any changes in their plan. His admission demonstrated that most people were only interested in defending Famagusta and Lefkosia, especially the Venetians, whose objective was to leave the rest of Cyprus Island to the authority of the invaders giving them more power and a straightforward approach to conquering the region.
More so, the Salines zone was utilized by Mustafa to form a site that would be used by ottoman to plan and organize military operations for the complete defeat of Cyprus. The region was also used in gathering the military that was arriving from Asia to help in the battle of conquering Cyprus. In addition, the whole troop of the Ottoman Empire succeeded a complete landing on the island towards the end of July. They were mandated to go around Cyprus to send a message to the people that they should submit themselves to the Ottoman (Aksakal, 2011). However, some of the individuals rejected the submission, and the troops were instructed to set fire to Stavrovouni monastery and loot areas around Larnaka to serve as a warning. The concept created tension among the people of Lefkara village, who were forced to submit to be offered some false civil rights. This facilitated an easy invasion of the Ottoman Empire into the Cyprus island, thus providing them with a better opportunity of conquering the island.
Condition of Cyprus Before the Conquest
Cyprus was in the governance of Venetians who had possessed the island during the 15th century, just before the Ottomans’ occupation during the 16th century. During the regime of Venetian control, the island of Cyprus was under a unique and effective authority that always ensure they impose an enhanced command during the Frankish rule. Moreover, the region had been under the honor of Cairo’s Sultan in the 15th century (Brambilla, 2009). Therefore, the Venetians were required to admit the responsibility of paying yearly honor to the Egyptians until the 16th century. Egypt was then defeated by Sultan Salim I, who forced the Venetians to accord acknowledgment to Constantinople.
The Plan of Ottoman for Cyprus
The intent of the Ottoman Empire to conquer Cyprus had been with them even before the island was occupied by The Venetians. In 1488, Bayacint II accompanied a convoy to overcome Famagusta, but his effort was challenged because of the favorable involvement that was with the Venetians (Libby, 1978). However, they remained close to Cyprus to attack the island with better strategies of defeating the Venetians. In 1517, the condition of affairs transformed into being riskier when Sultan Selim I conquered Egypt, a region already secured by the Venetians. In 1539, the Ottoman fleet organized a severe attack to destroy the declining city of Lemesos. It gave a better opportunity for Selim II to incorporate Cyprus into the Ottoman Empire by conquering it after ascending into power.
Venetians Defensive Tactic for Cyprus Island
In as much as Ottoman had so much interest in Cyprus Island, Venetians had great worries; hence they introduced numerous measures that will help them protect their territory. However, the measures implemented were not very operative since they were so reluctant to inject more funds into the island’s protection. Nevertheless, they tried to emphasize protecting part of the borders towards the end of their power through a special consideration focused on fortifying the axis of Famagusta, Kyrenia, and Lefkosia (Hadjikyriacou, 2014). The innovative defensive measure deployed on the city of Lefkosia was mandated to the Venetian engineer Savorniano who was required to execute as a commander. Defending the boundaries began in 1567 but failed because the Ottoman army performed their first attack while they were unaware (Libby, 1978). Therefore, they decided to protect Kyrenia while living the rest of Cyprus to remain without a proper defensive mechanism. The Venetians implemented the same strategy for the forts of Larnaka, Pafos, and Lemesos because of their inability to manage the defenses and insufficient money to maintain the boundaries. Another major problem they had that led to their failure of protecting the forts is a lack of trust towards the Cypriots, who were uncertain of their military presence and aid during the battle of safeguarding the island.
Reason for Ottoman Conquering Cyprus
Ottoman had numerous motives to their interest in conquering Cyprus. Angelo Calepio, who was considered the religious leader of Saint Dominic, documented some aspects that facilitated the interest of the Ottoman Empire in beating Cyprus (Hadjikyriacou, 2014). According to the monk, their primary motive is to be famous and considered more potent than other Empires besides the divine permission, differences of religion, diabolic suggestion, and their high appetite to have an additional territory to their Empire.
Conquering Cyprus would provide better opportunities for financial advances to the Empire since during the same period, Europeans from the western part of the island were required to vacate the eastern Mediterranean. In addition, the most crucial strategy of Cyprus, which was located on the east side of the Mediterranean, was under the sway of the Venetians, thus giving tension to the Ottomans (Brambilla, 2009). Europeans also wanted to turn the island into their military base. The Ottoman Empire realized it would challenge them towards losing their territorial borders since the ground would be situated at a strategic position (Jennings, 1993). Religious motives also contributed to their interest in conquering the island since they wanted to ensure that they are superior in all aspects that will derail their success. Moreover, their success in defeating the island of Cyprus was facilitated by their reliable naval power.
Ottomans Empire Naval Power
Ottoman naval power was very effective from 1520 to 1570. It started with creating a powerful navy in a short time through ships that had special sailing techniques. The Ottoman naval supremacy in the 16th century was mainly due to technological developments, particularly advances in ship design and gunnery (Aksakal, 2011). At the same time, it should be noted that geographical issues played an important role as well, with many parts of Europe being too far from Ottoman territory for them to exert maritime pressure without risking significant losses continuously.
Besides, the overland campaigns aided naval aggression into being the most powerful compared to those of other Empires. As Byzantine forts and ports were often the targets of Ottoman raids, the Ottomans created a network of coastal forts to protect shipping in the Mediterranean Sea. This relatively quick expansion of Ottoman naval power can be understood because after Sultan Beyazid I died, his son Selim I replaced him as Sultan only three years later. Turkish military expeditions were also launched from Anatolia into lands that are now part of Greece, Macedonia, Crete, and southern Italy during the 16th century.
The Ottoman Empire, which was developing rapidly economically, militarily, and culturally, had built a powerful fleet in the 15th century to expand its territory in Anatolia and the Aegean Sea. The chief architect of Ottoman maritime power was Admiral Kemal Reis, who learned about naval techniques from his travels in the Mediterranean Sea. In 1475, he oversaw the construction of Bursa Ulucami (Jennings, 1993) at a dockyard near Bursa because it was the only building that could house his amassed boats. At this time, the sea walls of Bursa were heavily guarded to prevent unwanted people from entering or leaving the city.
The Ottoman fleet was mainly based in the eastern Mediterranean, used primarily as an instrument of naval aggression. For this reason, in 1475, Kemal Reis moved his fleet to Archangel and ordered him to attack the city with cannons after fending off an attack by the Livonian Knights. In 1476 the Ottomans took control of the Aegean Sea forts around Adalia, Limni, Chios, and Mytilene (Hadjikyriacou, 2014). The following year they captured Tripoli after a long siege. They also captured Cyprus from Venice in 1474 but let it go after receiving a large sum of money and help from Egypt in 1480.
In addition, the Ottoman Empire has often been hailed as one of the finest navies in history, and it is true. The Ottomans were the only maritime power to maintain a standing professional navy until the early 20th century. The Empire boasted itself as a “ship-of-the-line” and had a wider variety of ships than any other navy on earth. At the height of its naval superiority, it held mastery over the entire Mediterranean. The Ottoman Navy was able to accomplish this by using an integrated approach that relied on a combination of naval and land warfare, well-trained personnel, extensive training, and a concerted effort to build up its fleet from scratch. The first half of the 17th century was when the navy was placed at the forefront of Ottoman military operations, and it started to build ships by European standards (Brambilla, 2009).
Although the long-standing naval power during the mid of 16th century, maritime primacy gradually supplemented the efficiency of the marine power in the eastern and western ends of the Mediterranean Sea. This led to Ottoman power that was situated in the levant to overwhelm the last remainders of Byzantium. Moreover, Spain in the 16th century also became an international power with commercial and security interests crossing large stretches forming a new geographical dispersion of the economic opportunities and military responsibilities, increasing the presence and power of the naval. However, it had some major competitors, such as the Ottoman Empire and France, based along the Mediterranean Sea but with a position of secondary power (Hadjikyriacou, 2014). The competitor’s main agenda was to support and enhance commercial activities instead of putting more interest in acquiring territorial borders.
Ottoman Naval Sailing Ships
When the Turks landed in Asia from the eastern side of the island and realized maritime life, they also became conversant with the marine culture of the Mediterranean, which their predecessors had created. The navy of the Ottoman Empire was based on the customs of Islamic warriors and faith famously known as the ghazi, whose presence was heavily felt in the western Anatolia maritime since the beginning of the 14th century (Jennings, 1993). After settling in the eastern side of Europe, they implemented a powerful fleet and shipyard facilities intending to control the Dardanelles and coast of the Marmara Sea.
They later became the most powerful naval army in the Mediterranean region in the early period of the 16th century. This was because of the maritime policies initiated by Sultan Mehmed II, who continued serving during Beyazid II. Akkerman and Kili, which were the most significant ports in the coastal lines, attracted the attention of the Ottoman Empire, who had the intentions of setting up their fleet to facilitate a smooth transition of their trade on the northern and southern coast and have full authority of the ports (Brambilla, 2009). After they secured the dock, they needed a better strategy that will help maintain the coastal line of both ports; hence their engineers went back to the Mediterranean to build ships and develop navy yards. The structures of their ships were imitated from the Venetian styles who had galleons and oared fighting ships that were perceived to be more powerful than any other naval army.
During the regime of Sultan Bayezid II, there were two vital conflicts of the Ottoman in the sea: one was against Portugal, and the other against Spain, which had conquered ports in the Indian ocean and the red sea. By the end of the 15th century, there was a significant number of Ottoman pirates along the Mediterranean coast with no certified titles but collaborated with the Ottoman naval army to aid in their operations. The pirates were referred to as the Levent since they combined their power and instruments to facilitate the strength of the naval power (Libby, 1978). They collaborated in 1327 to build the first Ottoman shipyard at the bay of Izmit, leading to the development of Istanbul as the base of the Ottoman navy and command center of their government.
The Devshirme System
The increase of military requirements in the naval power of the Ottoman Empire forced Sultan Murad II to acquire more people who would aid him in fighting his rivals. It drove him to seek more civil servants, administrative, and massive loyal army that was efficient in executing orders under his command. In 1420, he formed and implemented the taxation of humans called the Devshirme, whereby young males were handed over to become the property of the Sultan.
Examiners stated that the system was enacted to remove the dangers from the leader and help him maintain his family in the lineage of military kingship (Aksakal, 2011). However, it contradicted the Muslim laws and culture since it required the person to safeguard Christians throughout his regime. This led to protest by the Muslim community, who formed a constitution that aimed at helping the Ottomans naval power overthrow the existence of the current government through aiding in the construction of the naval ships and gun powders.
Ottoman’s Conquest of the Island in the 16th Century Help Shape Turkey’s Foreign Policy
The Ottoman’s Empire foreign relations were linked with the Persian Empire to the east and Europe to the west. Moreover, the Ottoman Empire made sure that it had many allies to continue making its rule over the world for many centuries until the late 19th century when it collapsed (Aksakal, 2011). In addition, the rise of the nationalism concept in the early 20th century under the Ottoman Empire leadership lead to the loss of many crucial allies. First, it began with the Austria-Hungary territory, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bulgarian territory. Thus, by the time the Ottoman entered the first world war, it had already lost the most important Arab lands who acted as military support.
Ottoman Diplomatic Structure
Ottoman Empire relied on the unconventional type of foreign relations separate from those of its counterparts, such as the European. Moreover, the Reis Ul-Kuttab was the chief clerk who was constitutionally mandated to conduct the Ottomans’ foreign affairs. However, the creation of foreign ministry in 1836 made the Ottoman council amend the constitution by leaving all the foreign affairs issues to the foreign ministry, unlike in the past (Aksakal, 2011). Therefore, the change in the laws suggested various structures within the foreign relations catalog for the foreign ministry to consider when signing any international treaty.
Ambassadors
Ambassadors’ appointment in the Ottoman Empire was limited and temporary, which was contrary to the resident ambassadors appointed by the European countries. The Ottoman sent about 145 temporary ambassadors or envoys to Venice in 1384 and 1600 (Hurewitz, 1961). But the first resident Ottoman ambassador never returned to the Empire until 1798 when Yusuf Agah was sent to look for them in London. Moreover, after the fall of Constantinople, the Ottoman’s ambassador began returning, with the first one being Bartelemi Marcello from Venice. The role of the ambassadors was to ensure that the Dutch ambassador Cornelius Haga did not support capitulations in 1612. Thus, the part of the ambassadors was to act as peacekeepers and Ottoman representatives in their respective allies or territories.
Europe and Ottoman Empire Relations
The Ottoman Empire appreciated the European state system for its critical role in their foreign affairs, which led to coterminous durations of massive developments within the region. Moreover, towards the end of the 15th century, the Ottoman Empire revived its interest, mainly contributing to the Italian peninsula incident (Hurewitz, 1961). For instance, in 1494, the kingdom of Naples and Papacy petitioned the Sultan directly for having been involved in helping Charles VIII of France during the first Italian war. Therefore, the Ottoman’s Empire policy towards Europe in the 16th century was much of a disruption against the Habsburg ruling.
Furthermore, the Ottomans decided to collaborate with Francis 1 of France with the help of other protestant allies in the 1530s to end the Habsburg dynasty ruling in the 16th century. Even though the French had earlier sought the Ottoman’s alliance in 1531, the deal was not official until 1536 where the Sultan decided to offer the French freedom of trade in and out of the Empire. Through the trade freedom offered to France by the Sultan, the two allies came up with plans and strategies for invading Italy from south and north in 1537 (Hurewitz, 1961). Later, Francis 1 admitted to the Venetian ambassador that Ottoman Empire would stop Charles V, the Roman emperor, from the spread of Habsburg dominion in the European Empire.
However, by the late 19th century, the Ottoman Empire began to grow weaker. In contrast, one of its allies, Britain, began to grow stronger and became the protector of the Ottoman Empire by fighting the 1850s Crimean war (Aksakal, 2011). Moreover, the famous three British leaders played a critical role in the Crimean war because they considered the Ottoman Empire the central and essential factor in the balance of authority concerning Constantinople’s perspective. For instance, William Gladstone, in the 1870s, was responsible for mobilizing a Concert of Europe which was intended to protect and support the Ottoman Empire’s ruling (Aksakal, 2011). Other rulers such as Salisbury engaged in orderly dismemberment, which was geared towards reducing the great rivalry piling up between the more extraordinary powers in the world.
United Kingdom-Turkey Relations
The British-turkey relationship is international relations between the United Kingdom of Northern Ireland and Great Britain with that of the Republic of Turkey. Moreover, the two nations have been involved in several wars, such as within World War 1. For instance, Turkey strengthened their foreign relations with the United Kingdom during the Crimean war since both powers had the long-term interest to protect. Thus, the United Kingdom and Turkey maintain their connections through the British embassy in Ankara and the Turkish embassy within London.
Also, there is maintaining a good relationship between the United Kingdom and Turkey through bilateral relations. Moreover, there have been various exchange visits among the two countries’ leaders between 1967, 1988,1971, and 2008 (Aksakal, 2011). For instance, Turkish president Cevdet Sunay was the first turkey president to visit the United Kingdom palace in 1967, followed by president Kenan Evren in 1988. In return queen, Elizabeth visited Tukey in 1971 and 2008 to appreciate the Turkish contribution towards the economic and social development of the United Kingdom since the start of their bilateral relations (Aksakal, 2011). Further, both of the nations, Turkey and Britain, belong to the G20 forum, and this has made Britain help and support Turkish accession to the European Union.
Palestine Mandate
After the First World War Palestine broke up shortly from the Ottoman Empire but, through the treaty of Lausanne in 1923, officially resolved the dispute (Hurewitz, 1961). Palestine was among the first allies to become part of the Ottoman Empire. Still, due to some international misunderstandings among the Ottoman partners, Palestine had to break off during the First World War. The British had established its initial intention of supporting the development of the Jewish homeland during the 1917 Balfour declaration (Hurewitz, 1961). However, the British had been in previous discussions with the Hashemite family in the Hussein- McMahon Correspondence concerning having an independent Arab state.
In addition, most of the talks concerning an independent Arab state remained vague and inconclusive; still, it comprised Britain’s support of the independent Arab state in return for a successful Arab revolution in the First World War. Therefore, Britain contributed heavily to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire military in 1917 by having French and British forces occupying the more significant part of Syria and Sinai hence making Palestine remain under British rule during the first world war (Hurewitz, 1961).
Trade Relations Between the Ottoman Empire and The United Kingdom
When it comes to importation United Kingdom falls in second place of biggest Turkish importer of products after Germany. Moreover, Turkey exports approximately eight percent of its total commodities to the United Kingdom. For instance, around 2,000,000 Britons take trips to turkey for holidays, whereas about 10,000 Turks visit the United Kingdom for pleasure and business purposes (Aksakal, 2011). Also, the Turkish absorption into the European Union has been because of the United Kingdom’s effort to support its ideas and other projects that benefit the whole region. However, the UK’s Brexit has also affected the general United Kingdom-Turkish relations because some of the trade terms are strict and do not support the usual trade agreements between the two nations. Therefore, the trade relations between the United Kingdom and turkey have made the nations to be the fifth and the eighteenth largest global economies consecutively.
The Cyprus Disputes
At the outset of the Great War, United Kingdom decided to annex Cyprus as a British colony in 1914 after being leased by the Ottoman Empire in 1878. Moreover, to continue with the strong relations between the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire, Britain decided to embark their sovereign troop base regions on the Cyprus island after its independence in 1960 (Aksakal, 2011). Also, during the orchestrated coup d’état by the army junta of Greece to unify the mainland and the island, Turkey decided to interfere with the process by invading the island to rescue about a quarter of the Cyprus population. The population had been expelled from the northern region of the island to be resided by Greek Cypriots. Further, after the Turkish government had resolved the dispute, the same incident happened to about 60,000 Turkish Cypriots being displaced from the south to the north of the island (Hurewitz, 1961). Therefore, the participation of the United Kingdom and Turkey in the partition of Cyprus led to the declaration of independence in 1983, with Greece being signatories to the Treaty of Guarantee.
Reclamation of the Ottoman Empire by The New Turkish Map
Turkey’s new map has led to various conflicts between Baghdad and Ankara when it comes to the Turkish government’s role in the liberation relation of Mosul. According to president Recap Tayyip the Treaty of Lausanne was unethical when creating the current borderlines of turkey because it left the nation small (Hurewitz, 1961). Moreover, the president emphasized the nation’s interest when it comes to the Turkish minorities who are living beyond the Turkey borders concerning the historical claims on Mosul where there is an established military base of turkey. Besides, Turkish jets have been linked with several bombings of the Kurdish forces in Syria has made Turkey’s pro-government media bring amendments to Turkey’s map with new, improved borders.
Further plans have been made to stop Turkey from annexing a section of Iraq in modern society. Moreover, the combination of rhetoric and irredentist cartography provides some changes in Turkey’s current foreign and domestic policies regarding Ankara’s reputation or self-image. Also, Turkey’s new map reveals the continued significance of Turkish nationalism, which incorporates a long-standing component of the nation’s statecraft which is reinvigorated with few revised amendments of religion. However, suppose the past continues to act as an indication of military confrontation and interventions within the state. In that case, the Turkish nationalism inspiration might interfere or threaten the already regional and security standing of turkey (Libby, 1978). Thus, the Turkish interest in Mosul has made Erdogan rely on sectarian, ethnic, and historical rationales to urge Russia and the United States to continue offering support even if they are not strongly connected politically.
Conclusion
Ottoman Empire conquest of Cyprus in the 16th century was a success due to numerous factors despite its downfall after the 156th century. The naval power and the aspects also aided in shaping the foreign policies in Turkey today. More so, the Ottoman Empire made determined performance to ensure they have a naval power that was effective compared to another during their regime so that they can stand out as the most powerful government and protect its citizens. Venetians who tried to fight back the Ottoman Empire and stop them from taking over the Cyprus Island were faced with a more significant challenge since they had fewer people to support their objective of fighting back a more equipped kingdom with knowledge and instruments. Therefore, Venice decided to collaborate with the Ottoman Empire to get some benefits of the island, such as the cloth trade and spice, which was the economic aspect that sustains most island regions.
The signing of the collaboration deal was the official motive that facilitated the fall of Cyprus in the 16th century, leaving the Venetians with no benefits. The conquest of Cyprus further enhanced the establishment of the competition for the Mediterranean with the proper utilization of naval power. Therefore, the conquest of the ottoman in Cyprus generated numerous negative and positive aspects, as highlighted in the research paper. Besides, their strong naval power facilitated the major confidence that enhanced a better foundation that led to them overthrowing the Venetians.
Ottoman Empire embraced a distinct appearance at the time Mehmed II took control. Mehmed II reigned over Ottoman Empire for two separate periods where one was considerably shorter than the other as it started from fourteen forty-four to fourteen forty-six. The other period was a bit longer which started from fourteen fifty-one and lasted for thirty years, ending in fourteen eighty-one.
Throughout his entire ruling, Mehmed was outstandingly active and his main mission was to conquer empires as well as cities where he employed his military proficiency to invade the regions at ease. The conquest of Constantinople is considered the most significant of his invasions since his predecessors’ efforts to conquer it had failed. Together with other conquests, Mehmed managed to considerably increase the region covered by Ottoman Empire.
Introduction
Ottoman Empire originated from a Turkish principality that has its roots in Asia. This empire arose in the late thirteenth century at a time when the Empire of Byzantine was in the process of crumbling and the Seljuk Turks Empire had already collapsed. The name Ottoman came from Osman I who was crowned the outstanding royal empire’s initiator. The area covered by Ottoman Empire stretches from Asia Minor otherwise known as modern Turkey to North Africa, Middle East, and Southeastern Europe to Egypt.
Mehmed II carried out his ruling in Ottoman Empire outstandingly to a point that he was recognized as a legend for his contribution to the army. When Mehmed was aged twenty-one, he went out to lead young men that comprised an army into a war where they had the privilege of capturing Constantinople which is currently known as Istanbul. Since then his name and personality have been upheld as he is credited for being the first ruler in Ottoman Empire to portray such a high level of imperialism. Goffman (2002 pp 28-32)
Mehmet II Portraits
Mehmet II’s two portraits give a description of his appearance which was very unique and according to a scholar known as Philip; Mehmet II’s appearance was quite terrible. Philip recognized some features of Mehmet II’s face that were quite striking and those that made him so outstanding as they were in line with his dictatorial character. These features were a curved nose that was raised at the middle extending to the mouth section and shifty eyes. Some of Mehmet II’s portraits were found in Paolo’s museum who claimed that one of the portraits was original and that it was painted by Gentile Bellini who lived during Mehmet II’s reign.
From this portrait; Mehmet II also had eagle-like eyes, a small mouth, and a circular chin which formed part of the characteristic appearance whose effect was felt even in his style of ruling. Another of Mehmet II’s portraits that have some form of Gentile originality is the Layard picture which is found in the National gallery. In this particular portrait, Mehmet II is less energetic which shows that the portrait represents his appearance at the age of fifty-two, the age he died at. However, his unique appearance is still evident in the same way his outstanding character persisted all through his reign. Gray (1932 pp.4-6)
Conquest of Constantinople
Before Mehmed took over the reign of the Ottoman Empire, his predecessors had managed to conquer lands that surrounded Constantinople city, and the land on which the city lay was the only one they had not managed to conquer. Constantinople was conquered during Mehmed II’s reign in the year fourteen fifty-three and its entire capture was led and supported by Mehmed II. This was among the most significant events that characterize Ottoman Empire during Mehmed II’s reign. Conquering Constantinople took place in a very systematic manner where the first step was to block the city to control the fighting appropriately.
Mehmed led his men to Hagia Sophia which was previously a church, where he established a fighting operations base. Muslims also made a significant contribution to this practice where they made use of cannons, very big guns, which were powerful weapons to attack their rivals. Muslims employed their cannons to attack Constantinople’s walls to a point that they destroyed them completely. After they had conquered the city, they proceeded to make some adjustments in the way it operated with the first change being the conversion of the previously Christian city to a city of Islam. Ottoman’s main objective was to have a completely new appearance of Constantinople which made it necessary to enlarge and mark the Empire’s border correctly.
Therefore, the Ottomans connected the continent of Africa to that of Asia which allowed the Empire to cover a wider area than before. This was followed by several other conquests by the Ottomans where they subsequently overpowered Christians. The conquest of the Balkan Peninsula was among the subsequent invasions led by Mehmed II where he took possession of Bosnia, Aegean islands as well as Greece.
This caused him to have several friends including Khan who offered to collaborate with him as he carried out his invasions. Trebizond Empire which is in Asia was also seized by Mehmed II during his ruling. It is during this particular time that Mehmed dissolved all independent empires that existed in Turkey to come up with only a single empire namely Ottoman Empire. The ruling families of Turkish Empires were subdued by being put to death which was aimed at eliminating any of their traces that would erupt thereafter in protest. Kennedy (2004 p.69-75)
Trade treaties within Ottoman Empire under Mehmed’s reign
Several agreements were initiated by Mehmed II at the time when Constantinople fell including trade agreements with the leaders of the Genoese colony which had fallen together with Constantinople. This particular agreement allowed leaders and citizens of Genoese colonies to retain several trading privileges that they previously enjoyed. Several parties were not happy with the Ottoman’s series of conquests among them being Western contemporaries who were particularly concerned with Byzantine’s invasion which they considered an extraordinary tragedy.
Latin contemporaries also analyzed the losses incurred from the city’s destruction where they regarded them as death that had occurred to a learning center. Holy places, as well as great churches, were also considered to have been destroyed during the city’s invasion by Mehmed II’s army. Constantinople’s fall was considered a very significant event and that was symbolic in a unique manner as it marked the absorption of a large part of Byzantine territory to a point that it was only left with a very small portion under its name. Duiker (2006 85-86)
Some misleading inferences have concluded that the invasion by Ottoman marked the point where Latin trade which was conducted in the territory of Turkey began its declination. This is referred to as a misleading inference since no evidence is available to confirm that the main aim of invading the city was to terminate trading relations that had been previously agreed upon between Latinos and Ottomans. Contrary to the inferences, the economic policy of the Ottoman portrayed a situation where trade agreements were to be a continuation from his predecessors which showed that he would not have a good reason to terminate a long-term agreement.
The policy also showed that trade relations with Latinos were of great importance to Ottoman and would not equally have any interest in having them destroyed. Genoese, which was part of the empires attacked by Mehmed II’s army maintained good relations even after being conquered. The only interruptions that took place were during the time merchants were moving to Aegean islands where they were to investigate developments after which trade operations went back to normal. Duiker (2006 87-88)
Ottoman Empire Administration under Mehmed II
Mehmed made several adjustments to Ottoman Empire’s administration and also to other empires that he had managed to conquer. Among the empires that he made administrative adjustments to is old Byzantine where he combined its administrative operations with that of the Ottoman state to enable him to control Byzantine more closely.
His first step in making adjustments within Byzantine was to introduce politics in Byzantine where political factors may have previously prevailed but Caesars who were in control had not referred to their actions as political. Mehmed established a court where he assigned Greek Scholars as well as Italian humanists several duties that added to the operational court staff. The church was allowed to proceed with its functions only that patriarchs were ordered to embrace the Turkish faith and abandon the Christian faith.
Furthermore, Mehmed asked one of the gentiles to make his portrait and paint it accordingly which was aimed to indicate that he had taken over the city and that he was in full control as his portrait would replace those of former leaders of Byzantine. The invasion efforts portrayed by Mehmed were so intense as he was determined to conquer powerful empires including the Roman Empire which was evident when he showed interest in becoming the ruling Caesar of the Roman Empire. At this particular time, Mehmed’s main intention was to capture both Italy and Rome which he did not succeed as his plans were realized before he took action. The two empires took defense before they could be attacked by Mehmed’s army.
Muslim artists were also integrated into Mehmed’s court which he had established in Constantinople where he wanted to have full representation of each empire that he conquered. This would enable him to rule those empires appropriately. New infrastructure was set up in Byzantine as some of the previous ones had been destroyed during invasion where new infrastructure included a university, waterways as well as mosques. Quataert (2000 p.17)
Mehmed employed a very unique method in his conquest mission where he was particularly concerned with the religious status of his conquests. He ensured he did not only conquer the empires and cities but also significantly influenced their religious status. In this case, Mehmed attempted to transform Christians into Muslims which was the faith he supported. He took young Christians from the already conquered regions and recruited them as part of his army.
After being recruited, Mehmed ordered for the young men to be separated where some were assigned duties in Sultans court while the other group was integrated with his army. Mehmed ensured that he gained the favor of Christians by appointing one of the Patriarchs to govern them though he was to be directly answerable to him. This allowed him to comfortably introduce the city’s remodeling where he converted Byzantine to Turkish capital in which the dominant religion was to be Islamic.
The main interest of Mehmed’s adjustment of administrative operations in the Ottoman Empire was to tighten his control which also made him make considerable adjustments in areas he conquered as they were incorporated into Ottoman Empire. This enabled Mehmed II to have his ruling power centralized in one main operating system from where he would be able to directly or indirectly control his Empire. By the time Mehmed was through with his reign, he had managed to extend the region covered by Ottoman Empire to great lengths as it covered Asia, the African region as well as European regions. Faroqhi (1994 pp 59-60)
Conclusion
It is clear; that Mehmed II was a unique Ruler who conducted his ruling in a very outstanding manner. Mehmed II employed his military competency to undertake invasions where he conquered cities and Empires. The already conquered regions were integrated into Ottoman Empire and appropriate adjustments were implemented to enable Mehmed II to control them. Mehmed II was not comfortable with the Christian religion and he made efforts to influence Christians to abandon their faith.
They were encouraged to join Islam but in cases where they objected, he forced them into Islamic. Administrative operations were also adjusted to a form that would favor Mehmed II’s ruling. This included incorporating scholars and artists to his court operations where they were allocated duties that concerned their Here, he ensured that the governors he appointed were directly answerable to him, which made him chose persons who were familiar to the specific regions but not those from the former ruling. Faroqhi (1994 pp 61-64)
References
Duiker W. World History: Cengage Learning, 2006 pp85-88.
Faroqhi S. An economic and social history of the Ottoman Empire: Cambridge University Press, 1994 pp59-64.
Goffman D. The Ottoman Empire and early modern Europe: Cambridge University Press, 2002 pp28-32.
Gray B. Two portraits of Mehmet II: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd, 1932 p 4-6.
Kennedy P. The rise and fall of the great powers: Vintage Books, 2004 pp. 69-75.
Quataert D. Article on the Ottoman Empire: Cambridge University Press, 2000 p17.
Ottoman has been the largest and powerful empire in history which was inspired by Islam. The empire was most successful at the time of Suleiman who had ruled for forty six years. However, the empire was faced by a very drastic decline in 1571 after it lost the battle of lepanto. Further decline was accelerated by World War I. However; the empire had experienced a great transformation in between the golden age and the time of the decline. This period was referred to as the Tanzimat which was basically a period during which the Ottoman Empire was reorganized and reformed starting from the early eighties.
The main idea of the transformation was to bring about development in the empire through tax revenue collection for military support in order to ensure complete control of its territory and prevent colonization by the powerful nations. The reformations made became the major root of Ottomanism among the majority ethnic groups in the empire which led to formation of nationalists movements. One main attempt of the reformations was to bring together non-Muslims and non-Turks and incorporate them into the Ottoman social believes and norms. They were to get liberty to allow them to exercise equal right to the Turks (Goodwin 1).
Government and administration
The Ottoman Empire experienced some changes in the government and its way of administration which was, in fact one of the major reasons for the decline of the empire. The sultanate administration failed during that period. Previously, the sultanate was a very strong institution from which the sultan was expected to point out a successor. However, the sultanate became weak with time and since it was the strong hold of the empire, its decline had strong contribution its decline. Although the great Suleiman had led the empire into great success during its golden age, he later became weak and this resulted to his less involvement in the affairs of the empire as he was getting old. In addition, he was executed by some of his successors leaving the sit for Selim II who, despite living in the palace for long, had no experience in running the state.
He generally neglected his governing responsibilities and rather paid much attention to personal matters such as physical pleasures. However, during the transformation, governance and administration changed completely to strong and central monarchies across the empire. Constitution reforms were also done during this period. A parliament was formed which had representatives from all the provinces to allow all citizens take part in the running of the state through their representatives who acted as their voices. Local governments were formed too and the sultan was deprived of his powers which were described as dictatorship. Electric administration was introduced for diplomatic purposes (Chambers, 2010, p. 1).
Military
Initially, the Ottoman’s military unit simply consisted of several tribesmen but later became complex as the empire advanced. The whole process of modernization in the empire was initiated by the military where the sultan of the time got rid of the Janissary corps that existed before and instead he formed a modern army for the empire. The modern army was even given then name of the new order to describe the change. The army also began recruiting foreigners and started training its officers in western countries through the foreign experts on the field. The officers sent for training came back and formed the young-turks organization which was inspired by the education they got in the European countries.
Basically, these transformations contributed largely to the expansion of the empire as internal territories and as part of the European continent. However, the power of the military to control the empire’s deals with the European countries later declined. However, the empire became unable to sustain and maintain the military following economic distractions. However, shortly after, the Ottoman air force was established which was one of the world’s greatest organization in combat aviation. This was followed by establishments of pilots and planes for the military officers which enabled the empire to organize its own flights for its officers. An air academy was also established and it increased the rate at which the military advanced on the aviation program. The number of people enrolling in the military increased as specialized programs for training was being developed.
Economy
The Ottoman government had established an economical policy which focused on the development of Bursa which led to the expansion of capital and other commercial centers. The economic policy of the empire was initially based on the societal concept where the empire had the goal to expand its resources through extending its ruler’s power to other states. The empire’s main aim was to obtain revenue for the empire and to keep the social and traditional norms intact as well. Of all the Islamic states, Ottoman had the most developed treasury organization which acted as a body through which training and development of professionalism could be achieved. Due to its gepgraphical location, the empire used its powers to control the link between the west and the east.
It prevented the route between the two regions especially where export of certain economic goods would cause great risks to the economy of the empire. The Ottoman also took control over the vasco da gamma route to enable the state have easy access to trade and market links (Nosotro, 2010, p. 1). Soon the economy of the empire had extended to several continents around the world. The Anglo Ottoman treaty opened the doors for the empire to engage in creates markets in England and France. Besides improving commercial routes, the empire also ensured increased cultivation of land as well as engagement in international trade. These concepts led to improved economic functioning of the state. The economic and political interest went hand in hand during these transformations.
Conclusion
The Tanzimat period had very useful changes especially in the economical and governance concepts. Other developments such as in revenue generation and service delivery by the state have been of great help in bringing equal civilization and modernization in all the communities. It was therefore a great move by the Ottoman society to realize that it had lagged behind and to accept help and modernization from the western nations. The social life of the Ottomans society as a whole changed to the better with the introduction of modern schools since quality education is the key to a better life. However, the governance and administration part of the empire can be said to control all the other aspects of the state especially those that came about following the transformation period. The military was equally important since it played a great role in providing people with the opportunity to explore resources without any problems.
Typically, the majority of empires have a remarkably similar way of development: firstly, they rise from a small or weak state, then they prosper, and sooner or later, the decline begins, and eventually, an empire comes to an end. However, it is also apparent that every particular case has its own specific characteristics. In order to exemplify this assumption, the Ottoman and Safavid empires will be compared and contrasted in this paper.
Academic sources on the topic will be referenced. The timeframe covered by this paper is considerably large since the Safavid empire ceased to exist in 1722 while the Ottomans lasted until 1922. This essay is organized in the following way: in two paragraphs, the countries under discussion are analyzed separately, in order to use the synthesized and analyzed information for the comparison of these two empires. A comprehensive conclusion will be provided as well.
The Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire is known as one of the largest as well as the most long-lasting political powers in the Islamic world. As it is mentioned in the profound study by Quataert, the empire grew from a small state, which existed from around thirteen century, until its official elimination in 1922. Given the fact that the empire had enlarged immensely over time, the typical problem, which is experienced by the majority of kingdoms, arose. The Ottoman Empire became so large that it became considerably difficult to control and coordinate the centralized power in different regions of the state. Accordingly, in the nineteenth century, the Ottomans experienced an evident decline that was largely determined by the changing balance of powers in Europe.
The Safavid Dynasty
The Safavid empire is known as the “longest-lasting Persian dynasty in the past thousand years” as it ruled Iran from 1500 to 1722. The state is also known as one of the primary rivals of the Ottoman Empire since both countries were in the same region and strived for prosperity by relatively similar methods. The rise of the Iranian dynasty was largely dependent on the leadership of its most recognized rulers, namely Shah Ismail I and Shah Abbas, as the country did not have much economic resources. The inheritors of the dynasty did not succeed in maintaining the power of the empire.
Comparison of the Two Selected Empires
It is difficult to compare these two countries as they were closely related in terms of their political goals, methods of expansion, and other aspects. However, it could be stated with certainty that the rivalry of the Ottoman and Safavid empires represented the controversy between two primary branches of Islam, which are Suni and Shi respectively. The use of the military power to expand westward and spread the faith of Islam could be considered as common characteristic of both countries.
However, it is possible to mention that the Safavid empire fell due to the fact that the rulers who came to power after Shah Abbas did not have the same level of ambition and they also lacked understanding of how to develop the country. The Ottoman Empire came to decline as well, but it prospered for a considerably longer time, and its fall was largely determined by the pressure of political powers in Europe.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is essential to state that both countries under discussion represented very important political powers of the Islamic world, which had a considerable impact on the European and Middle-East history. The comparison of the two empires shows that the success of the Safavid dynasty was largely dependent on the leadership qualities of its founders. In this respect, the Ottoman empire could be considered as a much more powerful state. However, it also eventually came to its end due to the changing balance of European political powers.
Bibliography
Foran, John. “The Long Fall of the Safavid Dynasty: Moving beyond the Standard Views.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 24, no. 2 (1992): 281-304.
Matthee, Rudi. “The Decline of Safavid Iran in Comparative Perspective.” Journal of Persianate Studies 8, no. 2 (2015): 276-308.
Quataert, David. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Every growth involves strategies, while each tumble exhibits significant causes. Ottoman Empire’s account reveals the potential of a united community with strategic leaders, while its fall implies communities’ temporariness whenever people bite more than they can chew or forget old functional strategies. Being one of the supreme territories in history, the Ottoman Empire rose and excelled for a substantially long time but faced a murky and persistent end, like all the dynasties existing before it. The kingdom was instituted in 1299 and developed from Turkish clans in Anatolia. The Ottomans relished an impartial show of influence and supremacy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, reigning for over 600 eons. The community is considered one of the ancient kingdoms’ most extensive enduring reigns. The Ottomans’ supremacy was chiefly perceived as the authority of Islam, typically perceived as intimidation by the Western European communities. The rule is characterized by security, unity, regional stability, and general expansions. The Ottoman Empire’s triumph is attributable to the strict leadership and adaptation to fluctuating positions, while wrong decisions explain the empire’s ultimate failure.
Origin
The Ottoman Empire was initiated at the end of the 13th century and flourished significantly until the twentieth century. However, the kingdom realized much of its success during the 5th century through its stern and informed leaders. Like several other domains worldwide, solid systems and strong leadership influenced the Ottoman Empire’s establishment and success since its first days. During its ideal epoch, the Ottoman Empire was famed as an unlimited territory in the world, extending from the Balkans, North Africa, and Caucus (Anooshahr 2018). The territory adopted a feudalism legacy from the beginning, leading to the monarchical leadership system. Accordingly, the option for administration style came from the empire’s direct connection to the previous failed Sejuks dynasty and the closeness to the monarchical Byzantine political structure (Foss 2021). Therefore, partnering with the Sejuks prior to forming the Ottoman Empire influenced Osman I to adopt a governance system similar to the previous kingdom, leading to significantly varied effects on the resultant domain.
Osman, I was the initial political and military leader of the Ottomans, bearing the title of the sultan. He led the kingdom between 1299 and 1324 (Yildiz 2020), assuming the sultan and prince (bey) titles that implied someone with political power. The leader helped Ottomans to launch a consolidated polity involving a supreme leader (sultan) serving with numerous subsidiary officials interacting with people at various levels. The centralized management structure helped the Ottomans’ leadership to regulate the population and resources, such as lands, centralized coffers, a bureaucracy, and a scheming government via the sultan’s slaves. Notably, the Ottoman Empire resulted from two previous empires exhibiting widely diverse characters. The two dynasties are the Byzantine, in Europe, and the Seljukian realms, mainly in Anatolia (Foss 2021). The two territories initially involved unending conflicts featuring wars about Christianity and Islam, with the wars playing a major role in the domains’ decline and death. Thus, the Ottoman’s leadership, starting from Osman, acknowledges the dangers of a divisive strategy, using this knowledge appropriately to establish a multicultural system with strict leadership that allows parties to operate in unity.
The Ottoman Empire existed and survived by adopting varied ways to settle conflicts between the initial Christian and Islamic empires as the descendant states. Osman I, the territory’s first sultan, inherited several leadership traits from the Seljukians as the dominant Islamic World leader while also learning significantly from Byzantium’s overwhelming influence on all the Christian territories in Europe. Subsequently, the Ottoman Empire was a rare kingdom that brought together Muslims and Christians, all serving one ruler. The new domain intensified and extended the two contrasting communities’ policies during its foundational epoch to survive. On the one side, the domain’s management intended to intensify all Muslims’ unions while protecting the Orthodox Christians, on the other hand, from the influential European Catholic republics (Yildiz 2020). Therefore, the desire and substantial success of coexisting Christians and Muslims through policies influenced the association between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, with the former exhibiting Christian followers’ dominions.
The Ottoman Empire’s crafters mainly involved warriors opposed to the eclectic prevalent culture, unorthodox religious divisions, and intimidating rival princedoms. The territory’s primary role was to exist as a highly unified social system promoting justice and fairness and political, social, and economic stabilities. The devotion led to the excessive emphasis on eternal attentiveness against external opponents and the commitment to preserve law and order within the established state. A fundamental belief leading to this determination concerns the conviction that accord among humans existing in a community or society comes primarily through the state’s creation (Cagaptay 2020). Consequently, Osman I and all the subsequent leaders in the Ottoman Empire esteemed humans and functional systems more than wealth. The matter helped the kingdom long enough until the rulers shifted their attention to personal gains, leading to corruption and other dangerous vices.
The Gazi custom, mainly involving combat against non-Muslims to extend the territories of Islam, was a primary driving dynamism for the formation of the Ottoman Empire. The overriding spirit flowed from the kingdom’s top leadership to the tribe members, the chieftains, and the general citizens, leading to a substantially concerted focus on meeting the community’s objective surrounding initiation, growth, and persistence. The Gazi forces’ success in realizing victory in the war against past dynasties, such as the Christian Byzantium, followed the Turkhis rulers’ efforts to reproduce the crown court life of established Islamic empires. The military leaders and troops thus assumed the Islamic urban evolution style by practicing sponsorship, appointing sharia judges, and founding Islamic learning institutions. Therefore, the amalgamation between Gazi’s unrestricted spirit and the group leaders’ efforts to implement traditional Islamic practices formed the significant factors leading to the formation of the Ottoman Empire (Cagaptay 2020). The (Ottoman) kingdom occupied parts of Asia, North Africa, and Europe from the late fourteenth century. However, the Ottomans’ growth has significantly decelerated several centuries since its formation, leading to several present transformations.
Growth
The Ottoman Empire’s emergence at the end of the thirteenth century implied a new beginning in the world. Early signs concerning the domain inferred success but not to the level realized by the community. Accordingly, several factors pushed the Ottoman’s development over the years, allowing the domain to last until the twentieth century and the subsequent emergence of the Republic of Turkey, which survives the dynasty today. The following discussion provides some of the fundamental aspects leading to the Ottomans’ successful growth in various continents despite emerging in the significantly disconnected Anatolia region.
Powerful Warrior-Sultans
Having powerful leaders with military skills helped the Ottoman Empire to grow beyond the Anatolia boundaries. Starting from Osman I, the dynasty’s first founder and first ruler, all the kingdom’s leaders exhibited outstanding leadership, warfare, and strategic mentalities that were uncommon during the age. Osman, I led revolting groups from the previous Islamic empires in Anatolia to form the Ottoman Empire. The leader further helped establish a centralized system of governance, together with leading in the adoption of multicultural policies to help different clusters, especially the captured groups, continue observing their original culture (Yildiz 2020). Orhon inherited the sultanate position after the death of his father, Osman I. The fellow continued his father’s legacy of using military power to capture new territories while allowing various groups to coexist.
Orhon and his troops conquered Brusa in 1326 and made it the Ottomans’ capital despite initially belonging to the Byzantine dynasty. Moreover, the Ottoman Turks traversed Europe during the heir’s leadership, partnering with Emperor John V Paleologus and acquiring new territories for the Brusa-based Islamic group (Yildiz 2020). The Ottomans made numerous enslaved people from the Serbs and Bulgars after the European territories’ capture, converting them into soldiers for the Ottomans’ troops. Consequently, having powerful and wise warrior-sultans gave the Ottoman Empire an unmatched ability to conquer and develop the kingdom into an indomitable force, ruling the section of the world for centuries.
Mehmed and Suleiman 1 are the other magnificent Ottoman leaders responsible for the kingdom’s success. Sultan Mehmed II, commonly known as ‘Mehmed the Conqueror,’ helped the Ottoman Empire grow substantially in the 1450s by weakening Constantinople, the Byzantine capital. The leader directly influences the decline of the new region’s population for easy capture while adopting new war technologies to penetrate the impassable walls. Price (2021) provides the Ottomans as some of the first global populations to employ the cannon war system. The groups largely used weaponry in the 15th century, forming a new combat era (Gibbons 2020). Mehmed conquered the Christian city by bombing the fortified Constantinople city walls for days before breaking through, making the previously inaccessible urban establishment the new Ottoman capital (Yildiz 2020). Accordingly, sultan Mehmed claimed his habitation in the majestic Roman tradition by dethroning the Byzantine Territory. The success over the initially powerful kingdom that threatened the Ottomans’ existence and expansion triggered fresh enthusiasm among the community members and the troops, leading to a rebirth of the empire’s fighting spirit.
Suleiman
The Ottoman Empire realized its territorial and political apex in the 16th century under Suleiman I’s rule, leading to the sultan’s common title as Suleiman the Magnificent. His primary ambition was to make the now large Mediterranean kingdom a superpower with influence reaching the European states. Suleiman directed an exclusive specialized combat group called the Janissaries (Yildiz 2020). The kingdom developed such powerful armies by forcefully acquiring individuals from Christian families, especially the youth in the freshly conquered regions. Suleiman then polished and trained the youngsters into soldiers and made them convert to Islam, the religion forming most of the military groups’ integrity-based policies (Gibbons 2020). Intrepid in contests, the Janissaries formed some of the world’s original martial crews.
Suleiman’s reign led to an age of inordinate wealth growth for the Ottoman Territory. Capturing Egypt allowed the Ottomans to realize highly productive fields for agricultural products production, with the produce mostly trafficked to Europe through the Mediterranean trade routes (Cagaptay 2020). Suleiman’s dominance and significant success come from multiple factors, including military power, money, and the promotion of justice. The sultan’s other name is ‘Kanuni,’ or the lawgiver, coming from the leader’s focus on justice in Islamic custom. Therefore, the Ottoman citizens easily took disputes to the local Islamic courts in larger municipalities across the territory during Suleiman’s era, making the empire highly stable socially, economically, and politically for continued growth.
Commercialized Endeavors
The Ottoman Empire’s socially stratified communities allowed the kingdom to undertake various commercially viable activities. The Ottomans generally fell into three categories: the rulers, fighters, and peasants. The two former groups’ undertakings allowed the kingdom to grow physically by reclaiming new territories. However, the territory’s lowest class mainly majored in feeding the community and producing commercially essential items. The class included farmers, merchants, herders, seafarers, and manufacturers. Though these individuals exhibited the smallest official power, the group powered the Ottomans’ engine. Farmers, merchants, and the rest of the class’s members produced items traded along the Mediterranean trade route, giving the kingdom financial gains through taxes and foreign exchange (Kenan et al. 2021). The team supported the bureaucracy, religious, and military establishments, thus forming the territory’s back. Gender, economic, and religious differences put persons into diverse groups, but all the populations remained generally wealthy. The Ottomans in the lower socioeconomic class included town workers, peasants, and nomadic pastoralists, all contributing directly to the territory’s growth and survival.
Social Fairness
Social fairness played a major role in the Ottoman Empire’s growth. People in the kingdom moved across social groups by gaining social power, regardless of one’s origin. The domain’s fair policies and governance openly awarded merit without considering social status or lineage. Yildiz (2020) notes that even the enslaved persons and the general public in the Ottoman bureaucracy or military, including the Janissaries, rose through the kingdom’s established ranks. The matter made some poor individuals with rigorous leadership capabilities end up in some of the premier places in society. Therefore, fostering social fairness allowed different groups to live together. The aspect further eliminated the common social rifts responsible for many communities’ deaths. Osman I, Mehmed, and Suleiman’s wisdom in leadership and community promotion thus helped the Ottomans to grow beyond imaginable limits. The leaders treated even the newly captured communities fairly equally as those originally belonging to the kingdom. The territory’s millet system equally allowed distinct communities within the kingdom to maintain original values, leading to a highly fair social establishment that lasted for centuries.
The Enlightenment
The Ottoman leaders became more associated with international ethnicity movements, especially the Enlightenment, giving the kingdom some rare social benefits. The option led to the Ottoman’s acquisition of the printing press, making translations more extensively obtainable. The resultant technological and military trends, together with cultural worldliness, triggered the Ottomans’ serial reforms in education, finance, and the military realm to unmatched levels worldwide during the era. Translations available through the print media streamlined the kingdom’s diverse linguistic groups to form a single powerful, highly coordinated society. Civil rights promotion granted genuine freedom to the minorities, including Jews, Syrian and Armenian Christians, and other millets, to exercise their faith without disruption. Accordingly, getting involved in the Enlightenment movement allowed the Ottomans to develop free social institutions, including secular education systems and other transformations essential to transforming Ottoman society.
Silk Road Trade Networks
Silk Road trade networks enriched the Ottomans for centuries, starting from the kingdom’s initiation to its declining time. The Ottoman trade dealers bought numerous products to sell worldwide in various parts of the world. The territory’s strategic position in Asia and Europe made this aspect possible. Foreign art, food, and luxury goods collections formed part of the Ottomans’ stock traded along the Silk Road trade routes passing via the region (Cagaptay 2020). The availability of different social classes made personal spending varied across populations, making essential foreign properties common in the region. Thus, the Ottoman Kingdom played a central role in the circulation of merchandise worldwide, realizing significant financial returns for growth. The farmers and manufacturers within the kingdom continued production and dissemination of products, making them busy and wealthy. The sultanate matched the available business opportunities by ensuring that all the citizens, state officials, and military employees easily had access to all they needed for empowered living.
Multiculturalism, Empire of Nations and the Millet System
Promoting peaceful coexistence among diverse groups allowed the Ottoman Empire to grow by assimilating independent groups that paid allegiance to the central leadership unit. The kingdom’s diverse units in Africa, Europe, and the Asian continents hardly lived together because of the sultan’s fierce ruler-ship but because of the ability to operate freely, even when belonging to a central governing rule. The matter explains the Ottoman Dynasty’s collaboration between Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists. The Ottomans became the overall caliphate without entirely removing Muslim subjects’ prevailing political configuration for conquests involving predominantly Muslim systems, such as Egypt. However, non-Muslim societies falling to the Ottomans all over the Mediterranean region administrated most of their undertakings (Esenbel 2021). The groups included Jews and Christians, considered protected groups under the Islamic administrative convention. Accordingly, the Ottomans effectively managed and preserved an extensive land empire by combining military strength, compromise, and cooperation. Each socially unique group under the Ottomans’ rule formed the so-called millet and was managed through the millet system, creating a significantly diverse and stable society.
Internal Reforms
Lastly, the implementation of perpetual reforms allowed the Ottomans to survive different external forces worth breaking the kingdom. Reforms equally granted the territory significant ability to expand its boundaries to become a mega kingdom in history. For example, the Ottoman Empire was forced to change tactics after initially facing repulsive force from other kingdoms during their expansion missions. Trials to capture Vienna and the intensive opposition coming from groups such as the Hapsburg Reign and the Holy Roman Territory reveal the Ottomans’ necessity to change tactics for survival. Avoided confrontations with powerful groups helped the Ottomans to continue existing during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, during which many oversees Ottoman groups affirmed independence or fell under neighboring supremacies, like Russia and the U.K. Sensing decline forced the Ottoman leadership to neglect aggressive growth, instead focusing on citizens’ lives to prevent further fallouts. The government enacted policies to gather more taxes from the remaining lesser communities for survival. Accordingly, reforms sustained the Ottomans’ economy and population growth during the latter centuries when the territory lacked enough military force for growth or survival.
The Decline of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman dynasty declined significantly after Suleiman’s leadership until its replacement by the present-day Republic of Turkey. Several aspects led to the kingdom’s fall, as discussed below:
Territorial Losses
The Ottoman territory started to break long before the kingdom shrank completely. Independence movements initially operating smoothly within the territory earlier flourished independently in the 19th century, leading to the realm’s size reduction (Price 2021). Examples of such dynasties include Romania, Greece, and Serbia (Cagaptay 2020). Moreover, Egypt and several other territories realized noteworthy autonomy levels during the same age, thus affecting the Ottoman Empire adversely. The 20th century exhibited even more movements from the centralized Ottomans, with most of those moving away influenced by the initial independence seekers within the group. Some of the most prominent groups leaving the Ottomans’ union during the twentieth century included the Turkish, Armenian, and Arab nationalisms, all of which played a primary role in the kingdom’s success.
Remaining Agrarian
The Ottoman Empire’s growth and size make it relative to the nineteenth-century industrial revolution in Europe. Unlike the latter economic territory, the Ottomans depended blindly on farming and other traditional practices for survival. For example, relying on the traditional, time-consuming trade routes passing via the region for economic growth automatically made the Ottomans poor with establishing sea and air trade ways (Anooshahr 2018). The Ottoman Empire lacked the factories and mills necessary to compete with Great Britain, Russia, and the French economic revolutions. Therefore, the territory’s economic progress weakened with time, with the generated agricultural surplus catering for loans accessed from the European financiers. Similarly, the Ottoman Empire lacked the industrial strength to manufacture heavy weaponry or the steel required for railroad construction during WWI, leading to its ultimate death. Additionally, the Ottoman economy dwindled when European economies started trading directly with East Asia and the Indies. The aspect reduced the Ottoman Kingdom’s finances to levels that could not support its oversized growth, thus contributing substantially to the realm’s expiration.
Declining Social Cohesion
During its optimum ages, the Ottoman Empire included various parties with meaningfully divergent values. Such groups included Egypt, Bulgaria, Greece, Jordan, Hungary, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel (Anooshahr 2018). Macedonia, Syria, Romania, Arabia, and several Northern African states contributed equally to the group’s membership. Many opposed groups made it impossible for the Ottomans to remain connected as before. Variations in basic elements, such as language, economic potential, ethnicity, and geographic disconnectedness, inhibit the parties’ collaboration during the latter centuries. Rebellion among several groups forced the Ottoman Empire to permit some members to operate independently since the 1870s (Yildiz 2020). Equally, losses during the Balkan Wars saw the Ottomans give up their European members, substantially reducing the kingdom’s size.
Young Turk Revolution
Young Turks initially formed the Ottoman Empire’s lethal forces, conquering numerous alien forces. However, the decline in economic ability and the worsening domestic market forced the initial collaborative team to revolt. Fronted by college learners and dissatisfied army officers, the Young Turks rebelled against the emergent centralized authoritarian command of Sultan Abdülhamid II (Yildiz 2020). The group prospered in 1908, compelling Abdülhamid to reinstate a previously altered constitution before deposing him the following year. The Young Turks endorsed a different Turkish nationalism spirit after accessing power. Equally, Atatürk’s emergence forced the last Ottoman Empire’s ruler, Mehmed VI, from Turkey, leading to the complete abolition of the sultanate rule. The new ruler proclaimed Turkey as a republic in 1923, serving as the nation’s first president. The situation preceded the expulsion of all the Ottoman dynasty’s members from the state, marking the end of the over six centuries of government.
Conclusion
The Ottoman Empire is one of the greatest political kingdoms that lived on earth. The territory originated in Anatolia in 1299 before expanding to Africa, Europe, and other parts of Asia. Osman, I was the kingdom’s founder and first sultan. Poor governance, the absence of a powerful external force, and the Mediterranean trade routes were some of the factors that led to the dynasty’s emergence. Good governance, complimentary economic factors, and technological innovations then informed the Ottomans’ growth. However, social rifts, majoring in traditional systems, and the emergence of powerful modern societies led to the Ottomans’ death.
References
Anooshahr, Ali. 2018. Turkestan and the Rise of Eurasian Empires: A Study of Politics and Invented Traditions. Oxford University Press.
Cagaptay, Suna. 2020. The First Capital of the Ottoman Empire: The Religious, Architectural, and Social History of Bursa. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Esenbel, Selçuk. 2021. Reflections from home on secularism and the possibility of Muslim democracy-A secular age beyond the west: Religion, law and the state in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Journal of Law and Religion 36, no. 2: 308-317.
Foss, Clive. 2022. The Beginnings of the Ottoman Empire First ed. Oxford United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Gibbons, Herbert, Adams. 2020. Foundation of the Ottoman Empire. Outlook Verlag.
Kenan, Seyfi̇, Somel, Selçuk, Akşin, and Kunt, Metin. 2021. Dimensions of Transformation in the Ottoman Empire from the Late Medieval Age to Modernity: In memoriam of Metin Kunt. Leiden: Brill.
Price, Philips. 2021. A History of Turkey: From Empire to Republic. Routledge.
Yildiz, Busra. 2020. The Sultans of the Ottoman Empire. Rumuz Yayınlar.
Religion has always played one of the most important roles in the formation of states and societies in them. Hence, Islam was an important factor in both the Ottoman and Mughal Empires. These states were formed at about the same time, which affected the appearance of significant similarities and differences, which will be analyzed in this essay. The main aspects that will be given attention are the religious policies of these empires, with emphasis on the role of women, succession to the throne, missionary activity, and treatment of non-Muslim minorities.
The Ottoman and Mughal Empires: Similarities and Differences
The Ottoman Empire developed over many centuries on the territory of modern Turkey. By the beginning of the twentieth century, it “controlled 2.4 million sq km of territory and was dominated by the Turks but also included Arabs, Kurds, Greeks, Armenians, and other ethnic minorities” (“The Ottoman Empire” para. 1). The main religion of this state was Islam; however, Christians, Jews, and other religious minorities were widespread in its vast territories. The Mughal Empire, in turn, spread to the territories of modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh (Van Schendel 3). As in the Ottoman Empire, Islam was the main religion in the state, but the presence of other faiths was not denied.
Regarding the succession to the throne, the Ottoman and Mughal Empires had distinctive characteristics. The most important similarity was that the succession occurred within the ancestral line. Thus, in the Ottoman Empire, at its initial formation, the primacy of territories was inherited by the elder brother of the former ruler. Then, the rules changed, and all the ruler’s sons had equal rights to the throne. The Mughals, in turn, had excellent traditions regarding the transfer of power in the state. Hence, they adhered to the coparcenary rule of inheritance, which implied the division of the territories of the empire between all the sons of the ruler. However, the most important ruling place was given according to custom to the eldest of the heirs.
A special attitude in both empires was given to missionary practices. Their main role was to spread knowledge and awareness about the basic concepts and aspects of religion. Consequently, they were mainly intended for those strata of society who could not, due to their status, have the opportunity to get an education. Thus, in the Ottoman and Mongolian states, missionary data was not prohibited, even if they were engaged in spreading knowledge about non-dominant religions. This was due to the fact that they significantly influenced the social, religious, political, and cultural well-being of the country.
Another similarity that characterized the Ottoman and Mughal empires is the tolerant attitude towards minority religions. Thus, the first for many years of its existence allowed non-Muslim faiths. In this aspect, the state can be called quite progressive for that time. Despite the fact that the entire government functioned on the basis of the Islamic religion, the rest of the preaching had their own allocated rights (Rieffer-Flanagan 17). This concerns area such as religious freedom, autonomy, the court, and taxation (Faroqhi 262). Moreover, in the Ottoman, the state had a special pluralistic system, which was called Millet. Some of the examples of religions that were included in this structure were Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Judaism.
Mughal Empire, like the Ottoman Empire, was characterized by a fairly tolerant attitude toward other religions. Thus, Persian, Mongol, and Indian cultures were very widespread in the state. Moreover, during the existence of the empire, new Hindu temples were built with the permission of the ruler. It is worth noting that the dominant religion in the empire was Islam, but freedom of jurisprudence and faith was proclaimed in the state. Furthermore, gave people the freedom to worship Hinduism and Parsi religion or Buddhists, in other words, whatever gods they wanted. Thus, as in the Ottoman Empire, The Mughals attached great importance to any faiths that existed in the state, as they greatly affected the activities of all areas of society.
The last aspect that needs to be considered in this essay is the position and attitude towards women in the Ottoman and Mughal Empires. Thus, in both States, the attitude and rules of the female sex were highly dependent on social status. Despite this, the main aspect was that men had authority over women. Consequently, the main role of the female sex was to take care of the house, family, and children. However, the situation changed if women were subjected to completely different rules. Therefore, they were more likely to be secluded in harems, and if the women had to leave the house, they had to be escorted. Moreover, they were given the opportunity to receive education in various fields. The main difference between Mughal Empire was that women were given the privilege of divorce but not the upper class (Rubab and Munir 130). Thus, both states have great similarities in the aspect of the treatment of women.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this essay examined the main similarities and differences between the Ottoman and Mughal Empires. Both states are characterized by the dominant role of the Islamic religion while having a tolerant attitude toward other faiths. In addition, missionary activity was not prohibited on the territory of states, as it had an impact on the social, political, and cultural spheres. Moreover, they treated women equally, who were often under the power of men, but the more privileged classes had the opportunity to receive an education. A distinctive feature was the tradition of succession to the throne.
Works Cited
Faroqhi, Suraiya. The Ottoman and Mughal Empires: Social History in the Early Modern World. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.
Rieffer-Flanagan, Barbara Ann. “Promoting the Right of Freedom of Religion: Diverse Pathways to Religious Tolerance and Freedom of Religion and the Implications for American Foreign Policy,” Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 41, 2019, p. 17.
Rubab, Ainee and Nargis Munir. “An Overview of Women Education in Mughal Empire,” AL-QAWĀRĪR, vol. 2, no. 4, 2020, pp. 129-143.