The Ottoman Empire it was one of the most powerful and enduring dynasties in world history.
This Islamic-run superpower has ruled vast swathes of the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa for over 600 years.
The chief leader, known as Sultan , received absolute religious and political authority over his people.
While Western Europeans generally regarded them as a threat, many historians regard the Ottoman Empire as a source of great stability and security for the conquered Regions, as well as important major innovators in the arts, science, religion and culture.
Osman I , a leader of the Turkish tribes in Anatolia , founded the Ottoman Empire around 1299 .
The term "Ottoman" comes from the name of Osman, which was "Uthman" in Arabic.
The Ottoman Turks established a formal government and expanded their territory under the leadership of Osman I, Orhan, Murad I and Bayezid I .
The main milestones were the victory of Varna in 1444 over a coalition of Christian forces , the second battle of Kosovo Polje in 1448, which opened domination over the Balkans , and the capture of Constantinople by Mohammed II in 1453 , which became the capital with the name of Istanbul .
The penetration into Greece followed , the conquest of Trebizond , the subjugation of Moldavia , from Wallachia , of a large part of Serbia , from Bosnia-Herzegovina , from Crimea , the systematic attack on the positions of Genoa and above all of Venice , whose influence on Greece and the Aegean was wiped out , the landing on the Apulian coast in Otranto .
With Bayazid II (1481-1512) there was the definitive loss of the Morea by Venice.
The son Selim I (1512-20) expanded the work of conquest in Asia to the detriment of the Persians and the Arabs .
Between 1513 and 1518 he took over Armenia in succession , from Syria , from Egypt in which he defeated the Mamluks, on the Maghreb coast, where power was delegated to Admiral Khayr al-Din known as Barbarossa , who with his pirate fleets inflicted deadly blows on the trades of Christian Europe by making raids on the Spanish and Italian coasts.
The apogee of the empire was reached under the long reign of Suleiman I the Magnificent (1520 -66).
In 1521 Belgrade was conquered .
In 1522 Rhodes was taken from the Venetians.
In 1526 , after the great victory of Mohacs , Hungary was annexed , with a visit to the gates of Vienna in 1529 .
In 1529 Algeria became a Turkish province.
In 1534 after a war with the Persians, Azerbaijan was incorporated and Iraq , while continuing, in alliance with France , an endemic state of war with Spain and Venice in the Mediterranean and with Austria in the Danube sector .
An attempt by Emperor Charles V to take Algiers failed dramatically.
In 1564-65 Suleiman laid siege to Malta , of enormous strategic importance, which was saved by the Spaniards.
On his death in 1566, Suleiman left the empire in a position of extraordinary power, in a context in which the Ottomans threatened to become the masters of the Mediterranean.
The fall of Cyprus, stolen from the Venetians in 1570, led Christian Europe to a decisive confrontation with the Ottomans. Pope Pius V called the forces together; a Holy League was formed; and on 7 October 1571 a large Spanish-Venetian-papal fleet defeated the even larger fleet of Selim II (1566-74) in the battle of Lepanto, which marked a turning point in European history. The expansive strength of the Ottoman Empire was thus, if not contained, blocked at a crucial moment.
The last major offensive episode towards Europe was represented by the conflict with the Habsburg Empire between 1682 and 1686 , which saw the siege of Vienna itself in 1683 , freed by the Polish king John Sobieski III .
MAIN DATES OF TURKISH HISTORY
- First millennium BC:some settlements develop on the Bosphorus
- 7th century BC:the Greeks, with the legendary Byzant, settle in Lygos,
fishing port on the tip of the menagerie. Thanks to trade, Byzantium
develops quickly. - 512 BC:the Persians conquer Byzantium, which will then be taken back by an Athenian
fleet in 478 BC - 343 a. C .:Alexander the Great conquers Byzantium.
- 193 - 196 AD:Byzantium is besieged by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus.
Razed to the ground, it is rebuilt on a larger scale. - 330:Constantine moves the capital of the Ottoman Empire to Byzantium. The
new Rome will be called 'Constantinople. - 476:following the fall of Rome to the barbarians, Constantinople becomes
the capital of the Byzantine Empire. - 527-565:with Justinian the Byzantine Empire lived its moment of maximum
splendor. - 1204-1261:in 1204 the barons of the Fourth Crusade destroyed the city and many
of the masterpieces found there. With the blessing of the pope, they founded
the Eastern Roman Empire. The Byzantines will reconquer Constantinople in
1261. - 1453:Sultan Mehmet II, who has already conquered all of Anatolia, besieges Constantinople, which capitulates on 29 May 1453 and, having become the capital
of the Ottoman Empire, is repopulated thanks to the trade development. - 1520-1566:under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire
reaches its apogee. - 1616:construction of the Blue Mosque.
- 1839-1878:period of reforms inspired by the West.
- 1919:following the alignment of the Ottomans with the Germans during the
First World War, the city is occupied by the Anglo-French troops.
Mustafa Kemal leaves Istanbul and goes to Samsun, from where he organizes the
popular resistance against the occupiers. - 1923:with the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne, which defines the current
borders of Turkey, the Turkish Republic is proclaimed, with Ankara as its capital. The
allies leave Istanbul. - 1924:Abolition of the Caliphate
- 1937:Proclamation of secularism
- 1938:Death of Ataturk
- 1945:Transition to the pluralist system
- 1960:Army intervention
- 1963:Association Agreement between Turkey and EEC
- 1970:Military coup
- 1973:Inauguration of the first bridge over the Bosphorus between Europe and Asia.
- 1980:Army intervention following political instability
- 1982:New Constitution and the beginning of political neoliberalism
- 1985:Construction of the second bridge over the Bosphorus
- 1996:Customs union between Turkey and the EU
- 1999:Official recognition of Turkey’s candidacy to the EU. Two earthquakes of the seventh degree on the Richter scale shake the area of Istanbul.