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The Early Ottoman Empire 1281 - 1600s. Osman I (Othman): 1299-1326. Ottoman Empire. Begun by Osman Bey in 1289 Osman and his followers above all sought to become ghazi
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The Early Ottoman Empire 1281 - 1600s
Ottoman Empire • Begun by Osman Bey in 1289 • Osman and his followers above all sought to become ghazi • “the instrument of the religion of Allah, a servant of God who purifies the earth from the filth of polytheism; the Ghazi is the sword of God, he is the protector and the refuge of the believers. If he becomes a martyr in the ways of God, do not believe that he has died– he lives in beatitude with Allah, he has eternal life” • Ahmadi
The Ottoman Bureaucracy SULTAN Divans Social / MilitaryDivans Heads of IndividualReligious Millets Muslims Jews Local Administrators& Military Christians Landowners / Tax Collectors
Mehmed II • Ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1451 to 1481 • In 1453, he toppled the Byzantine Empire, capturing Constantinople, renaming it Istanbul, and making it the new Ottoman capital • Expanded the empire to become the ruler of “two lands” (Europe and Asia) and “two seas” (the Mediterranean and the Black) Scene from the battle defending Constantinople from a 1499 painting
Shiites About 15% of all Muslims Islam’s leader should be a descendant of Mohammad Qualified religious leaders have the authority to interpret the sharia (Islamic law) Sunnis About 85% of all Muslims Leaders should be chosen through ijma, or consensus The sharia was codified and closed by the 10th century Differences Between Shia and Sunni
Iraq • Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq was 60-65% Shia and 32-37% Sunni but Sunnis dominated the government and economy The Sunni Triangle
Iran Today Iran is 89% Shia and 9% Sunni
Safavid Empire • Founded by Shah Ismail in 1501 and lasted until 1722 • Shah Ismail reigned to 1524 and proclaimed his realm’s official religion would be Shiism • Would impose Shiism by force if necessary over the formerly Sunni population • Seized control of the Iranian plateau and centered his empire around the capital of Istahan
Selim the Grim • The Sunni Ottomans under Selim the Grim (reigned 1512-1520) detested the Shiite Safavids and launched a full-scale invasion of Safavid territory
Battle of Chaldiran • The critical battle in this campaign was the battle of Chaldiran in 1514 • The Ottomans won and temporarily occupied the Safavid capital of Tabriz but could not completely destroy the Safavid state • The Ottomans and Safavids continued to fight intermittingly for the next two centuries
Suleiman the Magnificent:(1520-1566) Suleiman’s Signature
Suleyman the Magnificent • Reigned from 1520 to 1566 and continued the expansion • Conquered Baghdad in 1534 • Like the other Ottomans, Suleyman was a Sunni
Modern Iran • The US helped bring Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to power in 1953 • Iran’s Shia Moslems despised the Shah’s secular rule and western influence • In 1979 revolutionaries led by Ayatollah Khomeini seized power • Shia militants captured 69 US hostages at the US Embassy in Tehran, 55 of which remained captive until 1981
Alternatives in Iran Ayatollah Khomeini: “[Americans] are the great Satan, the wounded snake.” Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and Empress Farah
Iraq • Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq in 1979 • Sunnis held power • Iraq saw the revolution in Iran as an opportunity to invade • The Iran-Iraq War lasted from 1980 to 1988 and killed as many as one million soldiers
Iran-Iraq War • Saddam used poisonous gas against Iraqi Kurds who he considered sympathetic toward Iran
Scholars at the Galata Observatory(Suleiman’s Constantinople), 1557
Back to the Ottomans…. • By the late 17th Century the Ottoman expansion had reached its limits • The Ottomans had neglected military training and technological advances and fell behind the European armies in strategy, tactics, weapons, and training • They suffered a series of military defeats