The Muslim Empires: The Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals

1. The Muslim Empires:The Ottomans, the Safavids, and the Mughals

2. The Ottoman Empire • Beyond the domains of China and Europe, the Islamic civilization, which had been fragmented since about 900 CE, crystallized into four major empires: the Ottoman, the Safavid, the Mughal, and the Songhay. • The most impressive and enduring of these new states was the Ottoman Empire, which lasted in one form or another from the 14th to the early 20th centuries.

3. The Ottoman Empire

4. The Ottoman Empire • The Ottomans began around 1300 CE as the creation of Turkic warrior groups which raided agricultural settlements in northwestern Anatolia (Turkey). • Named after their warrior chieftain Osman I (in Arabic: Uthmon); (1280-1326)

5. The Ottoman Empire • During its long duration (it will have Islam’s longest dynasty, lasting approx 623 years) it encompassed a huge territory of many diverse peoples and had economic and cultural sophistication. • The Ottomans will, through time, be transformed from a small frontier group to a prosperous, powerful, cosmopolitan empire, heir to both the Byzantine Empire and claimants to the Islamic world’s leadership.

6. The Ottoman Empire • It would be the Ottoman Empire that represented the emergence of the Turks as the dominant people of the Islamic world. • By the mid 15th century, they had carved an empire that encompassed most of Anatolia and they had pushed deep into southeastern Europe (the Balkans). • In the two centuries that followed, they had extended their control over most of the Middle East, coastal North Africa, the lands surrounding the Black Sea, and deeper into Eastern Europe.

7. The Ottoman Empire • Ottoman sultans brought unity to the Islamic world by combining the roles of a Turkic warrior prince, a Muslim caliph (successor to the prophet Muhammad), and a conquering emperor who was the great defender of the faith, bearing the “strong sword of Islam.” • Since Ottoman territory included the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, the Ottomans had the responsibility and prestige of protecting the holiest sites in Islam.

8. The Ottoman Empire • The Ottomans represented a new phase in the long encounter between Christendom and Islam. • During the Crusades, Europeans had taken the aggressive initiative…the rise of the Ottomans reversed that role.

9. The Ottoman Empire • In the 14th century, the Ottomans created an elite guard of infantry troops called the Janissaries. • Through a process known as the devshirme (the collecting or gathering), Balkan Christian communities were required to hand over a quota of young men who would be removed from their families, required to learn Turkish, converted to Islam, and trained for civil administration or military service.

10. The Ottoman Empire • These young men were loyal to the sultan (instead of to their local tribal leaders) because the sultan gave them uniforms, cash salaries, and marching music. • Although a terrible blow to their families, the devshirme represented a means of upward social mobility within the Ottoman system.

11. The Ottoman Empire • The Janissaries were the first standing army in the Middle East since the days of the Roman Legions. • Janissaries were among the first to use muskets, grenades, and hand-held cannons.

12. The Ottoman Empire • By 1453, the Byzantine Empire was a mere shadow of its earlier glory and the Ottoman seizure of Constantinople marked the final demise of Christian Byzantium. • The Ottomans had already spread their influence across much of the eastern Mediterranean, the Balkans, the Holy Lands, and Anatolia...Constantinople was almost all that was left of the once great empire.

13. The Ottoman Empire • Wanting to make Constantinople the capital of his expanding empire, the 19 year old sultan, Mehmet II, carefully planned his assault. • Mehmet spoke seven languages fluently, studied history, philosophy, science, literature, fine arts, and architecture.

14. The Ottoman Empire • First, he had a fortress built on the European side of the Bosporus (in 4 months) across from another Ottoman fortress (built 60 years earlier by his grandfather). • Realizing what Mehmet was doing, the Byzantine emperor begged him to stop.

15. The Ottoman Empire • By early April, Ottoman soldiers were camped outside Constantinople. • As Ottoman ships and cannons were moved into place, the Byzantine defense was barely 7,000 men (against over 80,000 Ottoman Janissaries and several thousand (peasant) conscripted infantry).

16. The Ottoman Empire • The Byzantines relied on their fabled Wall of Theodosius to save them, because it had repelled invading armies for centuries. But it was on the land side.

17. The Ottoman Empire • In late April, in an incredible feat of engineering and muscle power, the Ottomans pulled ships along log rollers up a 200 foot hill and several miles across the “Golden Horn” so that they could attack the weaker river walls.

18. The Ottoman Empire • Fearing an attack from the weaker side (the “Golden Horn”), the Byzantines moved more men along the river walls, weakening their defense along the land side walls. • In early May, Mehmet II sent in ground troops to soften up the Byzantine defenses (but not the elite Janissaries).

19. The Ottoman Empire • When the attack began, every bell in the city rang the alarm. The Hagia Sophia was full of people praying and singing Kyrie Eleison (“Lord, have mercy”).

20. The Ottoman Empire • The Byzantines put up a good fight and repelled wave after wave of Ottoman attackers.

21. The Ottoman Empire • After three weeks of continued assault with the Byzantines not giving up, Mehmet II proposed peace: he would spare the city if annual tribute was paid; or he would grant safe passage if the citizens gave up the city…both offers were rejected.

22. The Ottoman Empire • With this rejection, Mehmet ordered his cannons to begin their bombardment, including a 19 ton “bombard,” believed to be the largest cannon in the world (it was 26 ft long and fired balls weighing 1,200 lbs up to 1 mile).

23. The Ottoman Empire • Shooting the “bombard” created so much heat, it could only be fired three times a day, and the barrel had to be wiped with olive oil to keep the brass from cracking. • At the same time, spies found a weakness in the Byzantine defenses… someone accidentally left a small gate open on an outer wall and by dawn the next morning, the Turks were in the city.

24. The Ottoman Empire • Seeing a Turkish flag being raised on one of the watch towers, the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, dismounted from his horse and flung himself into the advancing Janissaries. • He died in the fighting and his head was paraded around the city.

25. The Ottoman Empire • The battle now over, Mehmet allowed his men the customary three days of pillaging…they were allowed to take anything they wished from the remaining inhabitants of the city. • Realizing this could destroy the city he wanted, Mehmet ordered his men to stop the pillaging on the second day.

26. The Ottoman Empire • That afternoon, the 19 year old Ottoman emperor made his entry, escorted by his bodyguard of Janissaries.

27. The Ottoman Empire • When he reached the gates of the Hagia Sophia he dismounted, stooped down at the threshold and scooped up a handful of earth, which he let fall on his turbaned head (as an act of humiliation before the God who had brought him victory). • Mehmet then ordered every church to be converted into a mosque and Constantinople’s name changed to the Turkish version of the Greek eis tin polin (“in the city”…Istanbul).

28. The Ottoman Empire • In an honorable Muslim tradition, the Ottomans planned a multicultural and tolerant city. • Skilled craftsmen and merchants from around the empire were brought into the city to live and help it thrive. • The Orthodox patriarch was left in charge of the (Orthodox) Church and when Jews were expelled from Spain (1492), many came to Istanbul where it was official policy to welcome them and let them live in peace.

29. The Ottoman Empire • The Ottomans now saw themselves as the successors to the Roman Empire. • Mehmet II, the sultan who captured Constantinople became known as “the Conqueror”.

30. The Ottoman Empire • As the empire expanded across Anatolia, its largely Christian population converted to Islam and by 1500, 90% of Anatolia’s inhabitants were Muslim. • In the Balkans, Christians welcomed the Ottoman conquests because the Ottomans were less oppressive than their former Christian rulers and they required fewer taxes.

31. The Ottoman Empire • The Ottomans also allowed Christian churches greater autonomy and freedom. • As a result, only about 20% of the population became Muslim. • His successors Bayezid II and Selim I continued with victories over Poland, Hungary, Venice, the Safavids of Persia, and the Mamluks of Egypt.

32. The Ottoman Empire • Even though Ottoman authorities were relatively tolerant of Christians within their borders, the empire itself represented an enormous threat to Christendom generally. • One of the most celebrated Ottoman victories occurred in August 1526 when they arrived on the plains of Hungary to battle the Christian Hungarians.

33. The Ottoman Empire • The Ottomans came with 100,000 soldiers and 300 new long-range cannons. • The Battle of Mohacs began at noon and was over in two hours.

34. The Ottoman Empire • The Hungarian cavalry was destroyed and 20,000 foot soldiers drowned in a swamp. • The Ottomans lost fewer than 200 men.

35. The Ottoman Empire • Two weeks later the Ottomans captured the Hungarian capital of Buda and began preparations to lay siege to the Austrian capital of Vienna (it would take three years to actually begin the siege). • Vienna was the seat of the Hapsburg king (Ferdinand-who was the brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V).

36. The Ottoman Empire • Vienna was only a few days’ march from Buda. In 1529 the Ottomans began their assault of the city, in the heart of Central Europe. • The siege lasted 45 days.

37. The Ottoman Empire • Several attacks on the city failed, so the Ottomans withdrew in October 1529 (before the coming of winter). • Suleiman expected to resume his attack the following year (but he never did). • By the fall of 1529, the Turks had overrun most of Hungary, annexed Bulgaria, and moved into Austria. Baghdad was captured in 1535.

38. The Ottoman Empire • Many Europeans then spoke fearfully of the “terror of the Turk.” • When the Turks withdrew from their attack of Vienna, Martin Luther said “The day of judgment is at hand, and will destroy Gog the Turk and Magog the Pope, the one the political and the other the ecclesiastical enemy of Christ.” (1529) • Gog and Magog symbolized the enemies of the Kingdom of God (Revelation 20:8)

39. The Ottoman Empire • On the Mediterranean, the Ottoman navy dominated the eastern sea. • Suleiman’s admiral Barbarossa (the “Red Beard”) was the most feared sailor on the seas.

40. The Ottoman Empire • They had also extended their power into the western Mediterranean, causing Europeans to fear they would turn the whole sea into a “Turkish lake.” • The Ottomans would dominate the Mediterranean until 1571, when a monumental battle for supremacy was fought, with the future of European naval hegemony hanging in the balance.

41. The Ottoman Empire • In 1571, the “Holy League” (Spain, Venice, Papal States) met and defeated the Turkish fleet at Lepanto (off the coast of Greece), ending this threat.

42. The Ottoman Empire • The Ottomans lost between 25,000-30,000 killed and wounded and an additional 3,500 captured…the Holy League lost 8-13,000. • Their fleet lost 210 (of 286) ships, of which 130 were captured by the Holy League. • Coming at what was seen as a crisis point for Christianity, the victory at Lepanto stemmed Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean and prevented their influence from spreading westward.

43. The Ottoman Empire • Even though the Ottomans rebuilt their fleet within a year and retained their naval base in Cyprus, for the moment, Spain now controlled the Mediterranean.

44. The Ottoman Empire • By mid-1683, the Ottomans were again marching through Hungary towards Vienna. • This time they were stopped by a mixed army of Austrians, Poles, Bavarians, and English.

45. The Ottoman Empire • The Ottomans never again mounted a major offensive on European soil. • The Ottomans would face new challenges from the growing Austrian Empire (to the west) and the Russians (to the north).

46. The Ottoman Empire • The head of the Ottoman system was the Sultan (always hereditary-but not always the eldest son). The sultan was the supreme authority in all military and political matters. • Struggles for power between brothers often led to the death of the loser (usually strangled with a silk bowstring) or to imprisonment.

47. The Ottoman Empire • An heir to the throne was first trained to rule by becoming a general or a governor of a province. • The heart of the sultan’s power was Topkapi Palace, in the heart of Istanbul.

48. The Ottoman Empire • Topkapi Palace is the world’s oldest and largest to survive into the 21st century (it has been a museum since 1924). • Besides being home to the sultan’s residence, within the palace walls (over 5 km long) were the centers of Ottoman administrative affairs, the treasury, mint, and state archives. • There were also two hospitals, a bakery, and the University of the Sultan located inside.

49. The Ottoman Empire • The empire was efficiently divided into provinces and districts, each governed by bureaucrats. • The sultan controlled his bureaucracy through an imperial council that met four times a week. • The council was led by the chief minister, called the Grand Vizier (or wazir).

50. The Ottoman Empire • The Grand Vizier was the Sultan’s deputy in charge of all routine administrative business.