CHAPTER THREE :
THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE - POWER AND COMPLACENCY
In looking
back over the last 500 years, it might seem inevitable (since that is how it
played out) that it was European languages and Christian beliefs which
influenced peoples throughout the world, were global in their impact. However,
the fact is, there were other cultures that had the same potential to
travel and expand globally, rather than just projecting power regionally. Try
to imagine how the world would be different if in fact the navies of the
Ottoman Empire, or Ming Dynasty China,
had established trading forts and colonies around the globe. What if these
powers had seized political and economic control of world trading connections,
and ended the isolation of the New World? How
different would the world be today?
These kinds of "what
if" questions make clear the critical nature of this turning point in world
history. We have spent two chapters assessing one side of this issue - why were
Europeans out there exploring and expanding, and what were the results of this
expansion. In the next three chapters, we look at the other side of this
question - why was it NOT Islamic forces or Imperial China, or even the
emerging power of Japan,
which seized the role of an emerging world power.
OTTOMAN POWER
Beginning in the early
1300's (14th century), a massive empire grew, centered in the region
of Anatolia (modern day Turkey).
A Turkish tribe under the leadership of Osman (ruled 1281-1326) consolidated
power first in Anatolia and then throughout
the Mediterranean world. The empire that resulted was the Ottoman
Empire. The might of this empire was built on military power
and fueled by the passion of Islamic faith, and religious commitment to
spreading that belief and cultural system. (see map)
By the 1400's, the Ottoman
sultans decisively demonstrated Turkish military power by absorbing the
remnants of the Byzantine Empire. The final
blow in this transfer of power was the 1453 conquest of Constantinople, later
renamed Istanbul.
For centuries Constantinople had been the capital of the Byzantine
Empire and Orthodox Christian world; it now became the capital of
the greatest Islamic empire in history. Ottoman leaders continued their display
of military power during the 16th - 18th centuries. The
empire at its height (1500's - 1700's) included territories throughout the Near
East, across the coasts of North Africa, and substantial territory in the
Balkans and Eastern Europe. As late as
the 1600's, the Ottoman Empire was still an expansionary power, still feared by
Austria, Russia and even
Western European states. (see map)
Ottoman sea power was also impressive.
For centuries, their navies and thus their merchant fleets had clear dominance
in the Eastern Mediterranean, in the Red Sea trade, the Black Sea and in the Indian Ocean. As a center of Islamic scholarship and
science, the Ottoman civilization was certainly aware of, and in some cases
even created, the maritime innovations necessary for open sea travel. (see personal account)
The
territorial and naval control of the Ottoman empire
translated into power and influence. Turkish culture and Islam spread, in
particular into regions of Eastern Europe and
the Balkans, (in part contributing to current religious/ethnic divisions and
strife in these areas). This empire enjoyed tremendous wealth generated by its
strategic control of trade. Recognize, the key trading connections between
Europe, Africa and Asia across the land routes of the Silk Road and the
water based trade of the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean
Sea – all ran through Ottoman territory! The wealth
Ottoman leaders garnered from taxes and this economic control was staggering.
Clearly, the Ottoman Empire during the period
we pick up the story was in a position to undertake the same
kinds of voyages Europeans were pursuing. The empire had the requisite wealth
and certainly the maritime knowledge and technology. The compelling
question is why this impressive Ottoman state did not more forcefully
compete with the intruding presence of European states.
OBSTACLES TO A
GLOBAL ROLE
There are a number of
responses historians discuss in answer to the question "why didn’t
the Ottoman Empire more actively compete"
during this critical shift in global power relations.
OVER EXTENSION
One obvious response is
that the Ottoman Empire, precisely because
it was so impressive in the 15th - 17th centuries, had
simply reached its logistical limits. The effort necessary to hold onto
territories and seas already under the sway of Ottoman rule simply did not
permit the utilization of resources and men to undertake expansion in new
directions and into new territories.
OTHER CONCERNS
Ottoman sultans had to
contend with the draining distractions of internal conflicts, rebellions and
attacks on leadership. In particular, internally, the rebellious, sometimes
violent activities of Shi'ite Muslim groups which opposed the Sunni leadership
of the Ottoman sultans demanded the attention and resources of the leadership,
and clearly distracted attention from events taking place outside the empire.
The Ottoman Empire clearly
did not feel threatened in its existing control of key territories by these
fledgling European expeditions; rather, Ottoman leaders were more concerned
with older, more established foes such as the Safavid (Shi'ite) Islamic empire
to the East. Also, centuries of competition with the vast
land-powers of the Austrian and Russian empires resulted in a focus on
contending and arming for threats from these directions. To the degree that
vigilance and competition was exhibited by Ottoman military and naval forces in
the 1500's and 1600's, it was directed at neighboring land powers, not with
stopping or competing with Western European sea expansion.
POOR LEADERSHIP
It was a matter of bad
historical timing that the period during which the Ottoman Empire was
increasingly challenged in the Indian Ocean by
the Portuguese and the rise of Western European power, the Turks seemed to lack
the necessary leaders with insight and ability to recognize the long term
implications of European expansion. Although there were exceptions, the
consensus is that the sultans in the 16th and 17th
centuries were less able, more corrupt or short-sighted, and certainly less
aggressive than their far-sighted and effective predecessors of the 14th - 15th
centuries, those sultans who had created the Ottoman state.
COMPLACENCY
All of the problems mentioned
above might have been overcome had Ottoman leaders felt an urgent or
intense need to compete with or confront European forces. However, these
leaders displayed a typically human flaw - complacency. For a
civilization already at its peak and already in possession of some of the most
strategically and economically important territories in the world, there was
apparently little concern about the activities and even the rising power of a
region (Europe) that had for so long lagged behind the Islamic world. The
lesson that some learn from the indifference of Ottoman rulers to global events
taking place is that of "the tortoise and the hare". Ottoman sultans
rested on their laurels, focused on maintaining and enjoying the gains already
made, and failed to notice the threat of European sea dominance and economic
wealth/control until it was too late.
Recognize, the Ottoman
Empire might have failed to jump into the "globalizing" race and did
allow the advantage at sea to be seized by West Europe, however, the Ottoman empire was still a mighty state in the 16th,
17th and even into the 18th centuries. The Ottoman state,
in fact, did not really exhibit serious decline until the late 1700's and early
1800's. The idea that these upstart, just emerging Western European
states represented a real threat was in many ways unimaginable to Ottoman
leaders in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Looking back, however, it
is clear that the 15th and early 16th centuries were
critical. It was during this period that the wealth, knowledge, and cultural
influence resulting from global expansion came under the control of the
Christian West, not this mighty Islamic Mediterranean empire. Momentum in
terms of power was shifting, irrevocably, to Western
Europe. Significantly, over time sea-based trade routes
began to cut into the importance of traditional trade across the Silk Road and Mediterranean. Over time, the diminishment of goods and
thus taxes across these routes hurt the coffers, and influence, of the empire. Bottom
line, the direct challenges to Ottoman power, in particular outright
territorial aggression, that European powers in later centuries inflicted on a
declining Ottoman Empire were clearly rooted in the shift in momentum in terms
of economic and military prowess that is clearly rooted in decisions made
during these key centuries.
Interesting
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