CHAPTER FOUR - THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
As the
Mongol Empire weakened in the 14th century, Islamic leaders once again
asserted regional control throughout the Near East and in the Eastern
Mediterranean. The prominence of Turkish peoples in terms of
political and military control in the Islamic world continued. In the 13th
century, a number of Turkish speaking tribes fled from Central Asia into
Anatolia (modern day Turkey)
to escape the control of the Mongols.
In the
early 14th century (1300's), from this base in Anatolia,
a Turkish chief, Othman I (Osman), successfully created a confederation of the
Turkish tribes; the binding tie was their shared Islamic faith and fervency. These
Turkish Muslims displayed the same expansionary passions as the early Arab
warriors - the desire to expand power, take wealth and the religious
desire to spread Islam. In part, the aggression displayed by these Turkish
warriors was a response to recent humiliations at the hands of the Mongols; it
was also a response to the aggressive attacks of the Christian/Catholic forces
during the Crusades.
With united Turkish forces,
Othman began an extraordinarily rapid and successful period of expansion,
creating the Ottoman Empire (after
Othman.) In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Ottoman
Turks established their control throughout regions of the Fertile Crescent (Syria, Lebanon,
and Mesopotamia.) The regions of Egypt, Arabia and much of North
Africa were brought under Ottoman rule. Ottoman expansion
into these areas represented a new leadership in what were already
Islamic territories. The more dramatic consequences of Ottoman expansion
occurred when this leadership conquered territories that were not
Islamic, introducing this religion and culture into new regions.
THE END OF THE
BYZANTINE EMPIRE
The primary focus of
Ottoman control was the Eastern Mediterranean.
This meant taking over territories controlled by the Byzantine
Empire. The Byzantine Empire had
already suffered huge losses in territory and control during the first wave of
Arab expansion in the 8th century. In the 15th century, the Ottoman
Turks finished off what was left of the Byzantine Empire - virtually all of the
territory still possessed by the weakened Byzantine state was annexed by the Ottoman empire. All that remained of the Byzantine Empire
(Eastern Roman Empire) in the mid-1400's was the capital city itself, Constantinople. To breach the city's impressive walls and
fortifications, Ottoman forces laid siege to the city for decades before it
finally fell. Ottoman troops actually went around Constantinople into Eastern Europe, and then turned back to finish off its
conquest of the city. Constantinople finally
fell to Ottoman forces in 1453.
This
is considered a significant year in world history. It was, in some respects,
the true end of the Roman Empire. With the
defeat of Constantinople, the Orthodox Christian Church lost its center,
fragmenting into regionally controlled Orthodox Churches in areas such as Greece, Serbia,
and Russia.
Many Christians in Constantinople fled Ottoman control, heading for
Western/Central Europe and bringing with them art, written works and artifacts
of the Eastern Roman Empire. In the long run,
this actually helped Western/Central Europe recover lost knowledge, which
contributed to the Renaissance but the defeat was certainly viewed at the time
as a loss for the Christian world and the end of Christian control in Eastern Mediterranean.
THE BALKANS
Some of the most
important consequences of the Ottoman Empire
resulted from its spread West and North into European territory. The region of
Europe known as the Balkans was particularly affected. The Balkans
refers to the southeastern part of Europe, the peninsula that links Europe with
Asia and the Near East. It was and is a highly
strategic area, conquered by many empires throughout history. In the 15th
century, Ottoman troops swept in, replacing Byzantine control in these
regions. While still besieging Constantinople, Ottoman troops went around
the city, launching an offensive in the peninsula, and decisively defeated a
coalition of Serbian forces in the historic Battle of Kosovo in 1389.
This battle continues to have *great* historical significance in the memory of
those in the Balkans, in particular Serbians.
Following this defeat of
the Serbs, the Ottoman Empire easily swept
north throughout the Balkans. At its height, Ottoman control in Europe included
the modern-day countries of Greece,
Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia,
Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Slovenia, Hungary, and Romania. (see map) For the
next several centuries, until the late 1600's, Ottoman forces remained
an expansionary, aggressive threat to peoples in Central Europe including the
Austrian capital of Vienna.
(see map)
Ottoman expansion had dramatic
long term effects. In the Balkans and Eastern Europe,
Islamic control continued for centuries. The Ottoman
Empire controlled this region until the
early 19th century. Even after Ottoman control began to decline in
the early 1800's, the Ottoman Empire was able to hold onto the southern tip of
the Balkans and much of the Near East until
the cataclysm of World War I destroyed the Empire in 1918! The Ottoman
Empire emerged on the world stage in the 1300's and was a prominent empire in
the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe/Balkans
until 1918! Clearly, this long period of control forever transformed the
regions it conquered.
One critical consequence of
Ottoman expansion was that in the Balkans and territories around the Caspian Sea, Islam took root. Because
of the relative tolerance of Ottoman rulers towards the continued existence of
monotheistic religions of Christianity and Judaism (discussed in Unit 13),
Orthodox Christian, Catholic and Judaic communities were allowed to
continue to practice their religion. These religions were not wiped out in the
way polytheistic traditions were in parts of Asia
by Islamic occupiers. However Christians and Jews were treated as second
class citizens and often with brutality. They were not allowed to be armed, and
they paid high taxes for not being Muslim. In addition, a despised Ottoman policy
demanded that some male children were taken from Christian families to be
brought up as Muslims and to serve in the janissaries, an elite military order
fiercely loyal to the Ottoman Sultan. This was referred to as the
"child tax" or "blood levy." Thus, while there was
some religious tolerance, repressive and sometimes brutalizing policies of the
Ottoman rulers in the Balkans led to cumulative historic hatreds and
antagonisms on the part of Christian subject peoples that are very much evident
today.
Some subject peoples in the
Balkans did convert to Islam, due to the power of the religion or to avoid the
penalties discussed above. This resulted in bitter hostility on the part of those who remained Christian (and
suffered the consequences), hostility directed towards those who converted as
well as their Turkish Muslim conquerors. This is extremely important in
understanding current violence and division in the Balkans. Increased and
intractable religious differences exacerbated already existing regional,
ethnic and language differences. In regions such as Serbia, Macedonia
and Greece,
Orthodox Christianity remained strong. In Slovenia
and Croatia,
Catholic Christianity remained dominant. In areas such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania,
Bulgaria,
and the region/province of Kosovo, Islam took root and in these regions today,
the majority of the population is Muslim.
As the Ottoman
Empire declined and lost control in the Balkans in the 19th and
20th century, new countries emerged and the deep divisions between Balkan
peoples became apparent. In particular, still today, some Christians view
Muslims with resentment since Muslims are seen as the product, the legacy, of
the long period of Ottoman domination. An important component of the
hostility and violence between Balkans peoples today is this religious conflict
between Christian groups, and between Christians and Muslims. For
example, tensions today exist between Serbians who are dominantly Orthodox
Christian, Croatians (dominantly Catholic) and those peoples and regions which
are dominantly Muslim - such as Albania,
Bosnia
and Kosovo. Wars and violence continue in this region *to the present
day* between these groups - and the very real potential remains for increased
regional violence at any time.
Wars and violence in the
Balkans has escalated to conflicts encompassing other peoples - most notably
problems in this region sparked the catastrophic First World War; that
potential for escalating conflict remains. The escalation of violence in
the Balkans that has taken place throughout the 20th century, and especially
since the break up of Yugoslavia
in the last 10 years, has led to atrocities committed by all sides.
Historical angers continue to erupt into present day bloodshed. Atrocity
breeds atrocity. Horrifying attempts at "ethnic cleansing",
mass slaughter and dislocation of people that took place in the early 1990's in
Bosnia,
and more recently in Kosovo, are in part reflections of hatred by Christians
towards Islamic peoples who by their very presence are reminders of
Muslim/Ottoman conquest.
To even begin to understand
the long history behind current hatreds and historical animosities between
Serbs and Muslim Albanians in Kosovo, tensions between Catholic Croatia and
Orthodox Serbia, or continued tension between Serbia and Bosnia, you must understand
the effects of the 14th century, and Ottoman invasion and control of this
region. In addition, complex and tense relations between Balkan peoples
(especially Greece and Serbia) and Turkey can only be understood with
reference to centuries of Ottoman rule in this region. The Balkans link
Europe, Asia and the Near East, and
instability in this region (especially based on historical angers and
divisions) impacts all three regions.
These sources of warfare
and violence remain unresolved; history is still a powerful influence and
presence in this region. Historical events creating resentment and
divisions among the Balkans peoples, from the 14th century through the 21st
century, are critical to understanding current difficulties in
establishing agreed-upon borders. Only with this kind of historical
understanding can you begin to comprehend the complexities that have led some
in this region to commit horrific violence against their neighbors. There
are no easy answers to these conflicts - however, understanding the complex
history and legacies of the 14th century is a necessary beginning.
CONTROL OF THE SILK ROAD
There is one final
consequence of Ottoman expansion and control, perhaps the most important from
the perspective of world history. The Ottoman Empire, by the end of the 15th
century, controlled the Near East and Eastern
Mediterranean region. This meant control of the land routes linking
the Silk Road connections between Asia and the Mediterranean.
Control of East/West trading connections enabled Ottoman leaders to levy taxes
on all goods moving East and West through their territory. Thus, strategic
control resulted in staggering wealth for the Ottoman
Empire - wealth they enjoyed for centuries.
This control was, not
surprisingly, a source of growing resentment on the part of the Europeans,
especially after the 14th century, as commerce and trade became
increasingly important to Europeans. European merchants and leaders
resented the loss of revenue due to heavy taxes, and European consumers of
Asian goods resented the high prices. There was also religious strain felt by
Christians who had to follow Muslim laws and policies to maintain their trading
connections with the East. This resentment of what some Europeans called the
"stranglehold" of the Ottoman Empire on international trade was a
primary reason why political leaders, commercial interests, invested money in
efforts to find sea routes to the markets and goods of the East -
launching the epic changes brought about by European exploration and expansion
in the late 1400's and 1500's.
In other words, the voyages
that resulted in the European "Age of Discovery" or "Age of
Expansion" were launched primarily by the desire to go around the Ottoman Empire. The expansion of European global
control and power that resulted from these early expeditions changed world
history. Ottoman regional dominance, and European attempts to avoid that economic
control, were the catalysts for European sea dominance, colonization, Western
"discovery" of the American continent and the further increase of
global interactions. The consequences of European reaction to Ottoman strategic
dominance thus led to the watershed changes created by global, sea based
connections, European prominence, and the continued evolution of human
interactions towards global links - topics covered extensively in History 152.
CONCLUSION
In looking at just these
three episodes of empire-building, we have discussed events which impacted a vast
number of peoples and regions. This period of expansion by Islamic forces
and the Mongols between 900 - 1500 laid the historical roots underlying many
issues in the news today. Only by understanding
these historical causes that one can appreciate the complexity of current
crises, and try to identify possible solutions.
Interesting Related Web
Sites
The Ottomans
CNN: Sites
related to Kosovo Crisis
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