The Ottoman Empire was undoubtedly impressive. They gained control of southeastern Europe, Western Asia, North Africa, and the horn of Africa. More impressive than just gaining control of these territories was their ability to maintain control of them. While there are many contributing factors to their ability to maintain control over these areas for 6 centuries, the most influential was their unifying religion (Islam), their tolerance of other religions and practices, and their system of transferring power. The main reason why the Ottoman Empire maintained power for so long was that they had Islam as a unifying religion. The warriors for the Empire where boys taken from Christian families who were converted to Islam at a young age and then trained and educated, all with Islamic ideals. These boys in their own class called devshirme. They learned to speak the language and read the Quran. While this practice was harsh, these boys could rise through the ranks to eventually become powerful men in the Ottoman regime. This practice made soldiers absolutely loyal to the Sultan ensuring a powerful military. A powerful military made up of like minded individuals is …show more content…
It was not the kind of tolerance we usually use today, it was more like a rational tolerance. Instead of trying to make everyone under the Ottoman control convert they just taxed the groups who did not practice Islam. In addition, they taxed these people less than what they had previously been required to pay in the past. So, when some places where invaded the Ottomans did not face much resistance. Their multicultural society also allowed them availability to other cultures strategies. They were very rational and often adopted the best ideas from other cultures. So by being rational and not close minded to the ideas of other cultures, they gave themselves more
The Ottoman Empire of Turkey was the most successful and most enduring of the three empires. Their reign began with the first sultan, Osman I, who founded the empire and used Islamic religion to unify and centralized the empire. As the empire grew more stability through,
Socially, the Ottoman Turks were every millet, or a country, inside the realm and had to isolate social traditions as per the religion of the millet. Muslim ladies had unforgiving limitations as with Islamic law, yet the non-Muslim ladies were liable to isolate laws. Indeed, even Muslim ladies had a greater number of rights than in other Muslim countries. In the Safavid domain socially, they were a blended society quite recently like the Ottoman realm. The nobles had constrained power and impact. They were likewise Turkic-talking tribal gatherings. In the Mughal domain socially, were Hindu populace. They had been debilitated by the decision Muslims. Akbar, who was initially a Muslim gave the Hindu more rights.
Similar to the Vikings and the Mongols, the Ottomans ravaged the countryside. However, unlike the other outsiders, the Turks used a system to convert young men to the Islamic religion, and then forced them to train, creating loyal soldiers. This system was called the devshirmeh system. The Ottoman Decree also instituted schools. “Moreover, every community is authorized to establish public schools of science, art, and industry. Only the method of instructions and the choice of professors in schools of this class shall be under the control of a mixed council of public instruction, the members of which shall be named by my sovereign command. . .” (Ottoman Decree). As a result of these schools, culture flourished and there was an advancement in
The Islamic civilization grew to become such a large empire by making smart decisions and being peaceful and not violet. The civilization thrived and gained more land to expand their empire.
The Muslim army was well trained, disciplined, and capable of defeating any enemy that it encountered in war. Muslim forces were very violent and cruel. The army took countless captives and attacked with the cruelty of raging tigers. (Document 4) Two empires in
The “glue” for the Ottoman Empire was ethnic and religious tolerance. Islam was also a benefit to the Empire because it was a common religion throughout the Empire, which united many people together.
Those associated with Osman, more than any other Turkish state had as their guiding principle the concept of being a gazi, gearing the emirate for conquest. As mentioned earlier, a gazi was a Muslim warrior who inhabited the military borderland between Byzantium and Islam; he was a warrior of the faith. A gazi held the sacred duty to extend and expand Islamic territory at the expense of the non-Muslim's who inhabited the land. The gazi performed his duty to the Umma by means of the gaza, or raid. These raids evolved into perpetual warfare carried out against the nonbelievers, especially the Christians, in the interests of Islam. Because of the Ottomans beneficial location, and their guiding principle, the early Ottoman state did not disintegrate under pressure from internal feuds that plagued other rival emirates because it constantly expanded, gained new territory and relentlessly provided new outlets for the energies of the gazi warriors.
Economy was greatly influenced by religion in the Ottoman Empire. The Millet System was created. In this system, non-Muslim people were considered subjects of the empire but weren´t subjects to the Muslim faith or law.
In a time notorious for religious wars and acts of injustice, some empires chose to keep an open mind and benefited greatly. The Ottoman empire used other empires’ religious intolerance to their advantage. They had all religions, even their own, make a contribution to the empire. Muslims and people of conquered lands were forced to served in the military. On the other hand, Jews and Christians had to heavy taxes. By allowing Jews and Christians a safe place to practice their religion it made the empire desirable. With other empires forcing conversions, expelling, or even murdering paying tax was no problem. In exchange for paying these tax the
The Ottoman Empire actually began to take shape several centuries before the dawn of the early modern period. However, its complete development didn’t take place until 1453 when a Turkish conquest resulted in control of Constantinople. The Ottomans, also known as the Osmanli group of Turks, were not the original Turkish people involved in Middle Eastern affairs. The success of the Ottoman Empire rested on two main
The Ottoman Empire was an Islamic religion and those who practiced were called Muslims. The Ottoman Empire survived for more than five centuries. The empire represented a new phase in the long encounter between Christendom and the world of Islam. They established a system by which other religious factions my practice within the empire in exchange for a head tax. Sought to bring unity to the Islamic World and to serve as the strong sword of Islam by protecting the “strong sword of Islam. It ended the Christian Byzantine Empire by conquering Constantine in 1453. (Ways of the World 434)
The Mongol Empire is very successful because their society became technologically advanced and they had very a skilled and mobile military force. They also had a very favorable tolerance policy that allowed people to follow their own customs and beliefs.
In the early modern and modern periods, the Ottoman Empire had been viewed as an accomplished and robust Muslim dynasty (P.159, Fisher and Oschenwald). With the introduction of gun-powdered weaponry, the Ottomans maintained control over large parts of land.
1. 1. Intro to the Ottoman Empire: “Ertuğrul, father of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, arrived in Anatolia from Merv (Turkmenistan)” (1) Most historians including my teacher Beth Turk agree that the empire of Islam had a valid presence in Christian Europe between 1300 -1600. The Ottoman Empire was the one of the largest and longest lasting Empires in history of Europe. It replaced the Christian empire called the Byzantine Empire as the major power in the Eastern Mediterranean and slowly conquered almost all of Europe.
The rise of the Ottoman Empire started in Turkey and spread through most of the Middle East. Their military practice and successful transition to the use of gun powder made them one of the most successful ruling bodies in the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire which ruled until modern times had great influence on the Middle Eastern world. Their political and economic abilities astonished the western world. Their religious views and fears were instilled into any non-Muslim and helped the western world to find new trade. The rise of Christianity in the western world provided new ways to preserve the dead and ended the need for frankensence, the main export of the Ottoman Empire. This