History
The Ottomans
Six centuries, three continents
4 min, Intro
Around 1300 the Ottoman state was a small principality in Anatolia. It became an empire across three continents. It took Constantinople in 1453, and its sultans held the title of caliph until it was abolished in 1924.
Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
The thread
A small principality on the Byzantine frontier, named after its founder Osman, grows into an empire across three continents. It takes Constantinople in 1453. It reaches its height under Suleiman. It holds many peoples together. Then it loses wars and land, until Turkey's new republic abolishes the caliphate in 1924.
From frontier to empire
Picture the Byzantine frontier around 1300. A Turkish leader named Osman holds a stretch of it. The dynasty takes its name from him: Ottoman comes from Osman.
His descendants expanded into the Balkans and Anatolia.
Then came 1453. Sultan Mehmed II was 21 years old. After a long siege he took Constantinople, and the thousand-year Byzantine Empire was over.
The great church of Hagia Sophia became a mosque. The city, later called Istanbul, became the Ottoman capital.
In 1453 Mehmed II, aged 21, ended the thousand-year Byzantine Empire.
Suleiman and the height
One sultan, two names. Suleiman ruled for 46 years. Turks call him Kanuni, the Lawgiver, because he organised the empire's laws. Europeans called him the Magnificent.
In 1529 his armies reached the walls of Vienna.
His chief architect, Sinan, designed hundreds of buildings, including the Suleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.
And the cities the empire ruled: Makkah, Madinah, Jerusalem, Cairo and Baghdad. Ottoman sultans used the title of caliph.
Turks remember Suleiman as the Lawgiver, for organising the empire's laws.
Many peoples, one empire
The empire held Turks, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians, Slavs, Kurds and more. So how do you rule a mix like that?
The Ottoman answer: non-Muslim communities ran their own religious affairs, courts and schools, and paid a special tax. Historians call this the millet system, though it was only formalised in the 1800s.
In 1492 Spain expelled its Jews. Sultan Bayezid II welcomed thousands of them to Ottoman lands.
The system was not equality. But for its time, it let that mix of peoples live side by side.
The Ottoman system was not equality, but it was rare tolerance for its time.
Decline and the end, 1924
Then the tide turned. From the late 1600s the Ottoman Empire lost wars and territory. It tried reforms to catch up with Europe.
It joined the First World War on Germany's side. During the war, the mass killing and deportation of Armenians took place. Many states and historians recognise it as genocide, though Turkey disputes the term.
After defeat, the empire was carved up. That largely created today's Middle East borders.
The new parliament in Ankara was led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It abolished the sultanate in 1922, declared the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and abolished the caliphate in 1924. Some have claimed the title since, but there has been no widely recognised caliph.
Turkey abolished the caliphate in 1924. No widely recognised caliph has existed since.