World History: The Middle East and Imperialism

Egyptian Revolution of 1919

As we have seen in previous World History posts, the nineteenth and early-twentieth century saw European states becoming powerful and proceeding to colonise the rest of the world. The Middle East is often overlooked in this narrative, largely as formal European colonies, outside of North Africa that is, were not formed until after World War One. When they are discussed it is often viewed through the lens of decline, the famous Ottoman Empire, for example, became known as the 'Sick Man of Europe'. However, Middle Eastern states did not simply see exploitation; states tried to negotiate their power and tried to resist foreign exploitation. If we want to understand exactly why the Middle East has become what it is today, it is important to look at this time period. Today's events are either a direct response to the events which we'll discuss today, or the seeds of today's events were planted during this period. As the Middle East and North Africa were an incredibly diverse region split over several different states we'll largely look just at Turkey, Egypt, and Iran, but we will at times discuss other areas of the region - such as the Arabian peninsula.

The Shift - c.1800

The last decade of the eighteenth century and the first of the nineteenth saw a shift in the Middle East. The same year that the French Revolution broke out Selim III became Ottoman sultan, and he wanted the empire to change. Selim saw the height of the Ottoman empire being under Suleiman, and hoped that, through reform, the empire's strength could be resurrected. In a precursor to what will trouble his successors Selim opened embassies in Europe, and invited Europeans to help create a new military called the nizam-i jedid (new order). Previously, the military and bureaucracy had been controlled by the Janissaries who had become so powerful that they could appoint sultans. Selim's reforms proved short lived. Local landowners, who were taxed to fund the nizam-i jedid, and Janissaries were angered by the reforms and deposed Selim in 1806 to be executed the next year. Meanwhile, another great shock impacted another area of the empire - Egypt. Aiming to both cut British access to India and copy his idol of Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded in 1798. Although welcomed by the more reform-minded elite and traders eager to do business with the French, Napoleon's forces quickly upset the locals. When the French forces were stranded after the British destroyed the fleet in Aboukir Bay they became increasingly willing to loot Egyptian cities, they even desecrated important mosques. In 1801 a joint British-Ottoman expedition wiped out the French forces, and in the ensuing power vacuum an Albanian commander called Muhammad Ali was appointed pasha, governor, of Egypt. Muhammad Ali would radically shape Egypt, but the Napoleonic invasion shattered an image of the secure, albeit decentralised, empire. The Ottoman holdings in the Balkans began breaking off - often with European help - with Greece waging a decade long war from 1821.

Meanwhile, a new power rose in Iran. Originally a Turkish tribe in Azerbaijan the Qajars began expanding across Iran - in 1786 the managed to declare Tehran their capital and in 1796 managed to declare the Qajar dynasty. Following the end of the Safavid dynasty in 1736 Iran had lacked a strong dynasty which allowed the Qajars to take control. The first shah, Agha Mohammad, had to give autonomy to many local rulers and institutions. As the Safavids emerged through a Shi'a religious movement this allowed them to have little opposition from the important religious institutions; the Qajars could not claim this and the Iranian mujtahids would offer an alternate source of power to the Qajar shahs. Agha Mohammad would not reign for long - he was assassinated in 1797. Unlike contemporaries in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt, the Qajars would never successfully establish some form of central authority.

Egypt - The First Reforms

Muhammad Ali would establish a dynasty which would rule Egypt, for better or for worse, until the 1950s. Similar to the Ottoman Empire, the Egyptian military and bureaucracy was ran by a class called the Mamluks; like the Janissaries they were the elite of Egyptian society, and became an entrenched class. Unlike Selim III Muhammad Ali would wait until after the dissolving of the Mamluks before creating the nizam-i jedid. After years of slowly chipping away their power, in March 1811 the leading Mamluks were invited for a banquet in Cairo where they were killed enabling Muhammad Ali to dissolve them. With the conservative Mamluks destroyed it allowed Muhammad Ali to reform education, administration, and the military. A European-inspired military and navy were implemented, and attempts to create new military ranks were done through authoritarian means. Expeditions to Sudan were made to enslave 20,000 people in order to create a slave army - brutal treatment and dehumanisation meant that most were killed. As a result, a nizam-i jedid was created in 1822 made out of conscripted peasants, and proved to be the backbone of Muhammad Ali's new army. Expeditions to Sudan were done for gold and slaves, they were sent to Greece in the War of Independence, and even against the Ottomans themselves when they invaded Syria in the 1830s as Muhammad Ali was angered that the sultan had gone back on the promise to award him Crete. Military reforms not the only ones which Muhammad Ali undertook.

Reforms in administration, land, industry, and education were all undertaken. New administrative divisions were created where Muhammad Ali appointed loyalists as governors to rule over Egyptian fellahin (peasants). Furthermore, new government departments were created in War, Navy, Finance, Industry, and Foreign Affairs with specialised schools being established to fill them. It was clear that Muhammad Ali viewed his role in a decentralised Ottoman Empire as being more than just a simple pasha. Similar to Japan and China during this period, students were sent to Europe in order to gain an education, and return to Egypt to serve as bureaucrats. During his rule 311 students were sent to France, Britain, Italy, and Austria in order to fill the new administration. This existed alongside the first Arabic newspaper to be produced in the 1820s, and a printing press to publish educational works in Arabic, Turkish, and Persian. This was to create a literate elite in order to guide Egypt to his idealised 'modern' state. The first tentative steps towards industrialisation also began in order to 'make Egypt part of Europe' - the first factories were made, canals and irrigation were repaired to encourage efficient crop production, and state monopolies were established to ensure the state could gain the profits. By the 1840s a third of the labour force were under state control, and 80% of agricultural produce was in state hands. However, Muhammad Ali's plans were hampered by a lack of resources, like coal, to power the heavy industry which he wanted, and the primarily rural nation meant there were few urban workers needed for industrial work. His invasion of Syria came to a crushing end when Britain helped the central Ottoman state the Egyptians, and the ensuing London Convention forced him to reduce the size of his military in return for having his own dynasty. This would begin European dictation of Egyptian affairs.

The Ottomans and Tanzimat

Fuad Pasha

Attempts to reform the Ottoman Empire did not end with Selim III's murder. A later sultan, Mahmud II, worked to slowly undermine the Janissaries so in 1826 he could wipe them out in the 'Auspicious Incident' of 1826. Under Mahmud a reformer called Mustafa Rashid Pasha became increasingly important, so when Mahmud died in 1839 he could greatly influence the new sultan Abdulaziz. Rashid's protegees Fuad and Ali further allowed the Tanzimat reforms to continue after the death of Rashid. In 1839 the two released the Edict of Gulhane beginning a period known as the 'Tanzimat' - reorganisation. The aim of the Tanzimat was to create a 'modern' Ottoman Empire by reorganising different aspects of society. Despite being a top-down reform movement it paved the way for bottom-up implementation of these ideas in later years. Just like in Egypt, new educational, administrative, and military reforms were implemented to placate both internal separatists and to show foreign powers that the Ottomans were modern. The earliest edicts, including equality before the law regardless of religion, guarantees to property, and a new tax system were possibly done to gain British support against the forces of Muhammad Ali. Later reforms involved simplifying taxation, abolishing the death penalty, developing consultative assemblies, and a wide range of new schools. From 1847 a series of new secular schools were created, and foreign religious schools were also opened to create ties between Europe and the Empire. Mainly, these were Protestant and Catholic mission schools, but there was also the Jewish Alliance Israelite Universelle. Although very conservative the first schools for women were opened in 1863 - like many other women's schools at the time it was created with the idea of creating good Muslim wives and mothers. Some upper-class women were able to study abroad, and religious minorities had access to some mission schools. Christians, for example, had access to the American College for Girls, first opened in 1871, until 1891 when it was opened to non-Christians. One of the major Turkish women's leaders, Halide Edip,  was the first Muslim woman to graduate from there. The traditional religious communities, the ulama, constantly criticised this, and proved to be one of the major undermining factors limiting the Tanzimat.

The aftermath of the 1860 Revolt

The Tanzimat also aimed to create a united Ottoman state. Although the millets, quasi-autonomous communities for minorities, still remained in existence the Tanzimat reduced their autonomy in order to create loyalty solely to the sultan. A key part of this was the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman lands - soon enough Romania and Bulgaria would also break off from the empire. There was also another issue that if Christian communities were attacked it would give foreign powers even more excuses to intervene. During the Tanzimat period the Crimean War broke out as France and Russia clashed over who could intervene in Ottoman affairs. This was particularly frightening for Ottoman officials when looking at Mount Lebanon. The region had long been a site of refuge for religious dissidents, especially Christian Maronites and the Druzes, and the Egyptian invasion would cause clashes. Muhammad Ali's son Ibrahim was placed in charge of Syria - back then a region consisting of modern Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine. The clashes caused resentment which spilled over during the Tanzimat. Maronites became increasingly wealthier thanks to new educational institutes and commercial ties with Europe. The resentment broke out into communal violence in 1860 and to avoid French involvement Fuad Pasha himself went to Mount Lebanon to see that Muslims who killed Maronites were punished. A new political system was made, a mutasarrifiyyah, that was partially guaranteed by European powers. This effectively showed the flaws of the Tanzimat. The reliance on foreign powers meant that the Ottomans became increasingly in their debt. The period came crashing down in 1876. When Abdulaziz tried to reassert his power a political crisis caused his resignation and the introduction of a new constitution, but his successor, Abdul Hamid, was firmly against reform.

Reformers and Radicals

Al-Afghani

Throughout the 1800s new ideas started being spread. In the Arabian peninsula the Wahhabi movement began emerging. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was educated in Mecca and Medina during the 1700s, and began preaching that Muslims had to return to the teaching of Islam, in the words of Albert Hourani, 'understood by the followers of Ibn Hanbal: strict obedience to the Qu'ran and Hadith...and rejection of all that could be regarded as illegitimate innovations.' Local chieftain Muhammad ibn Sa'ud started supporting the Wahhabi thought, and his presence along key trade routes allowed the spreading of his polito-religious forces, so much so that in 1803 he captured Mecca. As Wahhabi thought declared that the Ottomans were not the protectors of Islam the sultan sent Muhammad Ali to destroy the movement. Although military defeated, Wahhabism became ingrained in the region, and set the stage for the modern Saudi state's religious ideology. Meanwhile, in Iran, emerged Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. Kumari Jayawardena has placed great emphasis on al-Afghani's rhetoric inspiring anti-imperialist and liberatory ideas in the Islamic world during this period. Living across states across Europe and Asia, largely as he kept on being exiled, he called for Pan-Islamic unity and anti-absolutism. In al-Urwah al-Wuthqa he said that Islam had fallen into decadence and stagnation, so they had to abandon superstition and unite with one another. Especially among young Muslims his advocacy against accepting the status quo was well received. An Egyptian student of his, Muhammad Abduh, became a key figure in Egyptian law arguing that modernity and Islam were not mutually exclusive.

There were secular movements to emerge as well. In Turkey a group of scholars, inspired by French writing, formed a group named the Young Ottomans. The key figures in this were Namik Kemal, Ibrahim Sinasi, and Ziya Pasha who all lived in France due to oppression back at home. Sinasi himself even took part in the Paris Revolution of 1848, and in 1862 began a Turkish journal criticising the regime. In particular, they said that all people, regardless of ethnicity and faith, should be welcomed as equal citizens into Ottoman society. The Young Ottomans themselves remained in exile for most of their lives, but their writings would inspire new generations of radicals and reformers. Among them was Fatima Aliye who in 1892 wrote the novel Muhadarat, (Womanhood), stating that traditional culture held women back, and she would help found A Newspaper for Ladies, one of the key early feminist regular publications. In 1889 the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) was formed to resist the Ottoman sultan's repression. They are now better known as the Young Turks. Unlike earlier movements they were firmly secular, nationalist, and pro-West, so much so that some of their rhetoric shows the xenophobia Westerners had towards the Middle East. Ahmad Muhtar stated that 'Either we westernize, or we are destroyed', while Abdullah Cevdet would write 'There is no second civilization; civilization means European civilization and it must be imported with both its roses and thorns.' The Young Turks also proudly called themselves Turkish, something which had previously been used as an insult.

Egypt - Becoming a Colony

Opening the Suez Canal

Despite earlier defeats Egypt tried to rebuild itself, its rulers adopted the title 'khedive' - a distinguished title in Persian. One of the key rulers was Khedive Ismail who had the view that 'Egypt was part of Europe.' He began an expansive and ambitious project designed to bring Egypt closer to Europe, at times quite literally. Capitulations, something which also emerged in the Ottoman Empire and Iran, allowed foreign subjects to not exempt from Egyptian law, instead they answered to the laws of their own country. In order to enter the European market Ismail invested heavily in cotton production during the American Civil War, and it quickly collapsed after the end of the war. A series of new schools aimed to craft an elite along European lines. In 1872 the Dar al-Ulum was formed to retrain religious school graduates along European lines, in 1868 the School of Languages was reopened as a more elitist and European institution, and in 1873 Ismail's wife Jashem Afet Hanum formed the Suyfiyya Girls School which soon had 400 pupils. Most famously is the creation of the Suez Canal. In 1854 Ferdinand de Lesseps was given a concession to construct the canal, and when Ismail became khedive he invested a large fraction of Egypt's wealth into the construction. To much pomp and international celebrations the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, but Ismail had bankrupted the country. With over 60,000 being conscripted to work on the canal this reduced crop output, and taxes for peasants rose by 75% within three years. A negotiation for money with landowners gave him a quick reprieve, but weakened the state's leverage over the landlords. In 1875 he was forced to sell his 44% shares in the canal to Britain, but this didn't stop Egypt from being declared bankrupt in 1876. In 1879 the debts forced him to abdicate in favour of Tawfiq, and soon enough a rebellion broke out. Ahmad Urabi was a fellahin who became important in the army, and was seen as an authentic voice for the Egyptian people. In January 1881 Urabi led a mutiny against a law preventing Egyptians from rising in the army, but it soon evolved into a movement against autocracy and imperial domination. With popular support, 'Egypt for the Egyptians', Urabi was brought into government. Britain and France disliked such a popular nationalist being in power, and used a nationalist riot in June 1882 in Alexandria to invade. Urabi was exiled to Sri Lanka and Britain established the 'veiled protectorate' of Britain.

The Dinshaway Hangings

Lord Cromer was made 'counsel-general' of Egypt, a polite term for the governor as officially the Ottomans still ruled in Egypt. Cromer had a low view of the Islamic states, his diaries from his time in Iran are full of phrases such as 'Oriental despotism.' While some of Cromer's policies can be considered progressive - such as banning the usage of whips - only the wealthy benefited from British rule. Cotton mills were discouraged, as it could compete with British cotton production, but cotton growing was encouraged making fellahin increasingly indebted. Cromer had also been an official in the British Raj, and viewed education as a way that nationalists could be created. As a result he tried to limit the implementation of higher education, and cut funding to build new schools. Only after Cromer left his position was the Egyptian University in Cairo created in 1908. Cromer was further well known for his despotism. While he opposed the construction of schools he was in favour of building prisons, and eagerly used forced labour to enforce his building projects. In 1906 British officers went pigeon shooting, something very dangerous for local peoples who heavily relied on pigeons for their livelihoods. At the village of Dinshaway soldiers clashed with villagers and two soldiers were injured - one died later, largely from heat stroke. Cromer came down hard. The 52 villagers were tried, 34 were convicted, and four were hanged with the remaining 30 being flogged. This caused a national outrage so bad that Cromer was forced to resign. Mustafa Kamil, editor of the paper al-Liwa, formed the Watani Party, made mostly of urban men, to campaign for Egyptian freedom. Following the First World War, when Egyptian lawyer Sa'd Zaghlul formed the wafd, delegation, Egyptians hoped his presence at Versailles could allow the Allied powers to hear their plight. Britain responded by arresting the Wafd's leaders and exiling them to Malta. An uprising, largely led by women, then broke out in 1919 which only stopped when Zaghlul was allowed to attend Versailles.

Iran's Troubles

Rebels in the Constitutional War

The shah through most of the 1800s, Nasir al-Din (1848-1896), like his contemporaries tried to reform the state. However, this was hard for several reasons. Mainly, it was due to the Qajar dynasty having little formal power outside of Tehran. As stated earlier, tribes and religious institutes remained powerful politically and militarily. Through this it was also hard to make them pay taxes so there was a serious lack of funds. When taxes were paid it wasn't to the state. Instead the religious councils collected the zakat taxes, and instead they used it to fund schools. Early on the Cossack Brigade was created in 1879, but it was small at around 3,000 and was dominated by imported Russian officers. An institute of higher learning, the Dar al-Fun, was created in 1851 which was staffed by Europeans, but it remained an extremely elite institute. An observer in the 1870s reported that there were only 70 students. All this was not helped by Nasir al-Din himself - the public widely viewed him as doing nothing and living a life of luxury. Like elsewhere, Iran became a debtor state as foreign states, largely Britain and Russia, began extracting more and more concessions devastating local economies. The bazaaris, merchants, were especially affected as they now were pushed out by European companies. In 1890 Britain was given exclusive right to control Iran's tobacco crop. Al-Afghani, who was an adviser to the shah, resigned and nationalist protests broke out. In 1891 the religious bodies intervened when a Shiraz mujtahid declared that using tobacco went against the Hidden Imam, if anyone was reluctant to join the protests now enthusiastically did so. The shah rescinded the concession within the year, but it did not help him and in 1896 he was assassinated. The Qajars continued to face colonial exploitation; in something which will shape Iran's history William Knox D'Arcy in 1909 was granted oil concessions forming the Anglo-Persiab Oil Company, now called BP. Seeing revolution in 1905 break out in Russia protests broke out demanding economic equality, education, and democracy. From 1906 to 1911 a small scale civil war broke out over whether Iran would have a Madjles, a parliament. Throughout the First World War it would be occupied by the Allied powers to secure their access to the oilfields, and the second Madjles was dissolved. Within a decade the Qajar dynasty was ousted in favour of Reza Khan Pahlavi, a colonel in the Cossack Brigade.

Abdul Hamid and the Young Turks

The end of the Tanzimat was followed by decades of authoritarian rule by Sultan Abdul Hamid, known as 'the Butcher' or 'Red Sultan' for his cracking down on nationalist and reformist/republican movements. The cautious advocacy of secularism, 'Ottomanism' or 'laicism', of the Tanzimat was replaced by an advocacy of Pan-Islam to work for him domestically and internationally. The Ottoman sultan also claimed the title of caliph, so he emphasised this to ensure loyalty to him from his Muslim subjects and as a bargaining chip with foreign powers. There was an implication that, as caliph, he could encourage revolts in their Muslim-majority colonies, so they had to give him concessions. To show that he was a representative of Pan-Islam, but also continuing some Tanzimat policies, the Hijaz railway was constructed connecting Medina to Damascus, and 51 new secondary schools were constructed in the Asian provinces. However, there were subtle limits to this. The schools were taught along European lines and were centralised - this limited the impact religious institutions had on education. Railways were also constructed connecting Istanbul to Vienna creating the renowned 'Oriental Express', and ties were created with Germany. A Berlin-to-Baghdad railroad was formed as a result, and Kaiser Wilhelm II even performed two state visits. However, Abdul Hamid was not known for peaceful rule. Political opponents were often forced to go into exile to avoid repression, and the CUP were largely based elsewhere until the 1900s. Nationalism also resulted in brutality. Despite his advocacy for Pan-Islam, Arabs became distrustful of Ottoman rule when Abdul Hamid replaced influential Arabic families who were pro-Tanzimat with his own supporters - something seen as 'Turkifying' the Arabic areas. Throughout the 1890s Armenian nationalist uprisings resulted in Abdul Hamid massacring Armenian villages, and Greece declared war in 1897 thanks to the repression of an uprising on Crete. He was also almost assassinated in 1905 by Armenian nationalists. His repression led to the growth of nationalism across the empire - when the First World War broke out Arabs soon revolted to create their own state and Armenians also attempted to ally Russian troops.

Troops stationed in Salonika, the Third Army, were sympathetic to the CUP and opposed the sultan, so they staged a revolt in 1908 inspired by Ottomanism. Abdul Hamid won some support back for allowing elections, a demand of the troops, but a counterrevolution broke out to restore the sultan's power. The Third Army formally deposed him, and to keep with Ottomanism, sent a delegation consisting of two Turks, an Armenian, and Jewish officer were sent to inform the sultan of his deposition. However, the CUP was heavily divided between liberals and conservatives which was made worse when Balkan states in 1912 took over the European lands. In 1913, a triumvirate under Enver, Talat, and Jamal Pasha (they were unrelated, until the Ataturk era your job title was your family name), took control. They would move between authoritarianism and reformism which helps explain why it became to embrace a specifically Turkish identity. For example, Arabs saw the replacement of Hamidian era notable Arabic families as further attempts to Turkify the empire. Through this, we can see why in the First World War they began seeing the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian population as a fifth column beginning a genocide - a topic for a later post.

Aftermath and Conclusion

Women in Egypt, 1919

The events which we have discussed today have set the stage for the Middle East's history up until today. Nationalism would lead to genocide of Armenians and the breaking up of the Ottoman Empire, however, the legacy of European intervention meant that many of the former parts of the empire became colonies. The aspirations of Arab nationalists to create a united Arabic nation was squashed by the Sykes-Picot Agreement dividing the area between British and French colonies - these colonies would later be further divided. The reformist movements would bring to power new movements which would shape today. The new Pahlavi dynasty in Iran would continue to grant foreign powers concessions spurring an anti-imperialist movement - from both Leftists and Islamic forces (sometimes they were the same). From the CUP emerged the reformist Mustafa Kemal, later known as Ataturk, and, according to Serif Mardin, would complete the ideas set forth in the Tanzimat. Since then the divide between Kemalism and its opponents have been a characteristic of Turkish thought. The Middle East as we know it began to take shape during this period, for better or for worse.

The sources I have used are as follows:
-William Cleveland and Martin Bunton, A History of the Modern Middle East, Sixth Edition, (Boulder, CO: 2016)
-Albert Hourani, A History of the Arab Peoples, (London: 1991)
-Kumari Jayawardena, Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World, (London: 1986)
-Betty Anderson, A History of the Modern Middle East: Rulers, Rebels and Rogues, (Stanford, CA: 2016)
-Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, (Berkeley, CA: 1988)
-Ervand Abrahamian, A History of Modern Iran, (Cambridge: 2008)
-Serif Mardin, 'Ideology and Religion in the Turkish Revolution', International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2:2, (1971), 197-211
-Nicole Pope and Hugh Pope, Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey, (Woodstock, NY: 2004)
-Yaseen Noorani, Culture and Hegemony in the Colonial Middle East, (New York, NY: 2010)
-John Galbraith and Afaf Latfi al-Sayyid-Marsat, 'The British Occupation of Egypt: Another View,' International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 9:4, (1978), 471-488
-A.G. Hopkins, 'The Victorians and Africa: A Reconsideration of the Occupation of Egypt, 1882,' The Journal of African History, 27:2, (1986), 363-391

Thank you for reading, and next time we'll be looking at settler colonialism in Australia and New Zealand. For other World History posts we have a list here, and for future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

World History: The Ottoman Empire

The famous sultan Suleiman

For the next three World History posts we'll be looking at what Marshall Hodgson and William McNeill described as the 'Gunpowder Empires': the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires. These three empires utilized gunpowder, dominated their respective regions and were Islamic. They were the some of the most powerful states during their time and today we'll look at the first of them: the Ottomans. Often referred to as the 'Turkish Empire' the Ottomans were a multi-ethnic empire with a sizable presence in Europe, Asia, and Africa. At their height they stretched from Vienna to the Red Sea and from Crimea to Tunis encompassing a myriad of different cultures. The Ottoman Empire as often been portrayed as being Turkish, despotic, Islamic and in decline after the death of their most famous sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent. Today we'll see how much that is true. We'll mostly be focusing on the Ottomans since the mid-fifteenth century until the mid-eighteenth centuries.

Origins and a Brief History

The Ottomans originated in Anatolia, modern Turkey, and like their Russian neighbors to the north, please see here, they owed their existence to the Mongols. In 1243 the Mongols swept away the last vestiges of Seljuk power and divided the region into several regions. When the Byzantines, please see here, recaptured Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade in 1261 they focused on reestablishing their rule in the Balkans more than Anatolia. By the 1300s the last Seljuk sultan was assassinated, Mongol rule in the Middle East in the form of the Ilkhanate was weakening, and the Byzantines were still busy looking west. In this fragmented Anatolia in a beylik (principality) in Bithynia a Turkish leader called Osman rose to power. Competition from Mongols had driven many nomadic Turks near to the Byzantine border where Osman was located. Osman began conquering and unifying the local area until his death in 1324. Several historians believe that the empire's continuous warfare was from Osman's gazi (warrior) ethic - war was needed, especially against non-believers. Osman founded the Osmanli dynasty which became anglicized to become Ottoman. It was under Osman's son Orhan (r.1324-62) that the conquests really began. Later sultans, Murad I (r.1362-89) and Bayezid I (r.1389-1402) expanded the empire so it would cover over 950,000 square kilometers. In 1369 Murad had conquered Edirne, a major city in the region, and moved the capital there; this conquest helped solidify Ottoman claims to be a major Islamic power. Taking advantage of Byzantine weaknesses he invaded the Balkans conquering huge chunks of it and saw victory at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 despite being killed. Despite the massive victories Murad never called himself 'sultan', he much preferred to be called 'emir'. His son Bayezid would be called 'sultan'. Bayezid continued many of his father's conquests. More land in both the Balkans and Anatolia was added into the empire but Bayezid was smart about this. He had fatwas issued against Anatolian tribes to justify attacking fellow Muslims and had Christian soldiers from the Balkans to fight them. Meanwhile, Sigismund of Hungary feared Ottoman encroaches into Europe so managed to organize a crusade which ended in disaster for the crusaders with their defeat at Nikopol in 1396 on the Danube. It would be Tamerlane who would break Bayezid's rule capturing the sultan at Ankara in 1402.

A depiction of Tamerlane with Bayezid

A decade long civil war broke out among Bayezid's sons as Bayezid remained in Tamerlane's captivity until he died - apparently writers in Tamerlane's court wrote that he wept when Bayezid died. It would take until 1687 for Ottoman succession was made that the eldest inherited so most of early Ottoman history is littered with destructive succession wars - some almost wiping out the Osmanli dynasty itself! However, the Ottomans remained a potent force in both eastern Europe and the Middle East, so much so that in 1443 Hungary and Poland (under John Hunyadi and Wladyslaw III respectively) led the Crusade of Varna to halt Ottoman expansion under Murad II as the Karamanids attacked from Anatolia. At the Battle of Varna in 1444 the Ottomans destroyed the Crusaders with Wladyslaw of Poland even being killed. 1453 would bring the greatest conquest. Despite being deposed Murad returned to the throne in 1451 and had his eyes set on Constantinople. It was the seat of intellectualism in the world; controlled the trade routes between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean (as well as Europe and Asia); was the home of the last Romans, the Byzantines; and constantly blocked Ottoman access to their European provinces. On 29 May 1453 Mehmed conquered Constantinople allowing him to be known as 'the Conqueror'. He moved the capital from Edirne to Constantinople which soon became known as Istanbul - the locals referred to it as 'In the City' or Istanbul. The Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque and a stunning new palace named the Topkapi (New Palace) was made. Mehmed also put a popular cleric, George Scholarios as Patriarch of the Orthodox Church leading to Russia to claim to be the head of Orthodoxy. The symbolism of capturing Constantinople was profound. Capturing the Roman capital allowed Mehmed to declare himself to be Rome's successor and the religious importance of the city gave him spiritual prestige. This would begin an unrelenting series of conquests which would last centuries. Serbia was conquered in 1459 with Albania following a few years later, Crimea was made a vassal in 1478 (securing Ottoman rule over the Black Sea), and 1473 the Aqqoyunlu - a Turkish confederation in eastern Anatolia, Azerbaijan, Iraq and western Iran - was defeated.

Selim and Suleiman

These are perhaps the two most famous sultans. In this section we'll briefly cover their rules but what they did will be referred to throughout the rest of the post. Selim I, or 'Selim the Grim', came to power in 1512 and despite reigning for eight years he would make huge changes. His father, Bayezid II, came to power during a weak time despite Mehmed's victories. It was due to Mehmed's victories that Bayezid was weak - he had to deal with a depleted treasury caused by wars. He was never properly able to bounce back and his fiscal measures, which started under Mahmud, devauled Ottoman silver greatly upsetting the urban elite. He also was weakened as his brother, Jem, was a captive of the Knights of St John and later the pope. Instead Bayezid's rule was marked out for a boom in the arts and increased religious tolerance (something to be discussed later). However, his inaction allowed a threat to emerge on his border in Iran. In 1501 the kizilbash (Red Heads) brought to power Ismail in Iran who became the Shah of the new Safavid dynasty. Quite dangerous for the Ottomans was that the Safavids adopted Shia Islam and the initial inaction allowed them to grow very powerful. Ismail even declared himself the Mahdi, 'savior of Islam'. In 1511 they even managed to get a revolt in Ottoman lands called the Shah Kulu rebellion which further discredited Bayezin. 

Selim I

His son Selim decided to reverse this trend (going as far as to depose Bayezid) and even used religion to his advantage. He had fatwas issued against Ismail to discredit the Safavids and eased the minds of his soldiers who likely would be opposed to fighting fellow Muslims. Using 500 cannons and 12,000 infantry he showed the advantage of using firearms at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514 in Azerbaijan where he slaughtered the Safavid army. Selim would also finally conquer the Aqqoyunlu securing Anatolia for the next few centuries but doing so brought him into contact with the Mamluks, another major Islamic power stationed in Cairo. The war with the Mamluks definitely required fatwas: the Mamluks were fellow Sunnis, had the last Abbasid caliph (spiritual leader of Islam) in Cairo, and were the protectors of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. Selim accused them of an alliance with the Safavids stating 'he who aids a heretic is a heretic himself'. Armed with firearms Selim met the Mamluk forces at Marj Dabik outside Aleppo on 24 August 1516. The Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri apparently died of a heart attack caused the Mamluk forces to flee and for Aleppo and Damascus to surrender. On 23 January 1517 another great clash happened at Raydaniyya outside Cairo leading to the death of the new sultan Tumanbay. Cairo soon surrendered and Selim received the fealty of Mecca and Medina. Now the Ottomans ruled Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Jerusalem and Damascus - all cities with sacred sites. Generations later due to this the Ottoman sultans would declare themselves caliphs as well although they would also claim that Selim had declared himself caliph. Selim's conquests would also bring Arabs under Ottoman rule further enduring the Ottomans as a multi-ethnic empire.

Finally, we have Suleiman. Europeans referred to him as 'the Magnificent' for the splendors of his court (many Renaissance elite would have their portraits done to replicate his portrait) while his subjects referred to him as 'Lawgiver'. Suleiman really had a far more diverse reign depending on your viewpoint compared to other notable sultans. Selim had lost legitimacy in the eyes of Muslims as most of his wars were against fellow Muslims despite uniting the major sacred sites under one state. As a result Suleiman spent most his time fighting Christians - Suleiman had thirteen campaigns spanning a quarter of his reign. When he did fight Muslims it was largely Shia Muslims - three campaigns against the Safavids (1534-5, 1548-9 and 1553) brought Iraq and Kuwait into the empire. The 1555 Treaty of Amasya with Iran made the Ottoman's eastern border virtually unchanged until World War I. His wars in Europe brought Hungary into the empire (1541) and threatened Vienna twice (1529 and 1532). If Vienna had fallen European history would have been very different. The Ottoman navy was greatly expanded under Suleiman and became a ferocious force under noted admiral and former pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa who helped conquer key cities in North Africa like Tunis from the Spanish. France and the Ottomans had a long history of alliances which began under Suleiman who were united under the common cause of being anti-Habsburg (the family ruling Austria). In fact, France was the first state to receive special privileges in the empire due to this. Suleiman could not touch sharia (religious) law but he did reform kanun (secular) law. Many of this involved religious minorities which we'll cover later but he did many other reforms. More schools were built and madrases (higher education) was made easier to access. He collated all the laws put forward by the previous nine sultans, removed repetitions and laws he disliked, and keeping in line with sharia he streamlined and created one singular law code. Taxes were placed on certain products and officials known to be corrupt would have lands confiscated. Through Suleiman's reforms the Ottoman Empire soon became more of a meritocracy. A 'Golden Age' of the arts supposedly happened under Suleiman - he himself wrote many poems in Turkish and Persian. After Suleiman's death a traditional historiography stated that the Ottomans went into decline but that shall be debated later.

The Empire under Suleiman

Administration

The Topkapi today

It is difficult to talk about Ottoman administration as it often was flexible in this period and changed regularly - hence how the empire survived during the various succession wars. As a result we'll go over a brief overview. At the top of society was the sultan which Europeans in the nineteenth century denounced as being despotic and this view has persisted to this day. The sultan would rule as any other monarch from the Topkapi but they were not alone in ruling. There existed a position named the Grand vizier (working from the Sublime Porte) which lasted until the collapse of the empire in 1922, the first was Alaeddin Pasha, who acted as the sultan's chief adviser and at times military general. Some of the conquests was done under the grand vizier, such as Mahmud Pasha being sent to conquer Serbia in 1458. I should mention that it took until the reforms of Ataturk in the 1920s for Ottomans to get surnames, until then your surname was your occupation. A vizier's position was not always secure; Selim I was known for often executing viziers which displeased him. One jokingly asked to be told before he was executed so he could get his affairs in order, Selim replied that it would be a long time in the future as there was no one competent enough to replace him. The highest governmental organ was the Divan-i Humayun, or Imperial Council, which originally was a court of justice and appeals but then evolved into an almost cabinet of officials. Until Mehmed II's reign the sultan would personally oversee the Divan's meetings but afterwards this fell into decline. However, one French diplomat in the 1500s wrote that 'Lying was mortal' because the sultan was 'often listening at a window overlooking the said Chamber without being seen or noticed'. It was also important for the Divan and sultan to notice the ulema (religious community) who often had a say in government through those who were free-born Muslims (slavery existed in the empire) who had graduated from a madras.

The Ottomans never referred to themselves as 'Turks' as this was seen as a patronizing term for a peasant in Anatolia. Instead they referred to themselves as 'Ottomans' and if you spoke Turkish, was a man, and was a Muslim you could become an administrator. Selim even got a Kurdish scholar, Idris of Bitlis, to get a Kurdish alliance before his war with the Safavids. Few Turkish lived in the Arabic lands so often Arabs ruled themselves. In theory all ethnicities were equal but there was the exisitng of zanj slavery. It was common for Ottomans to buy slaves from what is now Sudan. At times they could become equal but this was rare. Ottoman lands were divided into eyalets (provinces) ruled by a beylerbey which then was divided into sanjaks (districts) under sanjak-beyi. However, often the Ottomans used the multi-ethnic nature of their empire to their advantage by having beylerbeys and sanjak-beyi from other areas of the empire to rule over different ethnic groups - the rulers of Egypt were often taken from Albania or the Caucasus. Taxes were in theory egalitarian. The jizya was applied to non-Muslims while the zakat was applied to Muslims. However, tax farming (illtizam) was used to collect taxes which led to abuses of power by the tax farmers (multazim) who would squeeze peasants of money or horde it for themselves. 

A European depiction of janissaries

Finally there were the janissaries. They were originally the elite bodyguard of the sultan but evolved to become the elite soldiers and when retired they went into the bureaucracy. Janissaries were a form of slavery. When the Ottomans expanded into Europe they imposed a tax called the devshirme or 'boy tax'. Christian communities were expected to give over their young boys who were converted to Islam and trained to be both administrators and soldiers. Due to this many communities adopted Islam themselves to avoid this tax (alongside other reasons) which partially explains why certain areas of the Balkans, like Bosnia and Albania, have majority Muslim populations. Unlike most other slaves janissaries earned a wage and, if they did not die in battle, would eventually become free to normally become administrators. Through this some Christian communities could become more influential than Muslim ones. The janissaries themselves could even control the sultan at times: janissaries regularly deposed sultans they didn't like and during Selim's campaign against the Safavids as the janissaries refused to spend the winter in Tabriz he was forced to retreat. By the end of the empire's life when a weak sultan was in power the janissaries could even use him as a puppet.

Women

A 19th Century Italian depiction of a harem

It is unsurprising that the Ottomans were a patriarchal society. Women were barred from office, owning property and equality before the law. Men were allowed to have multiple wives but women were barred from polygamy and often confined to the harems. Although exempt from the devshirme female slaves often could be subjected to sexual abuse (at times boys could be as well) or even kept as sex slaves. However, this narrative strips agency away from women and often fits into the rhetoric of Western Orientalism. The harems are a good example. Largely only the wealthy could afford to keep a harem - most Muslims in the Ottoman Empire were rural peasants so needed as many hands as possible to work the land. Harems were more common in the cities but even then it was more useful for poorer families to have the wives and daughters working. A typical depiction of the harems is a place of sexuality and debauchery but this is more a case of Orientalist, bourgeois flights of fantasy (or sexual repression) from the nineteenth century. Poorer families who had a harem had the women raising children or helping out with work in the harems. Meanwhile, richer families had the harems as a place of education and consumption of the arts. The harem in the Topkapi could even be used for political means. Since 1617 part of the Imperial Harem, the Kafes, was devoted to keeping the heir safe. Suleiman's wife Hurrem Sultan, sometimes called Roxelana, is an example of how the harem could influence the sultan. Originally a Christian slave she became Suleiman's concubine and later wife. She would exert great amounts of influence over Suleiman, such as getting her son Selim to inherit the throne, and she repeatedly wrote letters advising her husband. We don't have the response that Suleiman sent back but from Hurrem's letters we understand that he was convinced by her words. She was also a proficient poet writing many love poems to Suleiman in fluent Ottoman Turkish.

A depiction of Hurrem Sultan

Suraiya Faraoqhi has also highlighted the different ways women managed to have agency in the Ottoman Empire - although she has stated that this was largely rich women. Court records, especially in Cairo, reveal that many women went to court over dowries, property rights and a variety of other matters. The fact these exist show that women had agency in the Ottoman world. The wife of the British ambassador Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762) reported how polygamy was frowned upon in wealthy Istanbul families. She reported that a man who married a second woman earned the wrath of his first wife who refused to let him into her room and had him ostracized from their friends by appealing to her female friends. According to Faraoqhi widows and unmarried women could even invest. Despite being often barred from physically owning a business or enterprise often they acted as 'silent partners' using their dowries to invest. Women also engaged in the arts through creation and consumption. Largely wealthy women could buy or patronize the arts ranging from books to architecture. Mihri Hatin (c.1470-after 1515) became a well renowned poet in her own right. Meanwhile, poorer urban women could have their own agency. Young girls were sent to rich households as servants since sixteenth century Ankara where her employers would pay for her upkeep and dowry. While European guilds often barred women from working the Ottomans made no distinction in regards to weaving but they had to do it in their homes. Despite being subjugated some women still had agency.

Religions and Cultures

The Ottoman Empire was Islamic and favored Muslims. Only Muslims could hold office, the zakat was smaller than the jizya, were exempt from the devshirme, and were exempt from slavery. Religious minorities could have rights though, especially the 'People of the Book' (Christians and Jews). The Ottoman Empire spanned a huge area ruling many non-Muslim peoples - Catholics and Orthodox Christians, Druzes in Syria, and many Jews in the cities. In 1492 the city with the largest Jewish population was Thessaloniki in Ottoman Greece. Similar to the fate of Jews in the rest of Europe Jews (and Christians) were forced to handle money due to the Qu'ran forbidding Muslims from doing so. At times Jews were welcomed. Despite his weaknesses Bayezid II has gone down in history as the tolerant sultan for welcoming Muslims and Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 - apparently he wrote a letter to the Spanish monarchs thanking them for giving him his most 'prized subjects'. It can be argued though it was more pragmatics than genuine altruism as the Jews expelled were mostly bankers and artisans, something which the Ottomans were eager to take advantage of. Nevertheless many Jews fled to the Empire: in 1488 Istanbul had 70 Jewish families which rose to 1500 at the start of the sixteenth century. The exile Jewish community in Cairo quickly exceeded that of the native Jewish community. One exile, Yitzhak Sarfati, became Chief Rabbi of Edirne and said 'Turkey is a land wherein nothing is lacking' and 'Is it not better for you to live under Muslims than under Christians?' Suleiman continued his grandfather's actions banning accusations of blood libel (an antisemitic accusation that Jews drank the blood of virgin Christians during Passover) and he grew close to a Jewish doctor, Moses Hamon.

The Ottomans also had a system called rayah or 'flock'. These were the population that were not either the ruling class, askeri, or slaves, kul, and under Suleiman a new code granted them greater equality - something which attracted Christian serfs from Europe to go to the Empire. Among the rayah were the dhimmi or 'protected peoples'. Christians, Jews, and certain other groups were granted this status which allowed them increased autonomy and self-rule; as long as they paid the jizya and respected kanun law they were exempt from sharia and could in part rule themselves. For example, Druzes in Syria could potentially be tried by their own people instead of a sharia court. To hold office you had to be a Muslim but it did not matter for how long which allowed Christians and Jews to enter office. Baki Tezcan has argued that this created a strange paradox where an Arab Muslim could be less likely to get into office compared to a Christian or Jewish Arab. However, like with women, religious and ethnic tolerance could be limited. There are occasions when religious clashes broke out and religious minorities on the borders, like Armenians, could at times be met with intense violence. Not all cultures were seen as equals - quite often Arabs and Turkish askeri referred to each other as 'foreigners'. Also, their was prejudice against African slaves. Some did become powerful, such as Mullah Ali who went on to oversee the European provinces, but it was far rarer than white slaves (who would also face prejudice). In the period we're looking at today prejudice was a lot less compared to other areas and even the Empire in the nineteenth century.

Decline?

A depiction of the Battle of Lepanto (notice how angels are helping the Europeans)

Until the 1970s it was common to argue that after the death of Suleiman the Empire went into a decline and this view persists in the depictions of the Ottomans. There is some truth to believe this: after Suleiman there were many weak sultans (his son was even called Selim the Sot); in 1571 at the Battle of Lepanto the Ottoman navy was destroyed; from around 1550 to 1700 irregular troops led by bandit chiefs in Anatolia led revolts called the Celali rebellions; the currency became depreciated; climate change shattered Ottoman agriculture (the backbone of Ottoman life); European trade had started to drift away from Istanbul; and Europeans were winning more wars taking more land. The 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz stripped the Ottomans of almost all their lands in Hungary which became accentuated by the Treaty of Passarowitz almost twenty years later which saw the loss of Serbia. Although times were bad for the Ottomans it was not a decline. For one, Colin Imber has argued that 'Lepanto...was a battle without strategic consequences' and by 1572 the Ottoman navy had been rebuilt so during the peace treaty they could take Cyprus. Crete would later also be conquered. Lepanto has been seen as the start of the decline as Europeans vaulted it at the time. Historians have now started to argue that the losses of land to Austria and Russia did signify the end of the Ottomans the most important power in Europe but not their collapse. Instead it was a solidifying of their rule. The Ottomans had overextended themselves so by losing lands too far away they could focus more on things closer to home.

In the 1700s the Ottomans had started adopting more European style tactics and technology with them opening the Istanbul Technical University to do this. Trade, although dipping, still remained big for the Ottomans with them straddling three continents taking produce like coffee from Africa and spices from the Indian Ocean as they received European goods. 'Ottoman' furniture entered Europe during this period as an example. Under bibliophile Ahmet III (r.1703-30) the 'Tulip Age' began where a long period of peace was noted for the court obsession with tulips. Tulips were used to represent wealth, prestige and consumption, something which has remained with Turkey today with tulips appearing on the planes of Turkish Airlines. Ottoman rule in North Africa, the Balkans and the Middle East would remain in tact until the 1800s (some areas until World War I). Only until Europe truly overtook the Ottomans through the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s did the Empire really start to decline.

Conclusion

The Ottoman Empire is a unique aspect of world history. Lasting from the early-fourteenth century until 1922 it straddled the Medieval, early Modern and Modern worlds and encompassed parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. It remained a key player in the world as both a military, economic and diplomatic power that had a variety of religions and ethnicities living within its borders. Despite being called 'Turkish' it did viewed itself as being the followers of the founder Osman. It is interesting to note that out of the three 'Gunpowder Empires' it lasted the longest and lasted until the twentieth century whilst the others collapsed in the eighteenth and nineteenth. The Ottomans may be gone but their legacy lives on, and we will eventually come back to them to see how this Empire went from strength to collapse, from limited tolerance to at times genocide. Nevertheless, the Ottomans remained a huge part of our history.

Thank you for reading. Next time we'll look at the second 'Gunpowder Empire': the Safavids. The sources I have used are as follows:

-Christine Woodhead, (ed.), The Ottoman World, (Oxon: Routledge, 2012)

-Colin Imber, The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Empire, Second Edition, (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)

-Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire, (London: I.B. Tauris, 1995)

-Rifa'at 'Ali Abou-El-Haj, Formation of the Modern State: The Ottoman Empire, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries, Second Edition, (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005)

-Gabor Agoston, 'Asia Minor and Beyond: The Ottomans, 1281-1922', in Jim Masselos, (ed.), The Great Empires of Asia, (London: Thames & Hudson, 2010)

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