The Ottoman Empire (1299–1924)
The Ottoman Empire was the longest-lived and most enduring of the post-classical Muslim empires. From a small Turkish beylik on the Byzantine frontier in 1299 to a state that at its zenith spanned 5.2 million square kilometres across three continents, the Ottomans shaped European, Asian and African history for over six centuries — until their formal end with Atatürk's abolition of the Caliphate on 3 March 1924.
"The High Gate" — the diplomatic name for the Ottoman government, deriving from the great gate of the Topkapi Palace through which foreign ambassadors entered the Grand Vizier's office. European chancelleries used "the Porte" as a metonym for the Ottoman state.
Foundation and early expansion (1299–1453)
The dynasty traces itself to Osman I (r. 1299–1326), leader of the Kayi tribe of Oghuz Turks, who built a frontier state in Bithynia at the expense of the declining Byzantines. His son Orhan (1326–1362) captured Bursa (1326) and crossed into Europe in 1352 — the first Muslim power to establish itself permanently in the Balkans.
Key early conquests
- Battle of Kosovo (1389) under Murad I — destroyed Serbian power; the Sultan himself was killed.
- Battle of Nicopolis (1396) — a multinational European crusade was crushed by Bayezid I "Yildirim" ("the Thunderbolt").
- Battle of Ankara (1402) — Timur routed Bayezid; the empire fell into an eleven-year interregnum (the Fetret Devri).
- Murad II (1421–51) restored Ottoman power; defeated Hungarians at Varna (1444) and Kosovo II (1448).
The Fall of Constantinople (29 May 1453)
Mehmed II Fatih ("the Conqueror"), twenty-one years old, took Constantinople after a 53-day siege using the giant cannon cast by the Hungarian engineer Urban. The fall ended the thousand-year Byzantine Empire and is often used to mark the close of the Middle Ages. Hagia Sophia became a mosque (until 1934, then a museum, then again a mosque in 2020), and the city — renamed Istanbul — replaced Edirne as capital.
The classical age (1453–1566)
| Sultan | Reign | Key achievements |
|---|---|---|
| Mehmed II Fatih | 1444–46, 1451–81 | Conquest of Constantinople 1453; codified administration |
| Bayezid II | 1481–1512 | Welcomed Sephardic Jews 1492; expanded navy |
| Selim I "Yavuz" | 1512–1520 | Defeated Safavids at Chaldiran 1514; took Mamluks 1517; assumed Caliphate |
| Suleiman I "Kanuni" | 1520–1566 | Empire's zenith; took Belgrade 1521, Rhodes 1522; Mohács 1526; first siege of Vienna 1529 |
Selim I and the Caliphate
After defeating the Mamluk Sultanate at Marj Dabiq (1516) and Ridaniyya (1517), Selim I took Cairo, the Hijaz, and reputedly the title of Caliph from the last shadow Abbasid in Cairo. Henceforth Ottoman sultans claimed the Caliphate of all Sunni Muslims — the basis of the institution that survived until 1924.
Suleiman the Magnificent
Known in the West as "the Magnificent" and at home as Kanuni ("the Lawgiver"), Suleiman I (r. 1520–1566) presided over the empire's territorial, legal and cultural apex. He stormed Belgrade (1521) and Rhodes (1522), defeated and killed King Louis II of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács (29 August 1526), besieged Vienna in 1529 (unsuccessfully), and at sea controlled the Mediterranean through admirals Barbarossa Hayreddin (victorious at Preveza 1538) and Piyale Pasha. The court architect Mimar Sinan built the Süleymaniye Mosque (1557) and the Selimiye Mosque at Edirne (1574).
- 1299 — Osman I founds the dynasty.
- 1453 — Mehmed II conquers Constantinople.
- 1517 — Selim I takes Cairo; Ottoman caliphate begins.
- 1526 — Battle of Mohács; Hungary destroyed.
- 1529 — First Siege of Vienna fails.
- 1683 — Second Siege of Vienna; turning point of decline.
- 1923 — Treaty of Lausanne; Republic of Turkey proclaimed.
- 1924 — Caliphate abolished, 3 March.
The long stalemate and decline (1566–1918)
After Suleiman the Ottoman administration entered the "Sultanate of Women" period (1533–1656), in which queen-mothers and harem politics dominated. Naval defeat at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) by Don Juan of Austria's Holy League ended Ottoman naval supremacy in the western Mediterranean — though the empire rebuilt its fleet within a year. The reformist Köprülü Grand Viziers (1656–1683) briefly arrested the decline.
The turning point was the Second Siege of Vienna (1683): Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha was routed by King Jan III Sobieski of Poland and the Imperial-Polish relief army on 12 September 1683. The subsequent Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) — the first treaty the Ottomans signed as a defeated power — surrendered Hungary, Transylvania and parts of the Balkans.
Reform movements
The 19th century saw frantic modernisation: the Tanzimat reforms (1839–76) under Sultans Abdulmecid I and Abdulaziz reorganised law, taxation, education and the military on European lines. The first Ottoman Constitution was promulgated by Abdul Hamid II in 1876, suspended in 1878, and restored after the Young Turk Revolution of 1908.
For FPSC, three Ottoman dates dominate: 1453 (fall of Constantinople), 1683 (failure at Vienna), 1923/1924 (Lausanne and the end of the Caliphate). Connect 1683 ↔ 1699 (Karlowitz) ↔ 1774 (Küçük Kaynarca) as the chain of decline.
End and afterlife (1918–1924)
The empire allied with the Central Powers in the First World War; the resulting Armistice of Mudros (October 1918) and the punitive Treaty of Sèvres (1920) seemed to dismember Anatolia. Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) led a successful national resistance, defeating Greek forces (Battle of Dumlupinar, 1922) and securing the Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923), recognising the new Republic. The Sultanate was abolished on 1 November 1922; the Caliphate on 3 March 1924. Sultan Mehmed VI went into exile, and Abdülmecid II, the last Caliph, left Istanbul on the Orient Express, ending six centuries of Ottoman rule.