The Ottoman Empire ruled a large portion of the Middle East and Eastern Europe for over 600 years, beginning in 1299. In 1453, Mehmet II captured Constantinople, establishing Istanbul as the new capital and greatly expanding Ottoman power. However, over time the empire began to decline due to factors such as weak sultans, corruption, and loss of territory to European powers. By the late 1600s the once powerful empire had ceased expanding and faced economic challenges, leading to its eventual dissolution in 1923 with the founding of the modern Republic of Turkey.

1. Ottoman Empire
Factors of Decline

2. • The Ottoman Empire ruled a large portion of the Middle East and
Eastern Europe for over 600 years. It first formed in 1299 and finally
dissolved in 1923, becoming the country of Turkey.
Rise of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I, a leader of the Turkish
tribes in Anatolia in 1299. Osman I expanded his kingdom, uniting
many of the independent states of Anatolia under one rule. Osman
established a formal government and allowed for religious tolerance
over the people he conquered.

3. Capturing Constantinople
• Over the next 150 years the Ottoman Empire continued to expand. The
most powerful empire in the land at the time was the Byzantine Empire
(Eastern Roman Empire). In 1453, Mehmet II the Conqueror led the
Ottoman Empire in capturing Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantium
Empire. He turned Constantinople into the capital of the Ottoman Empire
and renamed it Istanbul. For the next several hundred years the Ottoman
Empire would be one of the largest and most powerful empires in the
world.
When Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire, a large number of
scholars and artists fled to Italy. This helped to spark the European
Renaissance. It also caused the European nations to begin to search for
new trade routes to the Far East, beginning the Age of Exploration.

4. Ottomon Empire
• The decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1566–1807
The reign of Süleyman I the Magnificent marked the peak of Ottoman
grandeur, but signs of weakness signaled the beginning of a slow but steady
decline. An important factor in the decline was the increasing lack of ability
and power of the sultans themselves. Süleyman tired of the campaigns and
arduous duties of administration and withdrew more and more from public
affairs to devote himself to the pleasures of his harem. To take his place, the
office of grand vizier was built up to become second only to the sultan in
authority and revenue; the grand vizier’s authority included the right to
demand and obtain absolute obedience. But, while the grand vizier was able
to stand in for the sultan in official functions, he could not take his place as
the focus of loyalty for all the different classes and groups in the empire. The
resulting separation of political loyalty and central authority led to a decline
in the government’s ability to impose its will.

5. The triumph of the devşirme
• The mid-16th century also saw the triumph of the devşirme over the
Turkish nobility, which lost almost all its power and position in the
capital and returned to its old centres of power in southeastern
Europe and Anatolia. In consequence, many of the timars formerly
assigned to the notables to support the sipahi cavalry were seized by
the devşirme and transformed into great estates—becoming, for all
practical purposes, private property—thus depriving the state of their
services as well as the revenue they could have produced if they had
been transformed into tax farms. While the sipahis did not entirely
disappear as a military force, the Janissaries and the associated
artillery corps became the most important segments of the Ottoman
army.

6. Corruption and nepotism
• Because the sultans no longer could control the devşirme by setting it against the
Turkish notables, the devşirme gained control of the sultans and used the
government for its own benefit rather than for the benefit of a sultan or his
empire. In consequence, corruption and nepotism took hold at all levels of
administration. In addition, with the challenge of the notables gone, the devşirme
class itself broke into countless factions and parties, each working for its own
advantage by supporting the candidacy of a particular imperial prince and
forming close alliances with corresponding palace factions led by the mothers,
sisters, and wives of each prince. After Süleyman, therefore, accession and
appointments to positions came less as the result of ability than as a
consequence of the political maneuverings of the devşirme-harem political
parties. Those in power found it more convenient to control the princes by
keeping them uneducated and inexperienced, and the old tradition by which
young princes were educated in the field was replaced by a system in which all
the princes were isolated in the private apartments of the harem and limited to
such education as its permanent inhabitants could provide.

7. • In consequence, few of the sultans after Süleyman had the ability to exercise real
power, even when circumstances might have given them the opportunity. But the
lack of ability did not affect the sultans’ desire for power; lacking the means
developed by their predecessors to achieve that end, they developed new ones.
Selim II (ruled 1566–74; known as “the Sot” or “the Blonde”) and Murad III
(1574–95) both gained power by playing off the different factions and by
weakening the office of grand vizier, the main administrative vehicle for factional
and party influence in the declining Ottoman state. As the grand viziers lost their
dominant position following the downfall of Mehmed Sokollu (served 1565–79),
power fell first into the hands of the women of the harem, during the “Sultanate
of the Women” (1570–78), and then into the grasp of the chief Janissary officers,
the agas, who dominated from 1578 to 1625. No matter who controlled the
apparatus of government during that time, however, the results were the same—
a growing paralysis of administration throughout the empire, increasing anarchy
and misrule, and the fracture of society into discrete and increasingly hostile
communities.

8. Timeline
•1299 - Osman I founded the Ottoman Empire.
•1389 - The Ottomans conquer most of Serbia.
•1453 - Mehmed II captures Constantinople putting an end to the Byzantine Empire.
•1517 - Ottomans conquer Egypt bringing Egypt into the empire.
•1520 - Suleiman the Magnificent becomes ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
•1529 - The Siege of Vienna.
•1533 - The Ottomans conquer Iraq.
•1551 - The Ottomans conquer Libya.
•1566 - Suleiman dies.
•1569 - Much of Istanbul burns in a great fire.

9. •1683 - The Ottomans are defeated at the Battle of Vienna.
This signals the beginning of the decline of the empire.
•1699 - The Ottomans give up control of Hungary to Austria.
•1718 - Beginning of the Tulip period.
•1821 - The Greek War of Independence begins.
•1914 - The Ottomans join the side of the Central Powers in World War I.
•1923 - The Ottoman Empire is dissolved and the Republic of Turkey becomes a country.

10. Interesting Facts about the Ottoman Empire
• The Sultan and his many wives lived in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The
Sultan would move to a different room in the palace every night because
he was scared of being assassinated.
• Suleiman the Magnificent was considered the earthly leader of all Muslims.
He was called "The Lawgiver" by the Ottomans.
• The Republic of Turkey was founded by revolutionary Kemal Ataturk.
• The elite battle troops of the Sultan were called Janissaries. These soldiers
were selected from Christian families at a young age. They were considered
slaves, but were treated well and paid a regular salary.
• The Tulip period was a time of peace when the arts flourished in the
Ottoman Empire. Tulips were considered a symbol of perfection and
beauty.

11. Decline
• The Ottoman Empire began to decline in the late 1600s. It ceased to
expand and began to face economic competition from India and
Europe. Internal corruption and poor leadership led to a steady
decline until the empire was abolished and the country of Turkey was
declared a republic in 1923.