Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire was a vast and long-lived empire in the Mediterranean. Turkey is a successor state but is far removed from the imperial state it succeeded.
Contents
History
Ertuğrul rose to prominence in the Sultanate of Rum as a military commander, likely in service to Kayqubad I. He was granted a hereditary title of uch bey (marcher lord) and given command of Söğüt, near the border with the Byzantine Empire.
His son, Osman I, rapidly expanded the beylik into Byzantine lands. Following the fall of Mesud II, and with the support of several neighboring beyliks, he was declared padishah and sultan.
Bayezid I expanded the empire to the west, importantly including the conquest of Bulgaria and repelling the Crusade of Nicopolis. But to the east, he was defeated and captured by Timur. He died in captivity in 1403, triggering the Ottoman Interregnum.
Mehmed I re-united the empire by 1413, and his son Murad II restarted the imperial expansion in every direction. After repelling the Crusade of Varna, he negotiated the Treaty of Edirne and Peace of Szeged, and finally abdicated the throne to his son Mehmed II. Hunyadi however was not dissuaded by peace, and continued to wage war. Murad was thus forced to reclaim the throne and finally brought peace to the west through the Battle of Kosovo in 1448. He continued to wage wars against the Timurid and Albanians up to his death in 1451.
Mehmed II again succeeded the throne, and in 1453 he conquered Constantinople, made it his capital, and ended the Byzantine Empire.
Suleiman I conquered most of Hungary.
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Structure
The Ottoman Empire was monarchical. There were however several mechanisms to keep rival claimants weak.
At age 12, a shahzade was sent to a remote sanjak to develop experience. Upon the death of the padishah, the first shahzade to return to Istanbul would inherit, and the rest would usually be killed.
Murad IV established the practice of kafe (cage). All claimants (including but not limited to sons) were confined to the palace under house arrest, and were only allowed to interact with the imperial harem.
The empire originally was subdivided into administrative eyalets, although these were reorganized into vilayets in the Tanzimat reforms era.
Conquered nations were forced to convert to Islam, subjected to serfdom, and pay their sons to the devshirme system. These forced recruits either served in the military, as Janissaries, or in the bureaucracy.
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