In the 200 years that lasted, the Ottomans used force and conquered the west and the west, not only establishing a great empire that spanned Asia, Europe and Africa, but also accelerating the Islamization of many regions, which had a profound impact on the future world pattern.
The Turks belong to the yellow race, their ancestors are the Nomadic peoples of Central Asia known in the history of our country as turks, and the Ottoman Turks are a branch of the nomadic Turkic tribes. In the 5th century, the Turks lived between the Tianshan Mountains and the Altai Mountains in China, at the end of primitive society. In the mid-6th century, the Turks became a great power across northern Asia. After the War of the Sui and Tang dynasties against the Turks in the 6th-7th centuries, the Turkic state was destroyed and the territory was incorporated into the territory of the Tang Dynasty. In 1055, a nomadic Seljuk Turkic tribe in Central Asia formed a Seljuk state centered on ancient Persia, and the Seljuk state was prosperous for a while.
In the 13th century, in order to escape the ravages of the Mongol iron hoof, he migrated to the Peninsula of Asia Minor on the south coast of the Black Sea, attached to the Sultanate of Rum established by the Seljuk Turks, and embraced Islam. At that time, the Ottoman Turks were small in number and weak in strength. But as its power grew, in 1300 AD, the Ottomans proclaimed themselves Sultan and began their conquest of the surrounding regions. At that time, some of the traditional powers in Eastern Europe and the Balkans had declined in strength during their long-term mutual conquests. Objectively, this also provided favorable conditions for the Ottoman Empire's war of expansion.
In 1326 AD, Orhan ascended the throne, and during his reign, a truly unified Ottoman state began to form. In less than 10 years, the Territory of the Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor was fully incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, thus laying a solid foundation for the subsequent large-scale expansion of the Ottoman Empire. From the middle of the 14th century onwards, larger wars of expansion began.
<h1>The war went through</h1>
First, the conquest of the Balkan Peninsula
In 1360, immediately after Murad I ascended the throne, he began to organize his conquest of the Balkans, because the situation in the Balkans was very favorable to him. The Byzantine Empire was weakening and ruling no more than a corner of Constantinople and its vicinity; serbia, an important country in the Balkans, faced division; Bulgaria had not recovered from its defeat at the hands of Serbia in 1330; Venice and Genoa, which had enormous economic and political interests in the eastern Mediterranean and the Straits, were often in open strife. Under the rapid attack of the Turks, some famous cities in Byzantium fell one after another. In 1361, Adriaborg was captured by the Turks. At the same time, groups of Turks, constantly crossing the Dardanelles, settled in the Balkans.
In 1363, Murad I captured Edirne, followed by Pflovdiv in Bulgaria. Horrified, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Wallachia organized a coalition to counterattack, but was defeated by a numerically inferior Ottoman army at the Battle of the Macha River in 1364. Since then, the countries of southeastern Europe have been unable to resist the Turk offensive and have been defeated one after another. In 1367, Murad I moved his capital to Adriaburg. Soon after, it occupied all of Thrace, cutting off Byzantine Constantinople from the rest of the Balkans, isolating Byzantium. Thus, the Byzantine Empire retained only a corner of Constantinople.
However, the expansion of the Ottoman Turks was met with strong resistance from the peoples of the Balkans. Under the leadership of the Serbian king, a coalition of Serbs, Bulgarians, Wallachians (inhabitants of southern Romania) and Hungarians fought against ottoman turk aggression. At first, the Coalition forces won several victories in succession, almost approaching the Ottoman Turk capital of Adriatic. However, they were overwhelmed by the victory and the enemy advanced lightly, and on July 26, 1371, at the Battle of the Mariza River, 60,000 allied troops were annihilated by turkey, and the Ottoman Empire annexed the territory of southern Serbia. The disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Mariza River left the Balkan monarchs feeling in danger, so they consulted together and unanimously elected the Serbian Duke of Lazar as commander-in-chief, and once again formed a coalition to prevent the Ottoman advance.
In June 1389, Razal led a decisive battle between 20,000 allied troops and 30,000 Turkish troops led by Murad in the wilderness of Kosovo in southern Serbia. The Ottoman army came in three ways, and the Middle Route Army was personally commanded by the seventy-year-old Murad. On 15 June, Serbian patriot and nobleman Miloš Obirić landed in Turkey and took the opportunity to assassinate Sultan Murad. As a result, the old Sultan was stabbed to the point and died of his wounds. However, the entire campaign was not hindered, and Murad's son Bayezid took over the command of the Ottoman army. Under the supervision of Bayezid, known as the "Lightning", the Ottoman army finally defeated the Allied forces. The Serbs suffered a crushing defeat, the Duke of Lazar was killed, and many generals were killed. The Battle of Kosovo ended the resistance of the danube south of Turkey, and Serbia became an Ottoman vassal.
2. Capture of Constantinople
In 1393, Bayezid led an army to conquer Bulgaria and Albania, and Hungary was in a precarious position. In the name of resisting the pagans, King Sigismon appealed to the Christian countries of Europe for help, and with the support of the Pope, soon organized a coalition against the New Crusaders of the Ottoman Turks. As a result, more than 100,000 Crusader knights from France, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Venice and other countries gathered under the banner of Sigismon.
In September 1396, the two armies encountered Fort Nico on the banks of the Danube River. Sigismund was incompetent, the generals of the coalition were divided, the command was chaotic, and as a result, they were defeated. The Ottoman army took advantage of the victory to invade Hungary. After that, Bayezid continued to march south, and in less than two years, he captured Thessalius and Epirus. By the end of the 14th century, the Ottomans had occupied a vast area from the Danube to Athens, and the Ottoman Empire controlled almost the entire Balkan Peninsula except for a corner of the city of Constantinople and parts of the Peloponnese. From 1393 onwards, the Ottomans began a continuous siege of Constantinople, forcing the Byzantine Empire to agree to build Muslim quarters and mosques in the city, appoint Islamic judges, and increase the annual tribute to the Ottomans to 10,000 gold coins, and the Ottomans had the right to garrison troops on the outskirts of Constantinople.
Just as the Ottoman Turkish expansion was unstoppable, sweeping southeastern Europe and conquering the Eastern Roman Empire, the Timurid Empire in the east rose in Asia Minor. The Asian power of the Ottoman Empire was threatened by the Timurid Empire. By 1400, Tamerlane had destroyed 9 dynasties and conquered 27 states, and the entire central Asia Minor and Near East had succumbed to his obscenity. In early 1402, Tamerlane led an army of 800,000 men to invade Asia Minor again. Not to be outdone, the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid led an army of 250,000 men to the battle. At the decisive Battle of Ankara, the Ottoman army was defeated and King Bayezid and one of his sons were captured. Since then, Ottoman power in Asia has been hit hard and civil wars have fought for the throne.
In 1451, after the 21-year-old Mehmed II ascended the throne, the Ottomans emerged. In April 1453, Mehmed II personally commanded 120,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, 10,000 Einsatzgruppen, and 300 large and small warships, and pounced on Constantinople from land and water.
Constantinople faces the sea on three sides, and on the other side has a strong city wall, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the city wall, the "Greek fire" and the large iron chain at the mouth of the Golden Horn are the three magic weapons of its defense. The 54-day siege failed due to the failure of the Golden Horn to close the siege. On the night of 21 April, the Ottomans bought the Genoese from the garrison and laid a 15-kilometre-long boardwalk along the border of the Galata district they controlled, dragging 70 small boats overland into the Golden Horn, finally completing the land and sea encirclement of Constantinople. After fierce fighting, the Ottoman army finally captured Constantinople on May 29, and the last Byzantine emperor was killed. Countless treasures were looted, classical culture was destroyed, 60,000 inhabitants were sold into slavery, and the famous Church of Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque.
Later, Mehmed II moved the capital to Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul. The occupation of Constantinople marked not only the end of the millennial rule of the Byzantine Empire, but also the rise of the Ottoman Empire, a new world empire. Its prestige among the Muslim countries of the East has risen sharply, its ability to control internally and its ability to expand external aggression has multiplied, and it has an increasing say in the development of the international situation in Eurasia. Over the next two or three decades, the ottoman empire expanded rapidly, with Serbia, Moriah, Wallachia, Bosnia, and Albania becoming part of the empire. In Asia, Sudan also annexed many places, basically completing the unification of Anatolia.
Third, go east! Go East!
In 1512, Selim I ascended the throne and began the expansion of the empire at its height. Selim's main rivals were the Safavid dynasty of Iran and the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt, which were trying to meddle in Anatolian affairs. The Safavid dynasty, a Shia who had tens of thousands of adherents in Anatolia, seditious rebellion against Sunni Ottoman rule. Selim arrested 70,000 Shiites and executed 50,000 of them, bringing the hatred between the two sides to the extreme.
In the spring of 1514, Selim led an army of 140,000 men and 300 cannons straight to the Persian border. On 23 August, the Ottoman army engaged in a decisive battle with 80,000 Persian cavalry at Chaldilan, defeating the Persian army, occupying Tabriz, and capturing the Kurdistan region the following year. Victory at the Battle of Chaldilan allowed the Ottoman Empire to consolidate its eastern borders and control the road from Tabriz to Aleppo and Bursa.
In June 1516, Selim attacked Aleppo while ordering his fleet to attack the Syrian coast. On 24 August, the two sides fought a decisive battle in the Dabik steppe near Aleppo, defeating the Egyptian army and killing the elderly Mamluk sultan. Taking advantage of the victory, the Austrian army successively occupied Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusalem, Gaza and other places, and entered Cairo at the end of January 1517, and the Mamluk dynasty collapsed. Syria, Palestine, Hejaz, and Egypt up to the southern region of Nubia were all incorporated into ottoman territory, making it a great empire spanning Europe, Asia, and Africa. The result of the conquest of Egypt greatly strengthened the political and economic position of the Ottoman Empire. As protector of the two holy sites of the Caliphate and Islam, the Ottoman Sultan had supreme prestige among Muslims, and as the master of Egypt and the red sea shores, the Ottomans controlled the Red Sea trade routes from India to the Mediterranean. The 8,000 gold coins that Cyprus pays to Egypt each year are transferred to the Ottomans. Selim, attaching great importance to maritime supremacy in the Mediterranean, ordered the construction of a new shipyard in the Golden Horn and the construction of 150 warships to lay the foundation for its maritime expansion.
Fourth, Suleiman created an immortal inheritance
In 1520, at the age of 20, Suleiman I ascended the throne as a preeminent military organizer, and through his vigorous expansion, the Ottoman Empire's external expansion reached its extreme.
In 1521, Suleiman mobilized tens of thousands of camels in Sofia to carry food and ordnance, and led an army of 100,000 to Belgrade. After a three-week siege, Belgrade was occupied at the end of August. In June of the following year, he concentrated 300 warships and 100,000 troops in Asia to conquer Rhodes. Rhodes was a fortified port with only 600 defenders and only 600 ordinary soldiers, but it was so powerful and powerful that the Ottoman siege of the island lasted for half a year, and after losing more than 50,000 soldiers, it forced the enemy to surrender conditionally on Christmas Eve 1522. After two years of conquest, Suleiman completed the unfinished business of his predecessors and relieved the worries of the empire.
After the pacification of Rhodes, Suleiman continued to wage a war of aggression against the outside world. In April 1526, he led an army of 100,000 men, carrying 300 cannons, and officially set out for Hungary. In September, Suleiman occupied the Hungarian capital of Buda without fighting. In May 1529, Suleiman sent troops to Central Europe, and in September, he besieged the famous European city of Vienna. The defenders of the city resisted heroically and could not conquer for a long time. Due to the early arrival of winter, the long battle line, and the lack of food, grass and ordnance, Suleiman was forced to withdraw. In 1532, Suleiman again entered Vienna. As a result of this march, the two sides signed a peace treaty in 1533, in which Archduke Ferdinand, the ruler of the Austrian Habsburgs, paid tribute to the Ottoman Empire and recognized Hungary as occupied by Suleiman. Suleiman's many conquests of Central Europe led to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire's territory in Europe.
In Asia, Suleiman defeated the Iranian armies of the Savid dynasty in 1534, 1548, 1553, and 1554. Suleiman led a large army to occupy Tabriz several times, captured Baghdad, and trampled on the western half of the Iranian Empire. Under the 1555 Peace of Turkey and Iraq, the Ottomans seized the western regions of Iraq, Georgia, and Armenia from Iran. In Africa, Ottoman troops seized the port of Mahdi in Tunisia from the Spani in 1554. It then moved west from Egypt and occupied Tripoli and Algeria in northern Africa. By 1556, the Ottoman Turks had conquered all of North Africa's coastal regions.
Suleiman's navy also made great achievements, defeating the fleets of Spain and Venice and controlling the sea domination of the Mediterranean. Suleiman's victory in land expansion was also vigorously seizing maritime hegemony. As he stepped up the expansion of his navy and his ties with pirates, he was determined to surpass Western pagan countries in terms of sea power. In 1534, the pirate Haileddin, who had been appointed governor, led an Ottoman fleet to occupy Tunis.
In 1538, the Ottoman fleet and the combined fleets of Spain, the Pope, Venice, and Portugal fought a decisive battle at sea near Prefoza, and the Ottoman fleet defeated the combined fleet that was twice as large as itself, and Venice was forced to cut off the land and pay 300,000 gold coins. The naval battle greatly consolidated the Ottoman position in the eastern Mediterranean. In 1551, the Ottoman fleet besieged the island of Malta, seized Tripoli, and repeatedly attacked Italy, the Spanish coastal areas, and the Spanish-controlled Åland region of North Africa. But at the Battle of Les desjourns in 1571, the Ottomans were defeated by the Combined Fleet. At the same time, Suleiman was also committed to the struggle for sea power in the Indian Ocean. In 1529 he considered digging a canal to connect the Mediterranean sea with India. He established the Red Sea Fleet in the port of Suez and set out for India in 1538, winning along the way but failing.
Thus, through 200 years of continuous war expansion, the Ottoman Empire encompassed most of the former Byzantine and Arab Empires. Its territory stretches from the Head of the Persian Gulf in the east, to Hungary in the west, to the Caucasus in the north, to the entire North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea in the south, from Egypt to Algeria, controlling the Red Sea, the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, with a territory of more than 5 million square kilometers, becoming a large country spanning Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1566, the once-illustrious Suleiman sat in a sedan for his thirteenth and final expedition. He died at the age of 72 on the eve of the capture of Sigot, near the Danube, on the eve of the annexation of Hungary. After Suleiman's death, with the intensification of various contradictions at home and abroad, the Ottoman Empire began to decline from the peak of its prosperity.
<h1>summary</h1>
One of the main reasons for the Ottomans' rapid rise from a small, little-known small state in northern Asia Minor to a powerful empire in Eurasia and Africa was that it had a powerful army built up on the system of dividing up land. This army consisted of Sipahi cavalry and yeniceri corps, with strict discipline, good treatment, unified command, and strong combat effectiveness. Several kings were outstanding commanders, brilliant and strategic, good at analyzing the strategic situation and seizing the opportunity, and combining bravery and good fighting with correct strategy and tactics, supplemented by diplomatic means and strategic strategies, ensured the invincible and gradual victory of the Ottoman Empire's large army.