RISE AND DECLINE OF OTTOMAN POWER.
Capture of Constantinople--Victories of Mohammed II--The Sultans
Assume the Caliphate--Reign of Suleiman the Magnificent--Attack upon
Venice--Constant Strife over the Danubian Principalities--Internal
Disorganization--Weak Sultans and Powerful Viziers--Alliances with
Foreign Powers--Repeated Disasters--Weak Rule in Asia--Revolt in
Egypt and Syria--Condition at Commencement of Present Century.
For a little more than half a century after the foundation of the
Ottoman dynasty, the Ottomans merely formed one of the many bands
of Turks who roamed over Western Asia and Southeastern Europe,
plundering the Christians where they could and fighting each other
in a promiscuous contest for the supremacy; always, however, showing
an upward tendency. Not only were they vigorous on the battle-field,
but shrewd in their policies. The close of the Seljuk dynasty was
the signal for the division of the once famous empire of Rum. One by
one these divisions fell into the hands of the new Sultans; some by
conquest, some by purchase, some by politics, until they were by far
the most powerful element in that whole section. The weakening of the
Byzantine Empire, and its practical loss of power over the Danubian
provinces, tempted these Turks across the Dardanelles, and they
measured swords with the Serbs, Wallachs and others. Under Amurath, the
founder of the Janissaries, they became a terror to all, and the flag,
whose red color was established by himself as token of the blood that
flowed wherever they went, was flaunted in the very face of Christian
Emperors. Then, however, came a check; Timour-Lenk (Timour the Lame,
Tamerlane), who had risen against his Sultan in the small canton of
Trans-Oxiana, gathered to his standard the semi-barbarous tribes of
Turkestan, spread through Khorassan, Persia, Georgia and Southern
Russia; then south through Armenia and Mesopotamia into India. Then he
turned again westward, and, influenced not a little, perhaps, by the
presence in his court of some Turkish princes, deposed by the Ottoman
Sultans, he captured Syria, and just as Bajazet was under the walls
of Constantinople he heard that his own kingdoms were in danger. At
the famous battle of Konieh (Iconium) the Ottoman power was broken;
but with the death of Timour his empire went to pieces and the Ottoman
line again resumed its power. For another half century advance was made
even more rapidly than before, and on either side of the Bosporus and
Dardanelles the arms of the Turks were victorious.
The capture of Constantinople, which followed in 1453, really marked
the beginning of the Turkish Empire. The series of forays, with the
occasional capture of an important city or even of a province in Asia
Minor or the Balkan Peninsula, had become an organized campaign for the
subjugation of the whole of Western Asia and Southeastern Europe. More
than that, an entire change in form of government became necessary.
Hitherto all of government that there had been was that of the army,
and pertained to the immediate Moslem followers of the Sultan. The
various tribes or nations who yielded to his arms, but refused to
accept Islam, really had no relation whatever to his rule. They paid
what tribute was demanded, but there was no such thing as regular civil
government. When, however, Constantinople was captured, this condition
could no longer continue. It was essential that there be some definite
relation arranged between the Sultan and the large class of Greeks who
had come to form so important a part of the empire. He realized that
the whole position was changed; that he was no longer merely a general,
but an emperor, and an emperor over a very heterogeneous empire.
To begin with, there were the Greeks in Constantinople, all through
Western Asia Minor and in Europe; there were the Armenians, scarcely
recognized as a distinct people, with at the time no government
of their own, scarcely more than a race, an ecclesiastical unit,
held together by their church relations, and with a sort of tribal
organization; there was the Syrian Church in its varied forms,
Nestorian and Jacobite; there were the different branches of the Slav
race, all combined under the Greek Church. Undoubtedly Mohammed II,
would have been glad to have made them all Moslem. That, however, he
could not do, and very possibly he realized that while such a course
might flatter his pride, it would not be so advantageous for his
treasury, for he collected taxes from Christians which Moslems would
refuse to pay. Still, there must be some method arranged by which
these different nationalities should not only have their existence
recognized, but should be allowed a certain development with a view to
the strengthening of the empire.
During the century that had elapsed since the Ottoman dynasty began,
the various Sultans had come into contact with the forms of Roman
government. They had taken advantage of it in arranging for Moslems
within the territories of the Greek Emperors, and the Roman system
of one law for the citizen, another for the foreigner, was perfectly
familiar to them. Mohammed adopted this principle, and basing it
upon the idea, which dominates the whole growth of Moslem power, of
absolute union of Church and State, developed the system which has
governed in all that region until the present day, and established a
series of communities centering about the different ecclesiastical
leaders. Although it was not till a later date that the Sultans
assumed the title of Caliph, they had practically ruled as Caliphs
among their Moslem subjects. The same principle Mohammed II applied
to the Christians of his empire. Recognizing the Greek Patriarch at
Constantinople as the centre of authority, he called to that office
the head of the party, which under the last Constantine had opposed
a union with the Latin Church, and thereby, as he thought, had made
his own conquest easier, and confirmed him in the dignity of the
double office, civil and religious, which he was to exercise over
his people. He associated with him the clergy and learned men of
the church, and treated them with marked indulgence. He instituted
a court, giving the rank of Vizier to the Patriarch and granting to
him a guard of Janissaries. He established a system of government by
which all community and social rights and duties were vested in the
Patriarchate, which had sole authority in cases of marriage contracts,
legacies, wills, divorces, and even had absolute authority in criminal
matters, except such as directly involved the Sultan’s authority. Thus
there grew up a distinct community life involving a national life.
The principle of the Moslem being that there could be no legitimate
relations between himself and the non-Moslem, there were accorded to
these all the various community or communal rights. They had their
own quarter of the city, town or village; their own shops, butchers,
bakers, tailors; their own mills as well as their own churches. True,
there was demanded of them a heavy tax, the regular capitation or poll
tax, and the kharadj or military exemption tax, demanded of every
non-Moslem male from the age of three years. These taxes were by no
means light, and it was the general principle of the government to
so administer them as to impress it very clearly upon the unbeliever
that his condition was abject, and that even his life was a mark of
the Sultan’s favor. Still, there was a certain independence, and the
Greeks gathered again to their city, and the wiser of the Sultans that
followed Mohammed II carried out the idea of developing rather than of
fiercely oppressing these communities.
With this granting of communal rights to the Greeks came in due
time the recognition of the same principle in the case of the other
Christians, and each was represented at the Sublime Porte by its
Patriarch, with the various attendants of bishops and clergy.
One marked result of this course was to intensify the separation
between these different nationalities. The communities of Greeks,
Armenians and Syrians being so distinct, there arose more or less of
strife between them as to which should secure the greater privileges
and develop the most of community life. Hence the original hostilities
arising out of the differences of creed and worship were emphasized
rather than lessened, and whether intentionally or not, there grew up
the custom under the Sultans of ruling in a great degree by force of
jealousies between different classes of their subjects.
This general principle adopted in Constantinople was carried out in
minor detail all through the empire. In every city Christians were
organized into their communities and the ecclesiastical head, whatever
he might be, whether bishop or priest or deacon, was recognized by the
local government as the civil head of his community. Appeals could be
made to his higher ecclesiastical authorities, and the whole power of
the Turkish Government was brought to bear to enforce the decrees of
these semi-civil, semi-ecclesiastical rulers.
It was not, however an easy thing to develop any system of this
kind throughout the empire. Among the disturbing influences was the
confiscation of the lands of the great Greek families and their
transformation into fiefs, which were conferred on distinguished
warriors who held them on condition of serving the Sultan with a
certain number of followers, helped to solidify the empire, but
operated very heavily to repress the Christians. It left them at the
mercy of these feudal chiefs, and the situation during the centuries
that followed was one of increasing oppression. This was assisted
by the degradation of their own priesthood. Their position as civil
representatives of their people detracted more and more from their
spiritual teaching, and they became addicted to all sorts of intrigues.
Two notable results followed. One was the formation of bands of
freebooters in the mountain regions, who preyed upon the plain villages
in proportion as the feudal lords were careless or weak; the other
was the gradual dispersion of these Christian communities. This
affected the Armenians more than any others. They wandered here and
there over the empire in search of some place where they should be
left unmolested. It was about this time that they established their
quasi-kingdom at Sis in Cilicia, and spread over the plains of Northern
Syria and of Central Asia Minor. Their kingdom had a short life, and
the effect of their wandering from the ancestral home was to bring them
still more under the oppression of the Turks, so that they even lost
the ordinary use of their language.
Of the events that followed the capture of Constantinople it is
impossible here to do more than to give the very briefest summary, and
emphasize only such points as are most essential to the understanding
of the situation as it is to-day. First came the extending of
conquest, and during the thirty years that followed the capture
of Constantinople, it seemed as if more had been done than at any
time before. Servia yielded; then came Greece, although the famous
Scanderbeg held his own in Albania. More than one historian has
suggested that the effort to subdue him was only half-hearted out of
regard for his bravery and for the memories of his early life with the
Turks. Then Wallachia yielded and the people of Transylvania found the
Moslem no severer ruler than Wlad, called by his subjects Drakul (the
devil). Bosnia yielded its rule next, and war spread on southward and
westward against the Albanians and Venetians. Meanwhile the princes
of Karaman, who for a century and a half had held a varying rule in
Central Asia Minor, were finally subdued and the Sultan’s power over
what is now Asiatic Turkey was practically complete. Again he turned to
Europe, crossed the Dardanelles, took Moldavia and captured the Crimea,
which had for a time been under the Khans of that country, though they
had in turn yielded to a Christian republic, which had maintained
itself for some time with its capital, the most important town of
the northern Black Sea coast. Always, however, there was the outlook
westward, and although Venice checked the advance of the Ottomans,
they still threw themselves upon Transylvania and made incursions into
Hungary and Italy, and Mohammed II closed his reign with an attack upon
Rhodes, which, however, was repulsed.
From the death of Mohammed II, in 1481, to the reign of Suleiman the
Magnificent, in 1520, there were expeditions into Hungary and Moldavia,
and war with Venice and Persia, but no great additions to the Ottoman
domain. This, however, was more than made up by the conquest of Syria
and Egypt. The significance of these conquests was great as mere
territorial enlargement of the empire, but more important still were
the attendant influences which resulted in placing the Turkish Sultans
at the head of the Moslem world. The last Mameluke Sultan, of Egypt,
was hanged at the gate of Cairo in 1517, and Sultan Selim passed a
month longer in that capital presiding at two great Egyptian fêtes--the
opening of the Cairo Canal, and the departure of the annual caravan for
Mecca, and received from the Sherif of Mecca the keys of the Kaaba.
His army, however, became restless and he returned to Constantinople.
To that city he summoned Mohammed XII, the last representative of the
Abbasside Caliphs, to whom the rulers of Egypt had always given the
honorary title. Selim required of him to relinquish the rights and
distinctive ensigns of the Caliphate, the standard, the sword and
the mantle of the prophet, and assumed the political and religious
chieftainship of Islam. This conquest of Egypt and the assumption of
the Caliphate attracted the alarm of European powers and resulted
in treaties with Venice and Hungary. A second attack on Rhodes was
planned, but not carried out, and in 1520 Selim gave place to his son
Suleiman the Magnificent.
The reign of Suleiman from 1520 to 1566, deserves more than a passing
mention. It was the golden age of the Turkish rule, when the empire
reached its greatest extent and achieved its highest success; when
all Europe was either dreading its advance or treating for its
assistance. But it was also noticeable for its internal organization,
which remained until Mahmud II, under the pressure of the altered
circumstances of 250 years later, made changes which have resulted in
the present system.
The relations between Turkey and the European powers, inaugurated
practically during this reign, will be treated of later. Here it is the
purpose to survey the general history of that reign. The first act was
the suppression of a revolt along the Danube, and Belgrade was taken,
its Serb population being transferred to Constantinople in pursuance
of a policy inaugurated by Mohammed II for the building up of that
city. Then the Sultan turned his eyes to Rhodes, and with a fleet of
300 vessels and 100,000 men undertook its capture. For five months the
Grand Master of the Knights held out, but was finally forced to yield,
and betook himself with his men to Malta, where they planned anew the
war against the Koran. Next to Rhodes, Hungary was the great object
of the Sultan’s ambition, and it was only a few years later that he
made vast preparations for an invasion. At the battle of Mohacz, in
1526, the Hungarian kingdom was destroyed, and on the 10th of September
Suleiman entered Budapesth.
Revolts in Asia, however, called back the Sultan, though the war
continued in Hungary, and a second expedition was started three years
later. It was the Turkish theory that any place in which the Sultan
had slept was within the bounds of his empire, and accordingly again
Budapesth was occupied; this time, however, merely as a vantage ground
from which to attack Vienna itself. The history of the defense of
the Austrian capital is one of the most brilliant in the military
history of Central Europe during that century. Notwithstanding the
overwhelming power of the Turks, with their army of 300,000 men and
300 cannon, besides a strong flotilla, the Austrians, reinforced by
the Protestants--so-called since the protest at Spires in the spring
of that year--resolved to defend the place. The city walls were weak
and out of repair, and the Sultan apparently thought conquest easy, for
he sent a message that if the garrison would surrender he would not
even enter the town, but press on in search of the emperor; if they
resisted he would dine in Vienna on the third day, and then he would
not spare even the child in the womb. They, however, would not yield,
and he never entered. The bravery of the troops who gathered from every
part of Germany, assisted by the valor of the citizens, repulsed the
Turks again and again, and, as the season was advancing, the Sultan
returned to Constantinople. A third expedition resulted again in a
most humiliating disgrace; 350,000 Turks, led by the Sultan himself,
were detained more than three weeks by a garrison of about 700 men
at a little town in Styria. Germany amassed all its forces, and now
there came in the influence of Western Europe. France had already made
advances to the Turkish Government, and Venice, seeking protection for
her commerce, had entered into treaty, and both of them through their
ambassadors advised the Sultan, with a weakened army, not to meet the
well-organized troops of Charles V. The expedition, therefore, was
reluctantly withdrawn, to be renewed again later, and again given up
when a general truce was arranged with the German power. Meanwhile,
however, Barbarossa had come in conflict with the Venetian Doria, and
the Italian shore was threatened by the Turkish troops. But no great
gains were made, and at the death of Suleiman, in 1566, no positive
advance had been registered.
The internal history of the empire was in some respects more
important than the external. Suleiman is known among the Ottomans as
the Legislator. He organized the Ulemas, altered the system of fiefs,
and arranged matters of finance, justice, civil and penal law, and
the various departments of his empire. The general principle of land
tenure was based upon the doctrine that the soil belonged to God, and
thus to his representative, the Sultan. It was, however, apart from
that reserved for the Sultan himself, divided into three classes; land
occupied by Mussulmans after the conquest, subject only to the tithes;
land let to conquered populations, especially Rayahs (non-Moslem
subjects), who, aside from the tithe, paid capitation and exemption
taxes; and the domains given by the Sultan as military rewards under
the arrangement inaugurated by Amurath I. In general, the principle of
the collection of taxes had been to make them as onerous as possible.
Suleiman recognized the unwisdom of this, and introduced various
modifications, which had the effect of lessening the harshness, and at
the same time of increasing the revenues. He also looked very closely
after the fiefs, demanding that only the smaller ones should be under
the control of the governors of provinces; that the larger ones must be
referred to Constantinople. This last order had special reference to
the taxes levied by these governors upon the peasants. Notwithstanding
this organized system of revenue, the income was not sufficient, and
additional contributions of one kind and another were laid, especially
upon conquered provinces, such as Hungary and Transylvania, which
resulted in the almost utter destruction of their prosperity. In
the matter of crime, corporal punishment was sparingly inflicted.
Almost every crime could be atoned for by the payment of a fine.
Notwithstanding the brilliant success achieved, it was in this very
reign that the decadence of Moslem rule commenced. The heavy expenses
of the various wars, and of the organization of the empire, had a great
influence in bringing about a condition of venality which rapidly
sapped the strength of the government. Suleiman saw it, but allowed it
to pass, only taking care that it did not interfere with his army. His
power over the army, however, weakened. It had hitherto been the custom
that the Janissaries should never enter war except under the personal
lead of the Sultan. This privilege was withdrawn. Their numbers also
were recruited by adventurers of every kind, and the general discipline
was weakened by allowing them to marry, follow trades, and become
stationary in the garrisons, where they were practically citizens,
merchants, operators, etc. In the general conduct of the government
also, the Sultan no longer presided over the Cabinet Meeting or Divan,
as it was called. He confined himself more and more to his palace, and
came under the effeminating influence of a luxury carried to such an
extent that the surroundings of the Christian princes of Europe paled
before the pomp of the Moslem Court. The formal condemnation by the
Koran of such luxury was passed by entirely, the simplicity of manners
to which the empire owed its advance was greatly corrupted; the use
of wine became quite common, and the use of coffee, just introduced,
was carried to excess. The result was that in every department of the
government there were sown the seeds of the weakness that manifested
itself, with occasional exceptions, in the history of the succeeding
two and one-half centuries.
The history of the following years, aside from the relations with
the European Governments, must be passed over very briefly. They
include expeditions to Arabia, the conquest of Cyprus in 1570, the
battle of Lepanto, when the fleets of Europe--Spanish, Italian and
Venetian--blotted out the Turkish marine, and freed the Mediterranean
coast from the terror of their devastations. This was, however,
somewhat compensated for by the capture of Tunis. There was chronic war
with Hungary and Persia, that with the latter power resulting in the
addition to the Ottoman Power of Georgia and a considerable portion of
Northern and Southeastern Persia. The whole Balkan Peninsula was in a
chronic state of revolt and subjugation. There were powerful Sultans,
such as Amurath I, and great viziers, as the Kuprulis. At times the
Turkish successors threatened again the peace of Europe, but they were
generally used by one and another government, particularly France, as a
check to the encroachments of enemies.
In 1669, “the Ottoman Empire included forty governments and four
tributary countries: in Europe all Greece, Illyria, Maesia, Macedonia,
Pannonia, Thrace and Dacia; the kingdoms of Pyrrhus and Perseus;
the states of Treballi and the Bulgarians: in Africa the kingdom of
the Ptolemies, with the territory of Carthage and Numidia: in Asia
the kingdoms of Mithridates, Antiochus, Attalus, Prusias, Herod and
Tigranes; those of the obscure sovereigns of Cappadocia, Cilicia and
Comagena; the territories of the Iberians and the Scythians, and a
portion of the empire of the Parthians. Without reckoning the Greek
Republics and the Tyrian colony, there were twenty kingdoms included in
these forty governments, from the Syrtes to the Caucasus, and to the
countries watered by the Hydaspes.”
To these territories was added the lower part of Russia, held by the
Cossacks of the Ukraine, who voluntarily submitted to the Sultan’s
rule as protection against the Russians and Poland. This occasioned
the war with Poland, when the Poles were led by John Sobieski. The
famous general, Kara Mustapha, in 1683, sought to rival the conquests
of Suleiman, and with an army more powerful than any the Turks had ever
sent from Constantinople, determined to besiege Vienna. The Austrian
king called for Sobieski’s assistance, and secured it notwithstanding
the intrigues of Louis XIV, who vainly sought to convince the Pole that
his real enemies were in Austria, and in that power of the north whom
the Dutch papers had begun to call “His Russian Majesty.” Loyal to his
religion, however, Sobieski went to the aid of Vienna. His cavalry,
aided by that of the Germans, put the Turks to flight after more than
10,000 of their troops had been left on the field of battle. Then came
a panic, and the Turks fled in disorder, leaving an immense booty to
the victors. Of this the King of Poland received as his share 4,000,000
florins, while arms studded with precious stones, and banners and
treasures to a very heavy amount, were divided among the victors.
The war with Austria developed into the war against the Holy Alliance,
a league against the Turks, under the protection of the Pope, and
formed by the Emperor of Austria, the King of Poland, and the Republic
of Venice, to which also the Czar was invited. This war went on with
varying fortunes until the peace of Carlowitz, in 1699. This period
included the rule of the famous Kupruli Mustapha Pasha, one of the most
successful and most noted of the Macedonian family, which supplied
five viziers to the Ottoman throne. He was probably one of the most
intelligent, courageous and humane statesmen of Turkey, and his death
in battle was regretted alike by Christians and Turks, who named him
Kupruli the Virtuous. The tide, however, had set against Turkey, and
under the influence of William of Orange the intrigues of Louis XIV,
were set aside, and Turkey signed the peace of Carlowitz. By this
Hungary and Transylvania were ceded to Austria, with the exception
only of a small territory. Poland recovered Ukraine and Podolia;
Russia retained Azof; Venice on her part gave up her conquests to the
north of the Gulf of Corinth and almost the whole of Dalmatia, and all
the tributes paid by the Christian powers to the Ottoman courts were
abolished.
This was the first great gap made in the Ottoman Empire, and from this
time it ceased to be an object of dread in Europe. Hitherto it had been
isolated and owed its greatness to that fact in considerable degree.
Now it was dominated by its allies and had to submit to the influence
of ambitious neighbors or interested friends. Its decline could no
longer be hindered, and already there was upon its borders that power
of the north, which, by gaining an entrance to the Black Sea, commenced
really its European life.
The example of Kupruli the Virtuous was followed by Kupruli the
Wise, who immediately set himself about improving the general condition
of the empire. In the European provinces he favored his Christian
subjects in regard to the payment of arrears of taxes, and in Syria he
gave them freedom of pasturage for flocks. The Mussulmans under the
general influences of the time retrograded in their devotion to their
religion, and he strove by every means to recall them to the study and
practice of that religion, but failed to keep a hold even upon the
Moslem leaders, and yielded his life to their intrigues. This was about
the commencement of the eighteenth century, and through that century
the history, so far as the immediate empire itself is concerned, is a
varying one. It commenced with a time of peace, under the diminution of
French influence and a general disregard of the Russian power. That,
however, under Peter the Great, commenced aggressions that soon aroused
Mussulman pride, which, irritated at the appearance of the infidel on
the Black Sea, hitherto regarded as sacred to Islam, declared war. This
resulted in the restoration of Azof to the Ottoman Government and the
shutting out of Russia from the Black Sea. More and more, however, the
influence of European politics (dwelt upon more in detail in another
chapter) was evident in internal disturbances, which had their effect
not merely upon Christians, but upon Moslems, and Russian intrigue
played an increasingly powerful part in the general development of the
empire.
Even throughout Asiatic Turkey the rule of the Sultan was scarcely
more than nominal. The province of Bagdad was practically independent,
furnished no revenues, and, although a certain suzerainty of the
Sultan was acknowledged, even war with a European power brought no
troops, which were held to be necessary as a defense against the
Arabs. Throughout Eastern Turkey there were whole nations or tribes
of people independent of the Sultan and his pashas, and the Pasha of
Trebizond was master of the whole country. Aghas, or independent lords,
maintained armies even up to the borders of Smyrna, and the mountains
throughout Asia Minor and the Lebanon were perfectly independent.
Most of them, aside from the Armenians and Greeks, were Moslems, yet
not a few sectaries, as Kurds and the Metawelis, united religious to
political hostility. On the coast of Syria, only the ports were under
strong Turkish rule, and caravans from Alexandretta to Aleppo dared
not cross the mountains because of the Kurds. At this same time was
developed the power of the Mamelukes in Egypt, under the famous Ali
Bey, who joined with him an Arab chief, and dominated pretty nearly
all of Syria. In 1770 the empire seemed near its dismemberment. The
Russians held the Danube and Azof, Georgia was in rebellion, even
Damascus was threatened, and Ali Pasha, of Janina, was laying the
foundations of his power in Albania. The next step downward was the
treaty of Kainardji in 1774, which gave Crimea to the Czar, accorded
the navigation of the Black Sea to Russia, and ceded a portion of
the Caucasus. True, some of the Danube provinces were regained, but
this was of comparatively little moment. Another peace, that of
Jassy, signalized an additional step in the same downward direction.
Constantly there were increasing disorders in administration. The
Sultans were less and less men of ability, dominated by the Janissaries
or by the ecclesiastics, and Turkey became the football of the various
strifes for predominance in Europe.
The present century opened with another war with Russia, when the
latter invaded the Danubian principalities, taking advantage of a
revolt of the Servians.
[Illustration:
A KHAN OR CARAVANSARY. The alcoves are used by travelers in which
to spread their rugs and store their merchandise in good weather.
What appear to be platforms are the roofs of the stables, half
under ground. In time of storm or in winter, most travelers occupy
platforms in these stables.]
[Illustration:
A DOME VILLAGE IN NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA. On account of the almost
entire lack of timber the villagers are compelled to make their
roofs by using sun-dried brick or adobe in the form of the dome.
In the center of the dome, as a rule, there is a hole which acts
both as chimney and as window. These houses are mostly connected by
semi-underground passages.]