The Ottoman Empire *final draft

The Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire started in the 13^th century and was one of the strongest and long lasting empires ever. But before it began the Turks were nomadic people searching for grasslands in Asia Minor. The Ottomans started conquests under the lead of Osman Bey who is considered to be the founder of the Ottoman Empire. There conquests were to Africa, Asia and Europe in the hand of the Ghazi. The Ghazis were warriors of faith who fought in the name of Islam to take in Christian and Jewish territories for the Ottomans. The warriors however didn’t go near Muslim territories because the point of their conquests is to spread Islam and didn’t want conflict with their Muslim brothers. The Ottomans finally settled in the city of Bursa and formed a government. This changed their nomadic lifestyle and ended in one of the greatest empires that lasted from the 13^th century to the 19^th century.

There are a lot of key elements that helped the empire to its rise but the most important is religion. Religion is the key element not only to the rise of the empire but also to the small factors that makes any great empire. Islam was important to education, warfare, foreign relations, agriculture and culture. All of the factors listed are important to the success of the empire and are all connected by the religion. Without them the Ottomans wouldn’t have existed or have prevailed.

Education was important to the Ottomans as the Devshirme system gave the empire loyal soldiers for the empire. The Devshirme is when the ottomans bring young boys at the ages of 8-15 from the Balkans to serve in state service of the empire. The boys were brought to be educated in the palace school where they were taught about Islam and its culture and learned Persian, Arabic and Ottoman Turkish also they converted to Islam. At the age of 25 they become part of the military. The whole point of the Devshirme system is that it gave the sultan loyal soldiers in his army.

Warfare was also influenced by religion as stated before Ghazis were really important to the Ottomans. Ghazis were warriors of the Islamic faith who fought against the Mongols to restore land to the Ottomans. Religion was might have been a problem in warfare because it limited the Ghazis conquests because they cannot set out to Muslim controlled areas. Another aspect that helped the warfare of the ottomans is the Timar system, which has a strong resemblance of the European feudal system. The Timar system is a system that is a new and improved version of an old Persian way. They would give the askeri part of the agricultural taxes in return in a guarantee for serving in the military. This was good because it gave the sultan more than a 100,000 cavalrymen in the military and also he’d know the income of the empire.

Their foreign relations were somewhat peaceful with other religions. But it seemed that there was more rivalry with their Muslim brothers than other religions. The reason for their harmony with other religions is the Millet system. The Millet system is where the Muslims granted any community within the Ottoman Empire that had an excepted holy book protection. The protected communities were called dhimmas and the people within the communities dhimmis had to pay in return a poll tax or cizye.

Agriculture was also an important aspect as it was the key element to a strong economy. Agriculture provided the citizens jobs as farmers who farm the produce and merchants who sell the produce. The empire had a lot of fertile land, which made it a lot easier to farm and to have good crops. Some fertile lands were the Nile delta in Egypt and Aydin valley in Anatolia provided great crops from the rich soils.

Their culture was strongly influenced by Islam in all these subjects’ poetry, calligraphy, music and food. Islam powerfully swayed poetry as they used Quran as a base of writing. Calligraphy started of by artists writing the verses of Quran in the holy book.  Islam was also part of the food, as they had to adapt their cooking styles to the limitations given by the religion.

These are all very important factors to the Ottoman Empire and they were all influenced by religion, as religion was the most important aspect in the Ottomans eyes. The Ottoman Empire was a great empire that could of lasted until today but the concepts of nationalism and ethnicity came into play. The decline of the empire started when bribery and corruption started becoming an issue in the government. Wars with other nations started putting pressure and ended up in treaties. The shrinking empire finally fell in the 19^th century even though it ended its still remembered as one of the best Empires that have ever existed.

Bibliography

1. Turzim. “The Ottoman Empire.” Accessed November 27, 2011.
http://www.turizm.net/turkey/history/ottoman3.html.
2. History of the Ottoman Empire. "The Ottoman Empire Timeline". Accessed November 27, 2011. http://www.turizm.net/turkey/history/ottoman3.html  
3. BBC. "Ottoman Empire (1301-1922)". November 28, 2011.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ottomanempire_1.shtml
4. HilalPlaza. “The Fall of the Ottoman Empire.” Accessed 25-November-2011http://www.hilalplaza.com/fall-of-ottoman-empire.html                                                                       5. Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922: New Approaches to European History.

 Cambridge: Cambridge University Printing Press, 2000.

Bibliography

1. Turzim. “The Ottoman Empire.” Accessed November 27, 2011.
http://www.turizm.net/turkey/history/ottoman3.html.
2. History of the Ottoman Empire. "The Ottoman Empire Timeline". Accessed November 27, 2011. http://www.turizm.net/turkey/history/ottoman3.html  
3. BBC. "Ottoman Empire (1301-1922)". November 28, 2011.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ottomanempire_1.shtml
4. Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922: New Approaches to European History.
 Cambridge: Cambridge University Printing Press, 2000.

The Ottoman Empire *Introduction*

     The Ottoman Empire is a very large and successful empire that lasted for about 600 years. The Empire was named after Osman Bey who was chief of his tribe. The Empire started to spread from Anatolia to countries such as Syria, Iraq and Arabia and later on took North African Countries. The Empire was reigned by 45 sultans throughout the 600 years of this Islamic Empire.

Ottoman Empire Outline

I.          Introduction
  
    a. Introduction of the Ottoman Empire.
    b.  Overview on Islam

II. Culture
 
   a. Religion effect in culture.
   b. Art and Culture

III. Islam
 
  a. Islam in the empire
  b. Islam's impact in every day life

IV. Art

  a. Society and Art
  b. Art with a religious perspective

V.  Conclusion
 
  a. Restate all that said
  b. Restate thesis

Aztec or Conquistador Diary

Aztec:-

Dear Diary,

  A group of strange white skinned men on a vessel of some sorts showed of on our shoreline. They were so much different than our people they had light glowing faces unlike our brown colored skin and their food was nothing like ours.  My people think that Cortez is Quazacotl here for his revenge over like he has sworn before. Which I think might be true because when we came to fight them they had what looked like deer but larger, stronger and more majestic. Something else I have never seen before was the sticks they had that spit out fire and left our men lifeless on the ground. They might be here for revenge as my people thought.

Conquistador:-

Dear Diary,

  We sailed to a shore of a strange land that before I thought this land was just islands off the coast of Cuba. I guess I was wrong because this land turns out to be quite sizeable.  At first when I saw the land off the horizon in the ship I thought this land was empty with no civilizations. I was wrong again as it turns out it has a civilization that is really advanced. The residents of this land are savage murderers that kill anybody in sight. My people are forced to fight with them because we are scared they’d eat us or something. At first we came and stayed to this in search of riches and gold but I guess its more important to survive than gold.   

* i didn't know which point of view should I choose so I wrote both points of view :).

Why did Lutheranism appeal to the Princes?

        Lutheranism is a branch of Western Christianity formed by the German reformer Martin Luther. Martin Luther attempted to reform the theology or the study of nature of God of the Catholic Church which ended in the Protestant reformation. It all began with Luther's 95 Theses, it was a list of concepts that the Roman Catholic Church followed that Martin disagreed with. Ideas of the Reformation spread tremendously because of his theses forming a big group of followers. Lutheranism appealed to all social classes, people (also Princes) approved of the suggestions in the theses. Lutheranism gave princes in Germany more authority and power over their people.
      Lutheranism gave the princes authority to control more land and territories. This gave them to take over monasteries, giving more money and land. By confiscating monasteries they would save money to spend on there community which appealed to many.
     The Reformation gave the German princes freedom of controlling politics. which made princes able to ordain their own ministers. Which stopped problems of powers with Bishops and Archbishops. The stop f the struggles gave more power to the princes.
      Also princes who converted did not have to pay tribute to Rome by diverting revenues. This gave them the freedom not to implement ecclesiastical fees on their citizens. The more wealth of the kingdoms was kept instead of being sent as tax to Rome.
     Another appeal for the princes was the many incorrect beliefs given by the Roman Catholic Church. One example was that Luther said two important points in the theses; First, he said that Jesus was the only true leader of the church not the Pope. Second, indulgences are sinful and they don't buy the way to heaven it just provides more money to the church. This threatened the Pope as he himself believed Luther's Thesis. More concepts of the Catholic Church were proven false as of so many converted to Lutheranism to save their souls and start the correct the path to heaven.
       Lutheranism appealed to the princes because it promised a great amount of power, wealth and freedom. Wealth was given to the princes and the kingdom and even more for the princes. Also princes believed that they saved their souls by converting to Lutheranism.
  

How Did The Crusade Change Europe

    There many changes in Europe as a result of the crusades. Some of the most significant were commerce, feudalism, and intellectual development. Commerce was significant because more trade with the Middle East made merchants have more money and encouraged ship building. Feudalism was another important point because after the crusades most barons and knights either died or sold their land making the king richer and more powerful, also it broke down later. Last but not least intellectual development is important because people became more liberal which meant they were more open to newer ideas, also it was the period of new learning.
    In my opinion, the most important was intellectual development because the people were open to new ideas. I believe that without the people being more liberal the Renaissance would never have happen. Also the Renaissance is a really important thing in European history.
Other changes that happened is the Catholic Church becomes more in power, the political effects, the social effects. After the crusades many of the rich joined the church meaning the church would gain money. The political effects were that cities were more in power, Aristocracy is destroyed, and lending money with interests. The one I think is least important is the social effect which is knights became more chivalrous.