The Ottoman Empire Chapter 18:1a [Image source:

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Suleiman I (ruled ) aka “The Lawgiver” was both sultan and caliph multi-talented: -heroic leader -gifted commander -skillful administrator -patron of the arts [Image source:

Ottoman Government Grand Vizier “prime minister” head of the bureaucracy enforcing the sultan’s decrees Ulema religious advisors ruled on questions of Islamic law

[Image source: An elite corps of officers called janissaries were “recruited” from Christian families in the Balkans, converted to Islam, and trained in the military arts.

Ottoman society was divided into several classes,... [Image source:

... the ruling class, relatives of the sultan,... [Image source:

... high government officials,... [Image source: ers/stockphoto.asp?imageid= ]

... the nobility, who administered large agricultural estates,... [Image source:

... and peasants, who were the largest class, working on those agricultural estates. [Image source:

Non-Muslims were permitted to practice their faith and manage the affairs of their local millet (community), but existed in a state as second- class subjects. [Image source:

Decline of the Ottomans faced numerous enemies on their borders - tried to fight both the Persians and Western Europe simultaneously military conquest ceased - massive poverty and civil discontent confronted with independence movements - uprisings in the Balkans (Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, and Romanians) - ruthlessly crush Armenian and Arabian bids

An alliance of Western European forces, led by Spain, defeated the Ottoman navy at Lepanto in [Image source:

Polish King Jan III Sobieski dealt a decisive blow to Turkish expansion when he defeated an Ottoman army outside the gates of Vienna in [Image source:

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In 1856, Sultan Abdul-Mejid I created a national “citizenship”, reduced the authority of religious leaders, and opened government service to all peoples. [Image source:

Non-Turkish ethnic groups (Armenians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Serbs) had little interest in reforms that were intended to save the empire. [Image source: 1/1821/fort1821/struggle.html]

Reformers, known as the “Young Ottomans”, engineered replacing Abdul- Aziz with Abdul- Hamid II in [Image source:

In 1877, Abdul- Hamid II decided to resist reform, fearing that a move towards liberalism would ultimately ruin the Ottoman empire. [Image source:

Abdul Hamid II dissolved the parliament, ended constitutional rule, drove many of the Young Ottomans into exile, and imposed absolute rule. [Image source: nism htm]

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