History of the Ottoman Empire

The history of the Ottoman Empire traces its emergence in Anatolia in the late thirteenth century, expansion across three continents, and dissolution after World War I.

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Osman I: The Ottoman ruler traditionally credited with founding the dynasty and principality around the turn of the fourteenth century. His name and frontier principality became the starting point of Ottoman dynastic history.
Devshirme: An Ottoman levy that recruited Christian boys, educated them, and placed many in state or military service. It supplied elite administrators and soldiers while tying advancement to the sultan’s household.
Conquest of Constantinople: The Ottoman capture of Constantinople from the Byzantine Empire in 1453 under Sultan Mehmed II. The conquest ended Byzantine rule and made the city the Ottoman imperial capital.
Mehmed II: The Ottoman sultan who captured Constantinople in 1453 and expanded the empire through conquest and centralization. His reign established the capital and political model of a major imperial power.
Tanzimat: A nineteenth-century Ottoman reform era, beginning in 1839, that sought to reorganize administration, law, and citizenship. Its reforms aimed to strengthen the empire while redefining relations between state and subjects.
Anatolian beyliks: Turkish principalities that emerged in Anatolia after the decline of Seljuk power. The Ottomans rose among these competing principalities after Seljuk authority weakened.
Janissaries: Elite Ottoman infantry originally recruited through the devshirme and maintained as a force directly serving the sultan. Their changing military and political power shaped the empire’s central government.
Battle of Mohács: The 1526 Ottoman victory over the Kingdom of Hungary that opened much of central Hungary to Ottoman influence. It marked a major expansion of Ottoman power into central Europe.
Suleiman the Magnificent: The Ottoman sultan who ruled from 1520 to 1566 during a period of extensive territorial expansion and legal reform. His reign became a benchmark for Ottoman imperial strength and statecraft.
Armenian genocide: The Ottoman government’s systematic deportation and mass killing of Armenians during World War I. It remains a central and contested subject in accounts of the empire’s wartime dissolution.