TURKEY 



5912 



TURKEY 



History of Turkey 



European Empire Established. The Ottoman 

 Turks were originally an Asiatic people, and 

 their movement westward from their home in 

 Iran began in the early thirteenth century, 

 when they made their way to Asia Minor. 

 Here Osman, or Othman, from whom their 

 name is taken, built up an independent empire 

 on the ruins of that of the Seljuk Turks. The 

 Ottomans had accepted Mohammedanism cen- 

 turies before, and religious fanaticism combined 

 with desire for power to confirm them in their 

 aggressive policy. The eight strong sultans who 

 followed Osman not only spread their rule over 

 all of Asia Minor, but extended it into Europe 

 as \voll. gaining possession of Serbia, Bulgaria 

 and Macedonia. 



More than once the Turkish armies were led 

 against the great stronghold of Constantinople 

 in vain, but in 1451 a ruler came to the throne 

 who set the capture of that city before him as 

 the one great aim of his reign. This was Mo- 

 hammed II, known as "the Conqueror." A fort 

 was built on the European side of the Bosporus, 

 a monster cannon and great siege engines were 

 manufactured, and in 1453 the siege was begun. 

 About 200,000 fanatical Mohammedans were 

 engaged in the assault, while within the city 

 there were massed only about 8,000 fighting 

 men. After fifty-three days the city fell, on 

 May 29, and the Byzantine Empire was at an 

 end. The European part of the Turkish Em- 

 pire was not the larger, but it was recognized 

 as the more important and desirable, and Con- 

 stantinople was made the center of Turkish rule. 



Centuries of Conflict. Mohammed II at- 

 tempted wider conquests in Europe, aiming 

 especially at Hungary, and in 1456 he besieged 

 Belgrade, but the city was relieved by Hun- 

 yady, and Hungary was saved for a time. How- 

 ever, the empire continued to prosper for about 

 a century, and under Solyman the Magnificent 

 (1520-1565) it reached the height of its power 

 and splendor. Belgrade was taken, the Hun- 

 garians were completely defeated at Mohacs, 

 and Vienna was subjected to siege. 



The sultans after the time of Solyman began 

 to show that effeminacy and Jove of luxury 

 which are so often the result of success, and the 

 glory of the Ottoman state declined. In 1571 

 the fleets of Venice and Spain inflicted a severe 

 defeat upon the Turkish fleet in the memorable 

 Battle of Lepanto, and in the years that fol- 

 lowed Persia recaptured considerable territory 

 in Asia. At Saint Gotthard the Turkish armies 



were defeated by the Austrians in 1664, but the 

 tivaty that followed was not disadvantageous to 

 the Turks. Nineteen years later Vienna was 

 again besieged by the Turkish forces, but John 

 Sobieski relieved the city and saved Central 

 Europe from coming under the sway of. Mo- 

 hammedanism. 



Early in the eighteenth century the Turks 

 came into conflict with another enemy, with 

 which they were destined to be at war inter- 

 mittently for over two centuries. This new 

 enemy was Russia, which, during the reign of 

 Peter the Great, had become a power to be 

 reckoned with. By 1774 Russia had gained such 

 an advantage that Turkey was forced to give 

 up the Crimea and other territory in the region 

 of the Black Sea, open its waters to Russian 

 vessels, and allow Russia a protectorate over 

 Wallachia and Moldavia. Another war, which 

 lasted from 1787 to 1791, ended in further terri- 

 torial loss to the Turks. 



The Nineteenth Century. Turkey did not es- 

 cape the struggle of the Napoleonic Era, but 

 Egypt, which was captured by Napoleon in one 

 of his early campaigns, was later restored by 

 England. From 1806 to 1812 Turkey was at war 

 with Russia and at the close was obliged to give 

 up all claim to the territory between the 

 Dniester and the Pruth. In 1821 Greece de- 

 clared itself independent, and after an heroic 

 struggle made good its claim. The Peace of 

 Adrianople, which closed the Russo-Turkish 

 War of 1828-1829, loosened Turkey's hold on 

 some of its other dependencies. 



Between 1831 and 1839 there was intermit- 

 tent warfare between Mehemet Ali, viceroy of 

 Egypt, and his liege lord, the sultan, and only 

 the intervention of other European powers pre- 

 vented the complete overthrow of Turkey. As 

 it was, Mehemet Ali was recognized as heredi- 

 tary viceroy of Egypt, owing allegiance, how- 

 ever, to Turkey. 



Meanwhile the Eastern Question, as it was 

 called, had become a decided factor in the 

 politics of Europe. Russia was determined to 

 take advantage of Turkey's gradual weakening 

 to aggrandize itself, while the other great pow- 

 ers desired the preservation of Turkish integ- 

 rity, that Russia might 'not profit too much. 

 Thus in the Crimean War Turkey had England 

 and France as allies against Russia (see CRIMEA, 

 subhead Crimean War). The problem was by 

 no means settled, however, and when, in the 

 years following 1875, the Montenegrins, Serbi- 



