13. ZENITH AND STABILIZATION- AND SLOW DECLINE
BAYEZID (II) AND JEM ‘SULTAN’
During Fatih’s last years the relationhip between the Mamluks and Ottomans suffered on account of Mamluk’s impious support for the Karamanids who did not stop dreaming their emancipation from Ottoman rule. the last Turkish beylik to hold out against the Ottoman attempts for unifying Islam at its frontiers with Christianity. For their parts Ottomans had been trying to help Mamluks who kept asking for their help against the new threats the sea-going Portuguese. This last were harassing the red Sea strongholds of Mamluks from Aden northward on top of extending their harassment to India and beyond where other Muslim powers, including the Great Mughals were feeling the pressure. Still more barbarous then Muslims these Christian conquerors were worthy of their Crusader ancestors in their daring and valour as much as their ruthless savagery and lack of scruples no matter what. What is more, like the early Crusaders they often found willing allies among corrupt Muslim rulers who, for help against their hated Muslim rivals could see these infidels God-sent.
When Fatih passed away his older son Bayezid was the governor of Amasya and The younger son Jem of Konya- for Ottoman princes were trained for rule by teaching them the art as governor of provinces under the tutorship of experienced pashas. Although the sadrazam Karamanli Mehmed Pasha plotted to instal Jem the Janissaries got wind of it, captured the clique commissioned with the seizure and installed Bayezid instead (1481). In the melee Karamanli lost his head.
Jem refused to recognize his brother’s accession and advanced against him conquering and subduing towns en route. Reaching Bursa the old capital he offered Bayezid the division of the empire on east-west lines- leaving the west (which included the Europe) to Bayezid. The latter responded by coming and defeating him near Bursa. Jem’s cause instantly collapsed and unable to feel safe he fled all the way to the Mamluks who welcomed him as a precious hostage. They found him not too useful and he had to accept the invitation of Karamanoglu Kasim bey who entertained the idea of re-gaining his independence by helping Jem to oust Bayezid. Coming to nothing the couple split, Jem in vain tried to defeat Bayezid who, to his credit offered him lenient terms of pension. Evenually he had to stoop to the level of taking refuge with the Knights of Rhodes, a small island princedom off-shore to the southern Turkish province of Antalya. These hardy knights were remnants of the Crusaders (Knights Templars) and implacable enemies of ‘Turks’ (as all Muslims were called by the West).
Their marauding ships were ambushing and claiming Turkish ships whose survivors then were sold into slavery mostly to be used as galley oarsmen on Christian ships and women as domestic servants and, if young, as concubines or army prostitutes. These were then the hosts of Jem. On some payment from Bayezid the knights broke their promises to Jem for supporting him against his brother but took him to France. He was then delivered to pope Innocent VIII. The latter proposed Jem to instal him on the Turkish throne by launching a big Crusade against Bayezid, if Jem converted to Christianity. Jem was mortified by this cynical audacity and perhaps for the first time he realized how silly and guilty he had so far been. The pope continued receiving lucrative payments from Bayezid for royally imprisoning Jem and an extra bribe persuaded him to poison Jem after first putting him on route to France to reduce the suspicion. He perished on the way and thus ended another unnecessary shame and tragedy in Islam’s annals.
For his part Bayezid proved his metal by his tolerant and helpful treatment of his light-headed younger brother and then ruling wisely and justly. It was he who, in 1495, sent the Turkish navy under admiral Kemal Reis to salvage the remnants of the Muslim as well as Jewish victims of the Spanish massacres as the latter mopped up the pockets of Muslims(where also the Jews lived) over the Iberian peninsula. Among Turks Bayezid II is called ‘Bayezid-e Veli’, for overall his disposition was sufi and seriously pious.
His main fight was against the Mamluks who did not stop instigating insurrection among the old Turkish beys to break away from the Ottoman union. From 1485 to 1491 the two powers clashed destructively for no good. It was a draw at the cost of enormous casualties and devastation of economies. Eventually the bey of Tunis managed to reconcile the two sides who then signed a peace treaty.
Bayezid was more successful in the Western front. He fought against the Venetians both over strongholds in Greece and in the Aegean and his wise investment in a proper Ottoman navy paid off handsomely when it beat the undisputed masters of the art the 200 ship-strong Venetian navy (1499). Whole Morea was taken from Venice and many fortified islands as well.
SELIM I, CALLED YAVUZ
Contrary to a possible impression that Bayezid was just another master conqueror (jehangir) the fact was that he was a man of peace and never sought a fight. All his wars were caused by the attacks of an enemy.
Among his sons however there was the fiery-tempered and lion-hearted Selim who deplored his fathers softly softliness as he saw it and burned with the ambition of re-starting the aggressive policies of his illustrious grandfather Fatih. But to reach the throne normally he had to wait for his father’s demise and then fight his two brothers off. He could not leave things to such chance. He decided to act. His chief rival and Bayezid’s and his viziers favourite was shahzada (prince) Ahmad and the other brother was shahzada Korkut. Selim’s other and quite legitimate concern was the prospect of being executed on Ahmad’s accession. So, reporting to Crimea where the Khan was his father- in- law he asked and got an armed force from him and challenged Ahmad’s impending accession.
He lost to his father’s forces and fled to his son Suleiman’s province. Soon Korkut also arrived asking for the throne. Suddenly the janissaries found themselves as powerbrokers because they had to fight for the chosen sultan. They cast their lot with Selim whom they had almost admired for his audacity and prowess in battle (hence his nivkname ‘Yavuz’ which means ‘a handful’ short of being nasty. Bayezid felt he could not risk a janissary uprising and ceded the throne to Selim.
SELIM’S POLICIES
Selim I rightly saw that before he could safely continue his ancestors’ drive into Europe he had to sort out the ever- jealous and aggressive east. He had to deal the two thorns in his flesh- Mamluk Egypt and Shia Persia. Because Persian threat was nearer home and more acute he dealt with it first.
Shah Ismail Safawi was fanatical Shia and was fast converting by force the mainly Sunni Persia. Not content to crush Sunnism in Persia he also sent his armed missionary agents to convert the Anatolian turks. After some angry exchanges between the equally hawkish Selim and Ismail Selim determined to strike. The two sides met in Chaldiran in Azerbaijan and the gun and cannon-rich Ottoman army routed the Persians so badly that the Shah fled leaving both his bejewelled throne (now in Topkapi Muzeum in Istanbul) and his equally bejewelled wife to Yavuz to collect (1514). He took the throne but gallantly sent under escortthe lady to Ismail. He was less generous as regards the ulema and poets among Ismail’s attendants. He took the lot to Istanbul to enrich the Ottoman culture.
It was the turn of the Mamluks to taste Selim’s wrath. Incidentally we must mention that among all the several Muslim powers only Ottomans proved open-minded and enlightened enough to adopt anything useful from any quarters without making a fuss about what the Shariah supposedly says. Not that they were less observant of the Holy Sharia. It was that they were perceptive enough to see that the Shariah was for the promotion of God’s Will and not its frustration out of certain dubious scrupples whereby a thinker saw only the individual trees and failed to see the forest as a whole. So Ottoman’s often adopted new inventions even quicker than the Europeans themselves as was seen in Fatih’s exclusive accommodation of the brilliant Hungarian artillery engineer Urban. In their purity of heart they had offered to share such technology with Mamlukes who was asking their help against the Portuguese but when they were shown fire arms the Mamluks (and also Persians) had found the use of such weapons below their heroic dignity and pushed them aside only as fit for the cowardly infidel.
The pretext to attack the Mamluks came in 1516 when an Ottoman army was denied transit through Syria on its way to Persia. Yavuz then hit fast and hard. He soundly beat the Mamluk army at Marj-e Dabik, the Mamluk sultan falling in battle and Syria surrendering to Ottomans. After some rest and resupply Selim continued on Egypt and easily demolishing the immense low fortifications erected in his path by cannon fire entered Cairo. New sultan Tomanby fled but was captured and put to death. That was the end of the Mamluks (1517) and afterwards Egypt became an Ottoman province.
From Mamluks Selim also inherited the Holy lands of Islam, Hejaz, Mecca and Medina.He took he last Abbasid Khalifa lodged with the Mamluks together with the ‘Amanat al Muqaddasa’ (the Holy relics of the Prophet’s standard, sword, mantle, turban, beard hairs, slippers and one tooth as well as other relics from the sahaba- all now in Topkapi Museum) to Istanbul showing all the respect due to the poor old man whose experience with Mamluk’s of inheriting his ancestors’ holy legacy had been one of despised exploitation. Grateful for Selim’s gracious treatment but weary of homesickness he transferred the khilafa to Selim explaining that it was time the holy office re-united with the holy sword of Islam which was now with the pious Ottomans. He was sent back to Egypt with precious gifts and a pension and soon afterwards Yavuz died of an infected pimple on his back having asked his bosom friend and gifted wit and adviser Hasan Jan to recite to him Surat al Yasin. When it came to the verse “Selamun qawlan min rabbin raheem’ he read the shahada and gave up his soul (1520).
SULEAIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT
Yavuz has been the biggest conqueror area-wise Ottomans produced. In a mere eight years he more than doubled the Ottoman territory, adding to it Azerbaijan and Tabriz captured from Persia and Syria, Palestine, Hejaz and Egypt from the Mamluks. It was also the time when his father’s wise investment into a proper navy paid off most. Now three brothers, namely Oruj, Ilyas and Hizr ‘reises’ (sea captains or admirals), who had began their career as corsairs ravaging the Christian navigation in the Mediterranean had risen to the status of inofficial allies of the sultan.
The only son of Selim, Suleiman was called to hurry to Istnabul from his seat of government in Crimea where he was the overlord of the khan. He duly ascended the throne and quickly set himself to business at hand. Well-starred from the beginning his era became the most brilliant not only in Ottoman history but also both Islamic and European. Consider the following:
1. Being the only son he had no rivals to contend with 2. He inherited the khilafa full time and full term 3. His term was longest, 46 years from 1520 to 1566 4. He launched the greatest number of military campaigns and that in both directions- 13 to west (Europe) and 13 to east (Persia) always victorious 4. The Muslim Empire under him became the vastest, richest and most learned, accultured, enlightened and pious ever 5. The quality of his conquest was second to none and his administration certainly the most humane and brilliant 6. He was seen by all in the West except the jealous Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand as the greatest prince of the age and they called him ‘the Magnificent’ 7. He vastly improved on Fatih Kanunnamesi (Codex Fatih) and made all his domains including those in central Europe enjoy the rule of law as never before.
Immigrants from Austria, Germany, Poland… flew into his domains to escape the brutal life they lived under their feudal and ecclesiastical seigneurs and enjoy instead the good life his rule promised. He settled all arrivals immdediately and made them productive fast by allotting them lands and issuing them grants and loans to start businesses- and pay reasonable taxes. Conversions to Islam was helped by these policies and as a result Turkish blood continued to enrich itself with new blood from all its subjects. Additionally many able and ambitious soldiers of fortune who felt that they were not as appreciated as they expected by their kings dared to cross to the fabulously talent connoisseuring sultans, they gratefully lavished their precious services to the Muslim cause and often also ambracing Islam were made pashas and lived lives they could not dream of back at home- something like people’s rush to America late 19th and early 20th centuries. Which confirms Allah’s dictum “These are the days we circulate among nations” (3: 140). Which means we can get similar glory if we know how.
HIS CONQUESTS
He firstly dealt with a few rebellions among the Shia and Egyptian malcontents who took the risky gamble to find out what sort of man this new sultan was. To the west he conquered the formidable fortified city of Belgrade which had frustrated his ancestors (1521). Loss of this most strategic city exposed the ever-vigilant Hungarians at the time the strongest kingdom in Europe extending from the Baltic to the Balkans and always very angry with the ‘Turks’. They lost no opportunity to make incursions into Ottoman territory or take part in plots to undermine them. The padishah was just waiting the credible pretext to put to an end to all that venomous enthusiasm. That was not long in coming. The extremely proud and unscrupulous French and the very tough and Spartan Germans were almost at odds then. In one of their perennial clashes Francis I of France was beaten and taken prisoner by Charles V of Germany. The mother of the former, in typical French daring, most solicitiously begged the intervention of Suleiman whom she described as the Sun of Justice and the worthy Custodian of the World to save her innocent son from the prison bars and chains of the impious and cruel German emperor.
Suleiman rose to the opportunity and advanced towards the itching Hungarians at the head of his glorious Ottoman army deploying and displaying the best equipment and tactics of the age, many Turkish- invented. His and Hungarian king Louis’ forces met at the plain of Mohacs in eastern Hungary and the heavily armoured and terribly brave and seasoned Hungarian knights attacked at break neck speed decimating the Ottoman ranks like locusts decimating tender crops. The Hungarians couldn’y believe how easily they were rushing through the Turkish ranks. Until they just topped a ridge of highland chasing the fast falling nd dispersing Turks. But as they topped the ridge hell broke on them.
The Ottoman artillery, skilfully camouflaged opened fire. Before the knighs and their massive horses could understand whatwas going on they were already half decimated and while some were thrown off by their terrified horses and summarily despatched or taken prisoner by the Turks those who could turn back anf flee partly crushed each other in clumsy collisions and most survivors alsso from that were drowned in the rivers and swamps. Among them was the young and reckless king Louis. Suleiman looked at the pitiful corpse of the young prince and shed a few tears saying “What a pity for such a young lad to perish in the spring of his life. He is the victim of that impious Charles”. The whole battle took a mere one and a half hour, the shortest major field battle in history as well as the most decisive. The Ottoman army quickly occupied Hungary and the sultan installed his man Jan Zapolya as the new king as his vassal in the capital Buda. Almost all Hungarian nobility had fallen at Mohacs and to this day the date 26th August (1526) is the gravest national mourning day in Hungary.
But Suleiman had hardly properly had rested his army and himself back in Istanbul when he got the news that a rival claimant to the Hungarian throne, namely Ferdinand soon occupied Buda and ousted Jan who then appealed to Suleiman for help. He therefore took to the road again (1529) reinstated Jan and at the last minute also invested Vienna to try his luck although his army hadn’t come with proper enough preparations for that and the short campaigning season was already nearing its end. Having convinced himself that he had scared hell out of the Austrians he lifted the siege and barely reached Istanbul just in time to avoid the heavy autumn rains of Europe. Having been scared enough for his part the German emperor Charles V inclined to a lenient conclusion of hostilities with Francis I whom he set free from the Spanish castle he was incarcerated in.
Misinterpreting Suleiman’s lifting the siege of Vienna and having made peace with France, Ferdinand Archduke of Austria and claimant to the Hungarian throne invested the Hungarian capital Budin and against his expectation found Suleiman on the way to relieve the city. He dod not wait to be evicted but packed up and moved away. All the same Suleiman gave chase in the hope that he could engage either Ferdinand or Charles V the Holy Roman emperor or both. The two dod not dare to face the caliph-padishah of Islam and the latter had to make do with massive plunder of wealth and slaves up to mid-Germany to compensate himself for his expenses. On the way he sent a few letters to Charles wondering why he was evading him and the last one challenged Charles thus “If you are no man to dare face me in battle then wear women’s dress and begin knitting knitwear like other ladies. This show of force ensured one and a half century of Ottoman rule in Hungary.
Turkish- Austrian relations ebbed and flowed over the next three centuries, going Turkish way during the half of that time and Austrian way during the second. So long as Suleiman was around Austria posed no danger but by the late 19th century it was the Ottoman empire which was on the receiving end of the blows.
German’s eternal rival the French however felt it necessary to cultivate Turkish friendship often abused by the French however. Suleiman gave the French commercial privileges over his Mediterranean territories while the French gave naval bases on French Mediterranean ports to keep Holy Roman (Spanish-German) ambitions in check.
OTTOMAN SEA POWER
From the time of Murad II Ottoman sea power steadily rose. But the zenith had to wait Khizr Re’is (captain Khizr). Sons of a cavalry officer (Sipahi) Turkish soldier and a Greek woman Oruj and his two brothers were born in Mytilene, a small island off the Turkish coast in the Aegean. Totally at home in sea as all islanders who lived mainly by fishing and sailing the brothers launched a career in piracy ambushing and plundering Christian ships who themselves were busy ambushing the Muslim ships and even plundering coastal towns. By Selim’s time the brothers had conquered parts of North Africa like Tunis and Algiers but they were facing inceasing threat from the Spaniards who regarded Western North Africa their own backwater and were keeping all the muslim beys and princes under their thumbs. Now famed as Barbarossa (red-beard) among the Christians and admired by Muslims from afar, including Selim, the latter was too pleased when Khizr asked for his help to beat the Spanish challenge of. Selim sent him some ships and sailors and Barbarossa who then consolidated his position in Africa.
When Suleiman succeeded to his father he went further and appointed Khizr as beylerbeyi (governor-general) of Africa as well as Kaptani Derya (chief admiral) of the Ottoman empire. He was received with great honours in Istanbul, given a palace and ample funds allowing him to build great shipyards and many efficient battle ships which proved superior to anything in the West. They were smaller and lighter but their superior speed and manoeuvrability enabled them to beat the bulkier and heavier armed battle-ships the Western navies had developed thinking of Atlantic travel. As chief admiral Barbarossa and his vice admirals like Turgut Re’is, Seidi Ali Re’is, Salih Re’is etc. consistently won against the Genoese, Venetian and Spainsh opposition occasionally invading Italian and Spanish ports and even moving inland unopposed. In one memorable occasion they changed certain defeat into victory.
When the formidable Spanish armada descended on the Algerian coast in force so that it outnumbered Barbarossa’s in power quite a few times the ex-pirate outwitted the Spanish emperor by departing from the scene with all his navy, allowing the Spaniards to occupy as much land as they could. While the Spaniards were ridiculing him as a coward who could not face them Barbarossas navy hit te Spanish coast bombarding, landing and plundering all ports from Valencia down and carrying away thousands of slaves. The emperor was so shocked by this counter blow that he abandoned all his conquests rushed to save his mainland only to find Barbarossa return home in triumph and with enormous plunder and re-occupy everything in Ottoman Africa abandoned by the Spanish.
KANUNI’S EASTERN PROBLEM
As Suleiman severally advanced West and made new or consolidated existing conquests the Shia Persians invaded his territories from the East in complicity with the Western powers and especially the papacy. All in all, of the 26 military expeditions the great sultan made 13 were against Persia, thus Persia haemorrhaging and dissipating Islam’s efforts in absorbing the Christendom. He won all his wars with the Persians but that was poor comfort against the loss of opportunity in the West. It was quite possible that had Persia allowed the Ottomans to apply their full weight to the West the world’s political and spiritual map could be far more in favour of Islam.
Kanuni died on the battlefield from old age in 1562 aged 72 after a golden rule of 46 years and succeeded by his only surviving son Selim II also known as Sari (blond) Selim born of his favourite wife the Ukrainian Hurrem. By the desperate intrigues of this wife, who was naturally fearing her son’s execution in case another half-brother ascended the throne, Hurrem ‘sultan’ (as Ottoman queens were called) had persuaded Suleiman to execute all three others. Suleiman never recovered from the loss of his sons and the pangs of conscience, lived the last years of his life in great melancholy and died a broken man despite all this wonderful services to the Ottoman Islamic caliphate which has arguably been the most brilliant and successful Islamic empire ever.
After him only decline awaited Islam. Which shows that, remembering the battles over succession among even the early muslims we have in political succession our Achille’s heel. In the long run the Western tradition of institutionalised succession has proved the better system and the sooner Muslims progress from lupine succession rites to the peacefully institutionalized process the better. We still have many of our countries ruled by tyrants who seized power from other tyrants by treachery and violence making us the laughing stock of the better organized, rule-of-law based and generally far more advanced peaceful societies.
FROM SELIM II DOWNWARD
Selim was the poorest quality of all sons of Kanuni yet he inherited his father’s empire. He drunk heavily ad kept a Jewish wit as his chief adviser and boon companion.Yet, he was lucky in inheriting his fathers very competent grand vizier (sadrazam), namely Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. Selim died of a fractured skull when he fell in his bath chamber on his head (1574)
His greatest achievement was the conquest of Cyprus from the Venetians (1571). Like at the conquest of Istanbul the Greek Orthodox population of Cyprus were denied their rights and forced into the Latin rites. Turks restored them their own church and patriarchate while at the same time settling the very depopulated and impoverished island by Muslims brought over from south Anatolia. Four centuries after this salvation the Greeks would repay their saviours by attempting to evict them from Cyprus and add it to Greece. But the victims by then were hardly their like their ancestors in piety- another example of the fate awaiting self-alieanated communities facing a self-reaffirming rival. Today’s Greeks of Cyprus are very religion-conscious and largely faithful churchgoers.
After Selim the Ottoman empire had a two-centuries long experience of varying fortunes increasingly shifting to the losing side. Despite this it was still a match for the European empires like the Habsburgs (German central European empire), the French, English and the Russian. Among these the Russian proved the most inimical and aggressive.
THE RUSSIAN THREAT
Russians are believed to descend from Scandinavian stocks like the Vikings as gradually modified by Asiatic (Mongol and Turkic blood). So, despite usually being intensely blond they often have some Asiatic features like slanted eyes, broad faces and flattish noses. Their history is one of great talent wasted with drink and debauchery and a political culture of aggression and intrigue.
Initially they lived as unmitigated barbars until their conversion to Christianity from around 1000 CE. They adopted the Greek Orthodox (Byzantine) rites but formed their own Russian church. From then on their adoption of civilized ways followed a long and only partly successful path which made other Christian nations to regard them not quite their cultural equals.
Their big break came with Tsar Peter the Great (1622- 1725; ruled from 1682) who, being very intelligent albeit with a mad streak saw the future of his nation in adopting all aspects of the Western European civilization as much as possible for his Russians. He therefore semi-clandestinely travelled there, studied both their manners and technology and even worked at their shipyards and factories, hired some of their best brains and gradually emulated what he found once back home.
Before then Russians were mainly at the mercy of their Asiatic (Tatar) settler compatriots who were organized in the form of several khanates, like the Kazan and the Crimean. The tide had slowly began to turn against the Tartars before Peter but with him it picked up speed. Empowered by superior Westren technology and strategy Peter defeated and swallowed up some Tatar principalities and seriously undermined the Criman Khanate which was under Ottoman suzerainty. At one point he even violated and invaded the Ottoman territories proper down the river Pruth where he was met and defeated by the Ottomans and made to pay heavy ransom and agree to restore to the Crimean Khan what he had taken from them to be allowed back home (1711).
But that was not the end of the Russian designs on ‘Turkey’ as Europeans unofficially called the Ottoman Empire. Peter’s investments in modernization paid off and the zenith of the Russian empire was attained with empress Catherine the Great (1729- 96, ruled from 1762). She proved the greatest pestilence for the declining Ottomans defeating them both on land and sea and gaining territories at both her Muslim and Christian neighbours (e.g. Poland).
The main Russian bone of contention between her and other powers was that Russia claimed the right to protect all Christians living under the Ottoman rule. This was a ploy to interfere in the affairs of the Ottomans and replace the French and later the English as the controllers of the Eastern Mediterranean economy and politics. As a result Russia kept provoking and helping all Europen Christian subjects of Turkey, like the Moldavians, Wallachians, Rumenians, Bulgarians, Serbiand and eventually the Greeks all of whom she enabled to break from Turkish rule over the next two centuries. In the East she expanded both into the Caucasia replacing the Persians and Central Asia annexing all Turkish lands to Afghanistan border and India. For India she competed unsuccessfully with England. Siberia was already hers but largely uninhabited and poorly exploited. Russia’s predatory practices towards all directions over three centuries from the 16th to early 20th have been one of the great topics of European politics which made her very unpopular with all concerned but especially harmful to Turkish fortunes.
