Ottoman Empire Research Paper

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The Ottoman Empire was founded roughly 1300 CE and continued to expand and develop into a world power up until around 1600 CE. This was caused by a variety of reasons, including but not limited to: military technology, highly developed culture, and well organized bureaucratic systems. These factors helped the Ottoman Empire succeed against the many hardships of the time and create a massive and relatively well controlled civilization. The technology that was used by the Ottomans allowed them to conquer new lands and control the land that was already occupied. Military technology expanded greatly during the span of the Ottoman Empire expanse, allowing for superior armies for waging war. Through the years the Ottoman army contained a variety …show more content…

Since the population of the Ottoman Empire was so diverse the empire needed a very flexible yet powerful government. According to Jennifer Hutchinson in her article “The Ottoman Empire”, the empire was “divided into provinces ruled by governors”. However in the end, all of the governors would answer to the sultan who ruled “as an absolute monarch”. Monarchy allowed for split decisions to be made by leadership in times of high demand, this is good for immediate action; however, action without proper thought can lead to destructive decisions. This system of governors allowed the sultan to focus on the empire as a big picture where the governors are able to focus on their specific province and report improvements or issues to the Sultan. The government of the Ottoman Empire also passed legislation regarding their diverse population that would include allowing other faiths to live within their borders, however they were required to “pay a special tax to the state” according to Jennifer Hutchinson. In comparison to the European’s violent and harsh responses to different faiths; this is relatively progressive. The Ottoman Empires government was heavily interwoven with military as well, The Janissaries who were mentioned previously are the personal protectors of the Sultan. Evidence of the Janissaries being so close to the royals is shown in the Turkish letters by Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, where the Janissaries had access to the “Sultan’s magazines” with supplies, whereas the “the rest of the army are badly off, unless they have provided some supplies at their own expense”. This shows a clear bond between the Janissaries and the Sultan, which is surprising considering that they are not originally from the Ottoman Empire but rather taken as children from European

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