Ottoman Empire Power

“The mass adoption of firearms as a tool of warfare dramatically changed the nature of military conflict from the mid fifteenth century onward, prompting historians of early modern Europe to describe the changes as a ‘Military Revolution’” (Ágoston). The Ottoman Empire reached the height of its power during the 1500s. While other empires were experiencing their defeats; the Ottoman Empire’s power seemed to be growing. This empire can be placed as the strongest power due to its strategic internal organization of power, minorities, and religion. This can be given credit to its physical development, which provided more resources, more advancement, and more people to support the kingdom. The biggest factors of its success was its large military

The Ottoman Empire can be considered as the strongest power in 1500 because of its strategic approach to the distribution of power, the acceptance of minorities, and the use of religion to unite the empire. The way power is divided within a country is very important. If the population has no control, they will feel the need to rebel against the government, and if power is distributed too greatly, the problems of rivalry and core wars occur. The Ottoman Empire was able to distribute powers in a way that both distracted the need for rebellion, as well as in a way that united the empire. Uniting power is an important aspect that helps a country stay established not only with its citizens, but with the military as well. The earliest form of the Ottoman military was a steppe-nomadic cavalry force. This was centralized by Osman I from Turkoman tribesmen inhabiting western Anatolia in the late 13th century. The first Ottoman

One major internal factor was that there was an increasing lack of ability and lack of power among the sultans themselves which lead to a political downfall and drew the focus of loyalty for all the different classes and groups in the empire away from themselves. The result was a separation of political loyalty and authority, which led to a decline in the government’s ability to enforce its will (Kayali). Another reason for the downfall of the Ottoman Empire was the vast amounts of corruption occurring within where the government was being used against itself, as well as favoritism because of the corruption. Economic struggles contributed to the downfall of the Ottoman Empire as well. Typically once the economy of an empire falls and supplies become scarce, corruption is usually to blame or is not trailing too far behind. When deals could not be made, trade routes were often closed, and inflation occurred, as was the reason in this historical event. Taxes were increased, people were steeply underpaid, and confiscations were ordered, which only made things far worse than they already were by creating social unrest. The amount of supplies needed failed to meet the ever growing population during that time, which led to anarchy within the empire as well as vast amounts of cultivators of