tatar abdszan

the ottoman conquest of constantinople
in 1453 by mehmed ii cemented the status
of the empire as the preeminent power in
southeastern europe and the eastern
mediterranean. after taking constantinople,
mehmed met with the orthodox patriarch,
gennadios and worked out an arrangement
in which the orthodox church, in exchange
for being able to maintain its autonomy and
land, accepted ottoman authority.[27]
because of bad relations between the latter
byzantine empire and the states of western
europe as epitomized by loukas notaras's
famous remark "better the sultan's turban
than the cardinal's hat", the majority of
the orthodox population accepted ottoman
rule as preferable to venetian rule.[27]
mehmed ii made constantinople (present-day
istanbul) the new capital of the ottoman
empire, and he assumed the title of kayser-i
rûm (caesar romanus = roman emperor).
the russian tsars also claimed to be
the successors to the eastern imperial
title. to consolidate his claim,
mehmed ii wanted to gain control over
the western capital, rome, and ottoman
forces occupied parts of the italian
peninsula. they started with the
invasion of otranto and apulia on
28 july 1480. after mehmed ii's death
on 3 may 1481 the campaign in italy
was cancelled and ottoman forces
retreated.
during this period in the 15th and
16th centuries, the ottoman empire
entered a long period of conquest
and expansion, extending its borders
deep into europe and north africa.
conquests on land were driven by the
discipline and innovation of the ottoman
military; and on the sea, the ottoman
navy aided this expansion significantly.
the navy also contested and protected
key seagoing trade routes, in competition
with the italian city states in the
black sea, aegean and mediterranean
seas and the portuguese in the red
sea and indian ocean.
the state also flourished economically
thanks to its control of the major
overland trade routes between
europe and asia.[28]
the empire prospered under the rule
of a line of committed and effective
sultans. sultan selim i (1512–1520)
dramatically expanded the empire's
eastern and southern frontiers by
defeating shah ismail of safavid
persia, in the battle of chaldiran.
[29] selim i established ottoman
rule in egypt, and created a naval
presence on the red sea. after this
ottoman expansion, a competition
started between the portuguese
empire and the ottoman empire
to become the dominant power in
the region.[30]
selim's successor, suleiman the
magnificent (1520–1566), further
expanded upon selim's conquests.
after capturing belgrade in 1521,
suleiman conquered the southern and
central parts of the kingdom of hungary.
(the western, northern and northeastern
parts remained independent.)[31][32]

battle of mohács (1526) and the ottoman conquest of hungary.

kapudan-i derya hayreddin barbarossa

the emperor suleiman the magnificent in the 1530s

barbarossa hayreddin pasha defeated the
holy league of charles v under the
command of andrea doria at the
battle of preveza in 1538 (painted 1866).
after his victory in the battle
of mohács in 1526, he established
ottoman rule in the territory of
present-day hungary (except the
western part) and other central
european territories, (see also:
ottoman–hungarian wars). he then
laid siege to vienna in 1529, but
failed to take the city after the
onset of winter forced his retreat.[33]
in 1532, he made another attack
on vienna, but was repulsed in
the siege of güns, 97 kilometres
(60 mi) south of the city at the
fortress of güns.[34][35][36]
in the other version of the story,
the city's commander, nikola jurišić,
was offered terms for a nominal
surender.[37] however, suleiman
withdrew at the arrival of the
august rains and did not continue
towards vienna as previously planned,
but turned homeward instead.[37][38]
after further advances by the ottomans
in 1543, the habsburg ruler ferdinand
officially recognized ottoman
ascendancy in hungary in 1547.
during the reign of suleiman,
transylvania, wallachia and,
intermittently, moldavia, became
tributary principalities of the
ottoman empire. in the east, the
ottomans took baghdad from the persians
in 1535, gaining control of mesopotamia
and naval access to the persian gulf. by
the end of suleiman's reign, the empire's
population totaled about 15,000,000 people.[39]
suleiman's expansion into the central
mediterranean was however halted in
malta in 1565. during a summer-long
siege which was later to be known as
the siege of malta, the ottoman forces
which numbered around 50,000 fought
the knights of st.john and the maltese
garrison which in total numbered around
6,000. stubborn resistance by the
knights and the maltese as well as
infighting between the turkish
leaders led to the lifting of the
siege in september. the ottomans'
defeat in malta in 1565 was the
second and last one experienced
by suleiman the magnificent, after
the ottoman defeat in vienna in 1529.
under selim and suleiman, the
empire became a dominant naval force,
controlling much of the
sea.[40] the exploits of the ottoman
admiral barbarossa hayreddin pasha,
who commanded the ottoman navy
suleiman's reign, led to a number
of military victories over christian
navies. among these were the conquest
of tunis and algeria from spain; and th
e capture of nice from the holy roman
empire in 1543.
this last conquest occurred on behalf
of france as a joint venture
between the forces of the french
king francis i and those of barbarossa.
[41] france and the ottoman empire,
united by mutual opposition to
habsburg rule in both southern and
central europe, became strong allies
during this period. the alliance was
economic and military, as the sultans
granted france the right of trade within
the empire without levy of taxation.
by this time, the ottoman empire was
a significant and accepted part of
the european political sphere. it
made a military alliance with france,
the kingdom of england and
the dutch republic against habsburg
spain, italy and habsburg austria.
as the 16th century progressed,
ottoman naval superiority was
challenged by the growing sea
powers of western europe,
particularly portugal, in the persian gulf,
indian ocean and the
spice islands. with the ottomans
blockading sea-lanes to the east and
south, the european powers were
driven to find another way to the ancient
silk and spice routes, now under
ottoman control. on land, the empire was
preoccupied by military campaigns
in austria and persia, two widely
separated theatres of war. the strain
of these conflicts on the empire's resources,
and the logistics of maintaining lines
of supply and communication across
such vast distances, ultimately rendered
its sea efforts unsustainable and
unsuccessful. the overriding military
need for defence on the western and
eastern frontiers of the empire eventually
made effective long-term engagement
on a global scale impossible.[citation needed]