Understanding the Ottoman Empire

Question: The Tulip Period (1717–30) was so called because the cultivation of tulips became a fad in the empire.

Answer: The Tulip Period refers to a time when the Ottomans were adopting European habits and ideas in an effort to imitate the lavishness of European court life. Among those habits was tulip horticulture, then a symbol of wealth and prosperity in Europe.

Question: At the end of World War I in 1918, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved by the Armistice of Mudros.

Answer: The Armistice of Mudros did not dissolve the Ottoman state, which survived for a few years after the war. But the Ottoman Empire’s territory was carved up, and its finances were strictly controlled in the years following, among other debilitating losses. The Ottoman state later came to an end amid a Turkish national struggle led by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk).

Question: The Ottoman Empire’s most elite military corps, the Janissary corps, was originally composed of members drafted from among Christian youths in the Balkans.

Answer: For most of its history, the Janissary corps was staffed through devşirme, a system by which Christian youths in the Balkans were drafted into lifelong service to the sultan.

Question: The rule of Süleyman the Magnificent is regarded as the golden age of Ottoman history.

Answer: The reign of Süleyman (1520–66) marked the peak of Ottoman grandeur.

Question: The Ottoman Empire lost nearly all of its European possessions after which event?

Answer: Soon after the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, the empire lost control of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria. By the end of the Balkan Wars (1912–13), the empire had lost an additional four-fifths of its European territory.

Question: Which of these locations was never under Ottoman rule?

Answer: The Ottomans captured Macedonia (1371), Kosovo (1389), and Egypt (1516–17). They laid siege to Vienna several times but were never able to capture the city.

Question: What side did the Ottoman Empire take in World War I?

Answer: Ottoman leaders largely wanted to remain neutral during World War I, but Germany’s early victories in the war convinced the Ottoman minister of war to join what seemed to be the winning side: the Central Powers. (The Central Powers eventually lost.)

Question: Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans under which sultan?

Answer: Although the Ottomans had earlier captured areas both near and beyond Constantinople, Mehmed II led the siege in 1453 that finally captured the city itself.

Question: Muḥammad ʿAlī, pasha and viceroy of Egypt (1805–48), is known for which of the following:

Answer: At a time when the Ottoman Empire was generally ailing, Muḥammad ʿAlī initiated ambitious modernizing reforms in Egypt.

Question: Major religious groups were allowed to establish their own self-governing communities, called ______, which retained their own religious laws, traditions, and language under the general protection of the Ottoman sultan.

Answer: Although the Ottoman rulers were Muslim, the empire itself was religiously diverse. To accommodate this diversity, the empire left many communal and family matters to be governed by self-governing religious communities called millets.