After the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the British troops evacuated Istanbul in October 1923, and Mustafa Kemal and his army entered the city. The time had come to deal with the Ottoman royal family, who had collaborated with foreign occupation forces throughout the war of national liberation and had condemned Mustafa Kemal to death in absentia. The Grand National Assembly proclaimed the establishment of the Republic of Turkey with Mustafa Kemal as its first president on October 29, 1923, while a member of the Ottoman ruling family, Abdülmecid (Abdülmejid), remained the caliph. Determined to cut the country’s ties with its Ottoman past, the new government moved the capital from Istanbul to Ankara, and on March 3, 1924, the Grand National Assembly abolished the caliphate; the last member of the Ottoman royal family was sent into exile.
Mustafa Kemal served as the president of Turkey from 1923 to 1938. During his presidency he embarked on a massive reform program, modernizing Turkey’s legal, cultural, and educational systems. His reform measures were implemented through the Republican People’s Party, which was formed on August 9, 1923. Mustafa Kemal’s program for transformation of Turkish society comprised six principles: republicanism, nationalism, populism, statism, secularism, and reformism. The abolishment of the caliphate on March 3, 1924, was followed by the closing of all religious courts and schools. In 1925 the Turkish Republic prohibited the wearing of fez. A short time later all religious and mystical orders and brotherhoods were outlawed. The Islamic legal system was discarded and replaced with a new system based on the Swiss civil code, the Italian penal code, and the German commercial code.
In modernizing Turkey, Mustafa Kemal insisted on the emancipation of women. Polygamy was abolished, and in 1934 the women of Turkey were granted the right to vote in parliamentary elections and to hold seats in the Turkish parliament. In 1928 the Arabic script in which Ottoman Turkish had been written for centuries was replaced by the Latin alphabet. In 1934 the Turkish government ordered the adoption of family names. Mustafa Kemal received the surname Atatürk (Father of Turks). On November 10, 1938, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk died in the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul.
See also: Battles and Treaties: Arab Revolt; Beys and Pashas: Cemal Pasha; Enver Pasha; Talat Pasha
Further Reading
Hurewitz, J. C. Diplomacy in the Near and Middle East: A Documentary Record 1535–1956. 2 vols. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand, 1956.
Lewis, Bernard. The Emergence of Modern Turkey. London: Oxford University Press, 1961.
Mango, Andrew. Atatürk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey. New York: Overlook Press, 1999.
McCarthy, Justin. The Ottoman Turks: An Introductory History to 1923. London and New York: Wesley Longman Limited, 1997.
Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Rogan, Eugene. The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East. New York: Basic Books, 2015.
Shaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Somel, Selçuk Akșin. Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
Zürcher, Erik-Jan. Turkey: A Modern History. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
Devşirme (Devshirme)
Devșirme was the levy of children who were taken from Christian households and converted to Islam and trained for service in the palace or in the janissary corps. Many of those who managed the Ottoman Empire as governors, provincial administrators, and army commanders were recruited as young Christian slaves and brought to the palace, where they received their education and military training. The Ottomans did not recruit these slaves from the native Muslim population. Rather, young Christian boys from the sultan’s European provinces provided him with a vast pool from which new slaves could be recruited, converted to Islam, and trained to assume the highest posts in the empire. Known as the devșirme (“collection”), this system also resulted in the creation of the yeni çeri (new soldier) corps or the janissary corps, who constituted the sultan’s elite infantry and were paid directly from the central government’s treasury.
Beginning with the reign of Murad I (r. 1362–1389), Ottoman recruiters traveled the newly conquered regions of the Balkans and selected a certain number of boys from Christian villages. The Muslim jurists justified the practice by evoking the right of every Muslim ruler to one-fifth of all movable booty after the end of a military campaign. The Christian boys recruited as the slaves of the sultan constituted the sultan’s fifth. Even when the territorial expansion of the empire slowed, the practice of recruiting young Christian boys as soldiers and administrators did not stop.
As late as the 16th century the sultan issued a royal decree ordering his local officials to summon all Christian boys between the ages of eight and twenty in their rural districts (Inalcik: 78). The government officials selected and registered the most suitable young boys. The recruiters sought unspoiled, non-Muslim lads with strong health, attractive physique, and formidable moral character. The new recruits were sent in groups of 100 to 150 to Istanbul, where they were received by the commander of the janissary corps. The number of boys recruited through this system in the 16th century has been estimated at from 1,000 to 3,000 a year (Inalcik: 78). As the future members of the ruling elite, the recruits had to learn Turkish and acquire the customs and etiquette of an Ottoman official. The best and most talented were retained as pages within the palace system, where they received further education and training in royal palaces in Istanbul and Edirne under the strict supervision of eunuchs and tutors (Inalcik: 78).
Once the pages had completed their education, they were either appointed to positions within the palace or selected to serve as the kapi kullari (the slaves of the sultan) military units. Palace pages were trained by the eunuchs, who organized their daily activities and responsibilities. First the eunuchs taught them silence, followed by proper behavior and posturing. While in the presence of the sultan, they were to have their heads bowed and gaze downward, holding their hands together before them. They then learned how to read and write. They also learned how to speak Turkish and pray in Arabic. Once they had completed this elementary stage, tutors began to teach them Persian and Arabic and encouraged them to read a variety of works in both languages so that they could speak the elegant Turkish of the Ottoman ruling elite, which was very different from the vernacular language spoken by the peasant farmers in the villages and small towns of Anatolia. At this stage they also learned to ride, wrestle, shoot with a bow, throw the mace, toss the pike, and handle a variety of weapons (Lewis: 79). The young boys grew up in the isolation of the palace and had little contact with the outside world. As servants who owed their status and special privileges to the sultan, they remained single until they had reached the age of 30. The system demanded that they devote their loyalty and service to the sultan rather than to a wife and children, who could otherwise occupy their time and energy.
Until the reign of Mehmed II (r. 1444–1446, 1451–1481) in the middle of the 15th century, the Ottomans, like many previous Muslim dynasties, recruited and trained slaves primarily as soldiers. The majority of nonmilitary functions were reserved for government officials recruited from the Muslim Turkish elite. The members of this elite class were for the most part educated in traditional bureaucratic and religious institutions, where the knowledge of Islamic sciences, as well as Arabic grammar and Persian literature and poetry, was mandatory. Many who served as civil administrators within the Ottoman government were recruited from the ranks of the ulema, or the scholars and practitioners of Islamic law. Beginning in the second reign of Mehmed II, however, the sultan began to appoint slaves to the top administrative positions of the empire (McCarthy: 55).
See also: Empire and Administration: Administration, Central; Janissaries; Sultans: Mehmed II; Murad I
Further Reading
Alderson, A. D. The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Goodwin, Godfrey. The Janissaries. London: Saqi Books, 1994.
Hathaway, Jane. Beshir Agha: Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Imperial Harem. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2005.
Imber, Colin. The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
Inalcik, Halil. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300–1600. Translated by Norman Itzkowitz and Colin Imber. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973.
Itzkowitz, Norman. Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980.
Lewis, Bernard. Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.
McCarthy, Justin. The Ottoman Turks: An Introductory History to 1923. London and New York: Wesley Longman Limited, 1997.
Eugene of Savoy (1663–1736)
Army commander, field marshal, military strategist, teacher, and statesman, who hailed from the Carignan line of the House of Savoy. He served three Holy Roman emperors: Leopold I (r. 1658–1705), Joseph I (r. 1705–711), and Charles VI (r. 1711–1740). A significant portion of Eugene of Savoy’s career as a general was spent fighting against the Ottoman Empire in Austria and the Balkans. His victories over the Ottomans secured Hungary for the Habsburg monarchy. Aside from his battles against the Ottomans, Eugene of Savoy also fought in the War of Grand Alliance from 1689 to 1697 and the War of the Spanish Succession from 1701 to 1714.
Eugene of Savoy was born on October 18, 1663, in Paris, France. His father was Comte de Soissons of the house of Savoy-Carignan. His mother was Olympia Mancini, a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, the first minister of France after the death of Cardinal de Richelieu’s death in 1642. His paternal ancestors were the dukes of Savoy who later became kings of Sardinia, Sicily, and eventually all of Italy. Eugene of Savoy was brought up at the court of the French monarch Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715). After he was refused entry into the French army, Eugene of Savoy fled France and joined the court of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I. Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I was at the time embroiled in a fierce struggle against the Ottoman grand vizier, Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, who had begun his tenure in office with a military campaign against Russia, which lasted from 1677 to 1681. An anti-Habsburg uprising in Hungary and the prospect of using it as an opportunity to invade and conquer the city of Vienna convinced the Ottoman grand vizier to opt for a quick peace with Russia. Kara Mustafa Pasha could now focus exclusively on Hungary, where the leader of the anti-Habsburg revolt, Imre Thököly, sought Ottoman protection and promised to accept the sultan’s suzerainty in return for his support. Ironically, the Habsburgs’ attempt to avoid a military confrontation with the sultan was construed in the Ottoman camp as a sign of weakness.
Convinced that the Habsburg military was on the verge of collapse and encouraged by the French, who viewed an Ottoman invasion as essential to their victory in the west, Kara Mustafa Pasha moved with a large army against Vienna in June 1683. By July the Habsburg capital was under siege. The Habsburg emperor, however, had organized a coalition that included the Poles led by Jan Sobieski, the pope, the Spaniards, and the Portuguese. The defenders’ determined resistance, the poor generalship of the Ottoman grand vizier, and a surprise attack by a German relief force and an even larger Polish army led by Sobieski made an Ottoman defeat inevitable. In a fierce battle on September 12 the Ottoman forces were routed. Panic stricken, the Ottoman army lost any semblance of discipline, fleeing the battlefield and leaving behind its heavy cannons. The stunned grand vizier tried to rally his remaining forces in Belgrade, but it was already too late. His enemies in Istanbul had convinced the sultan that his chief minister was solely responsible for the humiliating debacle outside the gates of Vienna. On December 25, 1683, Kara Mustafa Pasha was executed.
As one of the most accomplished commanders of his generation, Eugene of Savoy fought several campaigns against the Ottomans in the Balkans, the last of which was concluded with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718. (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Eugene of Savoy distinguished himself in the battle to relieve Vienna from the siege by the Ottoman armies in 1683, and the emperor rewarded him for his performance by appointing the young officer as commander of a regiment of dragoons. Eugene rose quickly through the ranks, becoming an imperial field marshal at the age of 29.
In 1695 a new sultan, Mustafa II (r. 1695–1703), ascended the Ottoman throne. To reverse the humiliating defeat the Ottomans had suffered in Austria, Mustafa II led his armies against the Habsburgs, who had formed an alliance with Venice, Poland, the pope, and Muscovy (i.e., Russia). The Ottomans captured the fortress of Lippa (Lipova) in present-day Romania. They then defeated a Habsburg army at Lugos (Lugoj) in Romania and forced a Saxon army out of Banat in autumn 1695–spring 1696. Mustafa’s military campaigns, however, ended in a devastating defeat at the hands of Eugene of Savoy. At the Battle of Zenta, fought on September 11, 1697, on the banks of the Tisa River in present-day northern Serbia, some 25,000 Ottoman troops, as well as the sultan’s grand vizier, died on the battlefield. The Ottoman army lost all its artillery, as well as Mustafa II’s treasure box. The victory at Zenta made the Habsburg empire the dominant power in central Europe. The Ottoman Empire was forced to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz on January 26, 1699. The Habsburgs remained in control of Hungary and Transylvania, while the Ottomans maintained their rule over the Banat of Temeşvár (Temeshvár). Poland received Podolia (Podole), and Russia established its rule over Azov and the territory north of the Dniester. Venice emerged as the master of Dalmatia, the Morea, and several strategic islands in the Aegean (Sugar: 200). The sultan also was forced to guarantee freedom of religion for his Catholic subjects. The humiliating Treaty of Karlowitz marked the beginning of a new era (Jelavich: 65). The Ottoman Empire ceased to be a dominant force courted by all European powers.
In 1715 the Ottoman sultan Ahmed III (r. 1703–1730) ordered his armies to attack Venetian positions in southern Greece and capture Morea (Peloponnesus). The Ottoman military advances against Croatia forced the Habsburgs to declare war on the sultan. The war with the Habsburg armies under the command of Eugene of Savoy proved to be disastrous for the Ottomans. The Ottoman forces were routed at Petrovaradin in present-day northern Serbia on August 5, 1716. The Ottomans lost Temeșvár (Temeshvár) in September 1716, followed by Belgrade, which was captured by the Habsburg armies under the command of Eugene of Savoy on August 18, 1717. Through the victories of Zenta, Peterwardein, and Belgrade, Eugene of Savoy enabled the Habsburgs to consolidate their rule over Hungary. Together with his friend, the Duke of Marlborough, Eugene of Savoy also captured Bavaria and all of Germany at Blenheim. He also seized Turin in northern Italy and Oudenaarde and Malplaquet in the Netherlands. Eugene of Savoy’s only loss was Spain, which has been blamed not on his generalship, but on the political ineptitude of the Habsburg emperor, Charles VI. Eugene of Savoy died in Vienna, Austria, on April 24, 1736.
See also: Battles and Treaties: Passarowitz, Treaty of; Beys and Pashas: Ibrahim Pasha; Sultans: Ahmed III
Further Reading
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
Jelavich, Barbara. History of the Balkans: Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Vol 1. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Quataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Shaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Sugar, Peter. Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354–1805. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1977.
Zürcher, Erik-Jan. Turkey: A Modern History. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
Eunuchs
As in other Islamic states, in the Ottoman Empire the sultans maintained eunuchs, or castrated males, who were brought as slaves, to
guard and serve the female members of the royal household. Because Islam had forbidden self-castration by Muslims or castration of one Muslim by another, the eunuchs were bought in the slave markets of Egypt, the Balkans, and the southern Caucasus. In the palace there were two categories of eunuchs: the black eunuchs and the white eunuchs. Black eunuchs were Africans, usually from Sudan, Ethiopia, and the east African coastal region, who were sent to the Ottoman court by the governor of Egypt. They served the female members of the royal family who resided in the sultan’s harem. The white eunuchs were mostly white men imported from the Balkans and the Caucasus, and they served the recruits at the palace school. The black eunuchs “underwent the so-called radical castration, in which both the testicles and the penis were removed,” whereas in the case of eunuchs from the Balkans and the Caucasus, “only the testicles were removed” (Hathaway: 19).
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