1451–1481: Mehmed II The
conquest of Constantinople allowed Mehmed II to turn his attention to
Anatolia. Mehmed II tried to create a single political entity in Anatolia by capturing
Turkish states called
Beyliks and the
Greek Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia and allied himself with the
Crimean Khanate. Uniting the
Anatolian Beyliks was first accomplished by Sultan
Bayezid I, more than fifty years earlier than Mehmed II, but after the destructive
Battle of Ankara back in 1402, the newly formed Anatolian unification was gone. Mehmed II recovered the Ottoman power on other Turkish states. These conquests allowed him to push further into
Europe. Another important political entity which shaped the Eastern policy of Mehmed II was the
White Sheep Turcomans. With the leadership of
Uzun Hasan, this Turcoman kingdom gained power in the East but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers like
Empire of Trebizond and the
Republic of Venice and the alliance between Turcomans and
Karamanid tribe, Mehmed saw them as a threat to his own power. He led a successful campaign against
Uzun Hasan in 1473 which resulted with the decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire in the
Battle of Otlukbeli. After the Fall of Constantinople, Mehmed would also go on to conquer the
Despotate of Morea in the
Peloponnese in 1460, and the Empire of Trebizond in northeastern
Anatolia in 1461. The last two vestiges of
Byzantine rule were thus absorbed by the Ottoman Empire. The conquest of Constantinople bestowed immense glory and prestige on the country. (), 1456. Hünername 1584 Mehmed II advanced toward
Eastern Europe as far as
Belgrade, and attempted to conquer the city from
John Hunyadi at the
Siege of Belgrade in 1456. Hungarian commanders successfully defended the city and Ottomans retreated with heavy losses, but at the end, Ottomans
occupied nearly all of Serbia. In 1463, after a dispute over the tribute paid annually by the
Bosnian kingdom, Mehmed
invaded Bosnia and conquered it very quickly, executing the last Bosnian king
Stephen Tomašević and his uncle
Radivoj. In 1462 Mehmed II came into conflict with Prince
Vlad III Dracula of
Wallachia, who had spent part of his childhood alongside Mehmed. Vlad had ambushed, massacred or captured several Ottoman forces, then announced his impalement of over 23,000 captive Turks. Mehmed II abandoned his siege of
Corinth to launch a punitive attack against Vlad in
Wallachia but suffered many casualties in a surprise
night attack led by Vlad, who was apparently bent on personally killing the Sultan. Confronted by Vlad's scorched earth policies and demoralizing brutality, Mehmed II withdrew, leaving his ally
Radu cel Frumos, Vlad's brother, with a small force in order to win over local
boyars who had been persecuted by Vlad III. Radu eventually managed to take control of Wallachia, which he administered as
Bey, on behalf of Mehmet II. Vlad eventually escaped to Hungary, where he was imprisoned on a false accusation of treason against
his overlord. In 1475, the Ottomans suffered a great defeat at the hands of
Stephen the Great of
Moldavia at the
Battle of Vaslui. In 1476, Mehmed won a
pyrrhic victory against Stephen at the
Battle of Valea Albă. He besieged the capital of
Suceava, but could not take it, nor could he take the
Castle of Târgu Neamț. With a plague running in his camp and food and water being very scarce, Mehmed was forced to retreat.
Skanderbeg, a member of the
Albanian nobility and a former member of the Ottoman ruling elite, led
Skanderbeg's rebellion against the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe. Skanderbeg, son of
Gjon Kastrioti (who had joined the unsuccessful
Albanian revolt of 1432–1436), united the
Albanian Principalities in a military and diplomatic alliance, the
League of Lezhë, in 1444. Mehmed II was never successful in his efforts to subjugate Albania while Skanderbeg was alive, even though he twice (1466 and 1467) led the Ottoman armies himself against
Krujë. During this period Albanians achieved many victories against the Ottomans like the
Battle of Torvioll,
Battle of Otonetë,
Battle of Oranik,
Siege of Krujë 1450,
Battle of Polog,
Battle of Ohrid,
Battle of Mokra 1445, and many others, culminating at the
Battle of Albulena where the Albanian army destroyed the Ottoman army, inflicting nearly 30,000 casualties on the Ottomans. After Skanderbeg died in 1468, the Albanians could not find a leader to replace him, and Mehmed II eventually conquered Krujë and Albania in 1478. The final act of Mehmed II's Albanian campaigns was the troublesome
Siege of Shkodra in 1478–79, a siege he led personally against the combined Venetian and Albanian force. Mehmed II invaded
Italy in 1480. The intent of his invasion was to capture
Rome and "
reunite the Roman Empire", and, at first, looked like he might be able to do it with the quick (15-days to completion)
Ottoman invasion of Otranto in 1480, but Otranto was retaken by Papal forces in 1481 after the death of Mehmed. After his death, he was succeeded by his son,
Bayezid II.
1481–1512: Bayezid II When Bayezid II was enthroned upon his father's death in 1481, he first had to fight his younger brother
Cem Sultan, who took
Inegöl and
Bursa and proclaimed himself Sultan of Anatolia. After a battle at
Yenişehir, Cem was defeated and fled to
Cairo. The very next year he returned, supported by the
Mameluks, and took eastern Anatolia,
Ankara and
Konya, but eventually he was beaten and forced to flee to
Rhodes. Sultan Bayezid attacked
Venice in 1499. Peace was signed in 1503, and the Ottomans gained the last Venetian strongholds on the
Peloponnesos and some towns along the
Adriatic coast. In the 16th century, Mameluks and
Persians under Shah
Ismail I allied against the Ottomans. The war ended in 1511 in favor of the Turks. Later that year, Bayezid's son Ahmet forced his father into making him regent. His brother Selim was forced to flee to
Crimea. When Ahmet was about to be crowned, the Janissaries intervened, killed the prince and forced Bayezid into calling Selim back and making him the sultan. Bayezid abdicated, and he died immediately after leaving the throne.
1512–1520: Selim I During his reign,
Selim I (called
Yavuz "the Grim") was able to expand the empire's borders greatly to the south and east. Around 1512 the
Ottoman naval fleet developed under his rule, At the
Battle of Chaldiran in eastern Anatolia in 1514, Ottoman forces under Selim I won a decisive victory against the Safavids, ensuring Ottoman security on their eastern front and leading to the conquest of
eastern Anatolia and northern
Iraq. He defeated the
Mamluk Sultanate and conquered most of Syria and Egypt, including Jerusalem as well as Cairo, the residence of the
Abbasid caliph.
1520–1566: Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman the Magnificent first put down a revolt led by the Ottoman-appointed governor in
Damascus. By August 1521, Suleiman had captured the city of Belgrade, which was then under Hungarian control. In 1522, Suleiman
captured Rhodes. On August 29, 1526, Suleiman defeated
Louis II of Hungary at the
Battle of Mohács. In 1541 Suleiman annexed most of present-day Hungary, known as the
Great Alföld, and installed Zápolya's family as rulers of the independent principality of
Transylvania, a
vassal state of the Empire. While claiming the entire kingdom,
Ferdinand I of Austria ruled over the so-called "
Royal Hungary" (present-day
Slovakia, North-Western Hungary and western
Croatia), a territory which temporarily fixed the border between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans. The
Shi'ite Safavid Empire ruled
Persia and modern-day
Iraq. Suleiman waged three campaigns against the Safavids. In the first, the historically important city of
Baghdad fell to Suleiman's forces in 1534. The second campaign, 1548–1549, resulted in temporary Ottoman gains in
Tabriz and
Azerbaijan, a lasting presence in
Van Province, and some forts in
Georgia. The third campaign (1554–55) was a response to costly Safavid raids into the provinces of Van and Erzurum in eastern Anatolia in 1550–1552. Ottoman forces captured Yerevan, Karabakh and Nakhjuwan and destroyed palaces, villas and gardens. Although Sulieman threatened Ardabil, the military situation was essentially a stalemate by the end of the 1554 campaign season. Tahmasp sent an ambassador to Suleiman's winter quarters in Erzurum in September 1554 to sue for peace. Influenced at least in part by the Ottoman Empire's military position with respect to Hungary, Sulieman agreed to temporary terms. The formal
Peace of Amasya signed the following June was the first formal diplomatic recognition of the Safavid Empire by the Ottomans. Under the Peace, the Ottomans agreed to restore Yerevan, Karabakh and Nakhjuwan to the Safavids and in turn would retain Iraq and eastern Anatolia. Suleiman agreed to permit Safavid Shi’a pilgrims to make pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina as well as tombs of imams in Iraq and Arabia on condition that the shah abolished the , the cursing of the first three Rashidun caliphs. The Peace ended hostilities between the two empires for 20 years. Huge territories of North Africa up to west of Algeria were annexed. The
Barbary States of
Tripolitania,
Tunisia and
Algeria became provinces of the Empire. The
piracy carried on thereafter by the
Barbary pirates of North Africa remained part of the wars against Spain, and the Ottoman expansion was associated with naval dominance for a short period in the Mediterranean. in 1529 Ottoman navies also controlled the
Red Sea, and held the
Persian Gulf until 1554, when their ships were defeated by the navy of the
Portuguese Empire in the
Battle of the Gulf of Oman. The Portuguese would continue to contest Suleiman's forces for control of
Aden. In 1533
Khair ad Din known to Europeans as Barbarossa, was made Admiral-in-Chief of the Ottoman navies who were actively fighting the
Spanish navy. In 1535 the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (Charles I of Spain) won an important victory against the Ottomans at
Tunis, but in 1536 King
Francis I of France allied himself with Suleiman against Charles. In 1538, the fleet of Charles V was defeated at the
Battle of Preveza by Khair ad Din, securing the eastern Mediterranean for the Turks for 33 years. Francis I asked for help from Suleiman, then sent a fleet headed by Khair ad Din who was victorious over the Spaniards, and managed to retake
Naples from them. Suleiman bestowed on him the title of
beylerbey. One result of the alliance was the fierce sea duel between
Dragut and
Andrea Doria, which left the northern Mediterranean and the southern Mediterranean in Ottoman's hands. ==Gallery==