Ottoman Turks it Was Osman

Ottoman Turks

It was Osman who, in the early 1300's, turned a tribe of pastoral nomads into a race of warriors and set them upon the building of an empire that would last into the 20th century. The descendents of Osman, called "Ottomans" by the Europeans, rapidly expanded their territory to include the whole of Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, North Africa, Greece, and the Balkans. The Ottoman Empire that was created became an empire made up of numerous peoples, races, religions all ruled by a small group of Muslim Turks. It was the Turks recognition of the heterogeneity of the empire, and their policies to turn this to their advantage that gave them the ability to rapidly expand and then rule their empire for over 600 years.

While one of the reasons for the success of the Ottoman military during the 14th and 15th centuries was the disunity of their enemies, a much more important reason was their pragmatism. Much of the success of the Ottomans was due to their "ability to adapt, to utilize talent and accept allegiance from many sources." (Pamuk, 2004, p. 228) The Ottomans accepted Christian as well as Muslim warriors, displayed a willingness to use new military technology, borrowed institutions from others, and readily made deals with local elites. But their greatest military asset must be recognized as their military force known as the Janissaries. Formed from the "tribute children" the Ottomans received from their conquered territories, the Janissaries were the elite fighting force of the Ottomans. The Ottoman military also adopted a system of recruitment and training of the Janissaries called devshirme, which maintained the most organized, well supplied, best equipped military in the world at that time. (Burbank, 2010, p. 138) Ultimately the Ottomans pragmatically accepted everyone into their military, formed an elite special force called Janissaries, and had the best, most organized support system in place, and when added to the disunity and weakness of their enemies, this was the secret of their military success.

The Ottoman Turks were always a tiny minority of the population of the Empire, but they were the ruling elite. They needed to find a way to maintain peace and stability among the dozens of different peoples, of different races, religions, tribes, languages, and customs. The Ottomans accomplished this primarily by allowing each group of people a certain amount of respect. There was a "live and let live" policy directed toward the varying peoples of the empire. "This live and let live policy was in striking contrast to the fanatical bigotry of Christian states at the time." (Goldschmidt, p. 126) What seemed to matter more to the Ottomans was a people's ability to contribute to the peace and prosperity of the empire as a whole, rather than some religious or ethnic restrictions.