Middle East Lesson One: What was the Ottoman Empire? Subject Knowledge Notes The Ottoman Empire was an imperial power centered on the borders of the Mediterranean Sea that existed from 1281 (or 1299) to 1923. At the height of power, it included Anatolia, the Middle East, parts of North Africa, and much of southeastern Europe. The empire was established by a tribe of Oghuz Turks in western Anatolia and ruled by the Osmanli dynasty, the descendants of those Turks. In diplomatic circles, the empire was often referred to as the Sublime Porte or the Porte, from the French language translation of the Ottoman Turkish language Bâb-i-âlî ("great gate"), the grand Palace Gate of the Imperial Topkapı Palace where the sultan greeted foreign ambassadors. It has also been interpreted as referring to the empire's (and especially the capital Istanbul's) position as gateway between Europe and Asia. In its day, the Ottoman Empire was commonly referred to as the Turkish Empire or Turkey by Westerners, though it should not be confused with the modern nation-state of Turkey. hence the , ُﻋ َﺛﻣﺎﻥ ,The empire was founded by Osman I (in Arabic ʿUthmān name Ottoman Empire). In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Ottoman Empire was among the world's most powerful political entities and the countries of Europe felt threatened by the steady Ottoman advance through the Balkans. At its height, the Ottoman Empire comprised an area of about 5.5 million km², though much of this was under indirect control of the central government. In 1453, after the Ottomans captured Constantinople (modern Istanbul) the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire, it became the Ottoman capital. From 1517 onwards, the Ottoman Sultan was also for Sunni Muslims the Caliph of Islam, and was synonymous with the Islamic Caliphate until 1922, (when the Sultanate was abolished), or 1924, (when the Caliphate was abolished), although it never enjoyed universal recognition. This was due to the non-Arab origin of the Ottomans, based on a saying (hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad that as long as a Quraishi remained, the Caliph would be a member of the Quraishi clan (his own Arab clan) (Bukhari, Book 89, Hadith 253-254). Selim I, who conquered the Egyptian Mamluks, is said to have been ceded the title Caliph by Mutawakkil III, the last of the Abbasids though the title had been used earlier by Mehmed II. The Ottomans thus became the third dynastic Caliphate, in succession to the Abbasids and the Umayyads. However, the Ottomans may not have used the title Caliph until 1774, when the Tsar of Russia acquired some responsibility for Orthodox Christians living in Ottoman territory in return for the Sultan gaining similar status with Russia's Muslims. Certainly, it was in 1517 that Selim took back to Istanbul sacred relics associated with Muhammad, including his mantle, a traditional symbol of Caliphal authority. Following World War I, during which most of the empire's territories were captured by the Allies, the Ottoman state was in complete disarray. Turkish nationalists, many of whom were former Ottoman officials and high-ranking military distinction, established modern Turkey as an outcome of the Turkish War of Independence. The war was a continuation of the struggle between Greeks and Turks, fought mainly on what was to become Turkish soil by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Taken from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ottoman_Empire Further Reading https://www.britannica.com/place/Ottoman-Empire https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/ottoman-empire https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/6-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the- ottoman-empire/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMpfdpHPNDE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ8UWobHA3M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWg0tae_QT0 Lesson Three: What was the Ottoman Empire? • Read the question for today’s lesson (slide 2). • Display the knowledge organiser and indicate on the timeline that we are zooming forward in time now, to around 1300. 5 minutes • Pupils should complete their Retrieval Practice (slide 4) • Display answers (slide 5) and ask pupils to self/peer mark. • Read The Ottoman Empire and display the map on Slide 5 so that pupils can locate exactly where the Ottoman Empire was. • Pupils should answer Question 1, noting that the Ottomans were Muslims (Islamic) • Continue reading The Rise of the Ottoman Empire. 10 minutes • You may like to draw links to other major Empires (a group of countries, regions or states that has just one leader). • Note that the ‘age of Empire’ has now gone. We have individual countries. • Ask pupils to answer question 2 • They may mention that this would make rebellion less likely. Mehmed also gained money from this by taxing people who were not Muslims. 5 minutes • This would be a good primer to discuss effective leadership in large empires. • Continue reading about the Ottoman Empire on page 14. • Display the map on slide 7 so that pupils can see the huge area that the Ottoman empire stretched to. 10 minutes • Ask pupils to complete the retrieval quizzes about Istanbul (show an image of modern day Istanbul on slide 8. • Read Moving into the Middle East. • Ask pupils to answer question 3 on slide 9. • Link back to 1066 and the succession crisis, as well as the split in Islam due to people interpreting succession differently. • Continue reading until question 4, and ask pupils to revisit the text to find two reasons 10 minutes Suleimon was considered Magnificent. (Slide 10) • Link back to Alexander the Great from Ancient Greece, and Alfred the Great from the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings units. What do these men have in common? Why were they all considered ‘great’ or magnificent? • Read about the Successes of the Ottoman Empire • Ask pupils to choose the look back at the factors that accounted for the success of the Empire and to choose the reasons that they think were most important. • This could lead to a class debate about the relative importance of the factors. 10 minutes • Continue reading about the Decline of the Ottoman Empire. • Note that it did not formally come to an end until the end of the First World War (which they will learn about next year). • Ask pupils to complete their learning review. • They should write the most important thing that they have learnt about the Ottoman Empire. 5 minutes • Share what different pupils considered to be the most important thing to remember. .