FORGOTTEN OTTOMAN EMPIRE

FORGOTTEN OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Ottomans were Oghuz (Tk., Oğuz) Turks who came out of Central Asia and created a vast state that ultimately encompassed all of southeastern Europe up to the northern frontiers of Hungary, Anatolia, and the Middle East up to the borders of Iran as well as the Mediterranean coast of North Africa almost to the Atlantic Ocean. As a multiethnic, multireligious, and multicultural entity, the Ottoman Empire was the last of the great Islamic empires, which emerged in the later Middle Ages and continued its existence until the early twentieth century.

TIMELINE-

• 1299 - Osman I founded the Ottoman Empire.
• 1389 - The Ottomans conquer most of Serbia.
• 1453 - Mehmed II captures Constantinople putting an end to the Byzantine Empire.
• 1517 - Ottomans conquer Egypt bringing Egypt into the empire.
• 1520 - Suleiman the Magnificent becomes ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1529 - The Siege of Vienna.
• 1533 - The Ottomans conquer Iraq.
• 1551 - The Ottomans conquer Libya.
• 1566 - Suleiman dies.
• 1569 - Much of Istanbul burns in a great fire.
• 1683 - The Ottomans are defeated at the Battle of Vienna. This signals the beginning of the decline of the empire.
• 1699 - The Ottomans give up control of Hungary to Austria.
• 1718 - Beginning of the Tulip period.
• 1821 - The Greek War of Independence begins.
• 1914 - The Ottomans join the side of the Central Powers in World War I.
• 1923 - The Ottoman Empire is dissolved and the Republic of Turkey becomes a country.
• Religion
  
  Religion played an important role in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans themselves were Muslims, however they did not force the peoples they conquered to convert. They allowed for Christians and Jews to worship without persecution. This kept the people they conquered from rebelling and allowed them to rule for so many years.
• Main reasons of decline were inept leadership and European expansion and lack of advancement in science and technology, also corrupt officials and some royals.