Civil War History of the Ottoman Empire (1400 - 1500)

 Ottoman Empire marked the final years of

bayazid the First's reign as Sultan in

1400 major tensions began to rise

between the ottoman leader in the Terkel

mongol warlord by the name of timur

this once cold-war reached a heated

climax in 1402 at the Battle of Ankara

while on his way back through Anatolia

to confront the threat of his powerful

rival Bayezid was caught off guard by

Timur and his troops as they besieged

the city of Ankara with holding the only

source of water for the Ottoman troops

and forcing them to engage in battle by

the end of the conflict

timur's army prevailed while Bayezid and

his sons attempted to make an escape

Bayezid himself and two of his sons Musa

and Mustafa chalabi were captured by

Timur though the rest were successful in

their getaway Musa was released in 1403

and Mustafa was held in Samarkand until

the death of temir in 1405 at which

point he went into hiding within the

territories of some of his allies less

fortunately BAE's it had passed away

shortly after he was taken into custody

it is debated whether he was treated

well by Timur and his men or not but

either way this was the end of the

fourth Ottoman Sultans rule after BAE's

its downfall the leadership of the

empire was thrown into complete turmoil

the remaining sons of the late Sultan

now sparked a decade-long Civil War

referred to as the Ottoman interregnum

Timur had confirmed Mehmed

Chalabi as the new Sultan before he had

passed but isa Musa and Suleyman were

unhappy with this decision

the brothers all felt that they

themselves were entitled to the Ottoman

throne and therefore did not recognize

mehmed's Authority

Suleyman had established his capital in

Edirne formerly known as Adrianople and

extended his power throughout all of

Thrace and the southeastern reign of

Europe stretching down to northern

Greece Mehmed centered his control in

the city of Amasya meanwhile ISA and

Musa fought for control over Bursa

eventually leading to ISA obtaining

Dominion this rise of power incited a

new conflict between ISA and Mehmed and

after multiple defeats ISA sought refuge

in Constantinople as Mehmed now took

command of Bursa not long later another

battle between the brothers in suit at

coracii now sending ISA fleeing to Karim

on it is said that ISA was later killed

after being spotted in a public bath by

order of Mehmed Suleyman who had backed

he said during the strife with Mehmed

now went on to successfully capture

Bursa and later Ankara from the

previously victorious brother for the

next few years

an alliance formed and flourished

between Mehmed and Musa the latter being

sent across the Black Sea to serve as

Sultan to the European part of the

Empire

Suleyman touted in alliance with manuel

ii palaiologos and eventually won over

the serbs by the end of the battle of

kozma daeun in 1410 during this battle

Musa was defeated by Suleyman though the

tide would shortly turn once again

due to apparent temperamental issues

Suleyman found himself rapidly losing

allies and support taking advantage of

the defections and abandonment on his

brothers side Musa found triumph at Eden

in 1411 Suleyman attempted to escape

into byzantine protection but was

murdered on his way

leaving Musa and Mehmed as Co Sultan's

of the Ottoman Empire

clearly unhappy about the Byzantine

emperors loyalty to Suleyman Musa

decided to lay siege to Constantinople

as retaliation Emperor Manuel

in turn requested assistance from Mehmed

who made multiple attempts to defend him

in a blatant breach of the agreement

made with Musa unable to stay in

Constantinople for long though Mehmed

had to return to his own territory in

order to deal with a mutiny before

looking to the Serbian autocrat Stefan

lazarevich for help now returning to

face his brother with new strength

Mehmed and his army met with Musa and

his forces at Shimer loo resulting in a

defeat for Musa and his later capture

and ardor finally freed of the constant

looming Menace of his brothers attempts

to seize his power

Mehmed Shah Levy became Sultan Mehmed

the first accepting complete sovereignty

over the empire and uniting those who

had been divided during the long-running

civil war throughout the rest of his

reign

Mehmed focused on consolidating power

across both Anatolia and the European

region he was faced with several

challenges along the way including a

dispute with Mustafa his remaining

brother who had finally come out of

hiding a theology and revolutionary by

the name of Sheikh bedridden also posed

a threat to mehmed's Authority sparking

a discord that would last for years

until the agitator was finally captured

and hanged

mehmed's tumultuous rule finally came to

an end with his death in 1421

leaving control of the empire to his son

Murad ii during the start of Murad's

time as sultan manuel ii palaiologos

made a deal with mustafa chalabi to free

him from exile he had been forced into

before muhammad the firsts death the

byzantine emperor recognized mustafa as

the true heir to what had once been

phased the first throne but he only

found success for a short while before

Murad finally ended mustapha's campaign

with his execution attention was now

directed toward punishing the Byzantines

for this unprovoked hostility in an

attempt to do just that Murad decided to

besiege Constantinople but was recalled

back to Bursa after Manuel attempted to

utilize Murad's 13 year-old rebellious

brother to fight back against him the

boys revolt was subdued and Murad was

able to refocus his efforts towards

fortifying his Dominion by

reestablishing his authority over the

Anatolian vassals and principalities as

well as continued effort to expand

further into Europe conflicts with

Venice Serbia Hungary and other non

allies became a regular occurrence near

the end of the fourteen 20s in 1444

Murad faced a Christian coalition of

Crusaders at the Battle of Varna led by

John Hunyadi the Hungarians and their

allies were soundly defeated in what

could only be deemed an embarrassing

retreat

one notable detail of this battle is the

fact that Vlad Dracul the current valet

he invovled had sent a small contingent

under his eldest son to assist Hunyadi

and his Crusaders despite the fact that

Murad was holding drag holes two

youngest sons as hostages to ensure

allegiance from Valaya not much came of

this situation until later but it serves

as a clear demonstration of the frequent

betrayals that plagued the times before

the Battle of Varna Murad had actually

abdicated his throne to one of his sons

mehmed ii displeased with this immense

responsibility as merely a child

Mehmed urged his father to return and

lead their troops against that Christian

forces that aimed to take advantage of a

young new Sultan after undertaking the

task and trouncing the crusading effort

Murad went back into retirement until he

was required to return in order to quell

a Janissary revolt it wasn't long before

the elder Sultan was once again forced

to meet the troops of Christian Europe

this time on the battlefield of Kosovo

still following the lead of John Hunyadi

a union of Hungarian valayan Moldavian

and other allied troops attempted to

execute a new strike against the

Ottomans in an effort to avenge their

previous defeat at Varna caught off

guard by Murad and his troops who had

intercepted the Crusaders at the Kosovo

pull a field John Hunyadi and his army

faced another humiliating loss Murad was

now able to finish out his reign by

addressing the issue of Timor's son

Shahrukh and gaining command over the

leaders of the cherrim Amasya region in

addition to an attempt though

unsuccessful at defeating the Albanian

forces of skander burg at the castle of

crews

[Music]

by the end of 1451 Marad had fallen ill

and passed away leaving mehmed ii as

sultan once again mehmed ii later deemed

Mehmed the Conqueror for the remarkable

accomplishments during his reign

immediately looked to complete the task

of finally capturing Constantinople as

many of his predecessors had ventured to

do in a ploy to curb any distractions

Mehmed signed a peace treaties with both

Hungary and Venice while preparing his

Navy for the future siege of Byzantium

chart in 1453 with an army of around

80,000 troops or more over 100 naval

ships and something the previous

Sultan's lacked cannons

Mehmed began the campaign that would

eventually be called the fall of

Constantinople the siege lasted over 50

days and resulted in a concise victory

for the Ottomans who now declared

Constantinople their new capital Mehmed

also styled himself the Caesar of the

Roman Empire a title that was denied to

him by the Roman Catholic Church but

accepted by the Eastern Orthodox Church

the young Sultan then captured the final

remaining Byzantine States and pressed

further on into Europe in a reign marked

by drastic government changes creating a

more centralized bureaucracy and

appointing only those who could be loyal

to him and his agenda to his court as

well as continual back and forth between

his empire and the European Christians

one of the most prominent storylines may

be the relationship between mehmed ii

and vlad the 3rd dracula as previously

mentioned two of vlad dracul sons had

been held hostage by Murad ii these boys

Radu and vlad the 3rd dracula grew up

alongside Mehmed and each developed

starkly different relationships with him

while Radu would choose to stay within

the Ottoman Empire and serve as a

lifelong friend and Ally to Mehmet

Vlad became a persistent opponent who

fought against his contemporaries will

until his final breath while some

claimed that his long-standing strife

with the voivode of the much smaller

region and military shows a weakness in

women it instead gives us a profound

look at his personality and mindset

before ultimately pulling back from his

attempts to overpower and defeat lad

Dracula Mehmed is recorded to have said

that he could not take land away from a

man who does such marvelous things and

surely a man who had accomplished this

is worthy of greater things these

statements from the Sultan himself

display not only a level of respect for

his adversary but also his confidence in

the Ottoman Empire

as a whole during his rule Mehmed was

willing to walk away from a conflict

that he saw no near success him because

he was head of essentially two empires

having more or less absorbed the

Byzantine Empire and knew that his power

could not truly be stifled so easily

this tone of tolerance extended past

Mehmed himself and can be seen again

during the reign of his son

Bey as of the second who claimed the

throne after his father's death in 1481

the start of Baeza the second term as

Sultan is slightly stained by a conflict

with his brother CEM once his position

was secured Bey as it began to make some

changes to his father's policy and put a

strong emphasis on domestic politics

throughout both the east and west

establishing a more well ordered system

though not remembered entirely for the

conflicts he engaged in Bayezid did put

notable effort into conquering new

venetian territories and balkan lands

nonetheless the most remarkable decision

under bayazid ii to round out the 15th

century may have been his reaction to

the expulsion of both Muslims and Jews

from Spain in 1492 bayazid condemned

Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella the

first sending the Ottoman Navy over to

safely relocate the banished Muslims and

Jews to his own territories he told

every leader under his authority that

they were to welcome all of the refugees

and would be punished by death if they

were to treat the Jews any differently

than their Muslim counterparts this

extraordinary act led to an increase of

new skills enhancements and ideas being

brought into the Empire which resulted

in heightened success for the welcoming

Sultan by the end of the 1400s phases ii

remained on the Ottoman throne as a well

respected and prosperous leader earning

the epithet of the just

Bazin maybe one of the more underrated

rulers of the empire today he just like

those throughout the rest of the century

accomplished noteworthy feats that

helped to continue the propulsion of the