Turkish History
A history of Anatolia, the Ottoman Empire, and Turkey.
Origins of Turkey and Turkish People
The story of the Turkish people begins far from Turkey’s modern borders. Before migrating to Anatolia, their ancestors were steppe nomads of Central Asia, closer to what is now Mongolia. These Turkic-speaking people mostly practiced Tengrism, but they also embraced Judaism, Buddhism, and Christianity. They made themselves known through a number of kingdoms and khaganates, including the Göktürks, Uygurs, Volga Bulgars, and Khazars.
Some of these states went on to convert to Islam, most notably the Seljuk dynasty founded by the Oghuz warlord Seljuk. His grandson, Tughril Bey, conquered Persia and Baghdad to found the Seljuk Empire in 1037. The Seljuk sultans were the first to push their territory into Eastern Anatolia, an area dominated by the powerful but declining Byzantine Empire. Centered in Persia or Iran, the Seljuks developed into a complex, cosmopolitan society. They faced pressure from the Mongols to the east, Christians to the west, and their fellow Muslims from within. To protect themselves, they planted tribes of Turkish nomads around their borders. They could not withstand Mongol incursions, however, and by the 12th century, the different Turkish tribes were operating in relative autonomy. In Anatolia, the dominant power was the Sultanate of Rum until its own decline in the 13th century.
The Ottoman Empire
One of these frontier outposts, led by a tribe fleeing the expanding Mongols, would give rise to the greatest empire in Turkish history. Osman I, son of Ertugrul, united the scattered tribes of the fragmented Seljuks in 1299. His successors conquered the remaining Anatolian territories controlled by the Byzantine Empire. They expanded into the European Balkans and weathered both crusades and civil war. In time, they advanced to the gates of Constantinople. The capital of Eastern Rome fell to Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, and its empire with it. The Ottomans eventually renamed the city Istanbul and made it their own capital.
The Ottoman state, while majority Muslim, practiced religious tolerance. Jews, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians were protected by law, though they did not possess full rights. Istanbul remained a city with many houses of worship. The empire styled itself a new Rome and continued its conquests with that goal in mind. It both went to war with and fought alongside the other states of Europe and the Mediterranean. At their height, the Ottomans controlled Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Baghdad, Greece, North Africa, Hungary, Crimea, Anatolia, and parts of modern Ukraine. Their long conquest began to roll back in 1683 through a major defeat at Vienna. This began a period of gradual military decline. The Ottomans faced increasing threats as Russia gained power to the north. The Crimean War saw France, Britain, and the Ottomans united against Russia to defend its territories.
Modern Turkey
After over 800 years of rule, the Ottoman Empire came to a final end in the years following World War I. It lost the war under the Young Turk government, which faced accusations of genocide against its Greek and Armenian populations. Istanbul was then occupied by British, French, and Italian forces. In 1919, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk launched the Turkish War of Independence. Four years later, the modern Republic of Turkey was founded with Atatürk at its head. Atatürk’s reforms modernized the nation and encouraged secular policy. He is now remembered as a national hero of Turkey. The republic is a member of the UN and NATO, though its efforts to join the EU have been unsuccessful.
Learn More About Turkish Culture:
Cultural Overview | Geography | History | Daily Life | Society | Economy | Beliefs | Arts & Music
References
Faroqhi, Suraiya. Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire. I.B. Tauris. 2005.
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire. Basic Books. 2005.
Howard, Douglas Arthur. The History of Turkey. Greenwood Press. 2001.
Kandiyoti, Deniz and Ayşe Saktanber, eds. Fragments of Culture: The Everyday of Modern Turkey. I.B. Tauris. 2002.
“The World Factbook: TURKEY.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 20 June 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html.
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