SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT AND THE OTTOMANS (1500-1922)
The Ottoman Empire existed for a ridiculously large amount of time. There is a fact floating around on the internet that the Ottoman Empire existed from the 1200s to 1918, after Warner Bros. was founded. When Bugs Bunny was becoming popular, the Ottoman Empire which had existed for 600 years was still happening.
But, it's peak was in the 1500s. The Ottomans were in full land-grab mode, snatching up land from the weakened Holy Roman Empire and the Polish. The Ottoman Empire weren't really friends with anyone. They warred with the Hapsburg Line in Europe, the Portuguese in Africa and India.
The Ottomans were raking in the dough, because they controlled the trade routes between Japan, China and Mongolia and Europe which meant that if you were a fancy European guy who wanted Silk, Porcelain, Sushi, Anime, Kung-Fu Movies or whatever they have in Mongolia, it had to come through the Ottoman Empire, but the Portuguese were poking around in Africa and figured out that the continent DOES end. They figured out it ended at the Cape of Good Hope and said "hey, we don't have to deal with these Ottoman dickheads on the land-trade routes. Let's just ship the stuff down the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and up the Atlantic. It's kind of outta the way, but it's better than having to deal with the Ottomans".
This began a sort of downfall for the Ottomans. They lost a lot of the territory they gained in Italy, Hungary, Greece, Poland, Africa and the Balkans.
All of these Empires they pissed off with their bigger army diplomacy now had the bigger armies and were fighting back.
These trade wars all throughout the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s made the Ottoman Empire a prime target for attack by the 1900s. The weakened Empire was driven from Africa and was cornered in the Middle East and South-East Europe.
The next major event happened in 1908, when Turkish revolutionaries named the Young Turks massacred Armenians in the city of Adana in Turkey. The Young Turks were nationalists who felt like Turkey had a place in Europe, but they had to exterminate those who weren't Turkish. They felt like they didn't have a place in the rapidly westernizing Turkey.
The Young Turks overthrew the Ottoman government and replaced it with a constitutional monarchy. They felt like the king shouldn't have actual power, but should be a figurehead like in many other European countries like England.
The Ottoman Empire was at this point, severely weakened. There had been coup after coup and the government was hurting. They went over to Germany and was like "give us money and we'll fight on your side" and Germany was like "ok".
The Ottomans entered WWI in 1914 on the side of Germany because of their previously agreed upon alliance. They then got their ass handed to them by the Brits, French and USA.
This was the Ottomans last chance and they were so weak at this point that the Ottoman Empire was divvied up to other European powers. The French took Lebanon and Syria. The British took Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq. Several new countries came into being like Turkey, Armenia and Georgia. (Before the latter two were snatched up by the USSR).
The new Republic of Turkey was off to a rocky start as countries born of a lost war often are. It was chock-a-block with French and British troops just chilling after their victory in WWI and Turkey was pissed.
REPUBLIC OF TURKEY (1922-PRESENT)
In 1922 the troops were told to beat it by Mustafa Kernal, the country's new leader. The Ottoman Empire which at this point technically existed, but only consisted of Turkey was finally destroyed. The capital was moved from Constantinople to Ankara and Kernal became the new President.
Kernal wanted to bring Turkey into the future so abolished the Muslim laws. He gave women the right to vote, adopted the Latin alphabet and remained neutral in WWII (technically giving aid to the Allies). Kernal seemed like a pretty cool guy. He just wanted to bring Turkey into the 20th century and introduce reforms the rest of Europe had decided were a good idea.
After the war Turkey joined the U.N. Also at this time the USSR wanted to build military bases on the Bosphorus, the strait that separated Anatolia from European Turkey.
The U.S. sent aid to Turkey, in the hopes that they would side with the US during the Cold War. Turkey sided with the U.S. and NATO. They sent forces to Korea and were generally pretty tense with the USSR.
Turkey also invaded Cyprus, and set up the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which today is a disputed territory with Cyprus. Cyprus believes they should control all of the island, yet the north is controlled by Turkey.
In the 80s, Turkey passed several economic reforms to make it friendlier to outside business which began an economic renaissance for the nation, but the future isn't all rosy for Turkey. This year an attempted coup rocked the government. A sect of the army tried to destroy government buildings. They claimed the government was favoring the muslim population, committing human rights violations and generally was corrupt.
The government claims the coup was carried out by the Gülen Movement, which is defined as a terrorist organization, started by Fethullah Gülen, a cleric who lives in Pennsylvania.
Gülen sadly isn't the cool kind of cleric that can cast spells, he's just the kind that lives in Suburban Pennsylvania, writes books and respects science. The U.S. claims he's a harmless political critic and that the Turkish government is over-reacting, which has caused a lot of tension.
FUN FACTS
Two of the 7 wonders of the ancient world are in Turkey, the Temple of Artemis and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
St. Nicholas who is the inspiration for Santa Claus was born in Patara, Turkey.
Harran University in Turkey was the first known university in the world.
Turkey was home to a Psychedelic Rock scene called Anatolian Psych. Bands included Erkin Koray, Baris Manko & Selda Bagcan.
Mahir Cayan, Turkish politician looks like Jimmy Fallon.
The Ottoman Empire existed for a ridiculously large amount of time. There is a fact floating around on the internet that the Ottoman Empire existed from the 1200s to 1918, after Warner Bros. was founded. When Bugs Bunny was becoming popular, the Ottoman Empire which had existed for 600 years was still happening.
But, it's peak was in the 1500s. The Ottomans were in full land-grab mode, snatching up land from the weakened Holy Roman Empire and the Polish. The Ottoman Empire weren't really friends with anyone. They warred with the Hapsburg Line in Europe, the Portuguese in Africa and India.
The Ottomans were raking in the dough, because they controlled the trade routes between Japan, China and Mongolia and Europe which meant that if you were a fancy European guy who wanted Silk, Porcelain, Sushi, Anime, Kung-Fu Movies or whatever they have in Mongolia, it had to come through the Ottoman Empire, but the Portuguese were poking around in Africa and figured out that the continent DOES end. They figured out it ended at the Cape of Good Hope and said "hey, we don't have to deal with these Ottoman dickheads on the land-trade routes. Let's just ship the stuff down the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and up the Atlantic. It's kind of outta the way, but it's better than having to deal with the Ottomans".
This began a sort of downfall for the Ottomans. They lost a lot of the territory they gained in Italy, Hungary, Greece, Poland, Africa and the Balkans.
All of these Empires they pissed off with their bigger army diplomacy now had the bigger armies and were fighting back.
These trade wars all throughout the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s made the Ottoman Empire a prime target for attack by the 1900s. The weakened Empire was driven from Africa and was cornered in the Middle East and South-East Europe.
The next major event happened in 1908, when Turkish revolutionaries named the Young Turks massacred Armenians in the city of Adana in Turkey. The Young Turks were nationalists who felt like Turkey had a place in Europe, but they had to exterminate those who weren't Turkish. They felt like they didn't have a place in the rapidly westernizing Turkey.
The Young Turks overthrew the Ottoman government and replaced it with a constitutional monarchy. They felt like the king shouldn't have actual power, but should be a figurehead like in many other European countries like England.
The Ottoman Empire was at this point, severely weakened. There had been coup after coup and the government was hurting. They went over to Germany and was like "give us money and we'll fight on your side" and Germany was like "ok".
The Ottomans entered WWI in 1914 on the side of Germany because of their previously agreed upon alliance. They then got their ass handed to them by the Brits, French and USA.
This was the Ottomans last chance and they were so weak at this point that the Ottoman Empire was divvied up to other European powers. The French took Lebanon and Syria. The British took Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq. Several new countries came into being like Turkey, Armenia and Georgia. (Before the latter two were snatched up by the USSR).
The new Republic of Turkey was off to a rocky start as countries born of a lost war often are. It was chock-a-block with French and British troops just chilling after their victory in WWI and Turkey was pissed.
REPUBLIC OF TURKEY (1922-PRESENT)
In 1922 the troops were told to beat it by Mustafa Kernal, the country's new leader. The Ottoman Empire which at this point technically existed, but only consisted of Turkey was finally destroyed. The capital was moved from Constantinople to Ankara and Kernal became the new President.
Kernal wanted to bring Turkey into the future so abolished the Muslim laws. He gave women the right to vote, adopted the Latin alphabet and remained neutral in WWII (technically giving aid to the Allies). Kernal seemed like a pretty cool guy. He just wanted to bring Turkey into the 20th century and introduce reforms the rest of Europe had decided were a good idea.
After the war Turkey joined the U.N. Also at this time the USSR wanted to build military bases on the Bosphorus, the strait that separated Anatolia from European Turkey.
The U.S. sent aid to Turkey, in the hopes that they would side with the US during the Cold War. Turkey sided with the U.S. and NATO. They sent forces to Korea and were generally pretty tense with the USSR.
Turkey also invaded Cyprus, and set up the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which today is a disputed territory with Cyprus. Cyprus believes they should control all of the island, yet the north is controlled by Turkey.
In the 80s, Turkey passed several economic reforms to make it friendlier to outside business which began an economic renaissance for the nation, but the future isn't all rosy for Turkey. This year an attempted coup rocked the government. A sect of the army tried to destroy government buildings. They claimed the government was favoring the muslim population, committing human rights violations and generally was corrupt.
The government claims the coup was carried out by the Gülen Movement, which is defined as a terrorist organization, started by Fethullah Gülen, a cleric who lives in Pennsylvania.
Gülen sadly isn't the cool kind of cleric that can cast spells, he's just the kind that lives in Suburban Pennsylvania, writes books and respects science. The U.S. claims he's a harmless political critic and that the Turkish government is over-reacting, which has caused a lot of tension.
FUN FACTS
Two of the 7 wonders of the ancient world are in Turkey, the Temple of Artemis and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
St. Nicholas who is the inspiration for Santa Claus was born in Patara, Turkey.
Harran University in Turkey was the first known university in the world.
Turkey was home to a Psychedelic Rock scene called Anatolian Psych. Bands included Erkin Koray, Baris Manko & Selda Bagcan.
Mahir Cayan, Turkish politician looks like Jimmy Fallon.
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