[December 22] Mehmed III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Local Name: محمد ثالث (Meḥmed-i sālis)
Parents: Murad III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Safiye Sultan
Date of Birth: 26 May 1566
House: Osman
Spouse(s): Handan Sultan
Predecessor: Murad III
Reign: 1595 – 1603
Brief: Nothing is known of the life of Mehmed before he began his fight to gain the Ottoman throne. His father died in 1595 and Mehmed immediately began to kill off his rivals, all brothers, to secure the throne for himself. Despite his eventual execution of nineteen brothers, Mehmed was a lazy ruler who did little himself. His mother, Safiye Sultan, ruled for him even during the Austro-Ottoman War. Forced to take command of his army early in his reign, Mehmed found victory at the Battle of Keresztes, though he tried to flee midway through the battle. It was the only time he fought in battle. A large envoy from England delivered many English gifts, but Mehmed was only somewhat impressed and, after seeing an English warship, decided it was time to rebuild the Ottoman fleet. Although aloof and uninterested in the arts, Mehmed's reign was a strong continuation of his predecessor's and little land was lost or gained during it. His son, Ahmed I, succeeded him relatively peacefully upon his death in 1603, though a younger son, Yahya, converted to Christianity and sought an alliance with the west to restore the Middle East to Orthodoxy.

Date of Death: 22 December 1603

Successor: Ahmed I

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Vitellius, emperor of Rome (69)
• Bretislaus II, king of Bohemia (1100)

[August 12] Ibrahim I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire

True Name: ابراهيم اول
Parents: Ahmed I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Kösem Sultan (Anastasia)
Date of Birth: 5 November 1615
House: Osman
Spouse(s): (1) Turhan Hatice, (2) Saliha Dilasub, and (3) Hatice
Predecessor: Murad IV
Reign: 1640 – 1648
Summary: Born the younger son of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, it was unfortunate that Ibrahim spent the majority of his childhood in the Kafes, a confined prison-like harem where successors to the throne were held captive. When his elder brother, Murad IV, died in 1640, Ibrahim was to be executed. Murad was the successor of a still-older brother, Osman II, who had ordered both Murad and Ibrahim executed. Thus, in a like fashion to his elder brother, Ibrahim lived on to succeed his brother and become the Ottoman sultan. In reality, Ibrahim was a rather insane sultan. In the course of eight years, he almost destroyed the empire. His mother, Kösem Sultan, ruled almost directly, without even recognizing her third son on many occasions.

Ibrahim had many strange habits that distracted him from ruling. He was obsessed with obese women, seeking large women of all types from throughout the Empire. When he heard that a man violated his harem, he had 280 concubines drowned in the Bosphorus. Also rather strangely, he fed coins to the koi that lived in his pond. Although Ibrahim avoided most politics, he was responsible for the execution of numerous viziers. He also ruled when Venice captured Tenedos, the gateway city that protected the Mediterranean entrance to the Dardanelles. Therefore, it was no surprise when this particular sultan was violently deposed in a coup in 1648. Ibrahim I was strangled to death at the request of his last grand vizier, Mevlevî, who wished to keep his job. Despite his insanity and deposition, three of his sons inherited the Ottoman throne in succession: Mehmed IV, Suleiman II, and Ahmed II.
Date of Death: 12 August 1648
Successor: Mehmed IV

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt (30 BCE)
• Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor (875)
• Yongle, emperor of China (1424)
• Sixtus IV, pope of Rome (1484)
• Innocent XI, pope of Rome (1689)

[May 16] Mehmed VI, sultan of the Ottoman Empire

True Name: Meḥmed-i sâdis (محمد سادس)
Parents: Abdülmecid I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Gülüstü

Date of Birth: 14 January 1861

House: Osman
Spouse: Emine Nazikeda Marjim-Abaza, Kadin, among others

Predecessor: Mehmed V

Reign: 1918 – 1922

Summary: Mehmed lived during the worst years of the Ottoman Empire's history and witnessed its eventual end. Much of the once expansive empire was already independent or in open rebellion when World War I started in 1914. The choice of the Ottomans to join the Central Powers during the war sealed its fate. Mehmed was not the sultan during most of the war; his brother, Mehmed V, had that honor. During the war, Baghdad, Damascus, and Jerusalem were all conquered by the British. The Hejaz, the region housing Mecca and Medina, likewise went independent. The Ottoman Empire had lost its control over Islam's most important sites and with that failure, the future of the empire was very much in doubt. Mehmed was still not the next in line at the start of the war, but his nephew, Yusuf Izzettin Efendi, committed suicide in 1916 leaving the succession to Mehmed. His brother died 3 July 1918 and Mehmed VI was girded with the sword of the empire.

Mehmed did not have to wait long to discover the fate of his empire. Syria and Lebanon were handed to the French while the British took control over Palestine and Iran. The Treaty of Sèvres reduced the size of the Ottoman Empire to almost its modern-day borders on Asia Minor. A new government headed by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk formed in 1920 to decide the fate of their sultan and empire. Mehmed VI was publicly denounced and a constitution was drafted. The sultanate survived for another two years amazingly, but Mehmed was finally forced to go into exile where he settled first in Malta and later on the Italian Riviera. His first cousin, ABdülmecid, was elected Caliph of Sunni Islam for a further two years until the post was ended. Mehmed died in 1926 at Sanremo, Italy, the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire. 

Date of Death: 16 May 1926

Successor: Abdülmecid II (only as Caliph of Sunni Islam)

Names to Call Turkey Before 1922 (Ottoman Empire)

I've often struggled with what to call the region of Turkey before 1922, when it was finally dissolved and the modern state emerged. Calling it "Turkey" just seems strange, but it really is the best term for what ancient historians called Asia Minor or Anatolia. It makes sense because the people who inhabit Turkey are Turks, people from the steppe who originated in modern-day Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and the like. And the long-time rulers of Turkey were also Turks who went by the name of the Ottomans.

The Family Crest of the Imperial House of Osman

Now, the Ottomans, or House of Osman,  were a dangerous and tricky bunch who followed succession tactics other empires wished they had the guts to try. The Ottomans rose out of the ashes of the Sultanate of Rûm, which itself was a sorry successor state to the Byzantines (Rome) in central Anatolia. Rûm was fairly easily consumed by the Mongol Ilkhanate in the 1200s and the Ottomans carved out a niche from the Ilkhanate as it fell to pieces in the early 1300s. Osman I was the first traditional ruler of the Ottoman state, but Murad I was the first one to actually declare himself sultan in 1361. He claimed the title Sultan of Rûm, directly challenging the declining power of the Byzantine Empire in western Anatolia. Furthermore, Murad I was the first sultan to be (possibly) born of a Byzantine princess, thereby raising the prestige of the family within Europe. But family troubles began even in these early times. Murad had three sons of age old enough to inherit the throne. The youngest of the three was killed at Murad's insistence when he was found fraternizing with the son of the Byzantine Emperor. His eldest son, however, got the worse end of the deal as he was killed upon his younger brother, Bayezid's, command, immediately following the death of Murad at the Battle of Kosovo. Thus Bayezid because the next sultan of the Ottoman Empire and began the long tradition of killing male siblings to ensure a single succession to the throne.

Bayezid began the long process of taking over the Byzantine Empire. He laid siege to Constantinople in 1494 and continued for seven years, even defeating a short-lived crusade sent against him by the King of Hungary. But Bayezid's fate was sealed when Tamerlane rose up in the east and defeated Bayezid, taking him away in captivity. Bayezid left many children behind and no clear successor and so a short civil war developed that has become known as the Ottoman Interregnum. Each son pieced off a little portion of the empire for himself. Mehmed was the favored choice of Tamerlane, but his brothers fought hard to keep their portions. Eventually, Musa allied with Mehmed against Suleyman and Suleyman was defeated and executed. However, Musa was now much more powerful. The two brothers clashed and Mehmed arose triumphant, single sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

Mehmed II entering Constantinople

Mehmed I led Turkey into a new wave of conquest, slowly surrounding the remnants of the Byzantine Empire. Though his reign was short, Mehmed I is often seen as the true founder of the Ottoman Empire. His son, Murad II, became sultan next and resumed the siege against Constantinople and slowly conquered the remaining principalities in Asia Minor. The Byzantine Emperor managed to raise up Murad's brother as a pretender to the throne, but Murad had his brother executed. By the end of his reign, Murad had control of almost all of the Balkans except Greece, completely surrounding the Byzantine Empire. His son completed the job. In 1453, Mehmed II completed the siege of Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire fell. Mehmed moved the capital of the empire there and renamed the city Istanbul. He also took on the title Caesar & Augustus of Rome and vowed to protect the Eastern Orthodox Church by installing the Patriarch of Constantinople as the supreme patriarch of the church. Following this victory, Mehmed reunited the Anatolian Peninsula, defeated the Greek Empire of Trebizond and defeated the White Sheep Turks. In Europe, Mehmed conquered the remainder of Serbia and pushed into Romania, defeating Vlad IV Tepes "Dracula" multiple times. His final move was to take over Italy itself, but despite a good start, Mehmed's death in 1481 ended hopes to reunify the entire classical Roman Empire.

His son, Bayezid II, continued the Ottoman desire for conquest. He pushed against Venetian holdings in the hopes of becoming a strong seafaring power. He also fought against the Persians who were trying to push for a Shi'a empire. One of his best contributions was transporting many of the Jews, who were being removed from Spain, to the Ottoman Empire, where they could contribute to the wealth and grandeur of the Ottoman state. Bayezid's reign ended with infighting between his two sons, ending in one of their deaths. He decided to abdicate in 1512, in favour of the surviving son, rather than risk murder by that son.

During Selim I's reign, the Ottomans conquered the majority of the Middle East, Persia excepted. With the capture of Egypt from the Mamluks in 1517, the Ottomans passed the succession of the caliphate, up until then held by the Abbasid caliphs, to themselves, imprisoning the last of the Abbasid line. That same year, Selim captured the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, thereby establishing Ottoman control of the Sunni Islam religion.

The Ottoman Empire at its maximum extent (1683)

Suleiman I, known as the Magnificent, was the next of the many sultans. He reformed the state and brought its military to the very borders of the Habsburg Empire. But his army was checked at the Siege of Vienna in 1529, and the Ottoman military never ventured that far into foreign lands again. The Ottoman Empire reached its largest expanse during his reign, covering over 1 billion acres. Most of northern Africa was conquered, as well as the remaining parts of the Middle East and southern Persia. The Ottoman fleet was unbeatable and it ruled the Mediterranean, Red and Black Seas, and the Persian Gulf. His reign was the longest in the dynasty and when he died in 1566, his throne passed to his son Selim II.

The Battle of Lepanto

Selim II prompted the decline of the Ottoman dynasty and power in the region. He didn't care much for warfare and he met a great defeat against the Russians in 1570. His loss at the Battle of Lepanto the next year signaled the end of Ottoman dominance in the Mediterranean, although the fleet was rebuilt soon after its defeat. The successive sultans quickly passed power on to their wives, mothers, or Grand Viziers. Sure, they still killed their brothers (and sometimes sisters) to secure their power base, but then they were happy just letting someone else rule in their name. Many problems were also attributed to the fact that the sultans stopped killing their siblings...at least all of them. That meant that there were rivals for power around constantly, and this helped make quick ends to numerous sultans. Murad IV temporarily revived the authority of the throne, but nearly ended the dynasty as well when he ordered the death of the last Ottoman upon his deathbed.

Mahmud II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

Ibrahim was not killed and assumed the throne but the reign of himself and his successors didn't improve, especially when Mehmed IV gave up supreme power to the Grand Vizier. Things only got worse for the dynasty as they fell into obscurity. Many became poets or historians or just lazed around the harem. Oddly, few produced children which was an important reason why they stopped killing their brothers. By the time aspiring modernists did arise in the dynasty, the established order was against them and they had little power to change the declining course of events. Slowly but surely the outer territories of the empire fell away through rebellions and conquests. Russia and Persia pressured the northeastern borders while Austria and rebels in Greece pushed the Ottomans out of the western provinces. Egypt rebelled but, for a while, pretended to remain a part of the empire while tribes in Saudi Arabia vied for power over the cities of Mecca and Medina. The empire was in flux and things were rapidly getting worse. The Ottoman Empire didn't begin to modernize until 1839, many years behind its European brethren.

The final straw was World War I. Through the reign of Abdülmecid I, the empire had shifted irreversibly into a constitutional monarchy with the sultan having little real power. However, as figurehead of the empire it was Mehmed V that made the last call to Jihad by a Caliph against the Allied Powers in 1914, signaling Turkey's entry into the Great War. Throughout the war, Mehmed hosted dignitaries from the other Central Powers but had little to do with the war effort. He died just months before Turkey's defeat. In the ensuing Treaty of Sevres in 1920, Turkey lost the majority of its claims, passing them off as protectorates to France and the United Kingdom, or losing them outright to independence. Turkey was now confined to the Anatolian Peninsula with borders matching today's. The dynasty was officially removed from power in 1922, although a member of the family remained the titular Caliph of Islam for another two years until he too was removed.

Mehmed VI leaving for exile, 1922

The story of the Ottomans is long and hard with much tragedy, infighting, and death. It was once one of the greatest, most advanced, and most intellectual dynasties in the world, but that fell away with pride, arrogance, and contentment. Now, the Middle East is a piecework of various states all created by the aftereffects of the Ottoman Empire. Each state traces its history back to when the Ottomans were removed from the region. But Turkey isn't likely to return the sultan any time soon. The dynasty's pretenders still live on in Paris today, fondly remembering a time when their siblings would have been dead meat.