Humanities & Classics 1002
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Renaissance Forum
Humanities & Classics 1002 |
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While we were watching the video on the Ottomen Empire on Tuesday, I found it amazing how different the culture was from the west. I was also impressed with how long Suleiman the Magnificent held his power.
So here is a little info on the great leader:
Suleiman I, or Suleiman The Magnificent (1494-1566) was the sultan of Turkey from 1520-66. During his reign the Ottoman Empire reached its height of power and splendor. Suleiman was born on November 6, 1494, in Trabzon, and was the son of Selim I. In 1521, at the beginning of his reign, Suleiman captured the Hungarian city of Belgrade, which is now in Serbia. The following year he repelled the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, a military and religious order, from the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea. In 1526 he again invaded Hungary, killing Louis II, the king of Hungary, and incapacitated the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács. He returned to Hungary in 1529 as the supporter of John I Zápolya, who had been elected king by the Hungarian nobility, whos thrown was contested by Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, who later became the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. Ferdinand was driven back into Vienna, which Suleiman then attempted to take. He was unsuccessful, which limited the extent of his invasion into central Europe.
Suleiman next directed his armys against Iran. In 1534 he conquered the cities of Tabrěz and Baghdad. In 1535 he concluded an alliance with Francis I, king of France, against Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The treaty opened the commerce of the Levant to the French alone, and as a result of the agreement, diplomatic relations between France and Turkey lasted for centuries.
In 1541 Suleiman again invaded Hungary, capturing Buda and incorporating all of central Hungary in his empire. Two years later the combined French and Turkish fleets ravaged the Italian coasts and rampaged through Nice. The Turks were now supreme in the Mediterranean and in 1551 Tripoli fell into their hands. A second and third war with Iran, an unsuccessful siege of Malta in 1565, and still another expedition to Hungary in 1566 were the principal events of the later years of Suleiman's reign. He died besieging Szigetvar in Hungary on September 7, 1566.
Suleiman is considered the greatest of Turkish sultans. He excelled as an administrator, earning the title Kanuni, "lawgiver", as stated in the movie, and was a patron of the arts and sciences. At his death the Ottoman Empire controlled much of the Balkans, northern Africa, and the Middle East, and was the ruling power on the Mediterranean Sea.