Interesting facts about the Ottoman empire?

The Ottomans came around in force after the Mongols ravaged Anatolia and the original Turkish homeland farther to the east. One Turk, Osman, held a castle and garnered enough prestige in his fights against the Eastern Roman Empire that Turks from all over the Middle East migrated there. They then had a long and difficult fight with the Romans, they were typically terrible at besieging cities and therefore had a long period where they couldn't take cities, but the Romans could do nothing about their armies because the Romans were so outnumbered. In time, the Ottomans eroded Rome's territory and conquered much of modern day Turkey from them.

In 1402, the Mongols again returned and decimated the Turks at the Battle of Ankara. Their Sultan was captured and the Sultanate fragmented between Beyazid's sons, Mehmed, Isa, and Suleyman. Mehmed ended up winning, his son then destroying the Eastern Roman Empire.

The Ottomans had a system that was modeled after the Roman "pronoia." It basically allowed the landowners to collect taxes and spend it on themselves. This made the regions take care of themselves and they provided army and money to the Sultan whenever he demanded it, which wasn't too terribly often.

Like most, Islamic countries, Christianity was permitted. There was no outright persecution but there was discrimination, a situation similar to Al-Andalus between 711 and 1492. Christians were protected by the government and typically had a special tax levied on them. Provided they did nothing to threaten the state, they were left alone. Many would convert to Islam to avoid these taxes, to avoid discrimination, to assimilate themselves into the Ottoman Empire, and to move up the social ladder. Greek (and later Balkan) women who married an Islamic man were instantly converted to Islam and had to practice it. The Millet system permitted each culture to live within its own norms and laws. But it wasn't quite tolerance, the idea of tolerance as we know it didn't come about until the French Revolution.

This intercultural marriage would eventually lead to the Ottoman Empire developing its own unique culture. Architecture and art was heavily influenced by Eastern Roman culture as well as Islamic/Arabic culture. Their literature, however, did not take after the European countries that they conquered, it was mostly poetry. There wasn't any fiction, that I know of at least, of the kind like Europe's. This is interesting because Eastern Roman art and literature was closely linked to Christianity and rarely strayed from it like Ottoman literature rarely strayed from poetry.

Eventually, the Ottoman economy declined. It did not industrialize as rapidly as the rest of Europe and was still dependent on agriculture. When American grain started to be imported, it was found to be cheaper and the Ottoman economy went further into decline. Twice, Britain forgave its debt to the Ottomans to keep it afloat in the 19th century.

That is all I know about later Ottoman culture and life... I was always more a military historian and political historian than culture and art. I know more about its formative years only because I enjoy reading about the Roman Empire and the Ottomans were, obviously, integral in its collapse.

Ottoman Empire Facts

You're asking about hundreds of years of history so it's pretty hard to describe the Empire in this space. There is a good webpage devoted to the Ottomans - it's broken down into easy to follow sections from the very beginning to the slow decline and inevitable collapse. Check out Ottomans.org (link below)

Mustafa Kemal tried his best to cut all the relations and heritage between Ottoman and the new republic: He changed the alphabet, dressing code, constitution, all the administrative system etc. He even tried to remove the religion, but he couldn't. It would be wrong to state that new republic is a continuation of the empire. It is not. Is a son a continuation of his father? Now, after decades of practice of this cultural revolution, new generations are mostly cut from their ancesters culture and religion. Poor them.

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Interesting facts about the Ottoman empire?

Many of you will probably suggest Wiki, but generally I know very little of the Ottoman empire other than their languages, king, and it's fall during WW1.

Anything you can share would be useful, i.e. the cultures, life (if possible before and after ww1) e.t.c

Much appreciated! I'll...