Why were the Ottoman's Successful in war?

    The Ottoman Empire is a Turkish empire that was one of the most successful empires in the world. The Ottoman Empire had lasted from July-12-1299 to 29-October-1923, and it is one of the sixteen empires established in Turkey. Under the rule of Suleiman the magnificent, the empire was under it best rule which was from the 16-17 century. Also the Ottoman empire witnessed many sultans but the weren’t as good as the sultan. The Ottoman Empire has spread its rule over a wide range of counties and seas. From the east it had spread all the way to the Caspian Sea, from the west it had spread to Algeria in the south and to the boarder of the Adriatic Sea in the north. It had also spread north and south but not as far as it had expanded its boarder to the east and west. To the south it had went to Egypt-Algeria, and north as much as Ukraine. What helped make this empire successful is that it was inspired and sustained by Islam.

    There are six factors that helped them spread their empire so rapidly. For example their advance in technology and weapons helped the demolish anything that stood in their way in warfare. Another example is clothing and health care. Clothing was important when in warfare because the soldier’s weren’t easily harmed from the opposing soldiers. Also the health of a soldier was important to the army because they can’t send out people who aren’t able to fight because of health issues. What also helped them in warfare is the government, population of the army.

    Clothing is one of the important things that the Ottoman Empire relied on in wars. They needed to have strong durable armors for safety and protection during war. Their armor consisted of interlock rings flattened metal and was reinforced at the front. They also had metal plates for them to be protected from wounds and injuries. And they also wore helmets that were called a migfer. Those helmets protected them from sword wounds and injuries.

    The Ottoman Empire had an advantage in their populations and army. The ottomans had two systems that helped them raise a huge army, the Timar and Devshirme system. The timar system is about an askeri or a soldier that was given a share of the agricultural taxes of a designated region-usually consisting of several villages- in return for military service as a cavalryman and assistance in provincial administration.  They were able to raise 100 000 soldiers with that system. The Devshirme system also helped the army with its population. For example they would take a thousand slave children and would train them well to be the dependents of the sultan. Also those slaves were used in the army. In comparison the Ottoman Empire was able to raise huge armies, unlike the Spanish empire because they tried to built large armies but they failed and that damaged the economy and weren’t able to raise huge armies.

         The Ottoman Empire was very advanced in their weaponry they had the ability to demolish any army that stood in their way. The Ottoman Empire had advanced weaponry before other countries. The Ottoman Empire had weapons such as pistols and muskets or modern day shotguns. Those guns had the ability to shoot from a far range and kill the enemy, without the soldier getting wounded. So they had advanced artillery than other enemies.

         The government also had an act in leading the wars to success. The government had a system called the Timar system. That system helped them built a successful army. It helped them train elite soldiers or janissaries for war. This way when it came to war the janissaries were able to use the weapons easily. This also helped them keep their soldiers healthy and in good shape for war. The soldiers would train and become healthy, strong soldiers and able to stand on their feet when it came to war.

         The success of the Ottoman Empire came in several ways. Some ways had an affect on one another, which helped them create one massive army. That army was able destroy anything that stood in their way because of their advantages and their experience with weapons.

Citation:

http://staff.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture3.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ottoman_Empire

Book:

University press, Cambridge Guns for the sultan, Cambridge university press, United Kingdom 2005  

Bibliography

"Ottoman Empire." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ottoman_Empire>.


"The Principles of Ottoman Rule in the Balkans." Redirecting. 4 Nov. 2008. 
       Web. 01 Dec. 2011 <http://staff.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lecture3.html>

introduction

The Ottoman Empire is a Turkish empire that was one of the most successful empires in the world. The Ottaman empire had lasted from July-12-1299 to 29-October-1923, and it is one of the sixteen empires established in Turky. The ottoman empire has spread its rule over a wide range of counties and seas. From the east it had spread all the way to the caspian sea, from the west it had spread to algeria in the south and to the boarder of the adriatic sea in the north. It had also spread north and south but not as far as the had expanded its boarder to thr east and west. To the south it had went to Egypt-Algeria, and north as much as Ukraine. What helped make this empire successful is that it was inspired and sustained by Islam.

But what actually helped the empire spread? One of the main reasons that helped spread the Ottoman empire is warfare. But what made them very successful in warfare, which helped them spread their empire? What helped them spread their empire so rapidly are various things. For example their advance in technology and weapons helped them demolish anything that stood in their way in warfare. Another example is clothing and health care. Clothing was important when in warfare because the soldiers werent easily harmed as the oppossing soldiers. Also the health of a soldier was important to the army because they camt send out people who arent able to fight becauase of health issues. What also helped them in warfare are the geography of the land, the government,population of the army and its religion.

citation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ottoman_Empire

Diary entry

I am a conquistador from Spain  who sailed all the way to the other side of a new and unseen world by the Europeans. I  have just landed on the land of mystery. It is a weird place, because it is not like any other place that we have seen before. The houses are made out of stone and not wood. The people fight with bow and arrows and not with guns. Also people paint on their faces like little children. They also thought that we were riding deers what idiots. When we were on the land of Mexico they thought that we were returning gods. They that we were coatzelcoatal and his returning army. But we were just an army coming to invade their land for it's goods. When we were searching for their goods, for example gold, they thought we were taking vengeance on them. Also they thought that one god is less powerful than many gods. Although they weren't educated it's nice that I invaded and saw a new part of the world. 

Why did lutheranism APPEAL to the princes?

     During the reformation a man named Martin Luther who wrote the "95 thesis" had a massive affect on many people. For example he had an affect on important and non-important people of Germany. Lutheranism is one man trying to turn the people on the church because he thinks that what the church are doing is wrong.

     Lutheranism now supports princes because he is against the church's beliefs and what they are doing. By that he tells people to read the bible. After them reading the bible they found out that what the church was doing was wrong and it was for the church's good. The people starts to understand what they church was trying to do and got angry with them and the didn't support the church any longer. The people started supporting the government, which gave the government and the princes more power over the church. 

     After the princes gain more power they have the control over the land. They gained more power over the land by them able to close or shut down monasteries, and also them able to confiscate land from other people. By them closing down the monasteries and confiscating land and them owning it they become more richer and powerful.

     Although the princes had their gain from lutheranism the people also had their gains and their freedom. The people who changed from supporters of the church to be supporters of the government; they were able to choose their own ministers. Also the people who converted from supporter of the church to supporter of the government; had more of an affect on the church than more on the government. 

     The Princes were also able to seize more taxes for the people which made the princes more richer and powerful. After the converting of the people to the government they were able to be secular. This was also making the princes powerful and richer over the church. 

     As a conclusion lutheranism was able to appeal to more people and princes than Catholicism. It had made princes powerful and richer than the church. It also gave them more powerful over land by them able to seize land and shut down monasteries.    

     

    

     

HOW DID THE CRUSADES CHANGE EUROPE?

     There were many changes in Europe that happened from the crusades. The most significant changes were the Catholic Church, Commerce, and finally Intellectual Changes. These three were my top choices as how they had the most effect on Europe. 

    The Catholic Church has changed a lot since the crusades. For example the catholic church has become richer after the crusades. They became  richer because of two reasons, people started to pay tithes. Tithe is ten percent of their profit that goes to the church. Also knights that went to battle gave the church their land so the church could be happy with them and they could go to heaven if they die. And last but not least the pope is seen as the leader of Europe. That is how the catholic church became stronger. 

     Second, Commerce is also an interesting change that happened also by the crusades. Commerce is another fancy word for trade. Europeans started to take interest in trade. By taking interest in trade the started going to the Middle East and learn and begin to trade with them. The Europeans and The ARABS started to trade with each other goods of their own. For example they started to trade tapestries, precious stones, perfumes, spices, pearls, and ivory. One last thing is that the Europeans started to learn how to built ships and they began to built ships of their own. So they started to trade and learn stuff from the Middle East. 

     Last but not least the crusades have had a superb effect on Intellectual Changes. Europeans have started to take interest in traveling and searching the whole world. They also wanted to be liberalized. Liberalized means to be free. Finally, they had scientific advantages. 

     There were other great impact or changes that happened by the crusades, for example feudalism and political effects. Feudalism has changed a lot before the crusades, for example the knights before the crusades had a lot of wealth by owning land. After the knights have given their land to the church and fought the crusade and lived they were poor. They were poor because they have sold all their wealth which is their piece of land. Another example is political effect. political effect also played a role for weakening feudalism, it also gave cities more power than before. And political effects stopped Arab advance. Those were two other examples of impacts of the crusade.