Notes Page
Janissaries
Janissaries were christen children taken from their families. The children were not slaves and were introduced into the muslim faith. They learned the languages and rituals that gave them only one duty; To serve the sultan. They were the highest positions of power in the empire. They were organized into three unequal divisions; cemaat, bölükhalkı, segban.
Kemal Ataturk
Kemal Ataturk was a Ottoman and Turkish army officer. He is the founder of the Republic of Turkey. He launched a revolutionary social and political reform to modernise Turkey. As president of the republic, he pursued a vigorous policy of modernization that helped modernize the country's legal and educational systems. He encouraged the adoption of a European way of life. In 1934 when the turks were required to adopt surnames, Kemal was given the name Ataturk by the parliament.
Timeline
The timeline shows each event and when it happened with the Ottomans. The progress of the empire was explosive. At one time there was fighting between the Mongols and the Sultan Seljook. At another Muhammad Awwal promoted arts and poetry. The motives for conquest were probably a mixture of three factors: ordinary greed and power lust, religious fervor, and a system that rely's on expansion to perpetuate itself.
Eventually, the strain of administering such vast domains proved the downfall of the Ottomans.
Cartoon
The cartoon I provided is just one of the many cartoons during this time. It describes Turkey and the position they were in. Turkey is surrounded by austria, depicted as the eagle with the two heads. Russia is the bear wearing a crown. Britain is shown as a man straddling Malta and Corfu and having a leash around Egypt; which is a lion with a leash.