Byzantine-Ottoman wars
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| Byzantine-Ottoman wars | |||||||
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| Bapheus - Brusa - Pelekanon - Nicaea - Nicomedia - Gallipoli - Adrianople - Constantinople - Constantinople |
The Byzantine-Ottoman wars was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Turks and the Byzantine Greeks, that led to the final destruction of the Byzantine Empire and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. One of the most one-sided wars in history, there were few recorded victories achieved by the Byzantine forces, with defeat usually following the loss of an important, rich or strategic land or city.
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[edit] Origins of the War
The Seljuk Turks were the first Turkic people to arrive into Anatolia in Asia Minor. After a crushing victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Turks permanently established themselves in Asia minor, with a few setbacks such as the First Crusade and the Mongol expansion.
The Seljuk empire continued to rule much of Asia minor. The arrival of the Mongols to Asia minor in the 13th century led to the disintegration of the Seljuk empire. Out of the rubble of this empire emerged many Beylik. These were small provinces ruled by leaders known as Bey. One Bey in north west Anatolia had established itself in 1299 out of uniting a few of the local Turkic tribes. Their leader was Osman I and under his banner, the Turks marched to war with the old Roman empire of Byzantium.
[edit] 1299-1301
During this period, the Byzantine empire was crumbling apart from within. A few military success was achieved by the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II with the use of Almogavar mercenaries from Aragon, but internal disputes and quarrels with the mercenaries amounted to nothing for the Byzantines.
In the mean time, the Ottomans under Osman I began raiding the lands around Nicaea, then permanently occupying it. In 1301, the city was put to siege.
[edit] 1301 - 1331
Main article in Siege of Nicaea 1331
Andronicus II was unable to do much after 1301, due to invasions by the Bulgarians and the loss of Thrace. A defeat at Bapheus in 1302 led to the loss of the city of Bursa to the Ottomans in 1326. In 1328, Andronicus II was deposed by Andronicus III and forced into exile, where he died as a monk in 1332. However, the fortunes of the Byzantine empire worsened. Andronicus III was defeated again at Pelekanon in 1329 and a relief army was defeated attempting to relieve Nicaea in 1331. Nicaea shortly fell afterwards.
[edit] 1331 - 1337
Main article in Siege of Nicomedia
Reeling from a string of defeats, the Byzantines were forced into diplomacy. Andronicus III attempted to bribe the Ottomans in 1333 to stop besieging the city of Nicomedia. The Ottomans under Orhan, the son of Osman I, captured the city none the less in 1337. Andronicus III died in 1341, having not reversed the dire situation in Asia minor, with much of Greece lost and Macedonia taken by the Serbs, though Epirus was re-taken by the Greeks.
[edit] 1337 - 1371
The war soon became a one-sided conflict. The Turks captured Adrianople (Edirne) and Gallipoli, having set foot on European soil for the very first time. The new Byzantine emperor, John V Palaiologos, tried and failed to ask for a Crusade, offering to submit to the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church in return for military aid. In 1371, he was forced to recognise the suzerainty of the Ottoman Sultan Murad I, the successor of Orkhan.
Next followed an uneasy peace as the Ottomans helped John V re-take Constantinople from his son Andronicus IV in 1379. John V was made a vassal of the Ottomans.
[edit] 1371 - 1391
By 1390, the Ottomans had established themselves in Greece and had destroyed Serbian power at Kosovo in 1389. In 1390, John V decided that the surrounding Ottoman empire was a threat to be realized and began making reperations on the Constantinople Golden Gate. The new Sultan of the Ottomans, Bayezid I (successor of Murad I) ordered that the reperations be reversed, and this was done, since the Byzantine emperor's son was held captive by the Ottomans and threatened with blinding.
[edit] 1391 - 1402
Also see Battle of Ankara
John V died in 1391, apparently from a nervous breakdown at being humiliated by the Ottoman Sultan. Manuel II Palaiologos escaped the Sultan's court and took Constantinople. In 1391, it was besieged by the Ottomans until 1396, when the Ottomans faced a crusading force of Christians under the to-be Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. This was another victory for the Ottomans, and the siege of Constantinople continued. During this time, Manuel II escaped Constantinople to visit England, France, Aragon and Germany to rally support for a dying empire, though Thessalonica had been recently added. He returned to find his city free from siege in 1402, when another steppe horde under Timur (Tamerlane) invaded Anatolia and smashed the Ottomans at Ankara, capturing Bayezid I.
[edit] 1402 - 1413 & 1413 - 1421
See also : Ottoman Interregnum
A civil war between Bayezid's sons developed. However, the Byzantine empire was too weak to actively participate, though sided with Mehmed I. Mehmed I became the new Ottoman Sultan, moving the capital to Adrianople and swearing loyalty to the Byzantine empire.
[edit] 1421 - 1453
Main article: Fall of Constantinople
The Ottomans resumed the war with the Byzantine empire, besieging Constantinople again, when Murad II was made to fight a pretender by the name of Mustafa. Murad II won, and then set out to punish Constantinople. Manuel II died in 1425 and John VII inherited the throne and the untenable position. Failing to win Papal support and a union between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, he managed nonetheless to hold Constantinople. Murad II died in 1444 after inflicting several victories against the Christians in Greece and Serbia, including the Venetians and the son of Timur (Tamerlane). Mehmed II his son, took the throne and led an army of 80,000 to besiege Constantinople. The siege lasted less than two months when Constantinople fell, though the Byzantines had almost forced the Turks back. Surrounding the city and waiting for it to surrender was a dangerous task; previous attempts to starve Constantinople failed when the Ottomans' numerous enemies such as the Serbians, Hungarians or Timurids attacked, some of these attacks proving successful.
[edit] References
- R.G. Grant, Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat, Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd, 2005.
