Strengths of the Ottoman Empire (Term Paper Sample)

Strengths of the Ottoman Empire
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Introduction
The Ottoman Empire also historically referred to as the Turkish Empire was an empire that was founded by tribes of Turkey in Northern Anatolia in 1299. It became an empire in 1453 after the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II. This empire existed for over 600 years until 1922 the time when the monarchy system in Turkey was abolished. The 16th and 17th centuries marked its height of power when it was under the rule of Suleiman the magnificent. History reveals that Ottoman Empire was among the most powerful empires all over the world (Faroqhi, 2009, p4). It stretched all the way from the southern borders of the Roman Empire to the Northern borders of Yemen and from Algeria in the west to the borders of Azerbaijan in the East. This implies that this empire was at the center of three continents Africa, Asia and Europe. The empire had 32 provinces by the end of 17th century; thus it was at the center of the interaction of the between the western and the Eastern worlds for more than six centuries (Faroqhi, 2009, p4). Like other empires of the time, Ottoman Empire had the strength that made it to be dominant among other empires.
The first strength of the Ottoman Empire that made it to be so famous in History is that Islam had traditionally been the state that tends to unify both the political and religious issues (Aasd.k12.wi.us. n. d p1). In fact, the head of the Ottoman state was Sultan and he was both supreme political and religious leader in Turkey. At the same time, a caliph was also a religious and political leader in the Islamic world. Therefore, Sultan and the caliph that led the Ottoman Empire understood and upheld both the political and religious matters. Unlike in other empires that consisted religions like Christianity where the political power was much separated from the Christian religious issues (Aasd.k12.wi.us. n. d p1). Thus, the integration of Islamic faith with political matters in the management of the Ottoman Empire gave it a big advantage over the other empires such as the Roman Empire.
The second strength of the Ottoman Empire was that the empire underwent the process of civilization earlier than its neighbors (Faroqhi, 2009, p11). The region became more civilized and this brought so many advantages such as being able to expand, the ability to build regular units and the high rate of production. These advantages extended and benefited even the neighboring nations to the east, west, south and North, these benefits they got from Ottoman Empire made them to fear causing disharmony with it hence, peace prevailed. Therefore, the fact that the Ottoman Empire became more civilized earlier than its neighbors gave insurmountable advantages hence, faster growth and stability.
Another strength of the Ottoman Empire had is that it had a diverse culture (Aasd.k12. wi. us. n. d p2). As mentioned earlier, the Empire stretches from Europe, Africa and Asia continents, this means that the cultures of these three continents were integrated in the Ottoman’s culture. The diversity of the culture in this empire brought a lot of advantages since it had not only the Turkish national culture, but it also had the African and Arabic as well. Multiculturalism brings advantages such as many different factories, many different craftsmen and more regular divisions (Aasd.k12.wi.us. n. d p2). Thus, diverse culture led to diverse production of goods and services.
The Geographical location and the topography of Ottoman Empire offered plentiful opportunities for its expansion. For example Persia, Tunisia and Arabian peninsular are all large regions and had very many densely populated nations (Quataert, 2005, p32). The Ottoman Empire was not touched by the colonialists when they colonized the North and the East Africa; this gave the Empire the chance to raise enormous amount of prestige. As that was not enough, the neighboring nation to this empire were not easily conquered, this boosted the stability of this empire.
The Ottoman Empire had a big advantage in terms of military defense. We have Caucasus Mountains and narrow stretch of land that acted as the only way to the empire to the right (Quataert, 2005, p32). The topography of the empire is quite rugged for example; the terrain of Anatolia is mountainous in nature hence, it is easy to defend from the enemies. There...