Notes on the Ottoman Empire

I could have called this page "Notes on Turkey" but there was no Turkey when the most interesting events happened around Anatolia.

The powerful empire of Byzantium was an extension of the Roman empire that lasted more than nine centuries and was responsible for the conversion of the Russians to Christianity. This map shows its maximun extension under Justinian (527- 565) who built St Sophia in the capital, Constantinople. The trail shows the military campaign of the great general Belisarius in 635

I finally chose to use the title "Notes on the Ottoman Empire" because although it lasted only six centuries, its influence is still present in all the regions shown on these maps, including those it did not occupy.

This map shows the growth of the Ottoman empire from its beginning in 1288 under Osman Bey to its end in 1909 with Abdul Hamit II.

For information on the history of the neighbouring regions to the north and to the south, you could refer to the Notes on the Balkans that I gathered in 1999 and the Notes on the Middle East drafted in 2002. There are however so many important events to report that I have just listed them in the following table that also includes important events before and after the Ottoman Empire. Useful information can also be found on the websites listed at the end of this page.

TABLE OF IMPORTANT EVENTS

7000 BC	World's first city, neolithic Catal Hoyuk in south Anatolia (mother goddess)
6000-5500 BC	Halaf culture in northern Mesopotamia
5500 BC	Ubaid culture from southern Mesopotamia replaces Halaf in north
4300-2500 BC	Hurrian culture in Taurus - Zagros mountains
4500 BC	Uruk, first Sumerian city in south Mesopotamia
3500 BC	Semite tribes from Arabia migrate to Mesopotamia
2500 BC	Hatti culture at Alaca Hoyuk in Anatolia
1900-1300 BC	Hittite Empire with Hattusas as capital (Indo-europeans who conquered the Hatti)
1250 BC	The Trojan war and the fall of Troy
1200-700 BC	Migration of Greeks to Aegean coastal regions. Establishment of the Phrygian, Ionian, Lycian, Lydian, Carian and Pamphylian Kingdoms. The East of Turkey is the home of the Urartians
700 BC	Homer is born in Izmir (Smyrna). Aegean Hellenism begins
560-546 BC	Croesus rules Lydia (first coins in the world)
546 BC	Cyrus the Great leads the Persians into Anatolia
334 BC	Alexander the Great drives out the Persians
130 BC	The Romans incorporate Anatolia as the province of Asia, controlled from Ephesus
40 BC	Antioch sees the marriage of Antony and Cleopatra
46 AD	Romans conquer Thrace and Moecia (Bulgaria)
47-57 AD	St. Paul spreads Christianity and a community at Antioch is established
105	Romans conquer Dacia (Romania)
313	Roman Empire adopts Christianity
330 -	Constantine establishes "New Rome" called Constantinople
527-65	Justinian expands Byzantium and builds Hagia Sophia
638-718	Muslim Arabs besiege Constantinople
681-1081	First Bulgarian Empire at Pliska in Dobrudzha district
865	Boris I of Bulgaria imposes Christianity on his people
896	Hungarian tribes under Arpad settle in the Carpathian bassin
988	Volodidir of Kiev imposes Christianity on his people
1000	Stephen of Hungary imposes Christianity on his people
1018-1186	Byzantine occupation of Bulgaria
1054	Greek and Roman Churches split over theology
1071	Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantines at Manzikert
1096-1204	The Crusades, the 4th sacks Constantinople
1186-1396	Second Bulgarian Empire
1243	Mongols destroy Seljuk armies
1288 -	Osman I founds the Ottoman State in Bursa
1389	Ottoman Turks defeat Serbia in the battle of Kosovo
1396-1878	Ottoman occupation of Bulgaria
1453	The fall of Constantinople - the birth of Istanbul
1459	The Ottomans conquer Serbia, Albania and Bosnia
1520-66	Suleyman the Magnificent expands the Ottoman Empire over Egypt, Arabia, Rhodes, Tabriz and Hungary but is stopped at Vienna in 1529
1683	Austrian and Polish armies lift another siege before Vienna
1682-1725	Peter the Great initiates Russo-Turkish rivalry
1827	Athens falls to the Ottomans
1854	Crimean war
1877-1878	Russo - Turkish war Ottomans loose Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro
1909 -	Abdul Hamid, the last of an unbroken line of Ottoman sultans is deposed
1914	Turkey allies with Germany in the first world war
1915	British and French warships fail to force the straits of Gallipoli ANZAC forces suffer heavy losses
1915-1923	Turkish forces under Enver carry out the genocide of 1 000 000 Armenians
1919	Ataturk leads resistance to the allied plan to carve up Turkey
1919-1922	Greco-Turkish war with heavy cross migation of refugees
1923	Treaty of Lausane fixes borders of Turkey. Allied promisses of an independent Kurdish State are not kept. Neither are those made to the Arabs, the British grab Palestine and Iraq and the French, Lebanon and Syria.
1923	Foundation of the modern Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
1938	Ataturk dies in Istanbul's Dolmabahce palace
1939-45	Turkey manages to remain neutral during the second world war
1946	Charter membership of the UN
1952	Turkey joins NATO
1960	Military coup, successive governments ineffective
1964	Associate member status of EU
1974	Turkey invades Cyprus after Greek coup
1980	Kanan Evren leads military coup. 3 years of military government
1980-1991	Ban on publications in the Kurdish language
1983	Turgut Ozal elected prime Minister
1984-1996	Twelve years of Kurdish insurgency for independence
1993	Suleyman Demirel elected President with Tansu Ciller as Prime Minister
1993-96	Demirel President, Tansu Ciller Prime Minister, Turkey joins EU Customs Union
1997-98	5 attempts at forming coalition governments, Islamic Welfare party disbanded, reforms as Virtue and is the largest single party in parliament. Military intervenes to prevent Islamicists forming governments. 75th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic (and 15th of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) celebrated.
.	-
1999	Turkish agents capture Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Kenya. He was subsequently tried and condemned to the death penalty.

The following websites can provide more detailed information on these events.