<b>The Turks (1030 On)<b>

The name Turk refers to two different Muslim groups of the Middle East-first the
Seljuks and then the Ottomans. The Seljuks, nomads from the steppes near the Ca
spian Sea, converted to Islam around the tenth century. Approximately 70,000 Sel
juks started as mercenaries to fill the ranks of the Islamic army of the caliph
of Baghdad. These mercenaries converted to the Sunni branch of Islam. In 1055 th
ey became the real power behind the caliph in Baghdad and began extending their
rule. Their leaders took the title sultan, meaning "holders of power." By 1100 t
hey controlled most of Anatolia (taken from the Byzantines), Palestine, the land
s surrounding the Persian Gulf, the holy cities of Arabia, and as far east as Sa
markand.
In 1071 the Seljuks achieved a stunning victory over a Byzantine army at Malazgi
rt in modern Turkey, which led to Turkish occupation of most of Anatolia. At nea
rly the same time, they successfully captured Jerusalem from its Egyptian Muslim
rulers. These two events shocked the Byzantines, the papacy, and the Christian
Europeans. The result was the Crusades, which carried on for the next 200 years.
The Seljuk Turks were worn down by the recurring wars with the Crusaders, even t
hough they were successful ultimately in regaining control of Palestine. They we
re threatened simultaneously by the activities of the Assassins, a heretical sec
t of Islam. Internally, Islam entered a period of introspection because of the p
opularity of Sufi mysticism. During this period of exhaustion and weakness, they
were attacked suddenly by the Mongols and collapsed. Baghdad fell to the invade
rs in 1258 and the Seljuk Empire disappeared.
Islamic peoples from Anatolia (modern Turkey in Asia Minor) were unified in the
early fourteenth century under Sultan Osman I and took the name Osmanli, or Otto
mans, in his honor. The Ottomans swore a jihad against the crumbling Byzantine E
mpire and took their campaign around Constantinople into the Balkans. In 1389 th
e Serbs were defeated. In 1396 a "crusader" army from Hungary was defeated. Otto
man successes were temporarily halted by the Mongols under Tamerlane, but he mov
ed on with his army and the Ottomans recovered.
Sultan Mehmed II ("the Conqueror") at last captured Constantinople on May 29, 14
53. The great walls of Constantinople were battered by 70 guns for eight weeks a
nd then 15,000 Janissaries led the successful assault.
The Ottomans pushed on into Europe following the capture of Constantinople and t
hreatened a sort of reverse Crusade. They were stopped by a Hungarian army at Be
lgrade in 1456, however. Attacks on Vienna were repulsed in 1529 and again in 16
83. At its peak in the sixteenth century, the Ottoman Empire reached up into Eur
ope to Budapest and Odessa and included all of Greece and the Balkans, the lands
surrounding the Black Sea, Asia Minor, the Levant, Arabia, Egypt, and most of N
orth Africa. The Ottoman Empire remained a significant world power until World W
ar I in the twentieth century.