0:00:06 > 0:00:09On the edge of Europe is a city that was once
0:00:09 > 0:00:12the heart of a mighty empire.
0:00:16 > 0:00:21From here in Istanbul, the glories of the Ottoman Empire
0:00:21 > 0:00:23came to match those of Ancient Rome.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28Wow!
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Look at this!
0:00:30 > 0:00:33This is the view that the Ottoman sultans would have seen
0:00:33 > 0:00:37and it just simply takes your breath away.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43For 600 years,
0:00:43 > 0:00:44from the Middle Ages
0:00:44 > 0:00:46to the 20th century,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50one dynasty of Ottoman sultans, a single family,
0:00:50 > 0:00:52ruled over huge swathes of the world.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57The Ottomans were staggeringly wealthy.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01This is an empire of a million square miles, it's a superpower.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07The empire stretched south to Baghdad and Cairo,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10controlling the holiest sites of Islam -
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18But it also reached deep into Europe,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21taking in Sarajevo
0:01:21 > 0:01:24and threatening the gates of Vienna.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30What's more, it was the world's last Islamic empire
0:01:30 > 0:01:32and it collapsed less than 100 years ago.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38In this series, I'll be discovering why the Ottoman Empire
0:01:38 > 0:01:40seems to have vanished from our understanding
0:01:40 > 0:01:42of the history of Europe.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Why its story is exciting global interest once more
0:01:45 > 0:01:49and how, this year, struggles at the heart of the Ottoman story
0:01:49 > 0:01:52have reignited on the streets they once ruled,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55from Syria to Turkey and Egypt.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00It's remarkable how some of the most important yet unresolved issues
0:02:00 > 0:02:04confronting us today were also faced by the Ottomans -
0:02:04 > 0:02:07the conflicts between the Christian West and the Muslim East,
0:02:07 > 0:02:12the need to reconcile secular politics with religious ideology
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and balancing the demands of the clergy
0:02:15 > 0:02:17with the ambitions of the generals.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21All this was faced by one dynasty who ruled for 600 years,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23across three continents.
0:02:26 > 0:02:27In this first episode,
0:02:27 > 0:02:31I'll discover the surprising roots of the Ottomans,
0:02:31 > 0:02:35the extraordinary speed at which nomadic horsemen
0:02:35 > 0:02:38from a corner of what is today Turkey,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41became powerful rulers across Europe,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44the Middle East and Africa.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Across the continents, down the centuries,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55I'll be getting to grips with what we all need to know today
0:02:55 > 0:02:58about Europe's Muslim Emperors.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20As a journalist,
0:03:20 > 0:03:22I've been dispatched to many regions of the world
0:03:22 > 0:03:25that were once part of the Ottoman Empire.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35American armour is moving at will across whole swathes of Baghdad...
0:03:37 > 0:03:41Now, with so much of the world they once ruled in turmoil...
0:03:44 > 0:03:47..I want to uncover the Ottomans' forgotten story.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54If you don't understand the Ottomans,
0:03:54 > 0:03:56both the good and the bad,
0:03:56 > 0:04:01you don't understand partly the modern transformations
0:04:01 > 0:04:04of the Balkans and the Middle East. I think they are connected.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14The roots of today's turmoil can be traced, in part at least,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18to the break-up of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Even before the war was over, the French and the British were already
0:04:28 > 0:04:32planning on how they would dismember this remaining territory.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Many countries in the Middle East, whose names are in the news today,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42only came into being after this post-war carve-up.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47A list of the Ottoman successor states today reads like a catalogue
0:04:47 > 0:04:52of the world's trouble spots - Iraq, Syria, Israel and Palestine.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57The borders of these countries were not designed
0:04:57 > 0:05:01according to any geographical reality. The border between
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Turkey and Syria, for example, is a border that
0:05:04 > 0:05:06just doesn't have any reason.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08The two peoples on the same side
0:05:08 > 0:05:12of the border are the same people, they still speak the same language.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Modern-day Saudi Arabia and Yemen
0:05:20 > 0:05:23escaped control by the great powers of Europe.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Only one other major Muslim country would achieve this.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Remarkably that nation was the heartland of the Ottoman Empire -
0:05:33 > 0:05:35modern-day Turkey.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Turkey looks very different from its Arab neighbours.
0:05:51 > 0:05:55It's a confident, modern country whose economy and global importance
0:05:55 > 0:05:56are both growing.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01And for most of the past century,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03it's turned its back on the Ottoman past.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Until now.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14BATTLE CRY
0:06:17 > 0:06:21In Turkey and across the world, 200 million people
0:06:21 > 0:06:25are currently gripped by a TV drama about the Ottomans.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35It's an epic story of power won and lost across three continents.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39A great cultural force in history,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41straddling the ancient and modern worlds.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51And ruled from one of the world's
0:06:51 > 0:06:53most strategically placed imperial capitals.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Istanbul is a city that spans two continents.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04On this side is Europe,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07but a short hop across the Bosphorus takes you to the Asian side.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10It's always been a city where different beliefs
0:07:10 > 0:07:11and different cultures meet.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Never more so than during the time of the Ottomans.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24This place became the heart of the empire.
0:07:24 > 0:07:29But the Ottoman story began across the water on the Asian shore,
0:07:29 > 0:07:31somewhere much more remote.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56The Ottomans first emerged over 700 years ago.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Their heartland is said to be around the small town of Sogut,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06150 miles or so from modern-day Istanbul,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10in rural Anatolia, the Asian part of modern Turkey.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Each year there's a festival here
0:08:18 > 0:08:20to commemorate the empire's founding fathers.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29The family that would become the Ottoman dynasty,
0:08:29 > 0:08:34began as nomadic warriors alongside many other tribal clans.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38They were excellent horsemen,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41this is how they survived, how they lived.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46And on account of their perhaps fearsome qualities,
0:08:46 > 0:08:48they were used as hired mercenaries.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59These guns-for-hire had moved across Central Asia
0:08:59 > 0:09:03and fought for the powerful Muslim rulers based in Baghdad.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08That's how they were introduced to Islam,
0:09:08 > 0:09:12a religion that took its place alongside other beliefs.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16The religion of the Ottomans
0:09:16 > 0:09:20was the religion of a people on the frontiers.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22They were absorbing as much spirituality from the people
0:09:22 > 0:09:25they conquered as they were taking from their own hinterlands.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34The Ottomans' nomadic ancestors settled around Sogut,
0:09:34 > 0:09:36competing with other tribes to survive.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42There were others who also settled down in neighbouring areas,
0:09:42 > 0:09:43neighbouring territory.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47And they were rivals for resources,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50they were rivals for territory, they were rivals for grazing lands,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53they were rivals for access to the sea.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57And the Ottomans needed to overturn them.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06By 1299, their leader in this ongoing struggle
0:10:06 > 0:10:09was a man called Osman or Uttman.
0:10:09 > 0:10:15His followers would become known as Osmanli, or in English, Ottoman.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18And just as Rome had its story of Romulus and Remus
0:10:18 > 0:10:22to give its origins a sense of divine authority,
0:10:22 > 0:10:26so the later Ottomans developed a founding myth around Osman.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34Osman dreamt that a tree came out of his navel,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37a very wide, spreading tree,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41which came to shade a very luscious and bountiful landscape under it.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47In the morning, Osman told this dream to his leader
0:10:47 > 0:10:48who gave him
0:10:48 > 0:10:54the great news that he will be the head of a big empire
0:10:54 > 0:10:58and his sons and grandsons will rule the state.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06The story of how this legendary dream came true
0:11:06 > 0:11:08is one that holds many surprises.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15In the late 13th century,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18no-one could have dreamt that, within a few generations,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21these nomads would become mightier than
0:11:21 > 0:11:24the imperial powers that surrounded them.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30To the southeast were influential Arab cities
0:11:30 > 0:11:32like Baghdad and Damascus,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35home to earlier leaders of the Muslim world.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41Further south was the great seat of learning in Cairo
0:11:41 > 0:11:45and Islam's holiest sites of Mecca and Medina.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Closer to home was a crumbling Christian empire.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04The capital of the Byzantine Empire
0:12:04 > 0:12:07lay just across the water of the Bosphorus.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Modern Istanbul was at this time called Constantinople,
0:12:13 > 0:12:18named after the fourth century Roman Emperor, Constantine.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21It was the centre of the Eastern Christian world.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31Constantinople stood for the empire
0:12:31 > 0:12:33of the Christians on Earth.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36One God in heaven,
0:12:36 > 0:12:38one Emperor on Earth
0:12:38 > 0:12:41and one imperial city.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46The Byzantine world had total confidence that it had
0:12:46 > 0:12:50the ideal constitution, the ideal system of justice,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53they thought it was the perfect Christian empire.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02But after a millennium in power, the Byzantines were in decline
0:13:02 > 0:13:07and weakened by battles with Europe's Western Catholic crusaders.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12It was still against all expectations, when in 1301,
0:13:12 > 0:13:17Osman claimed his first victory over the Byzantine imperial army
0:13:17 > 0:13:19and it made his name.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28When the other emirates or other principalities saw that,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32they started to join the Ottomans, to fight with them,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36because they see a future in the Ottomans.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42This meant that they were able to amass huge numbers of soldiers.
0:13:42 > 0:13:48They could deploy fast-riding cavalry to killer effect.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55MARCHING BAND PLAYS
0:13:57 > 0:14:01Osman's memory still arouses passions.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06At the climax of the Sogut festival,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10everyone marches to the tomb of the Ottoman forefathers.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14A scuffle breaks out
0:14:14 > 0:14:18about who should be the first to pay their respects.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20IMPASSIONED VOICES
0:14:26 > 0:14:28Osman's successors seized on his legacy
0:14:28 > 0:14:32and laid the foundations for empire.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34HE SPEAKS IN TURKISH
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Just two years into his reign,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Osman's son, Orhan, made his mark.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54In 1326, he took the major Byzantine city of Bursa
0:14:54 > 0:14:58after a long siege, converting it into his capital city.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05He wasted no time creating the infrastructure of a settled state.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09The earliest dated Ottoman coin is from this year.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12These were no longer nomads.
0:15:13 > 0:15:18The Byzantines were alarmed at the rise of this powerful
0:15:18 > 0:15:23and warrior-like group and they tried to put this off with diplomacy.
0:15:27 > 0:15:28The Christian Byzantine emperor
0:15:28 > 0:15:31gave Orhan his daughter's hand in marriage.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36It was always part of Byzantine diplomacy
0:15:36 > 0:15:40to use the emperor's family for intermarriage.
0:15:40 > 0:15:46Hopefully you kept your enemies as friends rather than as attackers.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52The marriage did not stop the Ottomans
0:15:52 > 0:15:55setting their sights on Byzantine territory,
0:15:55 > 0:16:00beyond the narrow Bosphorus Straits on the European mainland.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10As the Ottomans looked to the fertile lands of Greece and Italy,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13they could see the rise of Venice,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16the rise of Genoese traders, the rise of Pisa.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20I think it must have been very clear that the West was the future.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25First they raided along the European coastline,
0:16:25 > 0:16:30but in the 1360s, the Ottomans seized their first European City,
0:16:30 > 0:16:31Edirne.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35It was a breakthrough moment.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38They made this their new capital.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43From this foothold in Europe,
0:16:43 > 0:16:46troops marched out to take the kingdom of Bulgaria
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and the strategic town of Sofia.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53The important city of Salonica, now Thessaloniki in modern Greece,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56fell after a long siege.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01The routes west had been opened to Ottoman advance.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04The Ottomans wanted to be the future
0:17:04 > 0:17:09and they had all sorts of reasons in terms of power,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11military power, they were fantastic.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21In less than 100 years, the Ottomans had started to take over
0:17:21 > 0:17:24from one of the most sophisticated imperial powers
0:17:24 > 0:17:26the world had ever seen.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48In what is now Greek Macedonia,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51there's a town founded by the early Ottomans.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Yanitsa was built in the 1370s
0:17:56 > 0:17:59and then called Yenice Vardar.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03In Turkish, Yenice means "newly founded".
0:18:05 > 0:18:09And it holds some intriguing clues about the kind of future
0:18:09 > 0:18:13the Ottomans offered to their newly conquered lands.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17One traditional view in the West of the Ottomans has been to see them as
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Muslim invaders plundering Christian lands in Europe for their own gain.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25They'd raze a place to the ground, and then just simply move on
0:18:25 > 0:18:27once they'd taken everything that they could get.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32For many living in these lands today,
0:18:32 > 0:18:35it's hard to have a more positive view
0:18:35 > 0:18:37of what the Ottomans built here.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39This includes the town's mayor.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43IN TRANSLATION:
0:18:57 > 0:19:01But nonetheless, what remains 600 years on
0:19:01 > 0:19:03suggests something much more permanent
0:19:03 > 0:19:06than the image of marauding invaders would suggest.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13The historian, Heath Lowry, has been examining early Ottoman life here.
0:19:33 > 0:19:34Wow!
0:19:34 > 0:19:37It's a lot more impressive inside
0:19:37 > 0:19:39than what you can see from the outside.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43You're right. This is a typical, Ottoman bath house,
0:19:43 > 0:19:44called a "hammam".
0:19:44 > 0:19:47And what's standing today
0:19:47 > 0:19:50is really less than half of the full structure. This was a double bath,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54so it had one side for women, one side for men.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58The Ottomans as Muslims, really had a bath culture,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02a bath culture that we really see previously only under Rome.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04It's as if there was this jump between the Roman Empire
0:20:04 > 0:20:06and the Ottoman Empire.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09It certainly tells people that you have just conquered -
0:20:09 > 0:20:12that you're here to stay for a while.
0:20:12 > 0:20:13Cos it can't have been easy,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and you wouldn't build this if you were just passing through.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19But you needed water, and you needed fresh water.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22So they, as part of this infrastructure,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26built a system, that runs 12-15 miles back in the hills,
0:20:26 > 0:20:32of aqueducts and underground pipes to bring water to the city
0:20:32 > 0:20:37to provide for the fountains at his mosque and the bath-house here.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40This is a very different view of Ottoman rule
0:20:40 > 0:20:44in this part of the world, isn't it? I mean, traditionally, the Ottomans
0:20:44 > 0:20:47were just slash-and-burn sort of people who came through.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51You know, it's very hard to look at this infrastructure
0:20:51 > 0:20:56and think about the Ottomans as just some kind of semi-Mongol type horde
0:20:56 > 0:21:01that's just interested in slaves and booty and, you know. They weren't.
0:21:01 > 0:21:07They were interested in establishing normalcy as quickly as possible.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13It would be very foolish just to wreak havoc
0:21:13 > 0:21:17and ruin your resources, when resources were what you needed,
0:21:17 > 0:21:22what life was about, especially if you were not an entirely
0:21:22 > 0:21:24settled population. You needed...
0:21:24 > 0:21:26You needed pastures, you needed sheep,
0:21:26 > 0:21:32you needed crops, gradually. And you needed towns, trades, crafts.
0:21:32 > 0:21:33To destroy everything around you
0:21:33 > 0:21:35would have been very counter-productive.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42The story of this Greek town shows how the early Ottomans
0:21:42 > 0:21:45matched the sophisticated infrastructure of the Romans.
0:21:46 > 0:21:50And before long, a young Ottoman sultan would call time
0:21:50 > 0:21:54on the Roman Byzantine Empire's last grip on power.
0:21:58 > 0:22:00By the 15th century,
0:22:00 > 0:22:05the Ottomans had their sights set on their biggest prize yet.
0:22:10 > 0:22:15In 1453, Constantinople was the last Christian stronghold
0:22:15 > 0:22:17facing a rising Muslim world.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24It was set to become the scene of a great clash of religions.
0:22:28 > 0:22:29For the Muslim world,
0:22:29 > 0:22:35any great Islamic empire aspired to extend its rule over Byzantium,
0:22:35 > 0:22:40in a sense, to prove the superiority of Islam over Christianity.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Any assault on this Christian city by Muslims
0:22:48 > 0:22:50was a highly symbolic act.
0:22:50 > 0:22:55In fact, Islamic armies had besieged Constantinople
0:22:55 > 0:22:59only a few decades after the death of Prophet Muhammad.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03But its high walls meant it had resisted such attacks.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13By the 1450s, though,
0:23:13 > 0:23:18Constantinople was not looking as invincible as it once had.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27It was very run-down. It was a shadow of its former glory.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Largely because of an attack by Christians,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32not by Muslims.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34In 1204,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36the soldiers of the fourth Crusade,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39coming east to the Holy Land, occupied and looted the city.
0:23:41 > 0:23:43Within the walls there were
0:23:43 > 0:23:4513 little villages.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48The population was down maybe to 50,000,
0:23:48 > 0:23:50living as best they could
0:23:50 > 0:23:54off what they grew in their gardens and what they grew in the fields.
0:23:56 > 0:24:02They questioned whether the Ottoman Turks were in fact anti-Christ
0:24:02 > 0:24:06and whether a whole cycle of world history was coming to an end.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11Others said, "Constantinople is the God-protected city."
0:24:11 > 0:24:14"God is not going to desert us."
0:24:15 > 0:24:18There had been many failed Muslim attempts on the city.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22Now the 21-year-old Sultan Mehmed II
0:24:22 > 0:24:27judged that the "golden apple" was finally ripe for the picking.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35He built a fortress, north of the city, to cut off essential supplies.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40It really meant challenging every form of defence,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43ultimately taking on the walls of Istanbul,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46and just reducing it to rubble through persistence and numbers.
0:24:48 > 0:24:49Troops set out for the city walls.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Some were ferried in by boat.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57But the way was blocked by a massive chain placed under the water.
0:25:02 > 0:25:08By an incredible combination of ingenuity and sheer brute force,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Ottoman ships were hauled out of the water, onto greased planks.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18He carried his ships up land
0:25:18 > 0:25:21from the Bosphorus over into the Golden Horn,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24so that they could be right against the sea walls.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30You can only imagine the skill and determination needed
0:25:30 > 0:25:34to lift the boats out of the waters like this.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38It may not be as well known a story, but as a feat of endurance,
0:25:38 > 0:25:42it's on a par with Hannibal driving his elephants across the Alps.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49The Ottoman troops, now encircling the city walls,
0:25:49 > 0:25:52had numbers on their side.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56But Mehmed had also invested in the latest technology.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Gunpowder was a technology that was developing in the 15th century.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06The ability to use it was actually related to economics -
0:26:06 > 0:26:08did you have the money?
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Apparently everybody knew about a man called Urban,
0:26:12 > 0:26:14who was developing the cannon.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18He offered his expertise to the Byzantines
0:26:18 > 0:26:21but they couldn't afford his prices, so he went to the Ottomans.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27After centuries of failed Muslim attempts on Constantinople,
0:26:27 > 0:26:32it took Mehmed just 54 days to breach the city walls.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43In the West, the defeat of Constantinople
0:26:43 > 0:26:44is known as "the Fall".
0:26:44 > 0:26:49Here it's "the Conquest". It was more than a strategic gain.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53The taking of this city would be remembered for centuries
0:26:53 > 0:26:55as the moment of Muslim triumph.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03This was in many ways, the greatest moment in Islamic history
0:27:03 > 0:27:05since the prophetic message.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11It had always been the dream, since the beginning of Islam,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14that it become a Muslim city and it never had.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18And suddenly, this brash 21-year-old does what no other Muslim ruler
0:27:18 > 0:27:22had ever been able to do, and it certainly gave the Ottomans
0:27:22 > 0:27:26immense prestige in the Muslim world.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30In the Christian world, it was the end of Byzantium.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32it was the downfall of Eastern Christendom.
0:27:35 > 0:27:41The Bulgarians, the Serbs, the Russians, looked to Constantinople
0:27:41 > 0:27:46as the centre, and now the centre, so it seemed, was gone.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55It was just 150 years since Osman's first triumph
0:27:55 > 0:27:56against the Byzantines.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59In making Constantinople their imperial capital,
0:27:59 > 0:28:05these former nomads now ended 1,000 years of Christian rule.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08Through the conquest of Constantinople,
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Mehmed II changes the state into an empire.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15How do you make an empire is a big question.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18One of the immediate goals is to
0:28:18 > 0:28:20develop Constantinople,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23make it a world-class city.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32The young sultan understood that he'd need to use his assets.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Mehmed wanted to encourage people from all parts of the empire
0:28:39 > 0:28:44to come to Istanbul. He used favourable financial inducements
0:28:44 > 0:28:47and taxes in order to tempt people to come
0:28:47 > 0:28:51and help rebuild the city and revitalise its trade.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55But to ensure that he had the right people with the right skills,
0:28:55 > 0:28:59he was prepared to force craftsmen from other parts of the empire
0:28:59 > 0:29:01to move here.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06He actually sent edicts saying,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09"These groups of notables have to move to the city."
0:29:09 > 0:29:14And they are using force and using threats.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18He needed the builders, he needed the whole organisation.
0:29:18 > 0:29:19So there's an extraordinary
0:29:19 > 0:29:24revival of the city with the Christian population.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Jews are coming from Europe
0:29:28 > 0:29:31to live freely and do their trades.
0:29:31 > 0:29:37For the Ottomans, economy is the key issue for an empire.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43He was not a ruler who said, "Mine is an Islamic empire,
0:29:43 > 0:29:45"and Christians shall have no place in it."
0:29:45 > 0:29:48Rather, what he said was, "We need these people, they have skills,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52"they have resources, and we need them in our city."
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Mehmed obviously wanted Constantinople to be seen
0:29:57 > 0:30:01as the centre of the civilised world. He wanted to revive that.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04He did. He succeeded. It was brilliant!
0:30:06 > 0:30:09Mehmed saw himself as the heir to the Romans,
0:30:09 > 0:30:14ready to model his new Ottoman Empire as their natural successor.
0:30:16 > 0:30:21For the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed II is Augustus.
0:30:21 > 0:30:27He plays the same role, because Augustus changes the republic
0:30:27 > 0:30:31into an empire and Mehmed II changes the small Ottoman state
0:30:31 > 0:30:35through the conquest of Constantinople.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39But for all Mehmed's pragmatism, he understood the importance
0:30:39 > 0:30:44of the victory he had given Islam over Christianity.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Within days, he made the importance of this religious supremacy
0:30:48 > 0:30:50clear for all to see.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54On the first Friday after the conquest, Mehmed attended
0:30:54 > 0:30:57Muslim prayers in a building which, only days earlier,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00had been the imperial church - the Hagia Sophia.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10The church of Hagia Sophia, built in the 6th century,
0:31:10 > 0:31:12biggest church ever built.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15From the outside, it doesn't look that wonderful.
0:31:15 > 0:31:22It's only till you go inside that it creates a feeling of another world.
0:31:29 > 0:31:37Hagia Sophia is a model of what a true place of worship should be.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41The sense of space and light.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45For us, it signifies Heaven on Earth.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51You could walk through any day,
0:31:51 > 0:31:54you could see parts of the true cross of Christ.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58You could see perhaps bits of Noah's Ark.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00It was the place where every major event
0:32:00 > 0:32:03was celebrated in the Byzantine world.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09Converting this iconic Christian basilica
0:32:09 > 0:32:11into a mosque wasn't difficult.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13The crosses and bells of Christianity
0:32:13 > 0:32:16simply had to be replaced
0:32:16 > 0:32:19with a prayer niche, pulpit and prayer mats.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23But the impact on Eastern Orthodox Christians
0:32:23 > 0:32:25was deep and long-lasting.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29When you look around, there are visitors
0:32:29 > 0:32:33to the Hagia Sophia every day, hundreds of visitors.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35They are Muslims, they are Christians,
0:32:35 > 0:32:36they are people of no faith.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38Does it still have a symbolism today
0:32:38 > 0:32:42for people? I mean... Oh, yes. ..who are Muslim and Christian?
0:32:42 > 0:32:43Oh, yes, yes.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46This is... This is Mecca for Orthodox people.
0:32:46 > 0:32:52This is the most important image of the Eastern Orthodoxy.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55I have friends in Greece, when they are talking
0:32:55 > 0:33:01about the Hagia Sophia, they are crying, you know? They are in tears.
0:33:04 > 0:33:10After 900 years as a cathedral, the imperial church became a mosque.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Five centuries later, in the 20th century, it became a museum.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18There are many Muslim groups.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21They had a prayer just outside Hagia Sophia this year. Really?
0:33:21 > 0:33:24Yes, they were protesting that...
0:33:24 > 0:33:27It should be a mosque. ..into a mosque. Yes.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30So, those feelings, that passion still runs pretty deep? Yeah.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38The conversion of the imperial church into a mosque was not
0:33:38 > 0:33:40the only act to stay in the minds
0:33:40 > 0:33:44of the sultan's new Christian subjects in Europe.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59In the heart of Europe is a city that exemplifies Ottoman rule
0:33:59 > 0:34:02in conquered Christian lands.
0:34:03 > 0:34:05It's Sarajevo in Bosnia.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11"Saray" in Turkish means "palace".
0:34:12 > 0:34:15This was a major Ottoman city,
0:34:15 > 0:34:20built in the 1460s and proudly facing Christian Europe.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25Just as in Constantinople, the new city offered
0:34:25 > 0:34:28a degree of religious toleration to enable its own growth.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Maja Savic has studied the politics and society of Sarajevo
0:34:34 > 0:34:37during Ottoman times, and helped me spot evidence
0:34:37 > 0:34:40of the pecking order they introduced.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Right now, we are standing in the biggest mosque in Sarajevo
0:34:45 > 0:34:47and you can just see how,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50by the size of it, and the splendour and grandeur
0:34:50 > 0:34:52of all the arcs, it just tells you that it
0:34:52 > 0:34:57was kind of a centre of trade life, of religious life of Sarajevo.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01Was this mosque built, in a way, to make a statement about
0:35:01 > 0:35:05Muslim grandeur? And located right at the heart of the city,
0:35:05 > 0:35:07was it a point that was being made?
0:35:07 > 0:35:10Well, certainly there was a point to be made.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14But in the early Ottoman period, it wasn't really all about
0:35:14 > 0:35:17showing the grandeur of Islam as a religion
0:35:17 > 0:35:22and to present it in a good light to make it closer to the local people.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24Primarily, they wanted to show the grandeur
0:35:24 > 0:35:28of the Ottoman Empire itself, and what they were able to bring
0:35:28 > 0:35:32to this region that was, in Bosnia at that time, considered backwards.
0:35:34 > 0:35:39Built around the same time as the mosque was a Serbian Orthodox church
0:35:39 > 0:35:42serving the new city's Christian population.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48So now, we are at the old Orthodox church.
0:35:48 > 0:35:53And as you see, it is much more humble than the mosque.
0:35:53 > 0:35:57And this pathway is very narrow, the courtyard is not very big
0:35:57 > 0:36:01and you can't even see the bell-tower from here because it is very small.
0:36:01 > 0:36:06So nothing could compare to the grandeur of the mosque that we saw.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08But yet it's still very... They're still very close to each other.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11Yes, still very close to each other.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Just a couple of minutes' walk from the mosque, actually.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17So just shows you that the people were able to mix on the streets
0:36:17 > 0:36:20as they left their places of worship.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23And it serves as evidence that people were free to practise
0:36:23 > 0:36:26their own religion in their own churches.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31Ottoman society was not completely blind to religious differences.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33Far from it.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35Non-Muslims paid more tax.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40But the population accepted Ottoman authority,
0:36:40 > 0:36:41and the supremacy of Islam,
0:36:41 > 0:36:44in exchange for freedom from persecution.
0:36:46 > 0:36:47Why don't they want to persecute?
0:36:47 > 0:36:51Because they want their populations to produce.
0:36:51 > 0:36:52They want...
0:36:52 > 0:36:56They want their Jews to be business and traders.
0:36:56 > 0:37:02They were tolerated as long as they were obedient and peaceful
0:37:02 > 0:37:06and accepted the rule of Islam.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10The Jewish priests couldn't wear the typical Turkish hats
0:37:10 > 0:37:14called turbans, and later on they were given a permission,
0:37:14 > 0:37:16but they could only be yellow.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20They also had to pay taxes to set up a business,
0:37:20 > 0:37:24and those taxes were much higher than the Muslims had to pay.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30Given the standards of today,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33the Ottomans are not tolerant.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37But the Ottoman Empire did not live in a moment
0:37:37 > 0:37:40of democratic equal rights.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43Nobody had those rights at the time.
0:37:43 > 0:37:49What the Ottoman Empire gave is the lack of persecution.
0:37:54 > 0:38:00For many people across the Balkans, Ottoman rule was unwanted
0:38:00 > 0:38:02and there were unsuccessful rebellions.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08For Christian Serbs, it's a period of hostile occupation
0:38:08 > 0:38:11that remains a strong and traumatic folk memory.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14IN TRANSLATION:
0:39:07 > 0:39:09According to THIS version of history,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12the Ottomans grabbed as much land as they could in Hungary,
0:39:12 > 0:39:16Serbia and Bosnia, and imposed their Muslim faith
0:39:16 > 0:39:18on the towns and villages they conquered.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25Ottoman toleration had its limits.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31And Christian families had good reason to live in fear.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33The Ottomans took Christian children
0:39:33 > 0:39:36to provide manpower within the empire.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40This practice, called the "Devsirme",
0:39:40 > 0:39:42seized young Christian boys.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50Ottoman soldiers came in every few years, depending on the need,
0:39:50 > 0:39:57and levied one boy, one Christian boy from every Christian family.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03If they had only one boy, they did not take,
0:40:03 > 0:40:07and they did not take two boys from the same family.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11So I think there is an awareness that this is a very harsh levy.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14They did not demand
0:40:14 > 0:40:17so many children from each village
0:40:17 > 0:40:20and leave the villagers to choose.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24They would have gone round into the homes
0:40:24 > 0:40:27and taken those who seemed handsome and healthy.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38The Christian boys were taken to Istanbul, converted to Islam,
0:40:38 > 0:40:42and prepared for a life in the service of the Ottoman state.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46Sometimes people wanted to get their sons into the Devsirme
0:40:46 > 0:40:49knowing that they could go on and have glittering
0:40:49 > 0:40:52careers in the Ottoman army and beyond that.
0:40:52 > 0:40:58The ones that were very smart could rise to become Grand Viziers
0:40:58 > 0:40:59of the empire,
0:40:59 > 0:41:03so like the Prime Minister, if you will, of the empire.
0:41:03 > 0:41:07In fact, out of 45 early Grand Viziers,
0:41:07 > 0:41:10only three or four of them were of Turkish origin.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15This was a direct infringement
0:41:15 > 0:41:18of the holiness of the Christian family.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23And the idea that their children should be brought up
0:41:23 > 0:41:28as Muslims, that was deeply resented.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34And it wasn't just soldiers and bureaucrats
0:41:34 > 0:41:37recruited from Christian communities to serve the Muslim sultan.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58This is the sumptuous Topkapi Palace in Istanbul built by Mehmed
0:41:58 > 0:42:01after his conquest of the city.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07Young Christian slave girls were brought here to play a key role
0:42:07 > 0:42:09at the heart of imperial power.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17The Ottomans adopted a practice of other Muslim dynasties who
0:42:17 > 0:42:20used concubines to bear the sultan's children.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26The use of concubines at Muslim courts
0:42:26 > 0:42:29is a very well established tradition.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32A ruler is superior to all others in society.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35If he has a wife, that wife has a family and then that family
0:42:35 > 0:42:40is able to put pressure on the ruler in various different ways.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42And there's also an implication of parity,
0:42:42 > 0:42:43that there are two families
0:42:43 > 0:42:46which are in alliance through the marriage.
0:42:47 > 0:42:51So, that's why you have only slave women, that is
0:42:51 > 0:42:55women without roots, women without strings attached,
0:42:55 > 0:42:59who are recruited in order to provide procreation.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05The history and mythology of what happened here, the harem,
0:43:05 > 0:43:07is synonymous with Ottoman rulers,
0:43:07 > 0:43:10with images of concubines and luxury.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14This apparent exoticism has captivated
0:43:14 > 0:43:18observers of the Ottoman court through the centuries.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21It's part of the appeal of the current hit TV series.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26But not all women in the harem were concubines
0:43:26 > 0:43:30and the reality was less glamorous.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34Life in the harem wasn't particularly exotic.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37For the most part, they spent their days chatting,
0:43:37 > 0:43:41sitting around, doing needlework,
0:43:41 > 0:43:44perhaps doing more menial chores if they were junior members.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47They were kept in a very constrained space for life.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51It was actually a very tedious, boring kind of life,
0:43:51 > 0:43:53almost the polar opposite
0:43:53 > 0:43:56of the exotic image we tend to have in the West.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03The harem meant that Christian-born slaves became
0:44:03 > 0:44:04the mothers of sultans.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10The most famous would be Hurrem, favourite of Sultan Suleiman
0:44:10 > 0:44:14in the 16th century who, unusually, even got to marry the sultan.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21Like the Devsirme, the harem was an Ottoman institution that
0:44:21 > 0:44:26placed the Christian-born right at the heart of the sultan's court.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28The priority was simple.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31The needs of the Ottoman Empire came first
0:44:31 > 0:44:35before considerations of religion or ethnicity.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42Perhaps the most shocking proof of this was how the sultan removed
0:44:42 > 0:44:47the possibility of any threat to his authority, even from his own family.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54Ottoman rulers were known for their lavish lifestyles
0:44:54 > 0:44:56and, of course, sumptuous buildings.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00But the corridors of their palaces were also places of intrigue,
0:45:00 > 0:45:02violence and murder.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12There was no automatic right for the sultan's eldest son
0:45:12 > 0:45:14to succeed to the throne.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18Instead, it was a case of survival of the fittest.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24On the death of a sultan, there tended to be
0:45:24 > 0:45:29a fight between his eligible sons to take over the sultanate.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31This meant that it was not necessarily the eldest son
0:45:31 > 0:45:35who inherited, but it did mean that you tended to get a strong,
0:45:35 > 0:45:39able man who fought his way to the top.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43There are plenty of cases, especially at the beginning
0:45:43 > 0:45:46of the 15th century, where the Ottoman Empire has been
0:45:46 > 0:45:50on the brink of disappearing because of rivalries between siblings.
0:45:51 > 0:45:56To guarantee his place on the throne, at the age of just 19,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Mehmed had secured the backing of the religious authorities
0:45:59 > 0:46:01with an order, or fatwa,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04sanctioning the murder of his brother.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Mehmed II comes up with this idea of making sure that
0:46:11 > 0:46:14the sultan who comes to the throne
0:46:14 > 0:46:18will not be subjected to that kind of rivalry and that kind of risk.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22This is murder, this is homicide. You don't kill,
0:46:22 > 0:46:27let alone kill your own brothers, but this was politically expedient.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33It can seem shocking, but it was actually to avoid civil war
0:46:33 > 0:46:38with brothers backed by different factions contending for power.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Dynastic struggles were a common problem for royal households
0:46:44 > 0:46:46in the 15th century.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49There was a long battle for the French throne,
0:46:49 > 0:46:51known as the Hundred Years' War.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53And the houses of Lancaster and York
0:46:53 > 0:46:56fought the War of the Roses for the English throne.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02When you look at Europe during the same period,
0:47:02 > 0:47:04what the Ottomans do institutionally
0:47:04 > 0:47:07the European crowns do through poisoning.
0:47:08 > 0:47:12So it was really some kind of an institutional savagery
0:47:12 > 0:47:16over a chaotic one that would have happened anyway.
0:47:18 > 0:47:23But despite these policies crafted to protect Ottoman power,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26by the early 16th century, there was an emerging threat
0:47:26 > 0:47:29to their growing influence.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33It came not from Christian Europe but from the Muslim Middle East.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Ottoman authority had never been accepted by neighbouring
0:47:49 > 0:47:51Muslim rulers.
0:47:51 > 0:47:56The task of establishing supremacy fell to Mehmed's grandson,
0:47:56 > 0:47:57Sultan Selim the Grim.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02In his eight-year reign, he would change the course of history
0:48:02 > 0:48:03and break the great taboo
0:48:03 > 0:48:07that Muslims should not fight fellow Muslims.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12Under Selim I, Selim the Grim, aptly named,
0:48:12 > 0:48:17who is the Ottoman ruler from 1512 to 1520, you have full-scale war.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26The Ottomans have to justify to themselves
0:48:26 > 0:48:28fighting fellow Muslims.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33The threat to Selim came from the Safavid dynasty
0:48:33 > 0:48:37which originated in modern-day Iran.
0:48:37 > 0:48:40It adopted a different branch of Islam to the Ottomans,
0:48:40 > 0:48:44setting two rising powers on a collision course.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59In 2009, I gained access to Iran.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03The Ottomans, like most of the Muslim world,
0:49:03 > 0:49:05today followed Sunni Islam.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Here the tradition is Shia Islam.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16This is the shrine of the son of the fourth imam.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18Now, according to Sunnis,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21an imam is just someone who leads a congregation into prayer,
0:49:21 > 0:49:25but it has a completely different meaning according to Shias.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29Here, imams are venerated as the rightful successors
0:49:29 > 0:49:32of the Prophet Muhammad.
0:49:32 > 0:49:37For the majority of Shia Muslims, only 12 imams are revered.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40And it's believed that the 12th and final imam is hidden
0:49:40 > 0:49:42and will one day return.
0:49:44 > 0:49:47He will come as a Mahdi, a sort of messiah-like figure,
0:49:47 > 0:49:50and he'll be joined, after a cataclysm on Earth,
0:49:50 > 0:49:55by Jesus Christ to dispense justice and peace in the world.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00The Ottomans had never been much interested in religious
0:50:00 > 0:50:02differences within Islam.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06But in 1501, the leader of the Safavids declared
0:50:06 > 0:50:08Shia Islam his state religion.
0:50:09 > 0:50:13Some of the Shia religious fervour which followed spilled over
0:50:13 > 0:50:17to tribes on the Ottoman eastern borderlands with Iran.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21The Kizilbash lived in the east, close to the Iranian border.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26They could identify more closely with Shia Safavid Iran
0:50:26 > 0:50:28than they could with the distant Ottomans.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34They were disgruntled people.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37The poorer peasants, those who had lost their land,
0:50:37 > 0:50:39and so they rebelled.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45The Kizilbash, encouraged by the Safavids, staged an uprising.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50There were all sorts of incidents and uprisings,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53they spread westwards, and the Ottomans had to try
0:50:53 > 0:50:56and suppress, put the lid on this threat to their legitimacy.
0:50:56 > 0:51:00Troops sent to deal with the uprising were forced to
0:51:00 > 0:51:02retreat in disarray.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07Emboldened, the rebels headed north towards here, Istanbul.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09They got worryingly close.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14The Kizilbash rebellions were eventually quashed.
0:51:14 > 0:51:19And as the new sultan, Selim the Grim was determined to deal
0:51:19 > 0:51:22with what he saw as the root cause of the trouble -
0:51:22 > 0:51:23the Shia Safavids.
0:51:28 > 0:51:33Selim was clear - there were to be no further challenges to his power.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36But in Islamic law, there's no justification for going to war
0:51:36 > 0:51:38with a fellow Muslim state.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41The solution? The Shia Safavids were declared
0:51:41 > 0:51:43heretics from the true path of Islam.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54Selim's decision marked a turning point in the history of Islam.
0:51:57 > 0:52:04The Ottoman Empire starts developing a stronger Sunni identity
0:52:04 > 0:52:07to fight against the Iranian Shi'ite identity.
0:52:07 > 0:52:12So, as a result, it becomes more Sunni, it becomes stronger.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20The decisive battle happened in 1514,
0:52:20 > 0:52:23close to the modern border of Turkey and Iran.
0:52:26 > 0:52:28The Ottomans won.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31Their victory shaped the Islamic world of today.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36The Shia Safavid threat receded, but it did not disappear.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41The division between the Shia and the Sunni
0:52:41 > 0:52:43is not an Ottoman product
0:52:43 > 0:52:46yet, during the Ottoman reign,
0:52:46 > 0:52:51the rivalry seems to have consolidated,
0:52:51 > 0:52:56and those tensions are very much part of the Middle East today.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03The Ottomans tamed the Safavids' empire.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06They did not conquer it.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08But their triumph encouraged greater ambition
0:53:08 > 0:53:10to leadership of the Muslim world.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15It was the Safavid challenge to their legitimacy to rule
0:53:15 > 0:53:20which drove the Ottomans to claim the ultimate Muslim authority.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23It was a step that would prove to be every bit
0:53:23 > 0:53:26as significant as the conquest of Constantinople,
0:53:26 > 0:53:31with repercussions that echo down the centuries to today.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42The Ottomans' southeastern lands bordered the 200-year-old
0:53:42 > 0:53:46Mamluk Empire of modern-day Syria and Egypt.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49From its centre in Cairo,
0:53:49 > 0:53:53the dynasty controlled the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00The Mamluks considered it a mark of their status,
0:54:00 > 0:54:03their precedence among Muslim rulers that they were able to do this.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07But they have been around for quite some time, 200 years,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10and their power's beginning to falter.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Just like the old Byzantine Empire,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20the weakened Mamluks were vulnerable to attack.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23The only thing that could protect them
0:54:23 > 0:54:26from the Ottomans was that they were Sunni Muslim brothers.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29But as policies like fratricide had shown,
0:54:29 > 0:54:33for the Ottomans, religious doctrine was trumped by empire building.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Selim's advisors came up with the pretext that there had been
0:54:39 > 0:54:41a Mamluk-Safavid alliance,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44making the Mamluks heretics too.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48And in 1516, he marched his army into Syria.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59When the Ottomans met the Mamluks in battle,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01it was a kind of clash of cultures.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06A Mamluk would prove his valour
0:55:06 > 0:55:09by his swordsmanship and his horsemanship.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14However, the Ottomans were trained to use muskets,
0:55:14 > 0:55:16new gunpowder weapons.
0:55:16 > 0:55:21A kind of weaponry that cavalrymen often found demeaning
0:55:21 > 0:55:24and didn't want to use because it was dirty, noisy.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29So, as the Ottomans saw their Mamluk rivals from a distance
0:55:29 > 0:55:31they levelled their guns and they shot them.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45The defeat of the Mamluks in Syria gave the Ottomans
0:55:45 > 0:55:46the city of Damascus.
0:55:49 > 0:55:54With that came control over Islam's third holiest site -
0:55:54 > 0:55:55Jerusalem.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59But an even bigger prize awaited.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11In 1517, Ottoman troops marched into battle in Egypt
0:56:11 > 0:56:12with their sights set on Cairo.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23Cairo was a huge metropolis, one of the largest cities
0:56:23 > 0:56:25in the world at that time,
0:56:25 > 0:56:26but on top of this,
0:56:26 > 0:56:31whoever controlled Cairo controlled the major Islamic,
0:56:31 > 0:56:35traditionally very prestigious centres of the Muslim world -
0:56:35 > 0:56:36Mecca and Medina.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44When the Ottomans seized Cairo, it gave them control
0:56:44 > 0:56:48over the Mamluk Empire which stretched into Africa and Arabia.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54What's more, this conquest secured the keys to the Muslim world's
0:56:54 > 0:56:56most important cities.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02Within the space of two years, the empire had been transformed.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06The Ottoman sultans now ruled over a vast Muslim population
0:57:06 > 0:57:09and it altered the equilibrium of a state which had,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12up until that point, been predominantly Christian.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16It was a change that sealed the future direction of the empire.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30The Ottomans had made a remarkable journey.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36From a tribe of nomadic horsemen in rural modern-day Turkey...
0:57:38 > 0:57:43..to the rulers of a vast empire spanning three continents.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53With their conquests had come leadership of the Muslim faith.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57How they responded to such a responsibility would impact
0:57:57 > 0:58:00the future of the Islamic world
0:58:00 > 0:58:03and have repercussions for Europe for centuries to come.
0:58:13 > 0:58:19Next time, we reach the golden age of Europe's Muslim emperors.
0:58:19 > 0:58:21In the 16th and 17th century, the Ottoman sultan really was
0:58:21 > 0:58:24the most powerful man in the world.
0:58:24 > 0:58:28The Ottomans march their armies right to the gates of Vienna
0:58:28 > 0:58:30for a battle that would define
0:58:30 > 0:58:33the relationship between Europe and Islam...
0:58:35 > 0:58:40..and the Ottomans face nationalism, fundamentalism and rebellion
0:58:40 > 0:58:46and deal with tensions echoing those of today in Egypt, Turkey and Syria.
0:59:13 > 0:59:15Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd