0:00:05 > 0:00:06On the edge of Europe
0:00:06 > 0:00:09is the city that was once the heart of a mighty empire.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16From here in Istanbul,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20the glories of the Ottoman Empire came to match those of Ancient Rome.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29Ottoman rulers were of course known for their lavish lifestyles
0:00:29 > 0:00:32and their sumptuous buildings.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40For 600 years, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44one dynasty of Ottoman sultans from a single family
0:00:44 > 0:00:46ruled across huge swathes of the world.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51This is an empire of a million square miles,
0:00:51 > 0:00:56staggeringly wealthy because it's staggeringly well organized.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03The empire stretched south to Baghdad and Cairo,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06controlling the holiest sites of Islam.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13But it also reached deep into Europe
0:01:13 > 0:01:17taking in Sarajevo and threatening the gates of Vienna.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21It was the cradle of a civilisation and a culture
0:01:21 > 0:01:24which has infused Europe
0:01:24 > 0:01:28to Europe's benefit. Europe is the richer for it.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33In this series, I'm discovering why the Ottoman Empire seems to have
0:01:33 > 0:01:37vanished from our understanding of the history of Europe,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41why its story is exciting global interest once more
0:01:41 > 0:01:44and how this year, struggles at the heart of the Ottoman story
0:01:44 > 0:01:47have reignited on the streets they once ruled,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51from Syria to Turkey and Egypt.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55It's remarkable how some of the most important, yet unresolved, issues
0:01:55 > 0:01:59confronting us today, were also faced by the Ottomans -
0:01:59 > 0:02:03the conflicts between the Christian West and the Muslim East,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07the need to reconcile secular politics with religious ideology
0:02:07 > 0:02:10and balancing the demands of the clergy
0:02:10 > 0:02:15with the ambitions of the generals. All this was faced by one dynasty
0:02:15 > 0:02:18that ruled for 600 years, across three continents.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26In this episode, I'm going to explore the huge contrasts
0:02:26 > 0:02:29in the times of two very different Ottoman sultans...
0:02:31 > 0:02:34..the most famous - Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century...
0:02:38 > 0:02:41..and the troubled reign of Abdul Hamid II
0:02:41 > 0:02:43in the 19th century.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50I want to know what a Muslim world, run from Europe was really like
0:02:50 > 0:02:53and how it has shaped the relationship
0:02:53 > 0:02:55between Islam and Europe today.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Across the continents,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04down the centuries,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08I'll be trying to get to grips with what we all need to know today
0:03:08 > 0:03:11about Europe's Muslim Emperors.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37This is the magnificent Topkapi Palace,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40the nerve centre of the most powerful Muslim empire
0:03:40 > 0:03:42the world has ever seen.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48It was built by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II
0:03:48 > 0:03:50in the middle of the 15th century.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Its commanding position overlooks Istanbul,
0:03:57 > 0:04:02the imperial capital he conquered from the Byzantines in 1453,
0:04:02 > 0:04:06declaring the Ottomans successors of the Roman Empire.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13And this is what the Ottoman sultans would have seen when they walk out
0:04:13 > 0:04:17onto this incredible balcony next to the Treasury Room
0:04:17 > 0:04:21in the Topkapi Palace. They would have been able to see in one view
0:04:21 > 0:04:25two of the three continents upon which their empire was built -
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Europe on that side and Asia on that side -
0:04:28 > 0:04:31separated only by the narrow waters of the Bosphorus
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and it just simply takes your breath away.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Inside are a set of rooms which tell the story
0:04:42 > 0:04:44of the rise of the Ottoman Empire.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49The home of the hareem,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52where Christian slave girls captured in Europe
0:04:52 > 0:04:54provided heirs for the dynasty.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03The home of the Treasury where the empire's vast wealth was secured.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08The home of the sacred treasures of Islam,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11symbols of the Ottoman leadership of the Muslim world.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20This was the epicentre, the heart and soul of Ottoman imperial power.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31In 1520, 70 years after it was built,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35all this was inherited by the most famous of all the Ottoman sultans
0:05:35 > 0:05:39who led the Ottomans into their golden age -
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Suleiman the Magnificent.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49Suleiman was a figure and a name to be conjured with
0:05:49 > 0:05:52in London as in every other capital city of Europe.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Suleiman's name came up in Shakespeare,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Suleiman's name was probably on the lips of everybody in the pub.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04A war leader and a great administrator,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07a man of considerable cultural achievement,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09a man who was interested in learning,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Suleiman is one of the most impressive figures of the age.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29The empire Suleiman inherited had just expanded dramatically.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35After two centuries of Ottoman conquests in Christian Europe
0:06:35 > 0:06:39his father had taken control of new lands
0:06:39 > 0:06:42across Africa and the Arab Muslim world.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47The capture of two cities unlocked vast lands.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Defeating the Mamluk Empire in modern day Syria
0:06:50 > 0:06:55gave the Ottomans lands extending to the sacred city of Jerusalem.
0:06:55 > 0:07:00Taking Cairo gave them territory as far as the holiest sites of Islam -
0:07:00 > 0:07:01Mecca and Medina.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10The Ottoman sultans now ruled over a vast Muslim population.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12And it altered the equilibrium of the state
0:07:12 > 0:07:16which had up until that point been predominantly Christian.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20It was a change that sealed the future direction of the empire.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35For the Ottomans to take charge of the Arab Muslim world
0:07:35 > 0:07:37was a seismic shift.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41They'd emerged in the late 13th century in what's now Turkey
0:07:41 > 0:07:45as mercenary horsemen whose ancestors had converted to Islam
0:07:45 > 0:07:47centuries after most Arabs
0:07:47 > 0:07:50and who had traditionally worn their religion lightly.
0:07:55 > 0:07:56For the Arab world,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00the Ottoman conquest opened a whole new page in their history.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Now, for the first time, they found themselves ruled
0:08:03 > 0:08:07not from one of their own cities, but from distant Istanbul.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12The Ottoman conquest led to a shift of the centre of gravity
0:08:12 > 0:08:13away from the Arab world.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Suleiman had to assert the Ottoman's right to rule Arab Muslims
0:08:28 > 0:08:32from a European capital, which 70 years before his accession,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34was still a Christian city.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Istanbul's culture, its language and its history
0:08:44 > 0:08:47were all quite different from those of Arab Muslims.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56The first mosque ever built by the Ottomans here shows how soon after
0:08:56 > 0:08:59they conquered the city, they tried to give their imperial capital
0:08:59 > 0:09:02a direct connection to the founder of the faith.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Just as the tradition of St Peter coming to Rome
0:09:10 > 0:09:15and being buried there gave the Pope his legitimacy in that city,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19the Ottomans discovered their own equivalent on this site.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27Except the remains found here
0:09:27 > 0:09:30were said to be those of a famous close companion
0:09:30 > 0:09:35of the Prophet Muhammad - the Sahaba or disciple-like figure -
0:09:35 > 0:09:37Ayyub Ansari.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40The site of Ayyub Ansari's supposed grave
0:09:40 > 0:09:44became very important for the Ottomans all through their history.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46It still has a great magic about it.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54Ayyub Ansari died, according to tradition,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56during a 7th century attempt on Istanbul
0:09:56 > 0:09:59proposed by the Prophet himself.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02Then, 800 years later,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Sultan Mehmet II's conquering regime
0:10:05 > 0:10:08miraculously found his remains.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14It's just a legend.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Probably they did not find anything
0:10:18 > 0:10:21related to Ayyub Ansari,
0:10:21 > 0:10:28but to make this newly taken Christian city
0:10:28 > 0:10:31the Islamic centre of the world,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34they "found",
0:10:34 > 0:10:39"discovered" the tomb of Ayyub al-Ansari
0:10:39 > 0:10:40and it worked.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50In time it became customary for new sultans to walk along this path
0:10:50 > 0:10:53to the shrine as part of their accession ceremony.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55Hence its name - Accession Road.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09If Rome, a city 1,400 miles from Jerusalem,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12could become the centre of Christian authority,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16then for the Ottomans, Istanbul, 2,000 miles from Mecca,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20could become the new centre of Muslim authority.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25And as the Christian world had its Pope,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29the Muslim world had from the time of the Prophet a similar position -
0:11:29 > 0:11:31the Caliph,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34a title that thanks to his father's conquests,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36Suleiman now inherited.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42They were sultans but they also gave themselves the title of Caliph.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44In doing, so they made themselves
0:11:44 > 0:11:47not just the political leaders of the Muslim world,
0:11:47 > 0:11:49but the spiritual leaders, too.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57The word Caliph means "successor" in Arabic.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00Basically, when Prophet Muhammad died, Muslims sat down and said,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04"What are we going to do now?" I mean, they had a political community.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07"Who will be the leader, who will lead us?"
0:12:07 > 0:12:11The Ottomans, Ottoman sultans, defined themselves as Caliphs
0:12:11 > 0:12:13as successors to Prophet Muhammad.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18The title still resonated across the Muslim world.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27To support their claim to the title of Caliph
0:12:27 > 0:12:30the Ottomans seized from their conquered Arab lands
0:12:30 > 0:12:34sacred treasures of unimaginable importance to Muslims.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43They took all the relics associated with the Prophet Muhammad
0:12:43 > 0:12:48from Mecca as well as from Cairo to bring back as a very sacred booty,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51that would give the high seat of religiosity
0:12:51 > 0:12:53that the Ottomans required.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Tradition has it that this ornate trunk,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00kept here in the Palace of the Sultans,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02contains the mantel of the Prophet.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05A cloak that had belonged to the founder of the faith.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09After the Prophet's death,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Muslim leaders had used the cloak to legitimize their power.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Now the Ottomans did the same.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Even in the modern age, the symbolism of the cloak,
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and its connection to the Prophet, has a powerful appeal.
0:13:27 > 0:13:33Here in Kandahar, in 1996, as the Taliban overran Afghanistan,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, brandished another cloak,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40claiming it had once belonged to the Prophet Muhammad.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Sacred artefacts and the title Caliph
0:13:48 > 0:13:50strengthened the Ottoman's legitimacy
0:13:50 > 0:13:53within the Muslim world and beyond.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57As a universal title, the Caliph was historically considered
0:13:57 > 0:14:00as a patron, if not a ruler,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03of all Muslims and the Ottomans very much play
0:14:03 > 0:14:04on this notion of patronage,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08that they become the patrons and protectors of Muslims everywhere.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17The Ottomans called themselves the guardians of the holy places.
0:14:17 > 0:14:18Now, that's just words,
0:14:18 > 0:14:24but they followed up on their words,
0:14:24 > 0:14:29by putting a distinctive architectural stamp
0:14:29 > 0:14:33on Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Suleiman the Magnificent spent millions
0:14:36 > 0:14:40putting a new coat of decoration on the Dome of the Rock.
0:14:40 > 0:14:46It glistened and shone in the sun, it was brand new, it was sparkling
0:14:46 > 0:14:48and it was very warmly received.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52And above all, it's an act of possession,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55it's an act of appropriation, it says
0:14:55 > 0:14:59there's a new boss and this is his mark.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02And that was a message to the rest of the Islamic world.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Suleiman was Caliph but he wasn't only interested in defining
0:15:13 > 0:15:16himself as the defender of the faith.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19First and foremost, he was emperor
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and he wanted to be as strong as possible in that role.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Centred in the Topkapi, Suleiman's imperial
0:15:25 > 0:15:31administration brought stability to his Muslim
0:15:31 > 0:15:33empire of the 16th century that would be
0:15:33 > 0:15:37the envy of his successors and many in the modern world.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49Today, Sharia law and the tension between the power of the state and the power
0:15:49 > 0:15:53of religion divides almost every Muslim country in the world.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56The violence of the Taliban.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59LOUD EXPLOSION
0:15:59 > 0:16:02The terrorism of Al-Qaeda and their affiliates,
0:16:02 > 0:16:07the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt, all are aspects
0:16:07 > 0:16:10of the struggle about how far Sharia law should influence the daily
0:16:10 > 0:16:14and political life of Muslim societies.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17Five centuries ago, Suleiman the Magnificent tackled this
0:16:17 > 0:16:19dilemma head-on.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Suleiman's legal reforms were
0:16:23 > 0:16:27so central to the success of the Ottoman Empire that
0:16:27 > 0:16:31many people regard it as the greatest gift he left to his people.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34So much so, that while Suleiman is known in the West
0:16:34 > 0:16:39as Suleiman the Magnificent, in Turkey he is known by another name.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44To Turks he's known as Suleiman Kanuni - Suleiman the Lawgiver.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50Suleiman's dynamic Ottoman
0:16:50 > 0:16:53state of the 16th century faced crimes not
0:16:53 > 0:16:57catered for by the Sharia, written nine centuries earlier.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02One very good example is counterfeiting currency.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Is this theft? Traditionally, no.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Theft has a very specific
0:17:08 > 0:17:12definition in Islamic law, which is to stick your hand into
0:17:12 > 0:17:15an enclosed place and snatch something out of it.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Counterfeiting currency is not this.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Forgery of official state papers, what is this?
0:17:23 > 0:17:28Again, it does not fit under any of the classically
0:17:28 > 0:17:32defined headings of Islamic jurisprudence.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35The solution was the Kanun,
0:17:35 > 0:17:39Suleiman's legal code that carefully balanced the Sharia with
0:17:39 > 0:17:43the authority of the sultan and the needs of his empire.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46What is really the concern, in terms of power, is
0:17:46 > 0:17:47the will of the sultan -
0:17:47 > 0:17:52and that can go against the Sharia in some cases,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56but what they do then is they twist, either the Sharia or
0:17:56 > 0:18:02the Kanun, the regal law, in order to make it comply with each other.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Because it's essential that at an ideological level
0:18:06 > 0:18:10the religious law is not contradicted.
0:18:10 > 0:18:16But really what makes the empire run is the sultan's law.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21Under Sharia law even crimes of murder could be
0:18:21 > 0:18:27settled by family members paying off the victim's family with blood money.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32Suleiman's new legal system meant the state could have the last word.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Basically, they would say, to litigants,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38"You can go to the Sharia courts, you resolve your disputes,
0:18:38 > 0:18:43"you reach a settlement, but after you reach a settlement, we that is
0:18:43 > 0:18:46"society, we that is the sultan, we that is the state, have the right
0:18:46 > 0:18:49"to adjudicate the same case
0:18:49 > 0:18:52"according to another, parallel legal system
0:18:52 > 0:18:56"that most often results in imprisonment."
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Suleiman made sure that his laws were pre-eminent,
0:18:59 > 0:19:02but he did it in a subtle way.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07He wanted to make sure that he was not openly challenging Sharia
0:19:07 > 0:19:09and in doing so, he set a precedent that would be
0:19:09 > 0:19:14followed by Ottoman rulers who came after him.
0:19:14 > 0:19:15SIREN WAILS
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Despite the clashes on Istanbul streets this year,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21the distinctive nature of Turkey's history
0:19:21 > 0:19:24during and after Ottoman times means these protests are quite
0:19:24 > 0:19:30different from those seen in the Arab Spring.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33This is now a democratic country that's elected an openly
0:19:33 > 0:19:38Islamic government after three generations of secular rule.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42But right at the heart of these protests are threads that Suleiman
0:19:42 > 0:19:47would have recognised well about the place of man's law and God's law.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Under Suleiman's Ottoman Empire, there was a clear separation.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57Affairs of state were controlled by a prime minister called
0:19:57 > 0:19:58the Grand Vizier.
0:19:58 > 0:20:03Religious affairs were controlled by a new position - the Grand Mufti.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07They set up a hierarchy in a system that used
0:20:07 > 0:20:13to be not hierarchical, they set up the head of the Muslim clergy,
0:20:13 > 0:20:18the Mufti of Istanbul - call him the "bishop", if you want, of Istanbul,
0:20:18 > 0:20:23to make things simple - who basically rules over the entire clergy.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Now, this is something that did not exist in Islam.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30And this is what gives the Ottomans the power to set up
0:20:30 > 0:20:34a structure that is centred and is dependent on the palace,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36on the sultan.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40It is about, quote/unquote, nationalizing the clergy.
0:20:44 > 0:20:45With a stable state
0:20:45 > 0:20:49supported by a clear separation of religious and secular power,
0:20:49 > 0:20:54Suleiman set about a physical transformation of his entire empire.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59The way he did it underlines the sultan's power over his subjects.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08One extraordinary story reveals how Suleiman's reign saw
0:21:08 > 0:21:12the creation of Ottoman buildings admired to this day.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19The greatest of these was built by this man.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26This is Suleiman's chief architect, Mimar Sinan.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29Today he's little-known outside Turkey
0:21:29 > 0:21:32but he was without question one of the greatest
0:21:32 > 0:21:36figures behind the Ottomans' enduring cultural legacy.
0:21:38 > 0:21:44Each age gets its great architect who fuses the ideas
0:21:44 > 0:21:52and the aesthetic and the politics of the age into iconic buildings.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Sinan was that for the Ottomans.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03I've come to the building Sinan saw as his own masterpiece.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21It is seen as one of the greatest achievements of Islamic architecture.
0:22:23 > 0:22:24But there's something
0:22:24 > 0:22:28surprising about the man behind this exquisite building that historians,
0:22:28 > 0:22:30including Teyfur Erdogdu,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33have pieced together from details of his life.
0:22:37 > 0:22:44Sinan was most probably an Orthodox Christian.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50That possibility holds deep ironies.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53It seems Sinan ultimately rose to
0:22:53 > 0:22:57hold his position as the Ottomans' chief architect because,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01like hundreds of thousands of Ottoman subjects, he was taken as a
0:23:01 > 0:23:06child from a Christian family under a system known as the Devshirme.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10They were brought to Istanbul,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14they were converted to Islam, they were all slaves of the Sultan.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18It was a way of building a patrimonial army for the Sultan,
0:23:18 > 0:23:23a very close, very loyal army.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26This was a direct infringement
0:23:26 > 0:23:30of the holiness of the Christian family.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32And the idea that their children
0:23:32 > 0:23:40should be brought up as Muslims, that was deeply resented.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45The fact Sinan served in the sultan's elite army,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49known as the Janniseries, is one of the key details of his life
0:23:49 > 0:23:55that have convinced many historians that he was indeed born a Christian.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59The Muslim children, according to
0:23:59 > 0:24:05Ottoman rule, could not be taken for the Janniseries army.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11This twist in the story of the Ottomans' greatest architect
0:24:11 > 0:24:16embodies the power of the Sultan over his subject's talents.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21But as the man behind so many mosques, there was an added irony.
0:24:21 > 0:24:28In the 15th century and for much of the 16th century, it was permissible for a sultan
0:24:28 > 0:24:34to build a mosque in the city only if he had defeated Christians.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37And Sinan the Muslim convert
0:24:37 > 0:24:40built this very mosque with the spoils of the Ottoman
0:24:40 > 0:24:43conquest of Christian Cyprus.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45Sinan's enduring legacy changed
0:24:45 > 0:24:48the skyline of Istanbul and cities throughout the empire.
0:24:48 > 0:24:53He built 135 mosques and over 350 buildings in total,
0:24:53 > 0:24:58dwarfing even the great achievements of Sir Christopher Wren in England.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03If he were in our society,
0:25:03 > 0:25:05he'd be a lord with a string of initials after his name.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21You have the reports of one European monarch after another,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25who go and see Istanbul and they come back with bated breath,
0:25:25 > 0:25:30and they say, "You have to see this to believe it."
0:25:30 > 0:25:35They're blown away by the size and the splendour and the ambition
0:25:35 > 0:25:37of these building projects.
0:25:41 > 0:25:47That was a rare kind of empire. A rare kind of self-confidence.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Europeans may have noted
0:25:49 > 0:25:52the magnificence of Suleiman's court and his capital,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56but they were also well aware of his military threat.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Suleiman spent a quarter of his reign on the battlefield
0:26:04 > 0:26:08and expanded the empire almost to the peak of its power.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12He captured Baghdad and brought modern-day Iraq under his rule.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14He did the same with Budapest and Hungary.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19Victory first at Rhodes and then in key Greek provinces gave him
0:26:19 > 0:26:22control of the Eastern Mediterranean.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28The Ottoman sultan really stood out
0:26:28 > 0:26:31as perhaps the most powerful man in the world
0:26:31 > 0:26:34in the 16th and 17th centuries.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Ruling over this vast territory with all of the wealth
0:26:38 > 0:26:39that the empire enjoyed,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42the Ottomans were able to put together an army that was
0:26:42 > 0:26:45really the fear of Europe.
0:26:45 > 0:26:50In that sense, you could point to the time of Suleiman as a period in
0:26:50 > 0:26:54which Europe was really in awe of and terrified by the Ottoman Empire.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Such fear fed propaganda,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02and there was plenty of it about on both sides,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06including this woodcut by a contemporary of Suleiman,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09the German artist Albrecht Durer.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14It is no wonder that people in Christian Europe
0:27:14 > 0:27:16think of the Turk as a figure of fear.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19When you're thinking of the horsemen of the apocalypse,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22the people that are going to bring the end of the world,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25and you depict that in paintings as Durer does,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27one of the horsemen is depicted as a Turk.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32Children are told that if they aren't
0:27:32 > 0:27:37quiet in the evenings, if they don't go to sleep, a Turk will get them.
0:27:39 > 0:27:40If you asked any European,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42"Who are the Muslims?",
0:27:42 > 0:27:46they would have said, "The Turks, the Ottomans.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48"They're the ones that we are afraid of."
0:27:55 > 0:27:58But the question is, what did Europe mean to Suleiman,
0:27:58 > 0:28:03and what, if anything, did Europe represent to the Ottomans?
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Suleiman viewed European powers as rivals he could dominate.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15But the fate of his dynastic family would remain entwined with
0:28:15 > 0:28:19the rival dynastic families of Europe for centuries to come.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23The growing influence of the great tsars of Russia.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26The newly-Protestant dynasty of Tudor England.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31And the Holy Roman Empire of the Catholic Hapsburgs.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Suleiman's time was a time of great personalities of rulers.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40I mean there was Henry VIII, of course,
0:28:40 > 0:28:45there was Ivan the Terrible in Russia and in Europe,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49his main rival for glory in this wider world of rulers
0:28:49 > 0:28:51was the Hapsburg ruler,
0:28:51 > 0:28:56Charles V, in Austria and Germany and, really, Central Europe.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07Suleiman's European campaigns were highly strategic
0:29:07 > 0:29:08and followed the pattern
0:29:08 > 0:29:11of his father's conquests in the Arab lands.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13Triumphs in Damascus
0:29:13 > 0:29:17and Cairo had made the Ottomans dominant across Muslim Arabia.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21Having taken Hungary, he was only one step away from his most
0:29:21 > 0:29:25strategic target - the Hapsburg capital, Vienna.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Suleiman knew victory here would deliver vast
0:29:28 > 0:29:33tracts of Europe into Ottoman hands, from Spain to the Netherlands.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37They get to the walls of Vienna.
0:29:37 > 0:29:41But we are talking here about a non-Western force
0:29:41 > 0:29:43that has got that far,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46that, in a sense, seems to be dominating the agenda.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51In a way, yes, there was a territorial contest
0:29:51 > 0:29:57and, yes, there was religious contest to some degree but largely,
0:29:57 > 0:30:01one can could say that it was a contest between two
0:30:01 > 0:30:06great leaders who wanted to appear more magnificent than the other.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09In Suleiman's reign, the Ottomans had every
0:30:09 > 0:30:13reason to think theirs was the more magnificent dynasty,
0:30:13 > 0:30:18ahead in wealth, power and military technology.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23After 46 years in power, in 1566, Suleiman the Magnificent died.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28He was laid to rest in the Suleymaniye Mosque
0:30:28 > 0:30:30built for him by Sinan.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34Suleiman never captured Vienna, but in the following century,
0:30:34 > 0:30:37his successors would target it once more.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40And within a decade of Suleiman's death, major rifts in Europe
0:30:40 > 0:30:46would play into the Ottomans' hands and give them a new ally - England.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50There's an absolutely key moment in the relationship between
0:30:50 > 0:30:55the Ottomans and the English in the middle of the 16th century and that
0:30:55 > 0:31:03is in the year 1570 when the Pope finally excommunicates Elizabeth I.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07The minute that happens, England is free to trade with the Ottomans.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11The Ottomans and Protestant England had common
0:31:11 > 0:31:14ground in their opposition to Europe's Catholics.
0:31:17 > 0:31:23Just as the Ottoman Empire was reaching its peak, Europe was in turmoil and in conflict
0:31:23 > 0:31:27because of the divisions between Protestants and Catholics.
0:31:27 > 0:31:33It was a golden opportunity to pursue a policy of divide and rule.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38In the 1590s, fresh from confronting the Catholic Spanish Armada,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42Elizabeth I herself entered into a correspondence, in Arabic,
0:31:42 > 0:31:44with the Ottoman court.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47All part of this new-found axis of power the English hoped to
0:31:47 > 0:31:49build with the Ottomans.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52These exchanges between Elizabeth I
0:31:52 > 0:31:55and the Ottoman sultan show the friendly exchange of gifts.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59The relationship between the English and the Ottomans was
0:31:59 > 0:32:01predominantly about trade
0:32:01 > 0:32:03but some have suggested that the politics of their
0:32:03 > 0:32:07relationship was made easier by the fact that
0:32:07 > 0:32:08they had a common enemy -
0:32:08 > 0:32:11the Hapsburgs.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14The Hapsburgs were really a global empire who were
0:32:14 > 0:32:17sort of squeezing everyone else out, they were Catholic.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21On the other side you had the Protestant powers rising,
0:32:21 > 0:32:24who were hoping to elbow in on the resources
0:32:24 > 0:32:27and territories which were controlled by the Hapsburgs.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32The Ottomans, for their part, were keen to push the Hapsburgs
0:32:32 > 0:32:33back in Central Europe.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40But the point was simply "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
0:32:52 > 0:32:56150 years after Suleiman had last tried,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59Ottoman forces once more attempted the unthinkable -
0:32:59 > 0:33:03to defeat, in the heart of Europe, the Catholic Hapsburgs.
0:33:05 > 0:33:07In 1683, the Ottoman armies were
0:33:07 > 0:33:11here at the gates of Vienna, laying siege to the city that was
0:33:11 > 0:33:14then the capital of the Hapsburg Empire.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24The Ottomans camped outside the city.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27This moment had been feared since the days of Suleiman.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35The Pope, Innocent XI, made sure military assistance came
0:33:35 > 0:33:38from Bavaria, Saxony and Poland.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41The Ottomans siege of Vienna is
0:33:41 > 0:33:46still cited as a key foundation stone of a supposed clash of civilisations.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49But was it?
0:33:49 > 0:33:53For the Christian forces preparing to defend Vienna,
0:33:53 > 0:33:55this was a holy war.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58But for the Ottoman sultans targeting Vienna, it wasn't
0:33:58 > 0:34:00so much about converting Christians.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08What this really wasn't about was a religious war.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Now, it's understandable that that was how it was
0:34:11 > 0:34:13seen in Christian Europe and obviously, if the Ottomans had
0:34:13 > 0:34:17extended their power, there would have been a completely different
0:34:17 > 0:34:20world for Muslims in the area that they took over, but this was
0:34:20 > 0:34:25not fundamentally about religion in 1683, this is about power.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41On September 12th 1683,
0:34:41 > 0:34:45the Christian force reached the plains outside Vienna where
0:34:45 > 0:34:47the Ottomans awaited them.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53In a now legendary charge, they routed the Ottoman army,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56in a single day.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03Of course it's taken as a major failure
0:35:03 > 0:35:05but more than the failure in 1683, what really throws
0:35:05 > 0:35:10the Ottomans off is the consequences of that failure
0:35:10 > 0:35:13that is the decade or so of wars that the Austrians will
0:35:13 > 0:35:18organise against the Ottomans after the defeat, taking advantage of that defeat.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26The Ottomans didn't capture Vienna and they lost Hungary
0:35:26 > 0:35:30and as a result, their pride, their prestige, was damaged.
0:35:30 > 0:35:35From this, the future destiny of Europe was shaped.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42There remain very deep-rooted memories
0:35:42 > 0:35:44of the Ottoman threat in Europe.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49There are countries such as Austria which continue to think of Turkey
0:35:49 > 0:35:50in terms of that former threat.
0:35:55 > 0:35:56The legacy of the Ottoman Empire
0:35:56 > 0:35:59is of the subjugation of European peoples,
0:35:59 > 0:36:01and the expansion of territory by brutal military means.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03I don't think we should attempt to glamorise it
0:36:03 > 0:36:06and I don't think we should feel the smallest nostalgia for it.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13The defeat here in Vienna would have a major impact on the Ottomans
0:36:13 > 0:36:18and would define how Europe would look at them for centuries to come.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26It is understandable that the question of Turkey joining the European Union
0:36:26 > 0:36:31looks totally different if you're in Vienna, or if you're in Cyprus,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35to how it looks in Britain, because in Britain, of course, we've never
0:36:35 > 0:36:39had the direct military challenge. We were aware of the Ottomans
0:36:39 > 0:36:43but they weren't so central a part of our anxieties or our fears.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48To me, this goes some way to explaining
0:36:48 > 0:36:52why for many Europeans, this was the defining moment that meant
0:36:52 > 0:36:56that any future European union would be a Christian union.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11After their defeat at Vienna in the 18th century, the Ottomans
0:37:11 > 0:37:14would fall into a long period of decline.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17The following two centuries would witness a profound
0:37:17 > 0:37:20shift in the balance of power between the Ottomans and Europe.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24Instead of the Ottomans at the gates of Vienna, it would be the
0:37:24 > 0:37:26Russians at the gates of Istanbul.
0:37:26 > 0:37:31In its Arab lands, the Ottomans would be shut out of the holy sites
0:37:31 > 0:37:35and in Europe the empire would be mocked not feared, and propped up
0:37:35 > 0:37:38until it suited the great powers to carve it up.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41The world was changing.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53The West had taken off and developed in technology
0:37:53 > 0:37:57in military terms, in educational terms.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59It had had an enlightenment.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02It's industrialisation - the coming
0:38:02 > 0:38:06of mass production that really marks out the European
0:38:06 > 0:38:09states from the rest of the world and actually explains the growth of
0:38:09 > 0:38:11empire apart from anything else -
0:38:11 > 0:38:12the fact that you've got machine guns,
0:38:12 > 0:38:16steamships, those are the things that mark the big differences.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21The Ottomans were not interested
0:38:21 > 0:38:24in international trade, they didn't keep an eye open on the Americas,
0:38:24 > 0:38:29and their long-term fate was to be brought down by that provincialism.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33They thought they were safe within their empire.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36And the rest of the world developed at speed.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42The Ottomans were living in a rapidly changing world.
0:38:42 > 0:38:47The Industrial Revolution in Britain was about to reshape the country.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50The French Revolution would bring forward ideas
0:38:50 > 0:38:54and political movements based on equality and nationalism.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57The entire social and industrial landscape of Europe was being
0:38:57 > 0:39:02altered, and the Ottomans stood in danger of being left behind.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13Where once the Ottomans had been conquerors, now they faced invasion.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17In the 1790s, the shifting balance of power between Europe
0:39:17 > 0:39:19and the Ottomans had a landmark moment.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22Napoleon was able to invade Ottoman Egypt, demonstrating
0:39:22 > 0:39:25overwhelming superiority.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32When the French first arrived off the coast of Egypt in 1798,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Egyptian society remained convinced
0:39:36 > 0:39:40that their society, Ottoman, Muslim,
0:39:40 > 0:39:45was the superior society, that they were in every way,
0:39:45 > 0:39:49a greater civilisation than anything that Europe had to throw at them.
0:39:49 > 0:39:55So great was the shock, then, when the French armies landed, and were
0:39:55 > 0:40:01able to deploy superior technology, and superior tactics to inflict
0:40:01 > 0:40:05a series of defeats that led to the French occupation of Egypt.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12But soon after the French invasion of Egypt,
0:40:12 > 0:40:16a more dramatic demonstration of Ottoman weakness came in 1805.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20This time it was not from Europe but from within their Arab Muslim lands.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Having been feared in Europe for being Muslim, they now
0:40:27 > 0:40:32faced rebellion for not being Muslim enough.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35The desert of modern-day Saudi Arabia was
0:40:35 > 0:40:37home to the Wahhabis.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40Their challenge to the Ottomans had echoes of the Barbarians'
0:40:40 > 0:40:42challenge to the Romans.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46The Wahhabis brought a distinct form of Islam that was to threaten
0:40:46 > 0:40:51the Ottoman Empire and their control of Islam's holiest sites.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53Wahhabism is a puritanical
0:40:53 > 0:40:57and very austere interpretation of Islam that seeks to return
0:40:57 > 0:41:01to the practice of Islam as it was at the time of the Prophet Mohammad.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11The central pillar of Islam, essential for all Muslims
0:41:11 > 0:41:15who have the means is The Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca
0:41:15 > 0:41:19which the Ottomans had controlled since the 16th century.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22Even for someone brought up as a Muslim,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26one of the strangest paradoxes in this whole story,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29and something that I think very few Muslims realise,
0:41:29 > 0:41:32is that despite the 600-year history of the Ottoman Empire,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35not one sultan performed the Hajj themselves.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38To me, that is extraordinary.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48The Wahhabi rebels wanted
0:41:48 > 0:41:51a return to core Muslim doctrine and by the early
0:41:51 > 0:41:54years of the 19th century they'd swept down from the highlands
0:41:54 > 0:41:59and seized the holiest cities of Mecca and Medina from the Ottomans.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Then they declared that the holy sites were no longer
0:42:03 > 0:42:07part of the Ottoman Empire and began to prevent Ottoman Muslims
0:42:07 > 0:42:10entering the city and completing the Hajj.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13They started challenging
0:42:13 > 0:42:17the sultan in a very important aspect, which is that he
0:42:17 > 0:42:21is not Muslim enough. He is not serious enough about protecting
0:42:21 > 0:42:25and upholding the principals of the faith.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28This was a serious blow to the Ottoman sultan who
0:42:28 > 0:42:33had as one of his most important and most prestigious titles
0:42:33 > 0:42:35"the protector of the two holy sites."
0:42:38 > 0:42:41The Wahhabi revolt suspended
0:42:41 > 0:42:44Ottoman control of the holy sites for more than a decade.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48The Ottomans eventually reclaimed Mecca and Medina but the revolt
0:42:48 > 0:42:53sowed the seeds of contemporary political fundamentalist Islam.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57It is the descendants of the Wahhabis who now rule Saudi Arabia
0:42:57 > 0:43:00and today they are the protectors of the holy sites.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12By the 19th century, the Ottomans' view
0:43:12 > 0:43:17of the world looked very different than in the times of Suleiman.
0:43:17 > 0:43:18Now the very capital the dynasty
0:43:18 > 0:43:20won from the Christian Byzantine Empire
0:43:20 > 0:43:24400 years earlier, and the strategic sea routes they
0:43:24 > 0:43:27controlled, were being targeted by the Ottomans, nearest neighbour -
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Russia.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34At the heart of this threat was a Russian ambition
0:43:34 > 0:43:37to conquer the Ottoman Empire, seize control of Istanbul,
0:43:37 > 0:43:44restore it as the seat of Eastern Orthodox Christianity
0:43:44 > 0:43:49and in the process, gain access to the strategic straits
0:43:49 > 0:43:52that meant the Russians could, from the Black Sea,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55access the Mediterranean at will.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00The threat of a rising Russia was feared in European capitals.
0:44:00 > 0:44:03In an unlikely twist, the countries that once feared the Ottomans
0:44:03 > 0:44:08now gave them economic and military backing.
0:44:08 > 0:44:12For most of the 19th century, Britain sees
0:44:12 > 0:44:15the Ottoman Empire as a buffer which keeps Russia
0:44:15 > 0:44:20out of the Mediterranean and keeps Russia away from Central Asia,
0:44:20 > 0:44:24is an important part, therefore, of Britain's power politics.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27By the middle of the 19th century, power was
0:44:27 > 0:44:32no longer concentrated in the sultan's palace by the Bosphorus.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36The Ottomans were now dependent on decisions made in European
0:44:36 > 0:44:38capitals of the great powers.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42It was in this weakened state that the Ottoman Empire was given
0:44:42 > 0:44:46the title which would hang around its neck for the rest of the century -
0:44:46 > 0:44:48The Sick Man of Europe.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54In 1876, the last of the long line of descendents of Suleiman
0:44:54 > 0:44:59to have any hope of reviving the health of the Ottoman empire came to the imperial throne.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03The inheritance of Sultan Abdul Hamid II was the polar
0:45:03 > 0:45:06opposite of what greeted Suleiman the Magnificent.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09This was an empire on a life support system.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13An old-world dynasty colliding with a modern world.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19Attempting to prove they could move with the times,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Abdul Hamid's 19th-century predecessors had
0:45:22 > 0:45:25embarked on far-reaching modernization of Ottoman society.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29Known by the Turkish word for reorganisation,
0:45:29 > 0:45:32the Tanzimat reforms tried at breakneck speed
0:45:32 > 0:45:34to catch up with Europe in every
0:45:34 > 0:45:39area of social and economic life.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41It's, of course, a message to the West that says,
0:45:41 > 0:45:46"We are moving in the direction of your model,
0:45:46 > 0:45:50"we're adopting for the reorganisation of the army,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53"the reorganisation of our finances."
0:45:53 > 0:45:57It really becomes an all-encompassing
0:45:57 > 0:46:02programme of transformation, of modernity, of Westernisation.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06It was one of the most ambitious and far-reaching
0:46:06 > 0:46:11programmes of reform ever attempted, and it could have worked.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16One symbol of the change was in people's dress.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18Men in the empire had for centuries worn the turban
0:46:18 > 0:46:22but under the reforms it was deemed to be backwards and oriental.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26A new hat, the Fez, became the uniform of government officials
0:46:26 > 0:46:29and the army and then spread across society.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32A huge Western-style factory was built on the banks
0:46:32 > 0:46:36of the Bosphorus to churn out the new hats in their millions.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39There are changes to do with education, public transport,
0:46:39 > 0:46:42there are changes to do with the attempt to help the economy.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46So there are changes, but they're not coming fast enough.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49The sick man could have cured himself
0:46:49 > 0:46:52but he realised too late what he needed to do.
0:46:52 > 0:46:58But by that time, the Ottomans had become almost fossilised.
0:46:59 > 0:47:04The fez, like many of the Tanzimat, reforms was part of attempts,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06not just to modernise,
0:47:06 > 0:47:11but to bind the population of the empire behind a unified identity.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15They'd previously called this identity "Ottomanism" - a concept
0:47:15 > 0:47:19that played up the diverse multiethnic multi-faith nature
0:47:19 > 0:47:26of Ottoman peoples which had been a feature of the empire through the centuries.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29But now they were confronting the rival idea
0:47:29 > 0:47:31that was tearing it apart -
0:47:31 > 0:47:34nationalism.
0:47:34 > 0:47:37One by one, subject peoples in the European provinces
0:47:37 > 0:47:40who had accepted Ottoman rule for centuries,
0:47:40 > 0:47:45suddenly began to demand self-rule or independence.
0:47:52 > 0:47:5519th-century Russia used the power of nationalism
0:47:55 > 0:47:59and religion to loosen the Ottomans' grip on their European empire.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03Christians and Muslims on a familiar collision course.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Russia grieved over the fact that there
0:48:08 > 0:48:15so many Christians under Muslim domination.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21Russia started to see
0:48:21 > 0:48:24the Ottomans, the slow Ottoman decline as an opportunity to
0:48:24 > 0:48:28install their influence in the Balkans,
0:48:28 > 0:48:34agitating through the local Christian populations and that then accentuated
0:48:34 > 0:48:39this sense that it was a Muslim/Christian clash going on.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43The subject Christian populations begin to
0:48:43 > 0:48:49think of rising and this leads in many cases to very severe
0:48:49 > 0:48:53reprisals from the Turkish side.
0:48:53 > 0:49:00In the 1870s, word of the brutality of some Ottoman reprisals began to make waves in Europe.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03There were a series of Bulgarian nationalist
0:49:03 > 0:49:06attacks on Ottoman positions, in which both Ottoman soldiers
0:49:06 > 0:49:09and Muslim villagers were killed.
0:49:09 > 0:49:13The Ottomans responded, both out of revenge and out of a wish to
0:49:13 > 0:49:17re-establish their control of the Bulgarian territories.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20But this retaliation grew increasingly violent
0:49:20 > 0:49:23and came to be picked up by the European press.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27There is a huge outcry in Europe,
0:49:27 > 0:49:31because of press reports coming out of Bulgaria which suggest that
0:49:31 > 0:49:35tens of thousands of Bulgarian peasants have been massacred
0:49:35 > 0:49:38by marauding bashi-bazouks,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41the irregular forces of the Ottoman Empire.
0:49:41 > 0:49:47The press painted the new Ottoman sultan, Abdul Hamid II as "the red sultan",
0:49:47 > 0:49:51as though his hands were personally bloodied by what was
0:49:51 > 0:49:52going on in Bulgaria.
0:49:52 > 0:49:57But, in fact, these figures appear to have been wildly exaggerated,
0:49:57 > 0:49:59not the first time and not the last time that
0:49:59 > 0:50:02massacres in the Balkans have been wildly exaggerated.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06But by the time it had filtered through to the presses of Europe
0:50:06 > 0:50:13it was a very simple case of violent, nasty Muslims killing poor
0:50:13 > 0:50:15defenceless Christian peasants.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19It's true to say that as the Ottoman Empire grows weaker,
0:50:19 > 0:50:24so the position of the Christians deteriorates.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28The violence in the Balkans
0:50:28 > 0:50:31created a wave of revulsion that swept across Europe.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34It brought two political giants into conflict
0:50:34 > 0:50:37in the House of Commons.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40Now, the Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, discovered that,
0:50:40 > 0:50:43in the aftermath of the massacres, his policy of support
0:50:43 > 0:50:48for the Ottomans was completely at odds with public opinion in Britain.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51Up until now, Disraeli has been supporting
0:50:51 > 0:50:54the Ottoman Empire at all costs.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57Britain has been underwriting the Ottoman Empire
0:50:57 > 0:51:01and a lot of British businessmen and a lot of British financiers have
0:51:01 > 0:51:07made a fortune out of the debt which is sustaining the Ottoman Empire.
0:51:07 > 0:51:12So Disraeli is representing real economic interests.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16Opposing Disraeli, and denouncing what he described as "the Bulgarian horrors,"
0:51:16 > 0:51:19was the other great statesman of the Victorian age,
0:51:19 > 0:51:20William Gladstone.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23Gladstone understands that he can
0:51:23 > 0:51:27represent the Ottoman Empire as an essentially barbaric empire of
0:51:27 > 0:51:32uncontrollable Muslims who will kill Christian peasants
0:51:32 > 0:51:34at the drop of a hat
0:51:34 > 0:51:38and he will be able to denounce Disraeli's policy as immoral.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42The controversy leads people to say it's totally
0:51:42 > 0:51:46wrong to keep in place the Ottoman regime for great power reasons,
0:51:46 > 0:51:50to keep Russia at a distance, because this is a barbaric regime.
0:51:50 > 0:51:56What's interesting is you can see some of the language used in the late 20th and early 21st century
0:51:56 > 0:51:59about autocratic Islamic rulers like the Shah of Iran in the 1970s
0:51:59 > 0:52:02or President Mubarak of Egypt more recently.
0:52:02 > 0:52:07And the idea being that you should not be sustaining them in power.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11The British government withdrew their support
0:52:11 > 0:52:15which had held strong since the Crimean War 20 years earlier
0:52:15 > 0:52:20when the French and British sent troops to bolster the Ottomans against the Russians.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24But now the sick man was on his own.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28The Russians responded by marching into the Balkans.
0:52:28 > 0:52:34What I've got here is a collection of Victorian newspapers.
0:52:34 > 0:52:40As you can see, the war between Russia and Turkey was the big news of the day.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44The Ottomans and the Russians had been to war many times previously
0:52:44 > 0:52:46but this was significant,
0:52:46 > 0:52:49because this would be the war that would finally break
0:52:49 > 0:52:52the Ottoman grip on its European territories.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Two centuries after the Ottomans stood at
0:52:56 > 0:52:58the gates of Vienna,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01the Russian army soon stood at the gates of Istanbul.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06And the great powers forced the warring sides to a settlement.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10Led by Bismarck, the Congress of Berlin carved
0:53:10 > 0:53:13up most of the remaining Ottoman lands in the Balkans.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27The Ottomans' centuries as a European power were passing into history,
0:53:27 > 0:53:32and for its long-mixed population, trouble was being stored up.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37The Ottomans had controlled many of what
0:53:37 > 0:53:40we see as Europe's pressure points -
0:53:40 > 0:53:42Kosovo, Serbia and here, Bosnia.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46GUNFIRE
0:53:47 > 0:53:49EXPLOSION
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Perhaps more than any people in today's Europe,
0:53:52 > 0:53:55it's those in Sarajevo and Bosnia who best understand
0:53:55 > 0:53:57the nature of nationalism -
0:53:57 > 0:53:59the force that destroyed the Ottoman Empire
0:53:59 > 0:54:04and that re-emerged in the 1990s to destroy the state of Yugoslavia.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11I can't tell you what we had here.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15That was really hell.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17It was hell.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21With memories of the war still raw,
0:54:21 > 0:54:26many in present-day Sarajevo reject the lure of ethnic nationalism.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31# Allah, Allah... #
0:54:31 > 0:54:35This multi-faith choir was set up to cross the lines that recently
0:54:35 > 0:54:36divided the nation.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42And here, today, some lament
0:54:42 > 0:54:46the passing of the multi-culturalism of the Ottoman era.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53During the Ottoman period there was
0:54:53 > 0:54:57a respect for each other, no matter what your religion is.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00This is something that we can definitely take as a good thing
0:55:00 > 0:55:04from that period and allow people to be
0:55:04 > 0:55:06what they are.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09I certainly hope we can look at that period
0:55:09 > 0:55:13and pick up the tolerance that existed during that time
0:55:13 > 0:55:17and transfer it to this period, if that's even possible.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23In the case of the Ottomans, what is most
0:55:23 > 0:55:27impressive to us is that they were able to think through
0:55:27 > 0:55:33a system of government that did not depend on ethnic sovereignty.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45At the end of the 19th century,
0:55:45 > 0:55:48the Ottoman Empire lost most of the Christian European territories
0:55:48 > 0:55:52captured from the Byzantine Empire over 500 years earlier.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55The key territories of the empire were now Turkey itself
0:55:55 > 0:55:58and the predominantly Muslim provinces
0:55:58 > 0:56:00of North Africa and Arabia.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04The late Ottoman Empire was a much more Islamic empire
0:56:04 > 0:56:08than the earlier Ottoman Empire had been in terms of its demography.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11The percentage of the population that was Muslim was much higher
0:56:11 > 0:56:15after the Balkan provinces had gained their independence.
0:56:15 > 0:56:18PRAYER SOUNDS
0:56:18 > 0:56:23In a bid to hold together what remained of the Ottoman Empire,
0:56:23 > 0:56:27it was Sultan Abdul Hamid II, more than any of his predecessors,
0:56:27 > 0:56:32who tried to tap into the unifying power of Islam.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37Abdul Hamid II made more use of Islam
0:56:37 > 0:56:40than any other caliph, he really tried to play the Islam card -
0:56:40 > 0:56:47and he clearly saw the potential power of Islam as a political ideology
0:56:47 > 0:56:51and as one of the glues that would hold the Ottoman Empire together.
0:56:55 > 0:57:00But a new generation was growing up during Abdul Hamid's rule
0:57:00 > 0:57:02who were not calling for a more Islamic empire.
0:57:02 > 0:57:07They demanded a more modern empire, and these young Turks would
0:57:07 > 0:57:10come to play a central role in the Ottomans' fate.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14But events elsewhere in the Ottomans' former lands
0:57:14 > 0:57:17were about to the deliver their empire a final, fatal blow.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20On a Sunday morning in June, 1914, just by this
0:57:20 > 0:57:25bridge here in Sarajevo, a young nationalist saw a car carrying
0:57:25 > 0:57:29Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife
0:57:29 > 0:57:31trying to turn around.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34The driver had taken the wrong route to the palace.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37As the car tried to reverse, the young nationalist stepped
0:57:37 > 0:57:40forward and shot the Archduke and his wife.
0:57:40 > 0:57:45As they were rushed to hospital, few in Bosnia or in Europe realised
0:57:45 > 0:57:49that this assassination would lead to a chain of events that would end
0:57:49 > 0:57:55in the destruction of the Ottoman Empire and change the history of the world.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02In the concluding episode, I'll trace how events a hundred years ago
0:58:02 > 0:58:06mirrored those of today with protests on the streets of Istanbul
0:58:06 > 0:58:08calling for change.
0:58:10 > 0:58:13How the final death throes of the empire haunted its subjects
0:58:13 > 0:58:17and created a vacuum in the Muslim world as the roles of sultan
0:58:17 > 0:58:21and caliph were abolished and Ottoman lands carved up.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27And how rising from the ashes was a new Turkish state that many
0:58:27 > 0:58:31have held up as a model for the region the Ottomans once ruled.
0:58:31 > 0:58:33And that is now being forced into steering
0:58:33 > 0:58:38a path between its Ottoman past and its modern-day destiny.
0:59:03 > 0:59:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd