History
1325: The forces of sultan Orhan takes control
over Bursa, and makes this the capital.
1338: The Byzantines are
drive out of Anatolia. But their great city of Constantinople
(today Istanbul) is still under their control.
1354: The region of Ankara
is conquered.
1355: Gallipoli (Gelibolu)
is conquered, and becomes an important staging post
for the Ottoman's European expansion.
1361: The city of Adrianople
(Edirne) on the western side of the Bosphorus, is conquered.
1393: Northern Greece
is captured.
1402: The Ottomans are
heavily defeated by Timur Lenk near Ankara, leading
to a weakening that should last for a few decades. But
the Ottoman empire would return to its old strength.
1453: After years of siege,
the Ottomans takes control over Constantinople.
1466: Albania is conquered.
1475: Crimea is put under
the empire as a vassal state.
1514: Iran is defeated
with the battle at Chaldiran.
1517: Mamlukes of Egypt
and Syria are defeated, and their territories are included
into the empire. Together with this came the holy Muslim
places in Arabia.
1519: Algiers becomes
part of the empire as a vassal state.
1521: Barka (northeastern
Libya) is added to the empire.
— Belgrade is captured.
1526: Hungary is defeated at the Battle of Mohacs.
1529: Sultan Süleyman
1 tries to conquer Venice, but does not succeed.
1531: Tunis is included
to the empire as a vassal state.
1551: Tripolis (of today's
Libya) is added into the empire as a vassal state.
1534: Iraq is added into
the empire.
1829: Greece gets autonomy.
1830: Serbia gets autonomy.
— Northern Algeria is taken
by France.
1832: Greece becomes independent.
1839: Beginning of Tanzimat,
the reform process that intended to bring the empire
up on level with European states in administration and
other fields.
1875: The Ottoman Empire
is bankrupt, and can no longer pay interests on its
debts to European finance institutions.
1876: Under sultan Abdülhamit
2, the Ottoman Empire gets its first constitution.
1878: The constitution
is suspended.
— Romania, Serbia, Montenegro
as well as part of Bulgaria becomes independent as a
part of the Treaty of san Stefano.
1881: The Ottoman empire is forced to accept
European financial control.
— Tunisia is taken by the
French.
1882: Egypt is occupied by Britain.
1912: Libya is annexed
by Italy.
1914: The Ottoman Empire
enters the World War 1 in alliance with Germany, and
in the beginning it sees several military victories.
1915-16: Armenians east
in Anatolia are deported, and many massacred by Kurdish
irregulars. 600,000 (some estimates run over 1 million)
Armenians died.
1917: Beginning of the
British campaigns in Iraq and Syria. This leads to several
Ottoman defeats, and the following year the loss of
the Middle Eastern territories.
1919 May: Greece attacks
Anatolia at Smyrna, and takes control over many areas
in western regions.
1920: The Ottoman empire
is forced to sign the Treaty of Sèvres, leading
to the loss of Arab territories and a partition of Anatolia.
1922: Nationalist Turks
drive the Greek out of western Anatolia under the leadership
of Mustafa Kemal.
— November 1 The Ottoman
empire is abolished, and would the following year be
replaced with the Republic of Turkey.
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