Constantinople falls to the ottomans
Ottoman expansion threatened the crumbling Byzantine empire. After several failed attempts, to capture Constantinople, Mehmet II finally succeeded in 1453. In a surprise move, the Ottomans hauled ships overland and launched them into the harbor outside constantinople. After a nearly two month siege, Ottoman cannons finally blasted gaps in the great defensive walls of the city, and it became the new capital of the Ottoman empire.
Ottoman culture
Suleiman was a wise and capable ruler. He strengthened the government of the rapidly growing empire and improved its system of justice. As sultan, Sueiman had absolute power, but he ruled with the help of a grandvizier and a council. A huge bureaucracy supervised the business of government, and the powerful military kept the peace. Ottoman law was based on the Sharia, supplemented by royal edicts. Government officials worked closely with religious scholars who interpreted the law.
Society is organized into classes
Ottoman society was divided into classes, each with its appointed role. At the top were men of the sword, which were soldiers who guarded the sultan and defended the state and men of the pen which were scientists, lawyers, judges, and poets. Below them were men of negotiation, such as merchants, tax collectors, and artistians who carried out trade production. And finally, there were men of husbandry, who were farmers and herders who produced food for the community.
Decline of the ottomans
After Suleimans death in 1566, the ottoman empire began a slow decline. Suleiman had killed two of his most able sons because he suspected them of treason. His son and successor Selim II left most of the governing to his ministers, and government bureaucracy became corrupt.
The safavid empire
By the early 1500s, the Safavid had united an empire in Persia. Sandwiched between two expansionist powers, Mughal India and the Ottoman empire, the Safavids often engaged in warefare. Religion played a role in the conflict. The Safavids were shiite Muslims who enforced their beliefs in their empire. The ottomans were Sunni Muslims who despised the Shiites and heretics.
the safavid empire declines
Safavid glory slowly faded after the death of Shah Abbas and under continuing pressure from Ottoman armies. Shiite scholars also challenged the authority of the shah by stressing their own authority to interpret law and determine government policy. They encouraged persecution of religious minorities, pushing Sunni Afghans to rebel. The rebels defeated imperial armies, captured Isfashan, and forced the last Safavid ruler to abdicate in 1722. In the late 1700s, a new dynasty, the Qajars, won control of Iran. They established Shiism firmly in Iran and gave Persians a strong sense of their own Identity.