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The Influence of The Ottoman Empire on Greece (1453 - 1850)

A big way that the Ottoman Empire influenced what is now Greece and other Balkan countries was collecting Jannisaries through the devshirme system. Ottoman Janissaries were a group of elite soldiers in the Ottoman Empire that was made up of Balkan Christian boys who were forcibly converted to Islam and made to be soldiers for the Ottoman army,  completely loyal to the Sultan. Some of these boys were also sold as slaves to private buyers. These boys came from Greece, Albania, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, and more countries. This painting shows a group of young Christian boys in red clothing being registered by an Ottoman official to be put through the Devirshme system process. The Ottoman official recorded general information, like their village, province, parents, date of birth, and appearance of the children before they were sent away from their homeland and parents.

Link to Photo

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Devshirme (Ottoman Turkish: دوشیرمه, romanized: devşirme, lit. ‘collecting’,[a] usually translated as “child levy”[b] or “blood tax”[c])[3] was the Ottoman practice of forcibly recruiting soldiers and bureaucrats from among the children of their Balkan Christian subjects and raising them in the religion of Islam.[4][5][6] Those coming from the Balkans came primarily from noble Balkan families and rayah (poor) classes.[7][8] It is first mentioned in written records in 1438,[9] but probably started earlier. It created a faction of soldiers and officials loyal to the Sultan.[10] It counterbalanced the Turkish nobility, who sometimes opposed the Sultan.[11][12]

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The Influence of Greece on The Ottoman Empire(1453 - 1850)

A big way Greece influenced the Ottoman Empire and modern-day Turkiye was through the former church known as Hagia Sophia. At one point, the Hagia Sophia was the most important church to Orthodox Christians. When Constantinople was taken, it was converted into a mosque. The Hagia Sophia was built using Greek Byzantine architecture, and the mosaics and icons on the inside are painted in the Greek Orthodox style and are still present inside the Hagia Sophia. The primary source I chose is a photograph of a part of the inside of the Hagia Sophia mosque, which shows on the left and right side, Arabic calligraphy of the names of the Prophet Muhammad and Allah (god). And between it is an icon of the Mother Mary and Jesus. This shows both the contrast and unity of both cultures coming together in one place, with Islamic art coming from Ottomans and the Greek icons coming from Byzantine Greeks, who created the building. Muslims from around the world pray under both the Greek Orthodox and Islamic inscriptions.

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Conflict between the two places

A huge conflict that happened between these 2 groups was the battle that ensued during the Seige of Constantinople in the year 1453. During this time, the Ottoman Turks attacked the Capital city of the Byzantine Empire and successfully took it, marking the fall of the Byzantine Empire itself. The city would then go on to become the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman soldiers significantly outnumbered the defending Byzantine soldiers and had superior firepower, namely cannons that fired 500 kg cannonballs, which successfully destroyed the walls of the city of Constantinople. The primary source I chose for this conflict is a painting from around the year 1455, which depicts the Ottoman boats approaching the city of Constantinople, and Ottoman soldiers offloading onto the lands of the City. It also depicts the walls of the City and the encampments of defending Byzantine troops.

This pin has been placed on Istanbul since it was formally Constantinople.

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Le siège de Constantinople (1453) by Jean Le Tavernier after 1455.jpg

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The Cooperation Between Greece and Turkey

In Istanbul, multiple different cultures and religions lived under the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire developed a way for these different religions to live in harmony. The Millet system was developed by Sultan Mehmed II, who is said to have brought rights and autonomy to the different religious groups of the Ottoman Empire. A singular Millet (Turkish for "religious community") was an autonomous, self-governing religious community within the Ottoman Empire. They were allowed to take care of themselves with minimal intervention from the Ottoman Government. This was satisfying for all parties involved and led to good cooperation. The primary source I chose is a Byzantine Mosaic of Sultan Mehmed II seemingly speaking with Patriarch Gennadios II. Sultan Mehmed II allowed the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which is an Orthodox Christian governance system, to still function after the fall of Constantinople, which shows cooperation between Byzantine Greeks and Ottoman Turks.