sultan's crescent

Chapter 74 On the State System of the Ottoman Empire ([-])

Because I asked for leave before, I promised everyone that there would be one more chapter.

But because this volume is coming to an end, it's not that I can't make it hard for the chapter, it's just unnecessary.

So just to help you sort out the state system of the Ottoman Empire, so that it is easy to understand the behavior of the protagonist.

Of course, there will be no shortage of text in the two chapters today.

The first is a question of definition, what is a state system.

In my opinion, the national system is the expression of the state's governance and management organization.

I will take the national public administration as an example here. In the sense of public administration, the national public administration system mainly involves issues such as the ownership, structure and operation mode of the national administrative power.

First of all, national public administration is a comprehensive concept, behavior and process of politics, economy, society, culture and mentality.

The government (state executive body) is the subject of this concept, behavior and process.

But please note here that different regimes have different sources of government power.

For example, the two types of regimes, autocratic monarchy and constitutional democracy, have completely different sources of government power.

The former comes from the monarch, and the latter is endowed by the constitution and laws.

In the sense of public management, this subject status is based on legal and reasonable power, that is, public administrative power.

Starting from this position of power, the government realizes the effective management of a wide range of social life by the state by performing specific functions.

The first goal of administration is to acquire and maintain power, and the office of administrator is based on this foundation.This objective is a prerequisite for completing other objectives.

The basis of national public administration actually refers to the basis of government public administration conducted in the name of the state by state administrative organs, which are part of the national public authority.

Let us now look at the state system of the Ottoman Empire.

Machiavelli's words can't be wrong, but they can't be right either.

Compared with the feudal countries in Western Europe, the Ottoman Empire was more centralized and unified.

But his centralization is relative. From my personal point of view, the Ottoman Empire is far inferior to a certain country in the East.

But here, my idea is to judge by period rather than direct comparison.

Let’s start with the first period, which is also the main content I want to tell you today.

During this period, I call it before Suleiman the Magnificent, because the "lawmaker" Suleiman's changes to the Ottoman Empire are indeed worthy of his title.

During this period of the Ottoman Empire, its decision-making body was the Diwan Conference I mentioned earlier.

The ruling organization of the Ottoman Empire was divided horizontally into three parts: administrative agencies (viziers and clerks, etc.), religious agencies, and military agencies, and vertically divided into two levels: court (central) and local (provincial and Sanjak).

The ruling system and religious system of the empire are two sets of teams in parallel.

In the administrative system, a very critical system is the vizier system.

At first, the sultans controlled the army and the right to levy taxes. They personally intervened in major affairs. Later, they gradually did not directly participate in the daily management of the country, and entrusted civil affairs and part of the military to ministers. These ministers were called "viziers."

Around 1320, Orhan assumed some of the duties of his father Uthman.After Orhan succeeded to the throne, he handed over important affairs to Aluddin Pasha. As the auxiliary minister, Alaudine had greater power. It is generally believed that this was the beginning of the vizier system.

Later, the number of viziers increased, some were in charge of finance, some were in charge of government affairs, and some were in charge of local management. These viziers were all awarded the title of pasha.

In the administrative body, there are more than 4 viziers (9 at most).

The vizier has great responsibilities, and is in charge of the imperial court affairs, finance, diplomacy, official assessment, agriculture, industry, trade, etc.The highest official is the "Grand Vizier".

When the Grand Vizier is in charge of the war, or when he is away from the capital due to other affairs, the Grand Vizier will temporarily act as the Grand Vizier's responsible affairs.

During the process of conquest, the Ottoman Turks implemented the "Millet" system, which divided the Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Albanians, etc. into regions, with the nature of internal semi-autonomy.

The supreme head of the religious institution is the Grand Mufti of Islam, who is eligible to participate in the Diwan meeting and enter the Topkapi Palace to meet the Sultan.

Muslim institutions in Ottoman countries consisted of educators, preachers, jurists, judges, and all trained professional religious personnel.

What their group and class represent and embody are the spiritual and cultural factors such as religion, law, and culture of the Ottoman country.In terms of sources, members of Muslim institutions are almost invariably from Muslim families (parents are Muslim, individuals were born and raised in Muslim families).

As for the military system, there are mainly two parts. The first is military slavery, which is the blood tax.

The Ottoman Empire recruited boys from Christian peasant families, brought them up and converted them from an early age, which was also the source of the Ottoman Imperial Guard.

The second is the military fiefdom system, which is also related to the local administrative system of the Ottoman Empire.

The Sipahi cavalry and Timar are the products of this system. They are similar to the knights in Western Europe, but they are different because their fiefdoms are not hereditary. Pay military pay.

In the management of local government, an important administrative unit is the Sanjak, each Sanjak is about thousands of square miles and has a population of nearly 10.

The new territories conquered by the Ottomans formed the new Sanjak.When establishing the management of Sanjak, a detailed land survey must be carried out, and the human and economic resources of each village are in the hands of the government to facilitate the allocation of fiefdoms and determine the amount of taxes. (The Sipahi cavalry and Timar in the previous article come from this)

At first, the rules used were localized, but over time and with the rapid addition of new territories, the laws and rules tended to be uniform.

Sanjak Bey was not recruited locally, but was appointed by the central government and had to be reassigned after three years in office.

When he went to war, Sanjak Bey was the general who led his Sipahi.

The administrative districts higher than Sanjak are the provinces, which constitute the main administrative districts of the empire.

According to the data, the early Ottoman states did not have a wide range of taxes and limited tax sources.

Rather, they saw themselves as guardians, protecting the peasantry against the elite, in addition to lower levels of taxation.

Although the Ottoman government followed the rules, the rulers had to delegate their powers to agents because of the agency system.

A country as vast, diverse, and complex as the Ottoman Empire had to be. (This is the view of some historians, but my humble opinion is that it is because the Ottoman Empire did not have a civil service system)
Agents have their own abilities and expertise, and will build their own circle of power. (Local tyrants are born from this)

In fact, since Muhammad II controlled the commercial areas of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the country could levy tariffs, and the treasury became full.but
Frequent military operations, coupled with the large scope of rule, increased the difficulty of state governance, military expenditures and administrative management costs have risen sharply, and the burden on the empire's finances has not been eased.

This is one of the reasons why the Ottoman Empire used the tax package system.

This is the end of the first issue of the analysis of this system. I am not a historian, and there must be loopholes in what I said. There are also many bigwigs among you book friends. Welcome to express your views.

Finally, this book will be on the shelves tomorrow at 12 noon. Now let's ask for the first order and monthly pass.

Especially the former, this is really very important, I hope everyone will support it, and I will write a special testimonial to ask for it later.

　bibliography.

　　600 Years of the Ottoman Empire, Patrick Balfour

　　Companions to Empire, Ali Yajcioglu

　　Reign of the Empire: The Ottoman Imperial Political System, Wang Sanyi

　　
　
(End of this chapter)