The nascent Ottoman Empire, founded by Osman I on the twenty-seventh of July, 1299 , existed in optimal conditions for expansion utilizing both conquest and diplomacy due to the status of propinquitous states: a derelict Byzantine Empire (as a direct consequence of the Fourth Crusade and the establishment of the Latin Kingdom) and various aggregate beyliks previously under the dominion of the expeditiously declining Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. Osman I, entirely reliant upon Ghazi to facilitate his victories in Byzantine regions, capitalized on the politically dilapidated Byzantine Empire until the absolute dissolution of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm, which signified an alteration in the proto-Ottoman Empire expansionist policies; it progressively
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The second ‘phase’ of the Ottoman Empire focused predominately upon the intermittent period between rapid expansionism and decline, with the primary factors of decline concerning the Janissary Corps and the socio-political conservatism that occurred as a result. The Janissaries were initially an effective method of supplementing the previously unsystematic Ottoman military with a regimented populace of Eastern European slaves who ensured state continuity and absolute loyalty to the contemporary monarch, though the eventual development of class loyalty and self-perpetuation eventually negated and superseded their loyalty directed towards the Ottoman sultan. The Devşirme system was not exclusively producing Janissaries, but was also responsible for the acquisition of scholars and administrators based upon the child’s specific aptitude; their branch of class inexorably developed a sense of schismatic distinction from the Ottoman sultan, but maintained (along with the Janissary Corps) loyalty towards the state. If a state is politically comprised of individuals desiring the continuance of their own class , militaristic or economic reformation that would potentially hinder the capacity of said class would be directly opposed, even if such was to benefit the
The second ‘phase’ of the Ottoman Empire focused predominately upon the intermittent period between rapid expansionism and decline, with the primary factors of decline concerning the Janissary Corps and the socio-political conservatism that occurred as a result. The Janissaries were initially an effective method of supplementing the previously unsystematic Ottoman military with a regimented populace of Eastern European slaves who ensured state continuity and absolute loyalty to the contemporary monarch, though the eventual development of class loyalty and self-perpetuation eventually negated and superseded their loyalty directed towards the Ottoman sultan. The Devşirme system was not exclusively producing Janissaries, but was also responsible for the acquisition of scholars and administrators based upon the child’s specific aptitude; their branch of class inexorably developed a sense of schismatic distinction from the Ottoman sultan, but maintained (along with the Janissary Corps) loyalty towards the state. If a state is politically comprised of individuals desiring the continuance of their own class , militaristic or economic reformation that would potentially hinder the capacity of said class would be directly opposed, even if such was to benefit the