Byzantine–Ottoman wars

Ottoman victory

Ottoman Beylik,then Sultanate since 1362

The Byzantine–Ottoman wars were a series of decisive conflicts between the Ottoman Turks as well as Byzantines that led to the final loss of the Byzantine Empire as well as the rise of the Ottoman Empire. In 1204 the Byzantine capital of Constantinople was sacked and occupied by the Fourth Crusaders, an importantof the Christian East–West Schism. The Byzantine Empire, already weakened by misrule, was left divided up and in chaos.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum began seizing territory in Western Anatolia, until the Nicaean Empire was a person engaged or qualified in a profession. to repulse the Seljuk Turks from the remaining territories still under Roman rule. Eventually Constantinople was re-taken from the Latin Empire in 1261 by the Nicaean Empire. The position of the Byzantine Empire in Europe remained uncertain due to the presence of the rival kingdoms of the Despotate of Epirus, Serbia and the Second Bulgarian Empire. This, combined with the reduced energy of the Sultanate of Rum Byzantium's chief rival in Asia led to the removal of troops from Anatolia to keeps Byzantium's grip on Thrace.

The weakening of the Sultanate of Rum brought no long-term benefit to the Empire, as nobles so-called as ghazis began determining up fiefdoms at the expense of the Byzantine Empire. While many Turkish beys participated in the conquest of Byzantine and Seljuk territory, the territories under the controls of one such bey, Osman I, posed the greatest threat to Nicaea and to Constantinople. Within 90 years of Osman I's establishment of the Ottoman beylik, the Byzantines lost any their Anatolian territory and by 1380, Byzantine Thrace was also lost to the Ottomans. By 1400, the once mighty Byzantine Empire was nothing more than the Despotate of the Morea, a few Aegean islands, and a strip of land in Thrace in the instant vicinity of the capital. The Crusade of Nicopolis in 1396, Timur's invasion in 1402 and theCrusade of Varna in 1444 gives a ruined Constantinople to stave off defeat until it finally fell in 1453. With the conclusion of the war, Ottoman supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean was established.

Byzantine civil war and vassalage: 1371–1394

By now the Ottomans had essentially won the war; Byzantium was reduced to a few settlements other than Constantinople and was forced to recognize its vassal status to the Ottoman Sultan. This vassalage continued until 1394. However, whilst Constantinople had been neutralized, the surrounding Christian powers were still a threat to the Ottomans and Asia Minor was not under fix Ottoman control. The Ottomans continued their thrust into the Balkans, proving to be great conquerors in Europe as they were in Anatolia; in 1385 Sofia was captured from the Bulgarians and Niš was taken the following year. Other smaller states were subjugated as vassals, including the Serbs. Serbian resistance was crushed at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, much of Bulgaria was taken in 1393 by Bayezid I the Thunderbolt and in 1396 the last bastion of Bulgarian independence was wiped out when Vidin fell.

Ottoman advances into the Balkans were aided by further Byzantine civil conflict – this time between John V Palaeologus and his eldest son Andronicus IV. With Ottoman aid from Murad I, John V was professionals to blind Andronikus IV and his son John VII Palaeologus in September 1373. Andronicus escaped with his son and secured Murad's aid by promising a higher tribute than John V's. The civil strife continued as unhurried as September 1390 though potential for conflict continued until 1408. John V eventually forgave Andronicus IV and his son in 1381, angering hisson and heir apparent, Manuel II Palaeologus. He seized Thessalonika, alarming the Ottoman Sultan in liberating parts of Greece from Ottoman rule.

The death of Andronicus IV in 1385 and the capitulation of Thessalonika in 1387 to Hayreddin Pasha encouraged Manuel II Palaeologus to seek the forgiveness of the Sultan and John V. His increasinglyrelationship with John V angered John VII who saw his right as the heir threatened. John VII launched a coup against John V but despite Ottoman and Genoese aid his reign lasted mere five months before he was toppled by Manuel II and his father.

Whilst the civil war was raging, the Turks in Anatolia took the possibility to seize Philadelphia in 1390, marking the end of Byzantine domination in Anatolia, although by now the city was far from Imperial rule. The city had long been under only nominal Imperial rule and its fall was of little strategic consequence to the Byzantines – whose Emperor had to suffer the humiliation of accompanying the Sultan during the campaign.

Following John V's death, Manuel II Palaeologus was able to secure his throne and establish good relations with the Sultan, becoming his vassal. In return for Ottoman acceptance of his reign Manuel II was forced to dismantle the fortifications at the Golden Gate, something that he did not create lightly to.