A History of Islamic Societies

In the late sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, foreign wars interacted with domestic political and economic problems to bring about profound changes in the Ottoman system. The pressures of war, internal social and demographic crises, and the commercialization and monetization of the economy led to new political institutions.

After centuries of conquests, the Ottomans reached a stalemate with the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean and the Habsburgs in the Mediterranean. The Austrian war of 1593–1606 showed that further Ottoman expansion was blocked. As the Ottomans reached farther into central and northern Europe, logistical difficulties hampered their campaigns. A new premium was being placed on infantry armed with gunpowder weapons, muskets, and cannons, fighting from entrenched positions. As firearms and organized infantry became ever more important, the Ottoman cavalry (sipahis) could no longer resist German riflemen. Western economies could better afford the costs of war. Moreover, from the 1680s to the 1730s, the Ottomans became dependent on Albanian, Bosnian, Kurdish, Cossack, Tatar, Georgian, and Circassian auxiliaries who were not as well disciplined, trained, and armed as the traditional Ottoman forces.