Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

New Wars in Europe: Conclusion of the War with Venice
Hungary’s insistence on remaining in Belgrade and Ottoman construction of new forts along the Danube while supporting Akinci raids into Hungarian territory presaged the approach of renewed conflict in Europe. Mathias Corvinus of Hungary got Stephen the Great of Moldavia to throw off Ottoman suzerainty and built a powerful military force to contest Ottoman rule in Wallachia. Hungarian ambitions in Moldavia led to a war with Stephen (1465-

1467), but the latter won easily, taking the Danubian forts of Kilia and Ibrail (1465) and emerging as the major leader in the area, able to concentrate his efforts against the Ottomans without having to worry about his rear. Stephen then invaded Wallachia and replaced the Ottoman puppet Radu with his own man (1471). Another threat to Ottoman rule came from the principality of Muscovy, whose Prince Ivan in the Great (1462-1505) had married Zoe (Sophia)

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Paleologus, daughter of the last Byzantine despot of the Morea and niece of the last emperor. Accompanying the Byzantine princes were many Greek learned men and artists, who began the development of Muscovy as a centre of Greek Orthodox culture.
Ivan himself was busy gathering together the various parts of what was to become Russia, but as the result of the marriage, he and his successors considered themselves the legal heirs to the Eastern Roman Empire and attempted make Moscow the new centre of the Orthodox Church as a demonstration of their aspirations. A third threat to Ottoman power came the Jagellonians of Lithuania and Poland, now ruled by Casimir IV (1447-1492), whose dominions extended as far east as the Ukraine, bordering Moldavia to the north and across the Dniester to the Black Sea in the east. They allied with the Golden Horde, which ruled to the north. The hans of the Crimean Tatars, Mengili Giray, while happy to accept the support of his Ottoman influence to the north shores of the Black Sea. In turn, then, he began to cooperate with Muscovy.
Inspite of a conflict of interests, Stephen of Moldavia, the Jagellonians, Muscovy, the Golden Horde, and even the Crimean Tatars agreed on united action to prevent Ottoman domination of the Black Sea. In response Hadim Sulayman Pasha was sent from Albania through Serbia and Wallachia in the winter of 1475 to join the sultan in an attack on Moldavia. Because of illness, however, Muhammad was unable to bring his army from Istanbul, enabling Stephen to rout the Ottomans at Rakovitza (Racoca) January 17,

1475) with the help of Jagellonian and Hungarian troops. Muhammad was much more successful in the Crimea. He first used internal disputes in the Hanate family to replace Mengili Giray with his son Erminak Giray, who restored the tributary relationship and then cooperated with an Ottoman nava! expedition in capturing all the remaining Genoese colonies along the north shores of the Black Sea (June 1475). Muhammad then restored Mengili as a result of the intervention of the Crimean notables in Ottoman service, who said that Mengili would be better able to lead the Tatars against their enemies in the north. Mengili, in turn, accepted Ottoman suzerainty and agreed to provide military and financial support as needed. Thus Ottoman control of the Crimean Tatars was established. It was to continue for three centuries, providing the sultans with not only another base to control the Black Sea but also a regular supply of able fighting men. The power of the Crimean hans at this time was

818 Political and Cultural History of Islam
not extensive, hardly extending beyond the Crimea itself, but with Ottoman help they were at least able to avoid being absorbed by Muscovy, as happened to the other Tatar Hanates at the time. They remained the principal Ottoman buffers to keep the Russians away from the Black Sea for another two centuries.
In all these campaigns Muhammad personally led his armies in the field with the exception of those for the invasion of the Crimea, the attack on Rhodes, and the capture of Otranto, where he delegated the task to able generals, of whom he appears to have had an abundant supply. But there never was a great commander who more completely dominated the generals under him and maintained his supremacy in the State. He made no confidences as to his intended military operations or what were his immediate objects of attack. There were no councils of war. His armies were collected, year after year, on one side or other of the Bosphorus, without any one knowing their destination. When on one occasion, one of his generals asked him what was his next object, he replied that if a single hair of his beard knew what his intentions were he would pluck it out and cast it into the fire. He held secrecy and rapidity to be the first elements of success in war, and acted on this principle.
Early in his reign Muhammad recognized the strategic value of Constantinople. It became the keystone of his Empire. He transferred the seat of his government to it from Adrianople. He fortified the Dardanelles by the erection of two castles on either side of it near Sestos and Abydos, each with thirty guns, which commanded the Straits. This secured his capital from attack. It prevented the entrance of a hostile fleet into the Sea of Marmora and the Black Sea. He added greatly to his navy and made it superior to that of any other single power in the Mediterranean. It gave him absolute supremacy in iho Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora. The piib-c-bsion.- ot the Genoese in the Black Sea were at his mercy. CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Great as Muhammad was as a warrior and general, he was not less conspicuous as an administrator and statesman. The organization and provisioning of his armies in his numerous campaigns were especial!} worthy of notice. His soldiers were always well fed and amply equipped with guns and armaments. More than any one of his predecessors and successors, he founded mosques, hospitals, colleges, and schools in Constantinople and other cities of his Empire. He fully recognized the importance of
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science in education. He cultivated the society of learned men and loved to converse with them. He had some reputation as a poet.
If one examines the various spheres of life during the age of the conqueror one notices developments, innovations and progress in all of them. There is no doubt that it was knowledge and cultural superiority that eventually vanquished the Byzantine Empire, culminating in the conquest of Constantinople. Again, after the conquest, the preservation of all the By/antine churches, and above all Hagia Sophia, with their mosaics, frescoes, and artistic ornaments, and even more remarkably, the toleration and help given to the Patriarchate, furnish outstanding proof of his superior and civilized culture The respect shown to works of art and to human rights won men’s hearts.’0