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

62
SULAYMAN THE MAGNIFICENT
(1520-1566 A.D)
It looks almost like a miracle that a small band of Central Asian Turks, having transplanted themselves in Asia Minor around the 13th Century A.D.. should have dominated the course of history and politics in Europe, Africa and Western Asia for centuries together. This band was a fragment of Oghouz Turks who followed thither their chieftain Ertughril (1250-1288 A.D) and got firmly established in Anatolia under his son and successor Usman (1288-

1326 AD) and hence came to be known as Ottoman Turks. The’ Ottomans established one of the longest-lived dynasties in history which lasted for nearly seven hundred years. They also produced an unusually large number of great monarchs and world conquerors, and our hero Sulayman the Magnificent waS tllC £’eaie::t of them all.

According to Lane Poole. ”The long reign of Sulayman the Magnificent, who ascended the throne at the age of twenty-six, in

1520, and ruled in unequalled glory for nearly half a century is fraught with significance to Europe, and teems with so many events of the first importance that it deserves a volume to itself. We can only give a bare outline of the great wars and sieges that signalized this remarkable epoch: such scenes as the terrible battle of Mohacs, the conquest of Rhodes, the siege of Vienna, and of Szigeth, and the repulse at Malta, might well engage each a chapter to itself, but here the> must be depicted in outline, and the best will have been attained if the student is incited to read the fuller records which have been written of them in large works.”

Sulayman lived at a wonderful epoch. All Europe, as well as the East, seemed to have conspired together to produce its greatest nilcrs in the sixteenth century, and to make its most astonishing

824 Political and Cultural History of Islam

advances in all fields of civilization. The age which boasted of Charles V, the equal of Charlemagne in empire; of France; of our notable Henry VIII, and Elizabeth, queen of queens of Pope Leo X of Vasili Ivanovich, the founder of the Russian power of Sigismund of Poland; Shah Ismail of Persia; and of the Moghul Emperor Akbar, could yet point to no greater sovereign than Sulayman of Turkey. The century of Columbus, of Cortes, of Drake and Raleigh of Spenser and Shakespeare, the epoch that saw the revival of learning in Italy by the impulse of the refugees from Constantinople and which greeted at once the triumph of Christianity over Islam in Spain and the opening of a new world by Spanish enterprise, was hardly more brilliant in the West than in the East, where the unceasing victories of Sulayman, and the successes of Turghud and Barbarossa, formed a worthy counterpart to the achievements of the great soldiers and admirals of the Atlantic. Even the pirates of this age were unique they founded dynasties.’
But the most remarkable feat that the Turks achieved during this glorious century was - that they survived it. With such forces as were arrayed against them, with a Europe roused from its long sleep, and ready to seize arms and avenge its long disgrace upon the infidels, it was to be expected that the fall of the Ottoman power must ensue. Instead, we shall see that this power was not only able to meet the whole array of rejuvenated Europe on equal terms, but emerged from the conflict stronger and more triumphant than ever.
Sulayman ascended the throne surrounded by the glamour which belonged to his youth and charm of manner, and to the affection which his gracious rule in more than one provincial government had inspired; but he owed something to the detestation which Saleem’s cruel character had evoked from all classes. The son differed by the whole heaven from his father. He was already renowned for his justice and clemency, and his first acts were calculated to strengthen the good opinion which had early been formed of his character. He began by punishing evil-doers, and especially such of the officers and Pashas who were proved to have been guilty of corruption and partiality. His greatest object was the same as that of the founder of the Ottoman Empire; he desired to see even-handed justice administered throughout the length and breadth of his vast dominions. The people rejoiced to see once more a Sultan
Sulayman the Magnificent 825
they could love as well as fear, and welcomed Sulayman as another
Murad.