Ottoman Empire

...

The eastern part of Thrace was under the reign of Ottoman forces with a decade’s time. It happened due to the growing pressure of colonization. The Thracian conquest was the reason why the Ottomans were able to strategically move ahead with their expansion plans. Additionally, they established communication routes overseas that linked Constantinople with the Balkan frontiers which aided in the strengthening and expansion of their military operations.

Byzantium was cut off from the mainland and highways that hampered their direct communication with Western Europe and Balkans. Orhan commanded the submission of John V who was the Emperor of Byzantine and a treaty was signed in 1356 that marked the loss of Thracian. Thus the Ottomans took complete control over the European passageways. They were able to take full advantage of the prestige and the riches offered by the Balkans which further made the Empire stronger.

Edirne, 1362

The first conquest of Murad was over the Byzantine Empire in 1362 in the battle of Adrianople. The city was later on named Edirne and a year later this became his new capital. The capital was then transferred from Bursa to the newly captured city of Thrace. Murad was up against the neighbouring regions and was fiercely trying to expand the Ottoman Empire up towards Southeast Europe. Before the beginning of the Edirne conquest the Christian Europeans were not aware about the power of the Ottoman Empire. Edirne became the next capital after Murad I designated it as the capital city. It was at this time that the Europeans understood that the Ottomans were there to settle down.

The Balkans, Serbia, Bulgaria and Byzantium were all aware about the growing power of Ottomans due to the successful conquests in Thrace. They were not prepared to deal with the massive threat of the Empire. Very soon Byzantium was fragmented with the division between Constantinople and Thracian along with the Thessaloniki. Even the Peloponnese state of Morea and Despotate were now under the reign of the Ottoman Empire. During this reign the sea route was the only means of communication between Dardanelles and the Constantinople. This route was maintained by the Italian mariners residing in Genoa and Venice.

The Byzantine Empire had become weak as they were not able to meet up the resource demands of their military in order to defeat Murad. Byzantine was divided due to the inevitable civil war. Constantinople depended on the defensive walls for its security and the city was able to survive for a little while longer. This can be attributed to the lackings of the Ottoman navy and the provisions made by Murad in the year 1356 treaty.

Aleksandur was responsible to bring down Bulgaria that lead to its decline. Soon it was divided into three more fragments by Tsar Ivan Aleksandur, which were equally divided amongst his sons. Bulgaria was further fragmented in 1350 due to rivalry between Stratsimir and Aleksandur. It was the internal conflict that caused a lot of trouble between the political powers who were struggling to establish their superiority within the Empire. Another reason that lead to the breakdown of Bulgaria and its political power was the Hungarian attack in 1365 when King Louis I captured the Vidin province which was under the rule of Stratsimir.

Bulgaria lost its power of provinces to the invaders, Aleksandur began to form alliance with Dobrotitsa the ruler of Dobrudzhan and Vladislav I who was the ruler of Wallachia. Though Bulgaria was reigned by Stratsimir again, but it still remained fragmented. He started ruling Vidin in the year 1370 and Dobrotitsa was an independent nation. However, soon Bulgaria lost power due to the internal conflicts and external enemies.

The most dramatic end came in the year 1355 when the Balkans were under Serbian prominence. The Serb nobles did not submit to the authority to Stefan Young who was not a capable ruler owing to his physical disability. Due to this, the separatist who were already against the dominion and took advantage and fragmented Serbia.

Serbian control was challenged by the Greeks that were settled in Epiros and Thessaly along with Dusan. Due to this control the inevitable differences of principalities were see in the southern and the western Macedonia. This was the same time when the Hungarians invaded the northern part of Serbia. The central parts of Serbia were held by Young who had the loyalty of all the rich patrons.

The core lands were under the rule of Young along with the powerful nobles residing in Macedonia that strengthened the Empire. The Serbs were able to amalgamate several domains under the reign of Young that were primarily wrecked due to the civil war. However, Serbia still could not withstand the threat from the Ottoman Empire and in the year 1362, the Ottoman Empire rose with the power and influence of Murad I.

Maritsa, 1371

The Battle of Maritsa was one of the historically notable event. Chernomen was located near the Maritsa River that was governed by Lala Shahin Pasha who was the lieutenant of Murad who had a militia of 70,000 soldiers. These soldiers were directly under the command of Vukasin Mrnjavcevic who was the king of Serbia. His brother Ugljesa too was with him in his conquests and both helped strengthen the Empire against external threats. When the battle of Maritsa began, even with the small army of soldiers, the Ottoman Empire won over Greece that increased the power of the Empire manifold. Vukasin and Ugljesa could not survive the battle and perished in the attack. The Ottoman victory was powerful and they called the battle Route which was utterly destructive to the Serbs.

Plocnik, 1386

In 1386 under the rule of Murad, Serbia was forced to accept the rule and submit to the Ottoman vassalage. This siege into the central Balkans would make the vassal status prominent in Macedonia. The Vassal status was again established with the power of Murad’s reign.

In 1387 Murad was no longer able to control the Balkans and Bulgarian vassals who along with the Serbian vassals wanted to be independent. Plocnik became the primary point in history when the Turks were defeated by Tvrtko and Lazar. With this victory, and alliance with the Christian prince Shishman too would rebel against the vassalage of Ottoman, this became a turning point and regained Bulgarian independence.

Bileća, 1388

Soon Murad began concentrating on Anatolia and the campaign against Shishman and Stratsimir who ruled Bulgaria at the time were again forced to submit to the vassals. Murad asked Lazar to pay tribute, but the Serbian