144 • 9 FIREARMS, SLAVES, AND EMPIRESChristians and Jews later received similar confessional autonomy under the
millet system (described in detail later in this chapter). This live-and-let-live
policy contrasted sharply with the fanatical bigotry of Christian states at the
time. Some of the Greek Orthodox Christians used to say, "Better the turban
of the Turk than the tiara of the pope." By the end of Mehmet's reign, they
had gotten what they called for, as his troops took the Morea (southern
Greece), most of Albania, and the coast of what is now Croatia. In 1480 the
Ottomans landed on the heel of Italy and threatened to march on Rome, but
Mehmet's death saved the Roman church from the fate of Greek Orthodoxy.
What might have happened to the West if Mehmet "the Conqueror" had
lived longer?
Mehmet's son, Bayezid II (r. 1481-1512), was rather passive, compared
with the other early Ottoman sultans. His pacifist policies were due, how¬
ever, to the captivity of his brother and rival, Jem, under several different
European rulers. If Bayezid had ordered another attack on Rhodes, Italy,
or Hungary, the Christians would have unleashed Jem to raise a Muslim
revolt in Anatolia, where many resented the Ottomans' high taxes and re¬
liance on converts from Christianity (we explain why they did so later in
this chapter). Anatolian peasants and nomads often adopted Shi'ism to
voice their hatred of Ottoman repression. In fairness to Bayezid, though, he
did manage to bring rival factions into balance, restore lands confiscated
by his father to their rightful owners, and end debasement of the currency.
He also sent his troops against the Mamluks to take Cilicia and against
Venice for some of the Aegean islands. More threatening was the Shi'i chal¬
lenge from the Turks of Anatolia, spurred by the rise of the Safavids in
Azerbaijan. When their first shah, Isma'il, started a Turkish nomad rebel¬
lion that had spread as far west as Bursa by 1511, Bayezid's son, Selim, de¬
cided to seize control.
Selim I "the Inexorable" (r. 1512-1520) transformed the Ottoman Em¬
pire from a ghazi state on the western fringe of the Muslim world into the
greatest empire since the early caliphate. Equipped with firearms and
highly disciplined, Selim's forces routed the Safavids at Chaldiran in 1514
and even entered their capital, Tabriz, before withdrawing from Azerbai¬
jan. Two years later they likewise defeated the Mamluks and took over
their vast empire. As the new masters of Syria, Egypt, and the Hijaz, the
Ottomans now ruled the heartland of Arab Islam. Even if we discount the
story that the puppet Abbasid caliph in Cairo turned over his position to
Sultan Selim, it is true that the Ottoman capture of Cairo made Selim the
most prestigious ruler in the Muslim world. Islam's holy cities, Mecca,
Medina, and Jerusalem, also came under Ottoman rule.