Ottomans unite the Middle EastDaniel 11:17He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans will not succeed or help him. According to William Muir (1896), the Ottomans proposed an alliance with the Mamluks even though they were far superior in power. Perhaps it was because they were both Turkish and Sunni, as I pointed out earlier. In 1517, Selim sent a delegation of messengers to the Mamluk sultan, Tuman bay II. Selim demanded that his supremacy be acknowledged in the coinage and public prayers, for which, the Mamluks would be spared. According to Muir, Tuman wanted to grant the requests but his Emirs overcame his better judgment and the messengers were put to death. I find no mention of a marriage but that was a common way to make an alliance between two kingdoms. Perhaps, the marriage is not well known because the plan did not succeed. Whatever the case, the Ottomans took control of Egypt anyway. From 1520-1566, Suleiman “the Magnificent” reigned as sultan of the Ottomans and expanded the empire to its peak of power (left). By 1535, he had taken Baghdad and the rest of Mesopotamia from the Safavids, which effectively gave him control of the entire Middle East. In terms of land area, the Ottoman Empire was not the biggest because they did not control Persia or Arabia. Yet, they controlled Egypt and Mesopotamia at the same time, which in the context of Daniel 11, was the whole Middle East. That had not been done since the Abbasids ruled in the 9th century or the end of verse 6. Notice that the next few verses do not distinguish between the North and South because the Ottomans held both regions for the next 350 years. click to enlargeOttoman’s turning pointDaniel 11:18Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back upon him. This verse is divided into two parts and describes the turning point of the Ottoman Empire. After the death of Suleiman, the succeeding sultans did not participate directly in combat. They left the military decisions to a “grand visor”, who answered only to the sultan. That variation would eventually lead to the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The first “grand visor” was an effective leader because he had served under Suleiman. By 1571, he had strengthened the navy and established dominance along the “coastlands”of the Mediterranean. Pope St. Pius V formed an alliance of Catholic maritime states called the Holy League to oppose the Muslim Ottomans. At the Battle of Lepanto, they succeeded in destroying most of the Ottoman’s ships . However, that just angered the Ottomans who built 250 ships in the next six months, including eight of the largest ships ever seen in the Mediterranean. That quick resurgence prompted the Pope to sign the “Treaty of Peace” in 1573. The treaty ended the Holy League and allowed the Ottomans to expand their positions in North Africa, which explains the first half of verse 18. After that, the Ottomans eased their expansionist policies for almost a century. The turning point came when a series of “grand visors” from the Koprulu family emerged between 1656-1703. The Koprulus received unprecedented authority and freedom from the sultan’s interference. They reignited the empire’s military ambition and by 1676, they had taken Transylvania, Crete, and the Polish southern Ukraine. Their insolence was turned back upon them when the “grand visor” led a huge army for a second attempt to siege Vienna in 1683. The Ottoman forces were badly beaten by armies from Germany and Poland, led by Polish king, Jan Sobieski. Fifteen years of see-sawing warfare finally forced the Ottomans to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. In the agreement, they surrendered a significant portion of Europe, including all of Hungary, which explains the second half of verse 18. Fall of the OttomansDaniel 11:19After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall, to be seen no more. After the defeat, the Ottomans were forced to adopt a defensive strategy against their European rivals. They defended against Russia one more time, in 1711, but then entered a peaceful era. They began fortifying the cities bordering the Balkans to act as a defense against their European neighbors. However, that strategy did not last. In the 1800’s, the Ottomans began to lose territory on all fronts because of governmental instability, despite efforts to reform. The empire ceased to enter conflicts on its own and began to forge alliances with European countries. For example, Napoleon occupied Egypt from 1798-1801 but it was liberated by a joint, Ottoman-British force. However, as a result, the British kept a supply of troops in Egypt. The Ottoman’s downfall began in 1914 when they formed an alliance with Germany against their common enemy, Russia. Shortly thereafter, they gave “safe harbor” to two German ships at Constantinople when they were fleeing from British ships. Consequently, they were pulled into WWI on the side of Germany and the Central Powers, which is not what they had intended. Britain immediately seized Egypt, Sudan, and Cyprus as a result. In 1915, Russian armies attacked Anatolia, sending a flood of Armenian refuges into Syria and Mesopotamia. That sparked an Arab revolt against the Ottomans in 1916. Finally, in 1919, the British took control of the Middle East to restore order. At the end of WWI, the Allied Forces partitioned the Ottoman Empire into individual countries. The Turks rejected the first treaty and fought for their independence for three years. Finally, in 1923, a treaty was signed that created the Republic of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire was seen no more, just as God said. Next Page: The British MandateDaniel 11:20this was:Page 9 on Daniel 11 click chart to enlarge
NEW:Daniel 11 ExplainedCondensed “one page” CommentaryUpdated:Let me repeat: “seen no more” Since people did not understand Daniel 11, Uriah Smith, a Seventh Day Adventist, proposed a timeline, in the mid-19th century, which made the Ottomans into the ‘final’ empire. Obviously, he was wrong. However, modern ‘post-tribulationists’ continue topick ‘Turkey’, as the final empire, for no apparent reason. They are wrong because they are using an incorrect interpretation of Daniel 11. (Plus, they manipulate Revelation, which is very wrong.) I explain more about that in ‘past theories of Daniel 11’ (only two others to choose from). The same page contains recent “Turkey News”. Post-tribs, in general, are discussed on a separate page. The Iranian dream of a reborn Persian EmpireNew York Post – February 1, 2015Quote: A Turkish attempt to establish a neo-Ottoman Empire failed(none of their neighbors wanted the Turks back), but three other imperia have gotten at least one foot out of the grave: the Persian Empire, the Arab Caliphate and the Russian Empire. Besides, current eventsare leading to the ‘abomination’, in verse 31, just like Jesus said, not verse 45, as post-tribs say.