Sultan Murad IV was the 17th of the Ottoman sultans and the 82nd caliph of the Muslims. He ascended to the Ottoman throne at the age of 11.
Due to his young age, at first, the Empire was ruled by his mother Kosem Sultan, and other relatives, during which the empire had a very hard time with turmoils, corruption, territory loss, and janissary uprising.The peace and harmony in the Ottoman lands were completely lost and tyrants became the rulers of the cities.
When Sultan Murad took the control of the state at the age of 21, he took some extreme precautions to eliminate the corruption within the Empire.
He banned the use of alcohol and tobacco, implemented severe measures for the regular collection of taxes to increase the state’s revenues, avoided unnecessary expenditures in the treasury, recovered the military discipline, participated in battles against the enemy to raise the morale of the commanders and soldiers in the trenches, and so on.
Murad IV would never tolerate disorder and not obeying his laws and directives. Sometimes he used to go around the city in plain clothes to check any undisciplined actions and irregularities by the locals, and personally punished the offenders.
In March 1635, Sultan Murad embarked on an eastward campaign and besieged Yerevan. He took the castle which even Sultan Suleiman I could not take.
Murad IV’s reign is most notable for the Ottoman Safavid War against Persia (today Iran) in which Ottoman forces managed to conquer Azerbaijan, occupying Tabriz, Hamadan, and capturing Baghdad in 1638.
Although Murad IV was considered to have a harsh stance on political matters, he was tender-hearted. After his death, he left behind a peaceful country and an army with the world’s greatest strike force.
Ottoman historians characterize him as the greatest of the Ottoman sultans who came in the 242 years between the reigns of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and Sultan Mahmud II.
.
.
.
.
.
#MuradIV #sultanmuradhan #KosemSultan #MagnificentCentury #ottoman #OttomanHistory #ottomans #kurulusosman #Ertugrul #payitahtabdulhamid #turkey #islam
