Rise of the Ottoman Empire
Osman I 1299-1326 Born in 1258 and died in 1324. Osman I was a great leader. He liked helping the poor
Osman I was the founder of the Ottoman Turkish State. The great success of Osman's reign was the defeat of Bursa shortly before his death. Osman became chief, upon his father’s death in 1281. By this time, mercenaries were streaming into his kingdom from all over the Islamic world to fight against and hopefully plunder the weakening Orthodox empire. In addition, the Turkic (a family of closely related languages of western and central Asia) population of Osman's emirate were constantly reinforced by a flood of refugees, fleeing from the Mongols. Of these, many were Ghazi warriors, or fighters for Islam, border fighters who believed they were fighting for the expansion or defense of Islam. Under the strong leadership of Osman, these forces quickly proved an intimidating force, and the foundations of the Empire were quickly established.