rs of the Sultan in return for military service. These grants eventually became hereditary and the states became partially or wholly independent, especially when the Sultan was weak or succession to the throne was in dispute.
The Ottoman Empire, however, recovered from these defeats. Mehmed I, grandfather of Mehmed the Conqueror, began the task of reuniting Ottoman states and Murad virtually completed the task. While previous sultans had sought imperial order through warfare, Murad tried to retain order through peace. His reputation as a statesman spread throughout Europe and Asia, yet he was forced to fight wars to suppress disorder and gain advantages over European rivals. He unsuccessfully laid siege to Constantinople in 1422 and captured Thessaloniki in 1430. This last accomplishment was a blow to Venice, the principal commercial rival of the Ottomans, and a sign that Murad wanted not only peace but dominance in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Similarly, Murad conducted extensive campaigns in the Balkans until his death in 1451. Although these military activities suggest imperial ambitions, Murad was really not a strong advocate of the imperialistic ideas so prevalent in the Ottoman Empire at that time.
If his father had little in the way of imperialistic aspirations, Mehmed was different. He matured in an environment which yearned for the dream of Old Islam: the control of Constantinople and the acquisition of non-Muslim lands. In this he was influenced by the non-Turk converts who counseled him, such as Chihab-ed-Din Pasha and Zaganos Pasha. They were opposed by Candarlioglu Halil Pasha, who was the scion of an old and powerful Turkish family and who became Grand Vizier in 1439. When Murad temporarily abdicated the throne in favor of Mehmed in 1445, Halil implored him to return and may have instigated a revolt amongst the Janissaries in Edirne to cement his point. Needless to say, Halil quickly brought attent...