ABSTRACT
Continuing the conquests and reforms begun by his predecessors, Suleyman I transformed the Turkish Ottoman Empire into a major world power, yet sowed the seeds of its future decline. Like his predecessors, Suleyman was determined to wage a traditional holy war against Christendom and to conquer more territory for the empire. In 1521, profiting from European disunity caused by the Protestant Reformation, Suleyman conquered Belgrade, a key European defense against the Turks. The Ottoman Empire reached its peak under Suleyman I, who established the structure of government that would endure until the constitutional reforms of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Suleyman also organized the ulema in a hierarchical order; they, in turn, created a coherent body of laws. Suleyman's goal of creating a universal monarchy based on Islam, along with the military might he controlled, terrified the Europeans, who saw the Ottomans as unstoppable.
