Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman the Magnificent was the …          [fifth, tenth, second, seventh] and longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

His realm extended from Hungary to Iran, and from Crimea to North Africa and the …           [Atlantic, Pacific, Indian] Ocean.

Suleiman was born in 1494 or 1495 in Trabzon, on the …        [Black, North, Red, Baltic] Sea coast.

While he led a privileged life, he also lived in a district where contagious diseases and food scarcity were …                [widespread, insignificant, minor], even for the upper classes.

Suleiman's adolescence and youth were spent under the shadow of his …         [dad, uncle, cousin, auntie] Selim, a violent, overbearing man.

After his father Selim came to the throne, Suleiman was given another district governorship in western Anatolia. The resources at his disposal increased considerably, as he came to preside over a crowded household as the heir apparent. During Selim's campaigns, he acted as his father's …             [subject, subsequent, proxy] by relocating to Edirne, the gateway to the Balkan provinces, where he became acquainted with the management of the empire at the highest level.

These were the years during which Suleiman began stepping into the limelight of Ottoman political and cultural life. He began writing …          [novels, poetry, stories], a sign of intellectual maturity as well cultural refinement.

Moreover, Selim's conquests to the east and south allowed the Ottomans to benefit from global commercial networks that extended overland from China to the …        [east, west, south, north], and over the sea from the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean.

A truly global empire, with a large territory, a stake over regional and global commerce, and a sophisticated cultural identity, thus began to …            [disappear, emerge, escape, spot] under Selim.

Suleiman inherited this imperial geography and …               [outlook, insight, intelligence, mind] from his father and took it farther than ever imagined by any Ottoman ruler before him.

Suleiman came to the Ottoman throne in the fall of …      [1520, 1524, 1534, 1530], upon his father's death.

In the absence of any nephews, uncles, or brothers who might contest his accession, his rise was at first sight ...              [effortless, difficult, complicated]

His first step was to promote himself as a just ruler, a …            [item, virtue, component, option] his father was not known for.

His second step was to direct the Ottoman armies towards targets his father …               [was ignoring, has ignored, had ignored].

His third step was to raise a household …            [manager, commander, servant] named Ibrahim to the highest rank, the grand vizierate.

After 1526, Suleiman …            [broke out, began, faced, managed] many powerful rivals on the European front.

Suleiman's challenges were not only of a military nature. He constantly searched for new ways to present himself as a …             [powerful, weak, dependable, furious] emperor.

In the late 1520s and early 1530s, Suleiman increasingly presented himself as a messianic figure who would gather Islam and Christianity under a single mantle.

His competition with Charles V was not only over the control of …           [Western, Middle, Southern, Central] Europe and the Mediterranean but also over Charles' title of Holy Roman Emperor. Suleiman and his close supporters argued that Suleiman was the one and true emperor on earth.

Starting with the early 1540s, everything around Suleiman reminded him that he was entering …         [early, middle, old]age. There were grey flecks in his beard and hair.

His political life was filled with …                  [victories, disappointments, success, achievements] as well. In his early years on the throne, he had dreamed of subjugating all his enemies and ruling over East and West with justice.

Suleiman became an angry man. He openly …                [showed off, praised, congratulated, told off] foreign envoys during audiences, abandoning his usually austere demeanor.

His life became even more complicated in the 1550s. He ordered the …              [appointment, execution] of a son on the suspicion of rebellion.

All along, Suleiman's health continued to … .             [improve, get better, worsen]

Then his beloved wife Hürrem died. The empire he had expanded and the bureaucratic machinery he had helped build suffered from overextension. Social and economic problems …              [persisted, disappeared, rose], becoming increasingly more difficult to ignore as casual or haphazard occurrences.