Murad, Ottoman Sultan (1361-1389)

Second son of Sultan Orkhan, Murad created the European part of the Ottoman Empire. His success in the Balkans was in part due to the divided state of the area at that time. The Serbian empire of Stephan Dushan had disintegrated after his death, while Louis the Great, king of Hungary, attacked both Serbia and Bulgaria in 1365-6, weakening them both. Murad himslf invaded with relatively small numbers, but by the end of his reign he was able to raise large numbers of troops settled as Timariots across the Balkons. He was killed at the Battle of Kossovo in 1389, although the battle was an Ottoman victory and crushed the last Serbian resistance to the Turks, leaving the burden to fall on the Hungarians. During his reign he conquered Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia.
Crescent Dawn – The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age, Si Sheppard. A detailed account of the great expansion of the Ottoman Empire in its first three centuries, from its origins as one of many small powers in Anatolia to almost its peak, ruling much of the Balkans, the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa, and threatening to break out into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Covers Ottoman expansion into the Balkans, Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa, the defeat of the Mamluks and the long wars with the revived Persians, as well as the rise of Ottoman naval power. Ends with a look at the Portuguese entry into the Indian Ocean, and the European search for Prestor John, a mythical Christian ruler eventually merged in the western mind with the rulers of Ethiopia, part of a wider attempt to find allies against the Ottoman power (Read Full Review)
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How to cite this article: Rickard, J. (10 October 2000), Murad, Ottoman Sultan (1361-1389), https://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_murad.html

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