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This book focuses on the first three centuries of the Ottoman Empire, which saw it expand from its origins as one of many small powers in Anatolia to become one of the most important world powers, ruling much of the Balkans, the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa, and a major naval power in the Mediterranean.
The author repeatedly makes the point that the Christian world was disunited while the Ottomans were united and focused. While his is clearly right on the first point, I don’t agree with the second. The first problem is that the Ottoman Empire was often disrupted by civil wars and revolts. The second is that the Ottomans were only part of the wider Muslim world, so it’s not an entirely fair contrast. Sizable sections of the book look at Ottoman wars against the Mamluks or the revived Persians, while many of their conquests in North Africa were over fellow Muslims.
Three chapters cover the reign of Suleiman the Magnificant, which saw the Ottomans destroyer the power Hungary, capture Rhodes and besiege Vienna. This was a period of great disunity within the Christian world, both secular and religious. For much of his reign Charles V was both king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, so in theory had access to similar levels of resources to the Ottomans, but he spent more time fighting Francis I of France and the rising power of the Protestants within his Empire than he did the Ottomans.
The impact of the Reformation on the struggle against the Ottomans wasn’t something I had thought about before, but it had a surprisingly sizable impact. Luther’s early writings on the topic come across now as rather deluded, seeing the Pope as a biggest threat than the Ottomans and the Ottomans as a punishment from God. However later in his career, as the Turks began to threaten German lands, his attitude changed, leading to a rare example of the Protestant and Catholic forces within the Empire uniting. Even so, the internal divides within most of the major European powers weakened their ability to react at key moments.
The book ends with chapters looking at the European entry into the Indian Ocean, and the search for Prester John, the mythical ruler of a powerful Christian state somewhere in the east, who eventually became associated with Ethiopia. One interesting point is that the Portuguese knew about India and the East Indies before the great voyages of exploration - the aim was to find a direct sea route to these areas that would allow Portugal to bypass the Muslim world, and the established trade routes that met at Venice. Much of what I have read on the Portuguese Empire focuses on India, but here we see their clashes with the Ottomans in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, where the two powers frequently met and fought.
The author’s main argument is that for much of this period the Ottomans were a far more significant power than any of their European rivals, active on multiple fronts, and came close to breaking out into the Atlantic and India oceans, a move that might have changed the course of history (a much abused phrase but one that might for once be justified!). This is an excellent study of the rise of the Ottoman Empire, giving a very different focus to European history and showing how they were the dominant power for much of this period.
Chapters
1 – Origins, to First Kosovo and Nicopolis
2 – Varna, Second Kosovo and Constantinople
3 – First Belgrade, First Rhodes, and Otranto
4 – Persia, and the Fall of the Mamluks
5 – Suleiman, Part I – Second Belgrade, Second Rhodes and Mohacs
6 – Suleiman, Part II – Vienna
7 – Suleiman, Part II – Kingmaker
8 – The Mediterranean, Part I – Tunis, Preveza and Algiers
9 – The Mediterranean, Part II – Malta, Cyprus, and Lepanto
10 – The East – From Red Sea to Persisan Gulf to Indian Ocean
11 – Africa – In Search of Prester John
Author: Si Sheppard
Edition: Hardcover
Pages:
Publisher: Osprey
Year: