Ancient Civilisations - The Ottoman Empire

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

For over six hundred years the Ottoman Empire ruled swathes of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southern Europe. As an Islamic superpower centred on what is now Turkey, theirs is a story of surprising alliances and enemies, trade, war and progress. But who were its leaders? How did it become so powerful? And after its eventual collapse, what legacy did it leave behind? A Noiser production, written by Danny Marshall. With thanks to Professor Marc David Baer, author of The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs. For ad-free listening, exclusive content, and early access to new episodes across the Noiser network, join Noiser+. Now available for Apple and Android users. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a free trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's shortly after midnight, on the 29th of May 1453, a young man sits astride his horse on a low rise and looks out across his army. Soldiers stand in rows as far as he can see, their armour glinting. Behind him is an ocean of tents, brightly lit with lanterns. The smell of incense and spices still hangs in the air from their last meal. The man's name is Mehmet II, Khan of Kans, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. And beyond his men across the fields stands his target, a huge black mass stretching in both directions as far as the eye can see. The city at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, which has stood for almost a thousand years. Constantinople.

The Theodesian walls are a vast series of near impregnable. fortifications against the Ottoman territory that surrounds it on all sides. Towers and moats run all the way to the sea at either end. His scouts and spies have revealed that close to 7,000 men stand ready at the walls, armed with bows and javelins. The Ottoman army outnumbers the defenders by more than 10 to 1. But Mehmet knows numbers are not everything. The defenses and the dogged determination of the by the Byzantine defenders, have resulted in a siege so far lasting 53 days. Last summer, Mehmet's men built a fortress further up the coast to control the city's supply lines.

And several days ago, his navy was dragged overland, ship by ship, across greased wooden beams, to bypass the long chain in the estuary that prevents enemy ships from getting close. Now his navy sits inside the city's defenses. ready to bombard the capital. Tonight, one way or another, the siege will end. To Mehmed's right sits a monstrous cannon, named Basilic. It's so large it had to be towed into position by sixty oxen and four hundred men. The enormous gun had first been offered to the Byzantine Emperor, who turned it down because of its price. It will prove to be a fateful decision. Now, Mehmet nods to a commander. Almost immediately a shout goes up, followed seconds

later by an earth-shaking explosion. The mighty basilic hurled a 1,200-pound cannonball straight into the ancient walls, spewing flame and dust into the night air. More explosions follow. Soon the gaps in the masonry are wide enough to pass through. At a second signal, a wave of soldiers charge is across the open ground, toward the moat at the foot of the walls. Every few days since they arrived, the Sultan's engineers filled the moat. But each morning they awoke to find the city's defenders had dug it once more. So Mehmed had to make another plan.

Now this poorly armed first wave is intended to sap the Byzantine strength. It works, and soon the air is filled with the scree. dreams of dying men and the slap of falling bodies. Soon the moat is stacked with the corpses of McMahon's own fatally loyal soldiers. Next, the Sultan orders his elite troops forward, the fearsome Janissaries. They easily cross the filled moat and flood the gateway and breached walls. Soon the red shield banners of the Ottomans are flying over several towers. The Emperor Constantine himself throws off his regal clothes and leaves.

a final charge to defend the gate only to be trampled to death in the vicious melee Mehmed now rides straight through the city among the terrified screaming citizens and the rolling smoke in the days that follow surviving inhabitants are enslaved or worse It's said that in many places the ground cannot be seen so deep are the corpses The young ruler allows a day of plunder Then he starts to rebuild his new capital city, the continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire. And by taking it, Sultan Mehmed II has acquired a new title. Mechmed the Conqueror, the new Caesar, centered on what is now Turkey.

For over 600 years the Ottoman Empire ruled swathes of the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe. At its height, its sphere of control almost encircled the entire Mediterranean Sea. Despite humble origins, the Ottomans saw themselves as the rightful inheritors of the Roman Empire, the originators of a new European realm, an Islamic superpower. They were in many ways modern, secular, multicultural and tolerant, far before Western European countries adopted similar values. This is a story of surprising alliances and enemies, trade, war and progress. But what was their impact on the course of global history?

And what legacy did they leave behind? I'm Paul McGahn, and this is a short history of the Ottoman Empire. The fall of Constantinople was a turning point in the history of the Ottoman Empire. But this battle for supremacy had not been easily won. 150 years earlier, at the very end of the 13th century, the story of the Ottomans begins in central Anatolia, what is now Turkey. Mark David Baer is a professor of international history at the London School of Economics, and author of the Ottomans, Khans, Caesars and Caliphs.

The Ottomans emerge in the zone between empires. So this is an area where you have the Byzantine Empire in the West and the Seljuk Empire in the East. So this region, this border zone between the nomads and the settled, between Muslims and Christians, between Mongols and Byzantines. This is where the story begins. The Great Byzantine Empire is the continuation of the Eastern Roman Empire, which previously controlled Anatolia. The inland regions are home to vast plains, grasslands that are hot and dry in summer, with hard freezing winters.

Decades ago, nomadic tribesmen migrated here from Central Asia, ahead of Genghis Khan's marauding Mongols. Continuing wars between the Byzantine and Islamic armies have fragmented the region. The small patches of land now controlled by nomadic tribal chieftains becomes strategically crucial. It's in one of these small principalities that a new empire rises, and it all begins with one man. In a crude tent of animal hides, Osman Ghazi sits alone. His long hair is tucked into a red cap, around which a long patterned cloth is wrapped to form a Khorasani turban. His boots are muddy, and the clothes hanging from his broad shoulders are simple and utilitarian. rather than the flowing robes of his descendants.

Under his feet, a rough rug offers little barrier to the cold earth, but he's comfortable. He's lived all his life in tents like this. He runs his fingers through a thick beard and looks out through the flapping entranceway to the evening. Snow is beginning to swirl in the vicious wind as he gazes out at the darkening landscape. Outside a man is polishing a saddle. Others feed horses and keep watch over herds of sheep. Torches and fires highlight the whirling snowflakes as the winter night descends on the plains. Today, Osman Ghazi is merely a nomadic tribal leader, but as he watches over his people, he's dreaming of the day he controls all of this wild land and the lands beyond it.

What he wants is power, and soon he will found an empire and leave a legacy that will influence the world. Osman already controls some of the main routes south from the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. Crucially, his lands border the ancient empire at a time when the Byzantines are more concerned with wars elsewhere. Osman was a chieftain. He was a raider. Osman was a Muslim, but most of the people, most of his retainers were Christians on each side of the frontier. There are Muslims and Christians allying and fighting against the other side. So Osman is a Turkic chieftain, and the men around him were Greeks. They were also Turks.

They also were Armenians. So there were Muslims. They were Christians. And these Muslims were quite diverse as well. So there were the kind of Muslims that we would recognize today. When you go to mosque on Friday in London, there were these Sufi or mystic spiritualists. who engaged in practices that were counter to normal social etiquette. So they had tattoos and they used drugs and they drank alcohol and so on.

So we also have to accept that these Muslims encompass a very wide range of beliefs and practices. Osman's movements beyond his tribal land are not initially based on religion or ideology. For him, it's all about plunder, whether that's treasures, slaves, animals, or even castles. The nature of their horseback fighting style, much like that of their Mongol forefathers, means they're ill-equipped to stage large-scale sieges or complex raids. But gradually they do expand their territory

and influence in the region. When Osman dies in the first half of the 14th century, he doesn't leave a lot behind. One historian notes that he doesn't even own a prayer rug, A wooden spoon, some boots, a couple of rough cloaks and caftains, saddles, horses and sheep, little more than the bequests of a horseman, a raider. But it's his people who are his true legacy.

The tribe he leaves behind retains his name, with Ottoman being a historic anglicisation of Osman. And already these Ottomans are the dominant force in the region, They draw ever more supporters and establish a power base for a dynasty that will include over 30 sultans, ruling one of the mightiest empires in history. Osman's legacy, again, are the stories that he left behind, the legends of this man who, for a generation, raided and was successful, who gathered men by his side, and who also had allies with local Christians. So he was an alliance builder as well as being someone who simply raided and took what other people owned. The Ottomans develop new technologies, particularly in medicine and health care. They expand their armies and develop their military tactics.

They're soon capable of besieging towns and cities. In 1326, the Ottomans conquer the wealthy Byzantine city of Bursa, putting their nomadic way of life behind them for good, they make the city their capital. Incorporating diverse peoples into their realm, they rule over citizens from various branches of Islam, Christians, Jews, and others. Their territory encompasses both agriculturalists and nomads.

Within a lifetime, the Ottomans have become settled and eager to expand their horizons. then disaster strikes the young empire. The Ottoman dynasty is fragile, as is epidinacy, and they're constantly facing external, as well as internal threats to their rule. And so about a century after Osman, a Central Asian Turkic leader

who claims to have connections to the great Mongol past named Timur, or as he's known in the, the West Tamerlane will invade and wipe out. Ottoman forces, captured Sultan Bayezid, put him in a gilded cage, and he probably poisons himself. So this will lead to the Interregnum. Over a decade of Ottoman princes battling it out to see who would come on top in an empire that has been shattered by Timor or Tamerlane.

The period of civil war is finally brought to an end by Mehmet the first, known as the Restora. Reuniting the fledgling empire, he brings the territories back under a single Sultan. But it's his grandson, the Sultan Mehmet II, who will have an even bigger impact, promoting the Ottomans from regional rulers into a true superpower. In the early 15th century, the 12-year-old Mechmet II comes to power when his father, Murad, abdicates. After several years, enemies east and west prompt the army to recall the now teenage Sultan's father to the throne. The older man goes on to win stunning victories against

his enemies, Christian crusaders in the West, and the rival Turkic Muslims in the east. When the old Sultan dies, Mehmet II becomes Sultan for a second time, and this time, the young man has a chip on his shoulder. around 19, 20 years old. He wants to prove himself to his deceased father, to his, to the military, to the leaders of the army. He wants to prove that he really is ready to take over. So member the second decides once and for all.

He is going to do what Muslim leaders had wanted to do since the time of the Prophet Muhammad. He is going to capture Constantinople. The capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over 1,000 years, Constantinople is one of the grandest cities in the world. It boasts the largest freestanding structure on earth, the beautiful Hagia Sophia Cathedral. The city is surrounded by Ottoman territory on all sides, open only to the sea through its ancient port.

It has long been considered unconquerable, thanks to its fierce, hardened guards and impregnable defences. But by the time Mechmet II has it in his sights, the Byzantine Empire has suffered civil war and famine. Plague has decimated the population. The young Sultan possesses new military technologies that will render the ancient fortifications obsolete. And for decades, prominent Ottomans have been intermarrying with different Byzantine factions. These alliances have weakened the loyalty of many Byzantines to the city and their emperor. The time is right for Constantinople to fall. In a siege lasting little over a month, incessant cannon fire proves the indestructible walls are anything but.

When the city falls, it sends a shockwave throughout Europe. The fall of Constantinople is pivotal for European history, for Islamic history, for global history, the history of the Ottomans. This is the point at which we can say the Ottomans truly become a world empire, a global empire, ruling from this great ancient city. Following the fall of the city, Mehmed proclaims it to be the new imperial capital of the Ottoman Empire. He founds an ideology which will endure for nearly 500 years, that the Ottomans are the rightful successors to oversee the continuation of the Roman Empire. From this day forward, he titles himself Kaiser Irum, the Caesar of Rome. In the following period, waves of Byzantine scholars emigrate to Western Europe.

Though they leave out of fear of their new ruler, their exodus revives interest in Greek and Roman studies. Ultimately, it helps spark the European Renaissance. The gateway through the Balkans and up into Central Europe lies open to Meghmed II. He marches north, conquering ever more territory. These Ottoman victories have coincided with the rise of Protestantism. Across Europe, many small nations and city-states are now racked by internal religious turmoil and war. Even in the Holy Roman Empire, where the mighty Habsburg dynasty rules much of central Europe, including Italy and Germany,

coordinated resistance to the Ottomans is lackloster. The Ottomans take full advantage. There are those Christians in southeastern Europe. who are allying with the Ottomans against their other enemies. There also are Christians in southeastern Europe who see it as a struggle between Islam and Christianity. We also see Protestants in what is today the Netherlands, in what is today Hungary, in Germany, siding with the Ottomans. The Ottomans will make promises to send weapons to Protestants in the Netherlands

to fight against the Hobbsburgs, who of course are ruling the low countries at the time. Though preoccupied with the expansion of his territories, Mechmet II doesn't neglect the jewel in his crown. When he rebuilds Constantinople, the rich diversity of its inhabitants is reflected in the buildings. New churches, synagogues and mosques are commissioned. The Grand Hagia Sophia has been a Christian cathedral for nearly 1,000 years.

But when Mechmet II performs Friday prayers on the 29th of May 14, In 1553, it becomes the first imperial mosque. The ruling Christian patriarchate moves into a new church, and the Hagia Sophia's bells, altar and other icons and relics are removed or destroyed. Islamic features are added, including minarets and a new Mirab, a niche in one war indicating east towards the Kaaba in Mecca. where in the great city changes are underway. Mahmoud will decide that he is going to repopulate the city.

So at this moment, he can decide he can repopulate the city only with Muslims if he chooses. He can do whatever he wants, right? He's the victorious leader. But he decides to repopulate the city with Christians, with Jews, and with Muslims from his conquered territory. So he's deporting, he's sending Jews and Christians and Muslims from elsewhere in the empire to repopulate the city. So he decides he's going to make the city great again. and he's going to make it a large entrepaux.

He's going to build what today we know as the Grand Bazaar, it's going to become a center of trade. He also is going to build a palace. Originally called simply the new palace, the Topkapi Palace will grow to become the sprawling center of the Ottoman Empire. It houses not just the Sultan, his family and retainers, but serves many purposes of state. Mosques, council buildings,

A treasury, armories and libraries are all constructed. Gateways, intricately carved with Quranic verses, give way to lush gardens. Gold-leafed ceilings soar above ornate mosaic floors. A main throne room is located inside a magnificent audience chamber. The throne itself is covered entirely with gold cloth, strewn with precious stones. Beyond it, mosaics and frescoes glint with jewels and gold. When Mehmet II dies in the late 15th century, he leaves behind a very different empire to the one he was born into. When Mehmet II passes away, he lives quite a legacy.

He had wiped out the Byzantine Empire. He also had expanded the empire greatly. The Ottomans from Mehmet forward would consider themselves not only to be cons as pertaining to their Mongol and Turkic heritage, not only sultans based on their Islamic background, but also Caesars. So he leaves behind this ideology that the Ottomans are not only Muslim rulers, they're universal rulers, and they have a right, they have a claim on the Roman Empire. They wanted to conquer Rome and rule and unite East and West under Islam as universal rulers. So he leaves this behind as a legacy, this ideology that the Ottomans are European and Asian rulers.

Some 70 years after Mechmet II's death, a still athletic and youthful Henry VIII is sitting on the English throne. 1,500 miles south to the east of him, Suleiman ascends to the glorious Sultanate. The Ottoman Empire is entering a gilded age and is already almost at the pinnacle of its territorial control. In his 45 years as Sultan, Solomon rules over an empire Western nations can only dream of.

Writers around him will claim he has a messianic figure arrived to bring an era of peace and prosperity to the world. It's summer 1529. Suleiman's army is marching north. Their destination is Vienna, seat of his great Habsburg rival, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. A grand procession advances through his.

the center of Belgrade, sacked by the Ottomans a year previously. The dusty streets are decorated with Roman-style triumphal arches. Crowds, gaze, open-mouthed, as the carefully choreographed parade of decorated camels, horses pulling cannon, and finely-dressed pages makes its way through a gate and out of the city walls. In the parched fields beyond is a sea of tents. Milling around are Ottoman soldiers. dressed in their trademark bright embroidered clothing. Similarly dazzling and richly decorated with golden script, the tents trail with flags and bunting.

This is a military encampment, but the scene is more like a festival or pageant. But another group of men stands alongside the encampment. These men, dressed in much darker, sober clothing, our ambassadors sent at the behest of Charles V in an attempt to stall or stop the Ottoman advance northwards, and they are aghast at the display of power that approaches them now in the form of the procession. Just three years previously, Suleiman had failed to take Vienna,

largely thanks to overstretched supply lines and torrential rain bogging down his artillery. Now he's on his way to finish what he started. The ambassadors strain on their toes to get a glimpse of the Sultan himself. Mimicking Charles V's coronation, Suleiman is resplendent on a huge white horse, dripping with jewels.

Despite their royal connections, the ambassadors have never seen such finery. He swathed in cloaks of fur, twinkling with rubies and emeralds and robes of richly-colored silks. But it's his crown, a tall, multi-tiered golden helmet that magnetizes their attention.

They watch as the procession slows and Suleiman dismounts. He's lost among the crowds of pages and ceremonial guards, and the ambassadors wait nervously. Eventually they're called forward towards the largest tent. Ushered out of the bright sun and into the shade, the ambassadors find themselves in Solomon's mobile throne room, from which he will rule while the campaign. advances on its prize.

The sight inside takes their breath away, which is exactly the intent. Their own Emperor, Charles V, had been crowned by the Pope in a ceremony in Bologna. He had worn a three-tiered crown. Sitting on a throne of gold, Suleiman the Magnificent wears something even more astonishing. It's been specially crafted by Venetian jewelers to be one tier higher than his happiness An Austrian-style helmet crown topped by a papal tiara and plumed egret. It glitters with fifty diamonds and over a hundred pearls, rubies and emeralds. Soon, word of the sensational four-tiered crown and other treasures will spread across Western Europe.

Sulaman's reach and power seem infinite. Western monarchs are either terrified or astonished, depending on their proximity to his advancing army. Suleiman is known as the magnificent in the West, of course, for many reasons. Our own Henry VIII really worshipped the man, and Henry VIII would wear turbans, and he would have all his kurchars dress up as Ottomans at different feasts. So they really enjoyed playing the Ottomans, precisely because the Ottomans were so wealthy, so powerful, controlled such extensive territories that Henry the Eighth could only dream of.

If we compare Osman and Suleiman, we would think almost. that they're ruling different empires. Osman would go into battle and he was very intimate with his men around him. Now, Suleiman, by that point, was living in a palace, which was a place

where the sultan would not be spoken to. People would communicate with him using sign language because his presence, his being was so awesome. He wasn't divine, but he was better than other men.

He would sit there immobile on the throne as people would come and kiss his hand. By this point, the empire has accumulated vast riches and wealth, but also holy relics. The Ottomans have conquered what today we call the Middle East and Holy Land, including the city of Jerusalem. The key Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina have fallen to the Ottomans, as well as Cairo. This expansion has drawn artefacts back to the Topkapi Palace to be displayed. In the Sultan's private chambers, Islamic relics, such as the Prophet Muhammad's swords and cloak,

sit alongside Holy Christian items, including St. John the Baptist's skull. They tell the world what the Ottoman Empire wants it to know, that they are wealthy, powerful, spiritually connected to the past, and have the legitimacy to rule. But relics are not the only aspects of the palace that tantalize Western European visitors. One of the more evocative aspects of the palace is the harem. Well, the Byzantines had an area

for the women of the dynasty in the palace, and the Ottomans did the same thing. And so this was later in the 16th century. After Suleiman, the sultans would actually move their private chiefs, their bedroom, into the heron. And they would actually then live in the harem. So it would be the sultan and the women of the dynasty. So what the harem was was simply the private quarters.

And Westerners were never able to see it. They were never able to see the women of the dynasty, the concubines or the wives. So because they weren't able to see it, they built up all these fantasies about what went on there. And what went on there was actually nothing. was actually nothing like the fantasies. Everything was highly regulated.

Once a concubine gives birth to a son, she is no longer permitted to sleep with the Sultan or remain in the harem. Instead, along with a retinue of advisors, she will accompany the child to wherever he's sent in the provinces to rule as governor. But while royal blood gives such a child a claim to the throne, his father's eventual death by no means guarantees his own ascension.

A sultan is enthroned by battling it out, basically on the battlefield with his brothers. And when he is enthroned, when the soldiers and the ministers proclaim him the ruler, then he assassinations, or if he has to, again, goes back to the battlefield, and kills all of his male relatives. So this will range from infants to elderly men, uncles, brothers, cousins, any male who can serve as a threat to the dynasty. An important aspect of the harem and palace life in general are the eunuchs. These men, usually enslaved, have been castrated at an early age.

Thanks to their position at court, they wield a surprising amount of power, and therefore have high status. The Sultan has two groups of eunuchs. The first are Caucasians enslaved from Europe. They are responsible for looking after the men of the power. including the pages. The second group of the highest status unics of the harem, from the Sudan or Ethiopia. Since Islamic law forbids castration,

the men are brought already castrated by their slaveholders. The presence of these African men at the very core of the Ottoman Empire catches the imagination of the West. But there are other equally diverse people at high levels within the palace. The Ottomans in those early centuries always chose to have a Jewish physician as the Sultan's privy physician. Not only that, but there were Jewish women who served as the mediaries between the palace women and the outside world. So all of these things, black eunuchs, Jewish women who are wealthy and connected to the royal ladies,

these are all things that caught the attention of the West and caused observers to spin stories based on these tantalizing details. Solomon's empire may have a greater ethnic and religious tolerance than other contemporary empires. But tolerance does not necessarily mean equality. While the Ottoman ruling class live a life of luxury in the cities, the same liberties do not extend to everyone. Life in further flung territories can be difficult. Rebellions and civil disorder is rife in the border areas. A peaceful village one week can easily.

become a war zone the next. Even in stable regions and in Constantinople itself, freedoms and standards of living vary enormously across the Ottoman Empire. Non-Muslims, such as Christians and Jews, are known as Dimmies. Since before the conquests of Mehmet II, Dimmies are free to worship and to administer their own localities. But they pay for this autonomy and protection with special taxes. There are also additional burdens placed on Christian communities in conquered regions. Of every 40 Christian boys in their territories, one is taken as a tax. They're going to take these boys in. They're going to circumcise them. They're going to convert them to Islam. They're going to train them in the Islamic languages. And from these boys, the ones who are most intelligent will be trained to become the ministers of the empire, of the government.

and the ones who are strongest and so on, will become the members of the Janissaries, the elite infantry corps of the Ottomans. The Janissaries are the first modern-standing army in Europe. By the time of Suleiman, they are some of the most feared shock troops in the world. Eventually, they will become so powerful that they will even decide the fate of the sultans. Now, in the mid-16th century, the empire is almost at its peak, in terms of territory and power.

Suleiman proclaims himself the Caliph and protector of the Muslim world. Ottoman military technology and scientific achievements allow him to project that power from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. The Ottoman Navy develops and expands at the same time as their main rivals the Portuguese. Soon the Ottomans control the eastern Mediterranean and all shoreline from Croatia to Morocco. From now on, any Western Europeans travelling east must cross Ottoman territory. Their main rivals in the region are now the Venetians with their powerful navy.

But diplomacy triumphs and trade alliances are struck. The Venetians grow rich by exploiting trade routes to India, bringing spices and other riches back through Ottoman lands. The hefty taxes the Ottoman's demand for the privilege generates them vast fortunes in return. The agreements don't suit everyone, though. Ottoman control of the overland routes prompts Western European powers into an unprecedented age of exploration. The Portuguese explore sea routes to India around the southern tip of Africa in order to connect with the East on their own terms. Soon the Spanish and later the French and English ships

will be exploring every point on the compass in order to find new ways to reach riches avoiding Ottoman taxes and trade deals. It's actually at that point in the second half of the 17th century. The Ottomans will reach their greatest territorial extent. They'll reach into Ukraine. They'll reach into Poland. Mehmet IV will launch a second failed siege of Vienna

1683, which came close to being victorious because the Viennese defenders were suffering from starvation and disease, and it was only the last moment that this Polish and other force came in to save them and defeat the Ottomans. They capture Crete and continue to expand until the end of the 17th century. The Ottoman Empire enters a stable period, focusing on internal affairs rather than on conquest. However, this military defeat sends a signal to the rest of Europe. Once the Ottomans are no longer seen as a military threat, fear of invasion dissolves. Into the 18th century, the Ottomans are seen as paragons of culture, pleasure, and poetry.

A period of enlightenment sweeps the empire as Greek and Muslim intellectuals gather at court, reflecting the palaces to the West. Western Europe now sees the Ottomans as a sophisticated, peaceful empire. To the north, Russia begins to take advantage of the changing political situation. The real new external threat to the Ottomans is the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire will expand from the 18th century onwards to the end of the Ottoman Empire. They will conquer Ottoman territories, they will massacre Muslims and Muslims. millions of Muslims will flee into the Ottoman Empire from the Russian Empire.

They also will have these large claims. The Ottomans once claimed to be the Caesars, the rulers, the universal rulers. Now the Russians will come in, and they will say that actually they are the ones who are going to capture Constantinople, and they are going to reunite the Byzantine territories, and they are going to be the new Byzantines, the new Romans. So they're using the same language the Ottomans had used, and they back up the this threat with naval campaigns and land campaigns, and they're pushing, pushing against the Ottomans from the north around the Black Sea. The Russians will even launch a naval campaign.

They'll even travel all the way around West around Europe, across the Mediterranean, and bombard the Ottoman city of, which we call today Izmir, or in those times, some people call it Smyrna. So this is a real threat. As a result of Europe's continual engagement in warfare, Western technology advances rapidly with advancement in firearms, canoves and transportation. Military tactics leap ahead with the effective use of cavalry, rifles and explosives. The Ottomans race to keep up, but the Janissaries, the elite troops who have been the vanguard of Ottoman victories for so long, have grown greedy and less effective as a fighting force.

More interested in their rank and position in society, they are highly conservative and reluctant to change. Thanks to their resistance, Ottoman military technology gradually falls behind that of other European powers. By the 1800s, the Ottoman army and their borders are overstretched, while their citizens are looking to other European countries with envy. The whole period from the French Revolution in 1789,

is a period when you see these massive transformations in Ottoman society. One of the ideas of the French Revolution is nationalism. And nationalism is an idea that's taken up in the empire first by some of the subject peoples, especially the Greeks and especially the Serbians. This nationalism will spread to other people, of course, Turks and Arabs and Kurds and the different peoples in the Southeast Europe, the Bulgarians and others. And so by the middle of the 19th century, this force of nationalism is going to be something that can both cause Ottoman subjects to turn against the sultan,

but also the sultan will try to use nationalism to unite Ottoman subjects in their loyalty to the sultan, no matter who they are, Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Greek, Serbian or whatever. Russia is already taking territory to the north of Ottoman lands. Also of concern are the expanding British and French empires. The Napoleonic wars have consolidated. power in Western Europe, carving up overseas territories and forming blocks of alliances. An industrial revolution is sweeping the land and seas. It is an age of iron, steam and coal. The Ottoman Empire is falling behind, not just militarily, but industrially and financially.

Change is needed if the empire is to survive. It is the 16th of June 1826. And the Solve and the Sultan has had enough of the Janissaries. Their abuse of power, recent ineffectiveness in combat, and resistance to modernization, has contributed to the steady decline of the empire for decades. Today, it will cost them dearly. The Sultan has been planning this day for years. A fortnight ago he informed the highest-ranking officers of the Janissaries

over his intention to create a modern, European-style army. The Janissaries have a history of revolting at any threat to their power. They've deposed and even killed sultans over less. Today, this sultan is counting on it. At three o'clock, while he's relaxing in his summer palace at Besiktas, just north of the capital, a messenger rushes in. The predicted Janissary uprising is underway. Several miles to the south, his loyal command.

commander has already taken action to quell the revolt. The Sipahi, cavalry units and bitter rivals of the Janissaries, galloped through the streets of Constantinople to meet them. They stunned the Janissaries with the speed of their charge, forcing them back towards their barracks. The Sultan moves quickly, and soon he's right at the heart of the action. He himself unfurls the banner of the Prophet Muhammad at the Blue Mosque. The townspeople rise up in support. Their hatred of the arrogant Janissaries boiling over.

Soon the rebels are contained in their own barracks. The Sultan has already ordered the barracks surrounded by artillery. Now, with the trap sprung, he orders the troops loyal to him to open fire. Soon the air fills with acrid smoke and twirling embers as the barracks are engulfed in flames. There is no way out. Around 6,000 Janissaries are massacred. The elite backbone of the Ottoman military at the forefront of conquests for five centuries has been wiped out in less than half an hour.

The new army wear Western-style uniforms and carry the latest European weapons. Liberal reforms transform the caliphate into a secular empire. The role of women in this modern Ottoman society is debated. Many look to Western Europe and advocate an end to polygamy, promoting liberation and education. New schools for women are introduced, which on the surface is an improvement. In practice, however, these are mainly focused on manipulating young women into wives, with genteel social graces, rather than true seats of learning. Elsewhere on the streets of Constantinople, the Fez is adopted over the world. the turban. Upper-class Ottomans wear Western suits, jackets and trousers. Their sons are

educated at universities in England and France. Immense investments are made in civil works, with new colleges training a generation of professional engineers, doctors, architects, and administrators. Roads, bridges, railways and telegraphs help to both connect and control the vast population. The Ottomans need to adapt to survive. So they're going to try to change from within, and they unleash these forces, which actually in the end will lead to their own demise. Ultimately, these changes weaken the bonds that for centuries have tied various Islamic factions together under the empire. Elsewhere, ethnic and religious communities in conquered regions, who have always administered their own affairs, have been seeking home rule, rather than. than obedience to the Empire.

New technologies make separatism a possibility. With a printing press, one voice can be heard by thousands. With a rifle, one assassin can destabilize a dynasty. The empire's own citizens are now a potential threat. As they face Greek revolts and independence and Serbian and then Armenian nationalism and so on, then what will emerge will be a kind of Ottoman Muslim nationalism by the end of the 19th century. So Abduhamid II will promote the bonds that unite the Muslim peoples, Kurds, Turks, Arabs, and so on.

So by the end of the 19th century, we have something we've never seen in Ottoman history, which is massacres of Ottoman Christian subjects by the Sultan and his military. So this is a new moment. the Ottomans have lost their tolerance, and this will have fatal consequences and will lead to the dissolution of empire during this First World War. As the Ottoman Empire declines, conquered Balkan countries gain independence. Russia seizes territory on the Black Sea and Romania. Serbia and Montenegro proclaim independence. The Bulgarian state is re-established, and Britain gains Cyprus as an overseas colonial possession.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is occupied by the Ottoman's old enemies in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Gradually, the European gains made by sultan, such as Mehmet II, fall away. At the dawn of the 20th century, European power balances precariously. The Balkans in particular is a hotbed of crisis, thanks to the strategic importance in linking the continents of Asia and Europe. Major powers vie for control in an escalating struggle to dominate the region. A complex blend of nationalism, resentment and insecurity leads the region to become known as the powder keg of Europe. And on June the 29th, 1914, the powder keg explodes. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heirs of the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is assassinated on the streets of Sarajevo.

The ensuing crisis and escalation by alliances on both sides soon spills over into the First World War. Germany's enemy is Russia, and the Ottoman's traditional enemy is Russia. So they believe that if they fight in the war on the side of Germany, that they will be able to defeat their Russian enemy. Well, this is completely wrong. And what the Ottomans end up doing is not only do they side with the wrong side, but their presence in the war makes the First World War into a truly global war. We learn about trench warfare and all the horrible battles

that took place in France between the Germans and the French and the British and the French against the Germans. Much of that was happening in the East as well. We know about the siege of Gallipoli. This will be really the only bright spot

for the Ottomans in the war as a fellow by the name of Mustafa Kemal, who later becomes the founder of modern Turkey. He will lead the defense of Gallipoli. Had Gallipoli fallen, then the Allies would have been able to take Constantinople and the Ottoman dynasty and end the First World War quickly. But they weren't able to do so.

They were defeated there. So this prolonged the war. A key factor in the defeat of the Ottomans in the war is the Arab revolt. Arab nationalists had long sought to oust the ruling Turkish Ottomans, who saw themselves as the dominant political force in the empire. In the Middle East, the British promised to rest. recognize an Arab state. Along with the French, they supply arms, training and military officers to the Bedouin and other desert tribes to support an uprising. The true purpose of this

support is to tie down Ottoman forces in the area, allowing the British to successfully defend the Suez Canal. At the end of the war, the British and French renege on this deal, instead Instead, carving up the Middle East as they see fit. There will be no Arab state. A number of dynasties fall as a result of the First World War. In Russia, it's the Romanovs. In Germany, the House of Hoenzelan. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is dissolved.

France's power is curtailed. The war fosters nationalist movements across a weakened British Empire. Prior to the war, the Ottoman Empire had been known as the Sick Man of Europe. Now soundly defeated on all fronts, that sickness becomes terminal. Constantinople is occupied by British, French, Italian and Greek forces. In 1920, the Treaty of Sevres finalizes the partition of the Ottoman territories. It will carve up the former empire into protectorates under the victorious European powers. In return, the Sultan will retain his position and title.

The last Sultan, Mehmet, the 6th, is seen as a collaborator and a traitor. He's seen to be siding with the Allies. And so a resistance group will emerge in Anatolia, what is today, Turkey, the parts that are free of allied occupation. And this resistance movement will be against not only the foreign occupiers of the land, but also against the dynasty, because they see it as a sellout. And they will fight militarily not only against, again, the foreign occupiers, but also they will even fight against the Sultan's troops.

What follows is yet more conflict, while the rest of Europe is picking up the pieces after the great war ends. The charismatic Mustafa Kemal, the war hero, who made his name defending Gallipoli against the Allies, leads the Turkish national movement. Four bloody years after the formal end of World War I, in 1922 they emerged victorious against both the occupying allied powers and Ottoman forces. The Muslim resistance forces are able to become victorious.

They're able to kick out the foreign occupiers. They're able to be recognized and they're able to pose the dynasty and the last Ottoman Sultan, remember the six, will sail away on a British. navy vessel to Malta, and that is the end of the dynasty in 1922. In July 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne is signed by representatives of European governments and the Turkish nationalists. It recognizes the new National Assembly as the formal government of an independent and sovereign Republic of Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire.

Later that year, Mustafa Kemal is elected as Turkey's first president. Turkish is used in everything from literature to prayer, abolishing Arabic and Persian languages and the modified Arabic script in favour of the Latin alphabet. The fledgling nation turns its back on the conventions the Ottomans had used to bind the various peoples of the empire. Sweeping political and social reforms are enacted to convert Turkey into a modern, secular state for Turks alone. Kemal himself states,

The new Turkey has absolutely no relation to the old Turkey. The Ottoman state has gone down in history. Now a new Turkey is born. The Ottoman Empire was one of the largest and longest-lasting empires in history. A dynasty that ruled for over 600 years. Those centuries of conversion, Islamification, and including, incorporation of Christians and Jews into the empire mean its legacy is still felt across Turkey, Europe and the Middle East today. Traces of its influence still remain in the architecture,

from Hungary to North Africa. In Central Europe, fear of Ottoman invasion in the Middle Ages were such that menacing Turks can still be seen carved in wood and stone in old buildings. Museums across the Western world are filled with Ottoman. tents, weapons and other artifacts. The huge bell of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna was cast from cannon captured during the failed Ottoman invasion of 1683. The Ottoman Empire was incredibly diverse, a rich cosmopolitan society linking millions of people of different religions and ethnicities. At its peak, it was an all-conquering military superpower which led the way in technology, science, and social enlightenment.

The inheritors of a Roman empire which stretches back even further. The Ottomans were a very European empire, which shaped our modern world. Next time, we'll bring you the gladiators. They're entertainers, you know, they're doing a job for the vulgar masses. Where we hear about sort of the fame of gladiators is much more tombstones, which do go into detail about the number of victories they had and so forth, that gives us the impression that these people are kind of celebrities. They are known, or at least, you know, the most famous of them are known. But it's one of the points where we can see something of the life of the mass

of the Roman population. And at any rate, the impression we get is they can be very keen on gladiators.