The Later Ottomans

The Ottoman Empire, begun by Osman Ghazi, lasted until the 19th century, but we will confine ourselves to an earlier century or two. The initial motivation of Osman—to expand his realm to an empire—never stopped, and this naturally brought the Ottomans into contact with several other subjects of this blog.

Władysław III of Poland broke a ten-year truce with the Ottomans to make himself look good by starting a holy Crusade against the Turks, destroying his 20,000-man army when they faced 60,000 Turks at the Battle of Varna on 10 November 1444. Władysław was killed in that encounter. Had he lived another 20 years, he might have taken satisfaction by the news coming out of Wallachia.

Vlad "Dracula" Tsepes of Wallachia had help from the Ottomans in the 1400s, but when the sultan demanded homage in exchange (after Vlad had been elevated to Voivode of Wallachia), Vlad had the Ottoman envoys impaled, then invaded Ottoman territory and impaled many thousands. This was supported by Pope Pius II.

Medieval Chechnya converted to Sunni Islam in order to gain the help of the Ottomans against Russian invasions.

Histories of the Ottoman Empire were written by Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim and Ibn Khaldun.

The biggest event in Ottoman history that is significant for Western Europe, I would say, is the conquest of Constantinople. That was under the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, a reformer of both the military and his government. I'll tell you about him tomorrow.