Ottoman Centuries

For many Westerners, a notable omission from our pre-adult schooling is the history of the Ottoman Empire, which began in about 1300 A.D. and lasted several centuries before its dissolution shortly after World War I. In terms of an introduction, I know of no better introductory course with which to fill these knowledge gaps than “The Ottoman Centuries,” by the late-great Scot, Sir Patrick Balfour, aka Lord Kinross.In his illustrated and mapped 622-page volume, Kinross traces the roots of the once mighty Turkish-based Empire, starting with the nomad peoples who flowed westward along the Eurasian steppes absorbing land and other tribes in the sixth century before settling in Anatolia, which is now largely modern-day Turkey. Centuries later, from this new homeland arose a succession of Sultans powerful enough to not only build an expanding empire of warriors, scholars, governors and landowners throughout Asia, Europe and parts of the Middle East and Africa, but to keep neighboring Christians to the West in near-constant fear. The first Sultan was Osman, who ruled from about 1299 to 1326 and from whom the Ottoman Empire got its name. With 35 Sultans to follow him, some impressive and some ineffective, the Empire grew and contracted, blossomed and decayed, but in a progressive period under the leadership of Bayezid I, Mehmed II (“the Conqueror”), and Suleiman I, the Ottoman Empire came to be the most powerful human force on Earth. Mehmed achieved the unthinkable from the Western perspective: His forces captured the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul. Kinross writes with seeming objectivity, but also with vivid detail and passion, as he covers the numerous battles between Ottoman Muslims and Christians, and Ottoman Muslims and their Muslim rivals to the east. Despite vicious defensive counterattacks led by warriors such as Romania’s Vlad Dracul (1431-1476) – who is mentioned briefly and not-sensationalized in this book – as well as other Christian knights, European countries and city states fell to the Ottoman invaders. Albania, Romania and much of Greece and Hungary were soon absorbed into the sometimes respectful, sometimes brutal Ottoman Empire.At its height under Suleiman I, the Ottoman Empire continued to grow and with advanced weaponry and military techniques it was eventually knocking on the doors to Austria and Italy. However, like with every great empire that has ever existed, the “height” is often abruptly or gradually followed by a decline. In this case, the decline was gradual through internal conflict between the sovereign leader and his once-loyal Janissaries (a large special fighting force) and due to a legacy of ineffective leaders who, upon abandoning traditional practices, turned to distractive debauchery, leading to mismanagement of imperial affairs. Another factor in the decline of the Ottomans was that the West was catching up, first by regaining its naval superiority (and confidence). The West’s initial glimmer of hope in a long time came when a southern European Catholic alliance handed the “invincible” Ottomans a tide-turning defeat off the coast of western Greece during the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.Nationalistic fervor arose in lands such as Bulgaria and Greece, and the rest of Europe, anxious to protect the rights of their fellow Christians, whether Latin or Orthodox, began to mediate and even at times intercede with force. By the late 17th century the Empire was shrinking but this is not to imply that further great Sultans did not rule from this point forward. Selim III (1789-1807) introduced major reforms that included open exchanges with the West and internal policies that once again united the Empire through the elimination of corruption and inefficiency. However, the conservative elements in the Empire rebelled and dethroned and killed Selim. The reforms of a following Sultan, Mahmud II (1808-1939), gained greater traction and helped the Ottomans prosper for a period before threats from ambitious Russian tsars desiring control over the Black Sea and the Dardanelles, and further rebellions within the Empire, pushed the kingdom to its breaking point. Bankruptcy followed and the Empire became deeply indebted to foreign lenders. Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909), by some known for his persecution of the Armenian people, introduced reforms in the areas of long-distance communication, infrastructure and education. In this environment and with a growing influence of liberalism from the West, a group of intellectuals known as the Young Turks rose to power.In the early 20th century as tensions heightened toward war, the weakened Ottoman Empire found its only ally in Germany, formerly Prussia, which in the past had helped to train Ottoman soldiers. Siding with Germany, the Ottomans ended up on the losing side of the war and hence saw their empire reduced to basically what is now modern-day Turkey. The last Sultan, Mehmed VI, was exiled in November of 1922, and the modern Republic of Turkey formed in 1923.Thanks to Lord Kinross, I now have some familiarity with an important time and place in our collective history, a portion of history merely brushed upon in U.S. high schools. Entirely fascinating, the exciting history lesson provided in “The Ottoman Centuries” flows in an easy-to-read and easy-to-digest manner, and if I were to criticize anything it would be that natural tendency we all have to narrate history through the eyes and hearts of our homeland. A few times, Kinross assigned ulterior motives to the actions of Russia, France and Germany toward the Ottomans, while in typical fashion, the British author and historian matter-of-factly described all British involvement as the altruistic goodwill of an “unquestionably” gentle British Empire. Beyond that, I loved the book, devoured it, and I recommend it to any history buffs wishing to ramp up on a magnificent subject that may still be foreign to them.

Gibbons is known for Rome, Kinross is known for the Ottomans. This book is so easy to read and full of incredible information. I am aware of several university professors who use this book as part of their class text material. If you arelooking to learn about this incredible empire, start here!!!

Unless you're an absolute Ottomaniac, this one-volume history of the great Turkish Empire should suffice to fill in the blank space where knowledge of this fascinating and important culture should be. Rivaling, if not surpassing, the Roman Empire in magnificence, domination, accomplishment, corruption, and bizarre characters, the Ottoman Empire is far less known to the average person inasmuch as it was basically an Eastern/Islamic culture. But at a time when Europe was a disunited shambles, the Ottoman Turks were pretty much the pinnacle of human culture and from 1300-1920 were an important factor in world history.There are no doubt other, more scholarly books written on the Ottoman Empire, filled with more statistics and sociopolitical detail than *The Ottoman Centuries* but for conciseness and readability I'd bet there are few than can match it. The interested reader can use *The Ottoman Centuries* as a springboard for further study if something here catches his fancy; while for those seeking primarily an informative overview of the Ottomans from their rise to their fall, this book should do the truck. To expect Kinross to cover 600 years in 600 pages in any more depth than he has in *The Ottoman Centuries* would be unrealistic. A sultan such as Suleiman, for instance, could--no less than a Julius Caesar--easily be the sole subject of a 600-page book all by himself.For me, as I suppose for a great many other readers, *The Ottoman Centuries* will serve to satisfactorily answer the great historical "huh?" that an education biased towards European history has left us asking when coming across mention of the Ottoman Empire. No, it's not a kingdom of footrests, although the sultan did have an important council over which he presided while lounging on a kind of low couch. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

I originally bought my first copy of this book around 1998. I’ve reread it several times over the 25 years since. My old copy has seen a lot of wear so I ordered a new one on Amazon. Its in beautiful condition. This is a great book on the vast and complicated Ottoman Empire. I highly recommend it.

Though not a quick read - the book is over 600 pages - this encyclopedic history of the Ottoman empire reflects masterful organization of a (literally) byzantine mass of historical information into a narrative that flows seamlessly and is beautifully written by Lord Kinross. It covers the arts, culture, politics and governmental structure of the empire as well as the wars and military campaigns. This book is a must for anyone interested in Middle East history and, indeed, in understanding the origins of what is going on today in the Balkans and Ukraine.

An excellent book written in a very impartial manner. I chose the book for my personal reading after having read the biography of the founder of modern Turkey by the same author.

The author knows his subject. I am not a fan his his high minded writing style, but am getting used to it. In an ideal world, this book should be accompanied by a good set of maps and a glossary.

A book that reads very easy and gives the right amount of detail without being boring.Highly recomended.