Armies from the East: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire

This set of 4 lectures examines the rise of the Ottoman Turks as a conquering people sweeping out of central Asia in the 14th century and conquering the city of Constantinople in 1453. Under the leadership of their first Sultan Othman, the Turks overthrew the Christian Byzantines and created a Turkish Muslim state that stood at the apex of culture and civilization for the next 400 years. We will explore why the Turks came to Anatolia, the sources of their battlefield acumen and, once established, the reasons for the Ottoman’s dynamic cultural efflorescence and their military might as they looked to conquer all of Europe for Islam.