The Ottoman Empire was first established as a small state in western Turkey during the Seljuk reign. At first they would pillage and capture the workers of other Turkish villages around them and eventually ending all other local Turkish dynasties. The empire then grew to include many areas in what is now present day Europe to and it eventually became one of the largest and most powerful and one of the most enduring empires in the history of the world. After 1400 the Ottoman Empire showed supreme dominance and started to expand west towards the Byzantine Empire. At its peak the Ottoman Empire owned the areas of modern day Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Syria and also sections of the Arabian Peninsula and also North Africa just to name a few. It had a maximum area of 19.9 million square kilometres …show more content…
The Ottoman Empire began to decline power in the 18th century but a portion of its land became what is Turkey today.
Military Ambitions, Successes & Failures-
The Ottomans were a part Muslim dynasty that governed multi religious and multiethnic populations from the steppes of Russia to the Balkans and the Arabian Peninsula as well as the countries stated above and many more from the 1300s to 1918. The uniqueness of the Ottomans lies in its creation of a ruling class of any and all that would convert and join the sultan’s household. The immense military power of the dynasty was based initially on the assignment of military fiefs which were called timars, to a warrior class known as sipahis and the creation of a unique slave military infantry known as the Janissaries, who have been recognized as the first disciplined standing army of Europe. This combined