The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age

by Halil Inalcik

Covering the greatest three centuries of Turkish history, this book tells the story of the Ottoman Empire's growth into a vast Middle Eastern Power. Born as a military frontier principality at the turn of the Fourteenth century, Turkey developed into the dominant force in Anatolia and the Balkans, growing to become the most powerful Islamic state after 1517 when it incorporated the old Arab lands. This distinctively Eastern culture, with all its detail and intricacies, is explored here by a pre-...