1301 and the Byzantine Empire looked like this by 1450 it looked like this the primary reason for this was the Ottomans who had begun a long period of expansion under the guidance of several very gifted rulers called Sultans one such ruler was Murat the first who conquered the important Byzantine city of adrianople in the 1360s over the next Century the Ottomans continued to expand in both Europe and Asia until 1451 when the Empire looked like this and encircled the Byzantine city of Constantinople what was left of the Byzantine Empire at this point was a vassel to the Ottomans and Constantinople had seen a major population reduction over the previous Century many of the wealthy and educated who fled Constantinople ended up in Italy and the text and knowledge they brought with them had a profound effect on the Renaissance whilst Constantinople PED in comparison to its former glory it was still valuable it controlled trade between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean and contained the shortest crossing point between both halves of the Ottoman domain Constantinople was also important symbolically it represented the Apex of Ottoman Ambitions at the time as one of the most important Christian cities to many ottom conquering Constantinople would represent a major victory of Islam over Christianity so in 1451 mem II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for the second time after his father Murat II died unfortunately for M his uncle Oran who was a potential claimant to the throne was residing in Constantinople in the custody of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI 11th who basically threatened to release him unless he was given more money this was just one more reason to capture Constantinople and so M brought 50,000 men with him to lay Siege to the city the byzantines refused to surrender and requested help from their fellow Christians who responded with Venice and Genoa did send some soldiers to Constantinople but it was nowhere near enough to change the course of the battle due in no small part to a humongous Cannon and the elite janissaries the city fell after a 54-day Siege because the city refused to surrender it was heavily plundered and many of its people were either killed or sold into slavery M made sure that certain parts of the city such as the Hagia Sophia were spared since he intended on making Constantinople the ottoman Capital the fall of Constantinople was viewed with horror by the Christians of Europe and many popes called for a crusade to retake the city again nobody really wanted to help and so Pope P II decided he would lead a crusade personally but he died before anything happened so constantinople's capture cut Europe off from the Black Sea trade and made the Ottomans wealthier because now they could tax shipping the venetians were quick to strike a deal with the Ottomans to continue trading in Constantinople because money the fall of Constantinople is without a doubt one of the most important events in world history it marked the end of the Roman Empire allowed the Ottomans to secure their position and fleeing Greeks spurred on Renaissance thinking constantinople's demise is so important that some historians consider it the end of the Medieval Era and the beginning of the early modern period in his new capital M had the Hagia Sophia Church transformed into a mosque and also built a brand new Palace from which the Empire could be run the administration that ran the Ottoman Empire was centered around the Imperial household which included the sultan and those closest to him immediately surrounding the sultan was his Haram his personal household in which lived many concubines by whom he would have many children these women were extremely influential and the Sultan's favorites could often give their children much better chances the sultanate did not simply pass from father to eldest son like in European monarchies after the death of a sultan his male offspring would often raise armies or assassinate one another for the Imperial Crown the sultan could pick favorites though and would often place his preferred air near the capital so that news of his death would reach them first also inside the Imperial household were Unix who were trusted to go into the Haram for obvious reasons as well as the Unix were the sulan slaves many of whom held very prestigious administrative and Military positions these slaves made up a large chunk of the Ottoman government the majority of these slaves came through the dev sh May a system where Christian boys often from the Balkans were taken from their families and converted to Islam in order to serve the sultan families were often compensated for this but unsurprisingly this didn't make up for the fact that they had their children taken from them it should be remembered that for some this was seen as the best opportunity for their children to experience social Mobility though a Christian peasant farmer had nowhere near the levels of opportunity that a slave in the Sultan's household would so the dev shim had two outcomes the smarter ones would become administrators some of whom became extremely power power ful others would be forced to join the janissaries as infantrymen in many respects this method of recruitment was a way of taxing non-muslims in the Empire and also got around Islam's ban on Believers enslaving each other however the Ottomans were in some respects more tolerant than others when it came to religious differences and providing their pay taxes and stay loyal Christians and Jews could live mostly under their own rules so just beneath the sultan was the Grand vzer who was essentially a prime minister the grand vazir was a part of what is called the dean which was an advisory Council to the sultan so with Constantinople conquered the Ottomans were free to focus on expansion elsewhere and they had lots of options a decade after the fall of Constantinople the Ottomans found themselves at war with Venice which the Ottomans won due to a major Naval buildup by the end of the 16th century the Empire steadily expanded until it looked like this the next major period of expansion began with the Ascension of Sultan Saleem in 1512 in 1514 Saleem went to war with sha Ismael of the safavid Empire and was Victorious gaining this territory 2 years later he turned his gaze to the mamluks and invaded in 1516 and within a year the maml Empire had collapsed and the Ottomans were in control of all of this territory notably including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina one of the main reasons for victory was that the Ottomans had a much better understanding of gunpowder weapons and importantly had more of them controlling the two most holy sites in Islam meant that from then on the ottoman Sultans could style themselves as kaliff a successor to Muhammad giving The Sultans a major boost to their Prestige it also meant that the Otts were now responsible for keeping the pilgrims to Mecca safe and thus the identity of the Ottoman state became Inseparable from that of Islam itself this is demonstrated by the fact that the ottoman Crescent is often seen as the symbol of Islam despite it not having any official symbols furthermore all of this territory meant that the Ottomans had a monopoly on Overland trade between Europe and China which meant that Europeans were incentivized to look elsewhere mostly West so like most Mortals Saleem eventually died and was succeeded by his son Suliman the 1 in 1520 Suliman the is better known as Suliman the Magnificent which will tell you that he was kind of important suon was quick to follow in his Father's Footsteps by conquering Belgrade and Road shortly after that unlike me and Saleem suluman faced much tougher military resistance in the form of two major opponents the first was the Habsburg monarchy led by the king of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Carlos I better known as Charles I the second opponent was Portugal who by 1520 were well established in the Indian Ocean trade Network and weren't keen on the Ottomans being there or anywhere really the first roadblock to ottoman expansion in Europe was the kingdom of Hungary which was led by King Louis II after the capture of Belgrade there was no real line of defense against the Ottomans which meant that it was right for the taking in 15 96 sudon invaded and at first was met with Little Resistance eventually the hungarians faced the ottoman at the Battle of mohar to summarize the hungarians were massively outnumbered and outgunned the result was essentially a Slaughter which even saw King Louie die after fleeing the battlefield the Ottomans were then free to march on the mostly abandoned Hungarian Capital Buddha which they looted the loss at mohar meant the end of an independent Hungary this was a big deal because Hungary was an extremely wealthy and Powerful Kingdom and its demise shifted the balance of power in Southeastern Europe to the Ottomans also Ferdinand of Austria became the king of Hungary and gained these valuable territories for the hapsburgs so there was only one response by European rulers to the fall of Hungary to use a technical term they bricked it the Ottomans were now able to strike at the heart of the Austrian realm which they did in 1529 when they laid Siege to Vienna The Siege failed and by 1541 the borders between the Ottomans and Habsburg had largely stabilized in the decades following mohar the Ottomans expanded their Holdings in North Africa which soon included what is known as the barbery coast from which Pirates prayed upon European shipping these territories were kept in line by the huge ottoman Navy which was vital to protecting the Empire from powerful Christian navies such as those owned by Venice or Spain the mid- 16th century saw a major uptick in the number of Naval clashes between Christian Europeans and the Ottomans ottoman setbacks included failing to break the Portuguese hold over the Indian Ocean and its failure to capture molter in 1565 despite having a massively Superior Force the ottoman advances into Europe were beginning to stool and this was made worse by the death of Suliman the next year he was succeeded by Saleem II better known as Saleem the drunkard because apparently magnificence isn't hereditary much like his father Saleem expanded the Empire and began a campaign to increase ottoman influence over the Mediterranean in 1570 the Ottomans seized Cypress from Venice which gave them a firm grip over the eastern half of the Mediterranean this left the Ottomans free to expand into the Western Mediterranean which worried the christian powers notably the Papal States which were not keen on the idea of an ottoman Fleet turning up on their Shores after a plea from Venice Pope p i formed the holy League to challenge the Ottomans it included all of these Christian kingdoms and republics and its sole purpose was to reduce ottoman influence by destroying the now very powerful ottoman Navy the holy League built up their own Navy under the command of John of Austria and on the 7th of October 1571 it met the ottoman Navy here what is called the Battle of lanto lanto was a stunning success for the Christians and the Ottomans suffered massive losses importantly the Ottomans lost a huge number of skilled sailors and infantry which meant that the naval capabilities were severely hampered for several reasons lanto is one of the more important battles in European history first first it ended the momentum of Ottoman expansion and the Ottomans would thereafter struggle to break out of the Eastern Mediterranean it also marked the end of combat with or ships carrying infantry and the Ottomans struggled to keep up with Spanish and Portuguese sailing advancements the holy league did not capitalize on their Victory and Venice was unable to reclaim Cyprus the Ottoman Empire had been slowed But ultimately it stood just as strong as ever in conclusion the rise of the Ottomans is one of the most compelling and important events in European Asian and African history the Ottoman Empire swelled rapidly swallowing Empires taking holy and amassing unmatched wealth the ottoman expansion gave way to the Renaissance the discovery of America by destroying Hungary inadvertently increased the power of the habsburgs this great expansion was overseen by a complex and highly efficient bureaucracy and enforced by a strong military however many of those who served in these ultimately did so against their will at least initially I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for watching