Ottoman Empire Archives

Ottoman Empire

Islam at Vienna’s Gates

by Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

For nearly two long months, from July 14 to early September 1683, Vienna endured the siege from the Ottoman Empire. Read more

British “New Army” infantrymen “go over the top” in a film made in 1916 about the Battle of the Somme, which began earlier in the year. The Allies had high hopes for the offensive.

Ottoman Empire

A Sunlit Picture of Hell: Battle of the Somme

By O’Brien Brown

Early in the morning of July 1, 1916, a mist blanketed the lolling hills of the Somme region of northwestern France. Read more

Ottoman Empire

The Battle of Lepanto: “The Best Day’s Work in Centuries”

By William J. McPeak

For Europe, there was great news from Malta in August 1565. The Ottoman Turks had lifted their siege and made for home. Read more

Prussians storm the cemetery at Saint Privat on the 18th of August. The French put up a fierce resistance and the Prussians lost 8,000 men in 20 minutes. However, the tide of fortune was already favoring the Kaiser’s efforts.

Ottoman Empire

The Battle of Sedan: Napoleon III’s Empire in the Balance

By Robert Heege

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew and namesake of the great Napoleon, once said, “March at the head of the ideas of your century, and these ideas follow you and support you. Read more

Turks storm Constantinople from the water side in this encompassing, if fanciful, 16th-century rendering by Tintoretto. The besieged were greatly outnumbered and fought with determination.

Ottoman Empire

Death of an Empire: The Fall of Constantinople

By Jonathan North

Early in the morning of Tuesday, May 29, 1453, they came swarming like hungry wolves over the plain between the Turkish palisades and the battered walls of Byzantium. Read more

Ottoman Empire

Weapons of the Middle Ages: the Medieval Catapult

By Robert Heege

It was the spring of 1097 and the Turks guarding the walls of Nicaea were in a confident mood. Read more

Wounded but triumphant, Grand Master Pierre D’Aubusson receives homage from his worshipful Knights Hospitallers after beating back the Turkish siege of Rhodes.

Ottoman Empire

Siege of Rhodes: The Will Of The Hospitallers

By William McPeak

Although the great Crusades were over by 1309 ad, one old crusading order continued to evolve, flourish, and make enemies—the Knights Hospitallers of St. Read more

Ottoman Empire

“I Order You To Die”

By Victor J. Kamenir

In the English-speaking world, most students of military history would be hard-pressed to identify the time, place, or antagonists of the Canakkale Campaign. Read more

Displaying the disciplined valor that would become a national characteristic, Prussian troops advance into withering fire at the climax of the Battle of Mollwitz on April 10, 1741.

Ottoman Empire

The Battle of Mollwitz: Opening Move For Prussian Expansion

By Arnold Blumberg

On October 20, 1740, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of Austria, died, leaving his vast holdings and titles to his 23-year-old daughter, Maria Theresa. Read more

Burly bluejackets from the Royal Navy muscle the landing craft to shore during the British amphibious landing at Aboukir Bay, Egypt, on March 8, 1801, in this contemporary oil painting by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg.

Ottoman Empire

Alexandria: Redcoats in the Land of the Pharaohs

By Eric Niderost

It was a spectacle never to be forgotten by those few who were lucky enough to witness it. Read more

Vizier Mustafa Pasha commanded the Turkish ground forces at Malta, seen here breasting the Knights Hospitallers in one of numerous headlong assaults.

Ottoman Empire

Clash of Religions at Malta

By Tony Rothman

At dawn on May 18, 1565, one of the largest armadas ever assembled appeared off the Mediterranean island of Malta. Read more

A Turkish standard-bearer rides into battle. It was a sight all too familiar to Russian general Mikhail Kutusov, who lost an eye to a Turkish rifleman.

Ottoman Empire

General Mikhail Kutuzov and the Battle of the Danube

By Victor Kamenir

On April 1, 1811, one-eyed General Mikhail Kutuzov arrived in the Romanian capital of Bucharest to take command of Russia’s Moldavian army. Read more

Ottoman Empire

Weapons of War: the War Hammer

By William McPeak

Not to be confused with Mjollnir, the mythical Norse god Thor’s fabled hammer, the real-life war hammer was a brutal and effective weapon. Read more

Ottoman Empire

Turco-Mongol Emir Timur: Scourge of the East

By Victor Kamenir

Egyptian medieval chronicler Ibn Taghribirdi relates an incident that occurred following Turco-Mongol Emir Timur’s conquest of Aleppo in 1400. Read more

Ottoman Empire

Russia’s Four Immortal Generals

By Victor Kamenir

In 1242, Russian Prince Alexander Nevsky faced the armored might of the Teutonic knights. Generals Alexander Suvorov and Peter Kotlyarevski were Napoleon’s contemporaries, while General Mikhail Skobelev exemplified the panache of the Victorian Era. Read more

Ottoman Empire

Incomparable Bravery

By Alexander Zakrzewski

In the early evening of September 12, 1683, the citizens of Vienna watched from the ramparts of their beleaguered city as 3,500 winged horsemen poured down the slopes of the Kahlenberg Heights and into the heart of the besieging Turkish army. Read more

In their first major battles of World War I, American Expeditionary Force troops helped blunt multiple offensives launched by the German Army in the spring of 1918.

Ottoman Empire

WWI Timeline: Sowing the Seeds of the Conflict

by Arnold Blumberg

This WWI Timeline covers the first decade of the 20th century, in which the so-called “Great Powers” of Europe attempted to advance their economic and technological prowess to out-do—or at worst, at least keep pace—with their neighbors and rivals. Read more