Turkey History

During 1915 to 1923, one and a half million Armenian people were deported and killed in the most appalling ways comprehensible. They were ripped from their homes (in a land where they had lived for longer than history can tell, a land so old that many speculate it was the site of the biblical Garden of Eden) and sent off on death marches across the blistering Syrian Desert. They were shot on the thresholds of the houses where they were raising their children. They were butchered with swords in gruesome ways in order to dishearten those left alive. 

Gallipoli: the mere name summons the story of this well-known campaign of the First World War. And the story of Gallipoli, where in August 1915 the Allied forces made their last valiant effort against the Turks, is one of infamous might-have-beens. If only the Allies had held out a little longer, pushed a little harder, had better luck, Gallipoli might have been the decisive triumph that knocked the Ottoman Empire out of the First World War.

It is believed that the Circassians—the English translation of the Turkish term Cherkess—emerged as a discrete society or entity around the 10th century CE, although there are references to them before this. In fact, the Circassians are believed to be the oldest indigenous people of the North Caucasus and self-identified as Adyghe. Historians believe the first settlers appeared some 300,000 years ago. Nevertheless, the history and culture of Circassia and the Circassians is largely unknown in the English-speaking and wider world outside Central Asia and the Caucasus.

Among all the early Iron Age people from the Near East who inherited the geopolitical vacuum of power left by the Sea Peoples invasions, the Phrygians are perhaps one of the most misunderstood. They built a powerful and wealthy kingdom, but were overshadowed by their more powerful and wealthier neighbors, the Lydians.

This audiobook will give you a quick look into the culture, economy, geography, and history of Armenia. You'll learn about the country’s most influential rulers and important occupations, from Iran, Ottoman Empire, and the Byzantine Empire. You'll get an understanding of the country’s history from ancient times to the present day.

Experience the Ottoman Empire in all its glory. Understand the geopolitical complexities of the Sieges of Vienna, and unravel the intricate network of relationships with other world powers such as the Safavids and the Venetians. The narrative takes a turn as the Empire faces unprecedented challenges, from the Tanzimat Reforms to the socio-political upheaval stirred by the Young Turks, and the painful losses of the Balkan Wars. Witness the Empire's struggle for survival in World War I, leading to its ultimate disintegration and the birth of modern Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

During his reign, Suleiman the Magnificent guided the Ottoman Empire through its golden age of trade and expansion. His reign changed the face of the world and the lives of millions of people, and his name echoes down to us in the present day. Suleiman the Magnificent was unlike any other sultan before or after him, and this audiobook explains why. 

The Crimean War was a major conflict that took place between 1853 and 1856 involving Russia, the Ottoman Empire, France, and the United Kingdom. In this concise history book, you will delve into the causes, events, and consequences of this brutal war. From the Charge of the Light Brigade to the Siege of Sevastopol, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the key battles and turning points that defined the conflict. With vivid descriptions and insightful analysis, this book is a must-hear for anyone interested in the history of warfare and international relations.

This book tells the stories of the Muslims, Christians, Jews and others who made a courageous stand against the mass slaughter of Ottoman Armenians in 1915, the first modern genocide. Foreigners and Ottomans alike ran considerable risks to bear witness and rescue victims, sometimes sacrificing their lives. Diplomats, humanitarians, missionaries, lawyers and other visitors to the Empire stood up, including Tolstoy's daughter, Alexandra; Raphael Lemkin, the jurist who first established genocide as an international crime; and the polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen.

Among those who were responsible for the projection of Ottoman power, few deserve as much credit as the Sipahi. Civilizations across the steppes and the Middle East relied heavily on cavalry, and the Sipahi were elite cavalry units during medieval times for a couple of powers. That said, they were a massive contributor to the success of Ottoman warfare, and during good times for the empire, the Sipahi were rewarded, to the extent that they became their own social class, much like the Janissaries.

In the last year, Egypt has undergone a revolution that expelled its authoritarian leader of nearly 30 years, and implemented elections that have pitted the Egyptian military in a power struggle with the Muslim Brotherhood, the long-time Islamic opposition group with ties to Hamas and elements of al-Qaeda. Making everything that much more surreal, the events have played out before well placed television cameras with continuous "real time" coverage of the revolution, and ongoing turmoil, and foreign nations around the world eagerly await or dread the end result.

"Local color" author Frances Gilchrist Wood wrote this powerful tale of a young wife who proves better able to succeed on the homestead frontier than does her husband.

In terms of geopolitics, perhaps the most seminal event of the Middle Ages was the successful Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453. The city had been an imperial capital as far back as the fourth century when Constantine the Great shifted the power center of the Roman Empire there effectively establishing two almost equally powerful halves of antiquity’s greatest empire. Constantinople would continue to serve as the capital of the Byzantine Empire even after the Western half of the Roman Empire collapsed in the late fifth century.

In 2019, Turkey’s incursion into northeastern Syria and acceptance of components for a Russian S-400 surface-to-air defense system brought bilateral tensions to crisis levels and contributed to the possibility of sanctions or other actions from Congress. Events in Syria and a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey appear to have led Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to act more independently from the United States and cultivate closer ties with Russia and its President Vladimir Putin.

A history of Armenian masonry that goes back to the legendary origins of Noah to the operative stone masons to the speculative masons to the lodges of the 1800s, their destruction during the genocide, and their revival in 1991. 

Durante más de seis siglos, el imperio fue posiblemente el imperio musulmán más fuerte del mundo, dominando a sus rivales en Europa y Asia durante muchos años. Abarcando tres continentes y controlando tierras en los Balcanes, el Cáucaso, Crimea, Anatolia, Oriente Próximo, Levante, Egipto y el norte de África, el Imperio otomano fue una de las potencias más amenazadoras en el apogeo de su poder en el siglo XVI. Era temido por otros grandes imperios de Europa.

Ancient Turkey was a land of myth and mystery, but its secrets are slowly being uncovered. Find out about the legendary cultures that left their mark on this unique region, and discover which stories are fact and which are fiction. The history of ancient Turkey is important since it gives insight into what Anatolia was like before the Roman and Byzantine Empires, but much of the information has been buried by time.

Vom demokratischen Aufbruch zur Autokratie – über einen beunruhigenden Wandel. Seit seiner Machtübernahme 2002 hat Recep Tayyip Erdoğan einen radikalen Wandel in der Türkei eingeleitet. Das Land, das einst eine Säule des westlichen Bündnisses war, betreibt eine militaristische Außenpolitik, die sich von Bergkarabach bis Libyen in regionale Krisenherde einmischt. Sein früheres demokratisches Streben, u. a. um eine EU-Mitgliedschaft, ist einer gefährlichen Ein-Mann-Herrschaft gewichen.

The town of Caldiran (Chaldiran) in Turkey is home to about 60,000 people. In the early 16th century, it was the site of different kinds of faultlines, serving as a battleground between the region’s two greatest powers as they clashed over politics and religion. On August 23, 1514 two sides clashed at Chaldiran in a contest for hegemony over the Middle East. The course of the conflict can be reconstructed from the politics of the time, knowledge of the characters involved, the contemporary records are available, and what followed the battle.

As this all suggests, the story of the Young Turks and the last years of the Ottoman Sultanate is a complex and interesting one. It is the history of a state struggling to survive against seemingly impossible odds, featuring a long battle for the minds and souls of the inhabitants of a declining empire. An empire caught between nationalism and liberal imperialism.