Osman's Dream The Story of the Ottoman Empire 1300 - 1923

• TARİH - Osmanlı ve Öncesi
• Remzi Kitabevi

The Ottoman chronicles recount that the first sultan, Osman, dreamed of the dynasty he would found. A tree, fully-formed, emerged from his navel, symbolizing the vigour of his successors and the extent of their domains. Osman's descendants combined the resourcefulness of their nomadic origins with the imperial world-view of conquered Byzantium. The result was a multi-ethnic state that for six centuries held sway over territories stretching, at their greatest, from Hungary to the Persian Gulf, and from North Africa to the Caucasus. The Ottoman path to modernity was every bit as complex as those of the Habsburgs or Romanovs. The Ottomans were feared for their military prowess and respected for their statecraft; sultans such as Suleyman the Magnificent and Abdulhamid II dominated their times. Yet the workings of the empire remained a mystery, exemplified by the remoteness of the sultan and his household. Even today, as visitors to modern Turkey and its neighbours marvel at the Ottoman legacy of monumental architecture and delicate works of art, many peoples of Europe and the Middle East fail to recognize the extent to which their history and cultures have been shaped by their Ottoman past. The realization of Osman's vision, its gradual unravelling, and its final destruction on the battlefields of the First World War is a truly dynamic saga, central to the understanding of the history of the modern world.