The Ottoman Empire: Five Hundred Years of Peace (Kodansha: The Rise and Fall of the World's Great Powers, 05). A small nomadic state in the early fourteenth century swiftly grew into a vast empire encompassing the Balkans, the Arab world, and North Africa.
In 1453, it conquered Constantinople and brought down the thousand-year-old Byzantine Empire. In 1529, its troops stood before the gates of Vienna, shaking the Habsburg dynasty and all of Europe.
Through its system of bureaucratic rule, the Ottoman Empire maintained peace across its vast territories for 500 years and developed a vibrant Ottoman culture.
However, as the age of nationalism dawned, the Ottoman system collapsed in the early nineteenth century.
Beginning with the situation in Anatolia in 1050 and continuing through the abolition of the sultanate in 1922, this book recounts a millennium of change on the Asia Minor peninsula.
The Ottoman Empire was not merely an Islamic state. It was a realm, heir to the Byzantine Empire and the cultural traditions of the Balkans, Anatolia, and the Arab regions.
Author Hayashi Yoshiko's writing style is also very vivid, making it feel like reading a story. However, I didn't particularly like some of the characters, such as certain tyrants; their actions were infuriating. Nevertheless, this book is truly worth reading and will give you a deeper understanding of world history.