The History of the Ottoman Empire

Last we left Murad II he had established peace in both the eastern and western Boarders of the empire, and this week we finally see what he is going to do with this new found calm, abdicate the thrown to his young son Mehmed. Despite one day becoming one of the most accomplished Sultans the empire would ever see, at 12 years old Mehmed was too young at his first try at the thrown, Murad would have to be called back to defend the empire, he would abdicate the thrown once again, Mehmed proved once again he was not ready, and Murad II would finally come to terms with having to stay in power in order to secure the Ottoman State.

In this episode we will be covering the early years of Murad II's reign over the Ottomans, Like Mehmed I before him, Murad was faced with constant uprisings throughout his territories, with outside states releasing pretenders to the Ottoman thrown in order to further disrupt the Ottoman rebuilding process. But the Ottomans had regained their strength and easily put down each of these rebellions. During a brief period of peace during Murad's reign he made the bold decision to step down in favor of his son, Mehmed II, who would one day become known as the conqueror...

In this episode we are looking at the interregnum period, which was what the Ottomans refer to when speaking of the civil war after the fall of Bayezid between his sons. Spoilers but Mehmed will come out on top and will lead the Ottomans through the troubling times of rebuilding the empire. Mehmed was successful in guiding towards the path of resurrection, despite the constant conflict he was forced to deal with.

This episode we continue on with the Thunderbolt, but this time around things start going down hill fast for poor Bayezid. The Mongols have reared their terrifying head once again, and send the Ottoman empire into its lowest state with an uncertain future. By the time their leader, Timur, departs the earth thousands were killed and the Ottomans were left without a leader with territories declaring their independence in the face of the weakened Ottoman State.

Finally!!! From snow covered Brooklyn, New York, a new episode of the History of the Ottoman Empire! This episode we cover the rise of our Fourth Sultan, Bayezid I, a.k.a. the Thunderbolt. Bayezid's early career is full of military success and policies that would last throughout the history of the empire. Securing his territory after his father's death, Bayezid expanded the empire's borders and was the Ottoman Sultan to battle the knights of western Europe.

Just an update on the status of the podcast.

So first let me apologize for being a week late with this, life and the holidays got in the way! First I would like to thank Kristaps Andrejsons of the Eastern Borders podcast for his great intro, and I strongly encourage everyone to go check it out after you finish this episode, he is doing a great job! So back to the Ottomans, we left last episode with Murad stomping out a rebellion by his son and the son of the Byzantine emperor. After this Murad focused his attention on Asia Minor. After securing lands to the east by both peaceful and not so peaceful methods Murad refocused on Europe, and the threat posed by Prince Lazar of Serbia and his coalition forces. I won't spoil the rest, but it gets pretty epic!

In this episode we I will be covering much of the rule of Murad I, the third Sultan of the Ottomans. I will be covering his early conquests in the Balkan Peninsula, and some reasons why the Ottomans found expansion so easy in the region. Lastly I will be covering the rebellion of Murad and the Byzantine emperor's sons and how the two leaders dealt with this betrayal. I would like to apologize now for all the butchery of Turkish and Greek names in this episode, but rest assured I have secured a linguist to help with future episodes. Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

In this second episode we are getting into the reign of Orhan, the second ruler of the Ottomans, and the first to be given the title of Sultan. The first half of the podcast I will cover the make up of the Ottoman military, and the system the Ottomans used to manage the new lands won by their near constant expansion. For the second half of the podcast i will be going over the reign of Orhan, with his first victories in Bursa to his diplomatic dealings with the Byzantine empire, to the first Ottoman troops in Europe and finally the tragic years before his death.

In this first episode I will start off introducing myself, the format of the podcast and why i choose the Ottoman Empire. From there we will set the stage for the origins of the empire, such as the history of the region they will be settling, and the players on the ground when they arrived. I will also cover the reigns of the man who brought the Ottomans to Anatolia, Ertugrul and later his son, and founder of the empire, Osman I.