The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphs

The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars, and Caliphsby Marc David Baer

The Ottoman Empire has long been depicted as the Islamic, Asian antithesis of the Christian, European West. But the reality was starkly different: the Ottoman's domain was multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-religious, reaching deep into Europe's heart. Indeed, as it expanded across Eastern Europe, Asia, and North Africa, the Ottomans saw their empire as the new Rome.

In The Ottomans, historian Marc David Baer offers a major new history of the Ottoman dynasty, recounting their remarkable rise from a frontier principality to a world empire, and he traces their debts to their Turkish, Mongolian, Islamic, and Byzantine heritage. Rulers viewed themselves as both devout Muslims and the rightful successors to the Roman Empire, calling themselves not only khans and sultans but also caliphs, emperors, and caesars. They managed their vast empire by striking a delicate balance: for most of the dynasty's existence, the Ottomans pioneered principles of religious tolerance, even as they used religious conversion to integrate conquered peoples and populate the ruling class. But in the nineteenth century, the dynasty embraced exclusivity and intolerance, leading to ethnic cleansing, genocide, and ultimately the empire's demise after the First World War.

Gripping and authoritative, The Ottomans vividly reveals the dynasty's full history and its enduring impact on Europe and the world.

Basic Books, Hardcover, 1st Edition, 1st Printing, 2021