From Ottoman Turkey To The Present Day

The final part of the history of Turkey explores the last 650 years from the early Ottoman rulers down to the present story of the Turkish Republic. From small beginnings the Ottomans would go on to create a huge empire, capturing Constantinople in 1453 and swathes of eastern Europe. Three times in the 16th and 17th centuries they reached the gate of Vienna. But as time went on these rulers in their Topkapi Palace  in the re-named city of Istanbul became ever more remote. By the 19th century Turkey was dubbed "the sick man of Europe" and when it backed the wrong side in the First World War the days of the Ottoman sultans was at an end. Under Ataturk a secular republic was created which turned its back on the Ottoman past. But under President Erdogan in the 21st century the Ottomans are being rehabilitated. This course will explore the compelling story of the latest phase of Turkey's long history.