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Rating: 
Summary: A Vivid Military Narrative
Review: Stephen Turnbull's The Ottoman Empire 1326 - 1699, Osprey's Essential History volume #62, is a lively and well-written narrative of a critical and brutal phase of Medieval warfare. Indeed, this volume is one of Turnbull's best efforts since his samurai efforts. Turnbull succeeds in bringing three centuries of Ottoman conquests into sharp focus and he adds great drama to this historical survey. However, Turnbull's otherwise fine effort is marred by two critical deficiencies: lack of sufficient maps to support the narrative and a neglect of Ottoman operations in North Africa and the Mideast. After a short introduction and chronology, Turnbull's The Ottoman Empire 1326 - 1699 briefly examines the rise of the Ottomans and the nature of the Ottoman army. It is interesting to contrast modern armies in the Mideast with Turnbull's description of an Ottoman military system built on discipline, military efficiency and a willingness to adopt new technology and tactics. The bulk of the 55-page campaign narrative focuses on Turkish advances into the Balkans, with only slight asides for other areas. Turnbull also provides interesting sections on portrait of a soldier (a Serbian janissary), portrait of a civilian (a grand vizier), and a discussion of terror and toleration in the empire. Turnbull's bibliography is a bit skimpy. Certainly the weakest aspect of the volume is the limited number of maps; normally Osprey essential histories have ten maps but Turnbull provides only five and they are not particularly useful maps. Readers will note that very few of the battles or sieges listed in the narrative are depicted in the maps. The five maps include: the early Ottoman conquests (1291-1389); the major crusades to halt Ottoman expansion (1396/1444/1448); the expansion of the Ottoman Empire under Mehmet the Conqueror (1451-1481); the expansion of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1683; and the Ottoman Eastern European Front in the 17th Century. Turnbull's descriptions of the Turkish advance into the Balkans is exciting and vivid, with excellent descriptions of the victory at Nicopolis (1396), the defeat at Ankara (1402), and more victories at Varna (1444) and Constantinople (1453). One of the more interesting personalities that Turnbull highlights is Prince Vlad Dracula from Wallachia, who used terror and guerrilla warfare to contest the Ottoman advance into modern-day Romania. Dracula's terror tactics actually succeeded in intimidated even the Turks - a rare occurrence - and deterring invasion in 1462, although Dracula was later killed by the Turks. Turnbull also discusses the great Ottoman victory of Mohacs (1526) at length, and how this reinforced a tendency for land expansion. Throughout the narrative, Turnbull downplays economic, social and political dynamics in the Ottoman Empire and he attributes Ottoman decline in the 17th Century to poor leadership, internal divisions, and the growing professionalism of European armies.
Readers should note that Turnbull virtually ignores the Ottoman wars with Persia, and their conquests in the Arabian peninsula and North Africa, which renders this account overly Euro-centric. What Turnbull presents in this volume is a dramatic and well-illustrated summarized account of the centuries-long struggle between the Ottomans and various European states for control of the Balkans and lower Eastern Europe. However, this account is far from comprehensive in either geographic scope or thematic depth, and should not be used as introduction to Ottoman history for those readers requiring a broader canvas.
Rating:
Summary: A Vivid Military Narrative
Review: Stephen Turnbull's The Ottoman Empire 1326 - 1699, Osprey's Essential History volume #62, is a lively and well-written narrative of a critical and brutal phase of Medieval warfare. Indeed, this volume is one of Turnbull's best efforts since his samurai efforts. Turnbull succeeds in bringing three centuries of Ottoman conquests into sharp focus and he adds great drama to this historical survey. However, Turnbull's otherwise fine effort is marred by two critical deficiencies: lack of sufficient maps to support the narrative and a neglect of Ottoman operations in North Africa and the Mideast. After a short introduction and chronology, Turnbull's The Ottoman Empire 1326 - 1699 briefly examines the rise of the Ottomans and the nature of the Ottoman army. It is interesting to contrast modern armies in the Mideast with Turnbull's description of an Ottoman military system built on discipline, military efficiency and a willingness to adopt new technology and tactics. The bulk of the 55-page campaign narrative focuses on Turkish advances into the Balkans, with only slight asides for other areas. Turnbull also provides interesting sections on portrait of a soldier (a Serbian janissary), portrait of a civilian (a grand vizier), and a discussion of terror and toleration in the empire. Turnbull's bibliography is a bit skimpy. Certainly the weakest aspect of the volume is the limited number of maps; normally Osprey essential histories have ten maps but Turnbull provides only five and they are not particularly useful maps. Readers will note that very few of the battles or sieges listed in the narrative are depicted in the maps. The five maps include: the early Ottoman conquests (1291-1389); the major crusades to halt Ottoman expansion (1396/1444/1448); the expansion of the Ottoman Empire under Mehmet the Conqueror (1451-1481); the expansion of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1683; and the Ottoman Eastern European Front in the 17th Century. Turnbull's descriptions of the Turkish advance into the Balkans is exciting and vivid, with excellent descriptions of the victory at Nicopolis (1396), the defeat at Ankara (1402), and more victories at Varna (1444) and Constantinople (1453). One of the more interesting personalities that Turnbull highlights is Prince Vlad Dracula from Wallachia, who used terror and guerrilla warfare to contest the Ottoman advance into modern-day Romania. Dracula's terror tactics actually succeeded in intimidated even the Turks - a rare occurrence - and deterring invasion in 1462, although Dracula was later killed by the Turks. Turnbull also discusses the great Ottoman victory of Mohacs (1526) at length, and how this reinforced a tendency for land expansion. Throughout the narrative, Turnbull downplays economic, social and political dynamics in the Ottoman Empire and he attributes Ottoman decline in the 17th Century to poor leadership, internal divisions, and the growing professionalism of European armies.
Readers should note that Turnbull virtually ignores the Ottoman wars with Persia, and their conquests in the Arabian peninsula and North Africa, which renders this account overly Euro-centric. What Turnbull presents in this volume is a dramatic and well-illustrated summarized account of the centuries-long struggle between the Ottomans and various European states for control of the Balkans and lower Eastern Europe. However, this account is far from comprehensive in either geographic scope or thematic depth, and should not be used as introduction to Ottoman history for those readers requiring a broader canvas.
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