In 1453 when the last vestige of ancient Roman power fell to the Turks, the city officially shifted religions -- although the Patriarch, or Pope, of the Orthodox Church continued to live there, and still does -- and became the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

The Aegean Sea was later invaded by the Persians and the Romans, and inhabited by the Byzantine Empire, the Bulgarians, the Venetians, the Genoeses, the Seljuq Turks, and the Ottoman Empire.

* 1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists only for 10 days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.

* 1799 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor – Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.

As the German princes were experiencing the tumult of the Reformation, the German Peasants ' War, and the wars against the Ottoman Turks, they did not enforce the ban on the duke, and agitation against him soon died away.

* This article incorporates text from the History of Ottoman Turks ( 1878 )

The subsequent years witnessed the gradual extinction of Byzantine rule in Asia Minor, as Orhan of the Ottoman Turks, who had already defeated Andronikos III at Pelekanos in 1329, took Nicaea in 1331 and Nicomedia in 1337.

Nicaea, until 1261 the capital of the Empire, was under siege by Ottoman Turks.

His loss of the empire's few remaining territories in Anatolia made the Ottoman Turks posed to expand into Europe as did its lack of strength following his reign to prevent the formation of the Serbian Empire.

By the end of Andronikos II's reign, much of Bithynia was in the hands of the Ottoman Turks of Osman I and his son and heir Orhan.

* 1521 – The Ottoman Turks occupy Belgrade.

* 1521 – The Ottoman Turks capture Nándorfehérvár, now known as Belgrade.

* 1526 – Battle of Mohács: The Ottoman Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent defeat and kill the last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia.

* 1541 – The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.

The area thrived during the Ottoman Empire, as the centre of opium production and Afyon became a wealthy city with the typical Ottoman urban mixture of Turks, Armenians and Greeks.

) The mosques that were built after the conquest of Constantinople ( Istanbul ) by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, and influenced by the design of the 6th century Byzantine basilica of Hagia Sophia, had increasingly elevated and large central domes, which create a vertical emphasis that is intended to be more overwhelming ; in order to convey the divine power of Allah, the majesty of the Ottoman Sultan, and the governmental authority of the Ottoman State.

In fact, as the Ottoman Turks closed in on Constantinople, they constructed a fortification on each side of the strait, Anadoluhisarı ( 1393 ) and Rumelihisarı ( 1451 ).

Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks, becoming the capital of their empire, in 1453.

On May 29, 1453, the city fell to the Ottoman Turks, and again became the capital of a powerful state, the Ottoman Empire.

* Battle of Adrianople ( 1365 )-Capture by Ottoman Turks

Gladstone, however, saw the issue in moral terms, for Bulgarian Christians had been massacred by the Turks and Gladstone therefore believed it was immoral to support the Ottoman Empire.

In March 1684 Leopold I formed the Holy League with Poland and Venice to counter the Ottoman threat.

These formed a secret society, the " Military League ", with the purpose of emulating their Ottoman colleagues and seek reforms.

Through spring 1912, a series of bilateral agreements between the Christian Balkan states ( Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia ) formed the Balkan League, which in October 1912 declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

The political states of Iraq and Syria were formed by the United Kingdom and France following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Iraq and Syria are united by historical, social, political, cultural and economic relations, but share a long foreign drawn border.

In the late years of Ottoman rule, Jericho formed part of the waqf and imerat of Jerusalem.

Their cultural integration with the emirates of the Persian Gulf formed a network of tribal and trade relationships stronger than the tie to Ottoman Iraq.

In southern Europe, a coalition of Catholic powers, led by Philip II of Spain, formed an alliance to challenge Ottoman naval strength in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Ottoman Turks ( or Osmanlı Turks ) were the Turkish-speaking population of the Ottoman Empire who formed the base of the state's military and ruling classes.

During the period of Austro-Hungarian rule in Transylvania, and Ottoman suzerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia, most Romanians were in the situation of being second-class citizens ( or even non-citizens ) in a territory where they formed the majority of the population.

The political states of Iraq and Syria were formed by the United Kingdom and France following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Iraq and Syria are united by historical, social, political, cultural and economic relations, but share a long foreign drawn border.

After more than four years of trench warfare in western Europe, and 20 million dead, those powers who had formed the Triple Entente ( France, Britain, and Russia, later replaced by the United States and joined by Italy ) emerged victorious over the Central Powers ( Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire ).

Bosnian soldiers formed a large component of the Ottoman ranks in the battles of Mohács and Krbava field, two decisive military victories, while numerous other Bosnians rose through the ranks of the Ottoman military bureaucracy to occupy the highest positions of power in the Empire, including admirals, generals, and grand viziers.

The Second Coalition was formed in 1798 by Austria, Great Britain, the Kingdom of Naples, the Ottoman Empire, Papal States, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and other states.

The Janissaries ( from Ottoman Turkish يڭيچرى yeniçeri meaning " new soldier ",,,,,,,,,, ) were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards.

They were subject to strict discipline, but they were paid salaries and pensions on retirement, and were free to marry ; those conscripted through devşirme formed a distinctive social class which quickly became the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire, rivaling the Turkish aristocracy in one of the four royal institutions: the Palace, the Scribes, the Religious and the Military.

In the 19th century, the similar name " Fedayee " ( meaning freedom fighter ), with the same etymology, was used by Armenians who formed guerrilla organizations and armed bands in reaction to the oppression and unchecked murder of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire.

Romania, which would later be formed from the two territories, would largely remain an Ottoman puppet-state

The Balkan League (,,, ) was an alliance formed by a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 between the Balkan states of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia, and directed against the Ottoman Empire, which at the time still controlled much of the Balkan peninsula.

A great deal of power was placed in their hands and they integrated in the network of clientelist relationships that formed the Ottoman administration.

The battle began with a Russian artillery and infantry attack on the Ottoman redoubts that formed Balaclava's first line of defence.

The sipahis formed two distinct types of cavalry: feudal-like, provincial timarlı sipahi ( timariots ) which consisted most of the Ottoman army, and salaried, regular kapıkulu sipahi ( sipahi of the Porte ), which consisted cavalry part of the Ottoman household troops.