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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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The Ottoman Turks and the Establishment of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Turks were actually a small Turkish tribe, like many others Turanian tribes who during the 13th century had been forced to leave their home in Central Asia by the Mongols and move to Asia Minor which in those days was ruled by the Seljuk Turks. In gratitude for assistance to one of these Seljuk Turks during a war, the leader of the Ottoman Turks, Ertoghroul (who should not be confused with Torghoul, the leader of the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century), was offered present-day Eski to settle down in with his people.

The Ottoman Turks, with persistence, hard work, discipline and other characteristics proved their superiority to all other Turanian peoples and, in less than two centuries after their arrival to Asia Minor, created an enormous empire. The situation in the region at the time was conducive to the creation of a new empire. At the end of the 13th century the Seljuk Turkish Empire, which had ruled over the whole of Asia Minor, was dissolved and divided into several smaller Turkish states, which simplified the task of the Ottoman Turks. Moreover, the Byzantine Empire was on the brink of destruction. Apart from its internal conflicts, the crusader occupation of Constantinople had weakened Byzantine to such an extent that the empire did not even attempt to drive the Seljuk Turks out of Asia Minor during the 12th and the 13th centuries despite the fact that the Seljuk Turks could have been defeated.

The son and successor of Ertorghoul, Osman I, "the Judge", took advantage of the weakness of the Byzantine Empire and at the beginning of the 14th century increased his domain of influence by occupying the remaining Eastern Roman Empire conquests in Asia Minor.

His successor, Orchan I, took the city of Brousse and proclaimed it as the capital of the Ottoman Turks and then, at the beginning of the 14th century, conquered the cities of Nicèe and Nicomedia. In the same manner, in the middle of the 14th century, Byzantine lost its last footholds in Asia Minor. Nevertheless, the Ottoman domain was still small, including the three regions of Brousse, Nicea and Ismid and the present-day Eski Chehir. The remaining Asia Minor still existed as small states each with their separate Seljuk Turk Emir.

It was only the incompetence and the nonchalance of the Greeks and the short-sighted trade policy, the push for immediate profit and the lack of long-sightedness of the republics of Genoa and Venice, which paved the way for the conquests of the Ottoman Turks.

Byzantine, which had been severely weakened because of internal conflicts and was at war with the Balkan people, called for the help of the Ottoman Turks. As soon as the Turks seat their foot on European soil, they occupied the Galipoli Peninsula and kept it in their possession.

During the time of Murad I and Bayazid I (end of the 14th century) the Ottoman Turks managed to conquer the city of Andrinople after a battle against the Greeks and moved their capital there, so that one after the other, they could defeat the Slavic people, the present-day Bulgarians and Serbs. Only the Byzantine Empire, the estates of which were limited to the city of Constantinople and its surroundings, still put up a resistance.