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Season 5: Ottoman Decline
Covering 1566 to 1807, this season takes us from the Ottoman Zenith of Suleiman's reign straight to its challenges adapting to an ever-changing modern world. Along the way we'll see a gradual reemergence of Bulgarian consciousness.
Eric D. Halsey
Jan 15, 20201 min read
105 Looking Back on Ottoman Decline, Part 2
This episode recaps the second half of Season 5, beginning with the 1683 Battle of Vienna and following how the 18th century...
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Eric D. Halsey
Dec 28, 20191 min read
104 Looking Back on Ottoman Decline, Part 1
This episode recaps the first half of Season 5, beginning from the death of Suleiman and covering the long Ottoman wars with the...
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Eric D. Halsey
Dec 23, 20191 min read
103 An Aristocracy of Pig Farmers
As the Ottomans struggle to fight Janissary supremacy and rampant banditry within their own borders, the twists and turns of the...
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Eric D. Halsey
Nov 30, 20191 min read
102 Revolutions, Rebellions, and Reforms
With internal rebellions and powerful empires at the gates, the Ottomans are looking weaker than ever. However, the entrance of a certain...
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Eric D. Halsey
Nov 29, 20191 min read
101 Küçük Kaynarca
As war between the Ottomans and the powerful Russian Empire intensifies, the resulting treaty will help redefine the Ottoman place in...
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Eric D. Halsey
Oct 10, 20191 min read
100 The Long Peace and The Brutal War
The longest ever period of peace between the Ottomans and the European powers comes to an end just as Ottoman decentralization and...
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Eric D. Halsey
Oct 7, 20191 min read
099 Hanging On
For the first all, all of the neighboring empires of the Ottomans decide it's time to strike the weakened power. Meanwhile, further state...
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Eric D. Halsey
Sep 29, 20191 min read
098 The Tulip Era
Following the devastating losses of the Treaty if Karlowitz, the Ottomans enter a period of sumptuous consumption which begins to reshape...
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Eric D. Halsey
Sep 23, 20191 min read
097 A New Century
In the aftermath of the Treaty of Karlowitz, the Ottomans have suffered perhaps the greatest series of setbacks in their history. With a...
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Eric D. Halsey
Aug 27, 20191 min read
096 Uprisings, Enlighteners, and the Great Turkish War
As the Austrian army closes in on Bulgarian lands, uprisings begin anew. But will the inspiration of men like Petar Parchevich and Petar...
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Eric D. Halsey
Aug 5, 20191 min read
095 The Second Tarnovo Uprising
As the Great Turkish War expands and intensifies, the Ottomans are pushed back on nearly every front. Greece and Hungary see historic...
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Eric D. Halsey
Jul 28, 20191 min read
094 The Siege of Vienna
Despite a recent failed attack on Austria, Ottoman support for Protestant Hungarian Rebels against the Austrians has made war inevitable....
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Eric D. Halsey
Jul 20, 20191 min read
093 March to Europe
As the Venetian war in Crete winds down, new ones pop up with the Hapsburgs, Poles, and Russians. The Ottomans, led by the Köprülü...
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Eric D. Halsey
Jun 29, 20191 min read
092 The Reign of Köprülü
One of the most devastating wars in European history is coming to an end, shaping the continent for centuries to come. At the same time,...
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Eric D. Halsey
Jun 22, 20191 min read
091 Palace Intrigue
An Ottoman governor goes rogue and starts a war, the Sultan marches East at the head of his army for the first time in decades, and...
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Eric D. Halsey
May 26, 20191 min read
090 Sunni vs Shiite, Protestant vs Catholic
As the dynamic young Sultan Osman II tried to reform the Empire, it turns out the Empire would rather not be reformed. Rebellions,...
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Eric D. Halsey
May 24, 20191 min read
089 The Mad King and The Mad Sultan
The Ottomans are being challenged by the Spanish on the seas, by the Safavids in the East, and by a chaotic political situation in the...
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Eric D. Halsey
Apr 29, 20191 min read
088 The Changing Empire
From taxes and the army to trade and the economy, the Ottoman Empire is changing. In the first half of this episode, we go over those...
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Eric D. Halsey
Apr 26, 20191 min read
087 The First Tarnovo Uprising
From Thessaly to Anatolia and even in Bulgaria itself, rebellions continue to challenge Ottoman domination as a new force rises up to...
349 views0 comments
Eric D. Halsey
Mar 30, 20191 min read
086 The Revenge of The Vassals
As corruption and mismanagement ravage the Ottoman Empire, rebellions spread ever further and three vassal states finally rise up to...
322 views0 comments
Eric D. Halsey
Mar 10, 20191 min read
085 The Principalities Wither
As the Ottomans focus on fighting the Safavids off to the East, economic pressures are leading to increasing corruption and abuse of...
257 views0 comments
Eric D. Halsey
Feb 25, 20191 min read
084 Lepanto
With the coming of a fourth Ottoman-Venetian war, the power balance of the Mediterranean will be remade. Can Venice survive yet another...
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Eric D. Halsey
Feb 23, 20192 min read
083 Pirates and The World’s Greatest Con Man
The sons of Suleiman fight to the death to see who will control the Empire as geopolitics leads to the rising power of a class of...
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