The 16th Century Ottomans Nearly Conquered Europe. Why Did European Kingdoms Make So Many Alliances With Them?

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

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Summary

The determined attempt to thwart Ottoman dominance was fought by Muslims and Christians across five theaters from the Balkans to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, from Persia to Russia.

But this is not merely the story of a clash of civilizations between East and West. Europe was not united against the Turks; the scandal of the age was the alliance between King Francis I of France and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Meanwhile, the resistance of the Saadi dynasty of Morocco to Ottoman encroachment played a critical role in denying Constantinople direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. By the same token, though religious imperatives were critic al to the motivations of all the key actors involved, these in no way fell neatly along the Christian Muslim divide.

The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V desired nothing more than to eradicate the Protestant heresy metastasizing throughout his domains, but the threat of Turkish invasion forced him to stay his hand and indulge his Lutheran subjects to ensure a common defense. Nevertheless, the collective effort to constrain the expansion of the Ottoman superpower did succeed with the ultimate victory in 1571 the tipping point in reordering the trajectory of history.

To explore these facets of medieval and early modern European history is today’s guest, Si Sheppard, author of “Crescent Dawn: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire and the Making of the Modern Age.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's going to hear with another episode of the History and Plug podcast.
0:07.8	Violence between religions in the 1300s and 1400s was very strange.
0:12.0	On the one hand, this is the final age of Crusades, the Battle of Necropolis in 1396,
0:16.8	the Battle of Varna in 1444, saw the final antiMuslim Crusades, where the papacy offered indulgences
0:22.2	for those who would go and fight, and this time also seized the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire.
0:27.0	On the other hand, the largest military alliance was between King Francis of France and Suleiman
0:31.9	the Magnificent of the Ottomans, who both had a common enemy of the Habsburg Empire, and the
0:36.2	Ottomans had their own Muslim adversaries. The Saudi dynasty of Morocco didn't allow the Ottomans to pass from the Mediterranean
0:42.4	Sea into the Atlantic, and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles Lefifth wanted nothing more than to
0:46.7	eradicate the Protestant heresy metastasizing through his domains, but the threat of an Ottoman
0:50.8	invasion forced him to stay his hand and indulge his Lutheran subjects to ensure a common defense. These are some of the many seemingly confusing moments from the
0:58.3	transition from the late medieval to the early modern period that seemed strange and contradictory
1:02.3	to us today, but made sense to those on the ground back then, when sometimes it made sense
1:07.8	to follow religious devotion, other times it made sense to follow real
1:10.9	politics. Today's episode, we're going to look at this transitional period in Western history
1:15.4	through the framework of the Ottoman Empire, who is in the middle of everything going on at this time,
1:20.1	and arguably the most powerful state in the Middle East and Europe, depending on what you consider
1:24.7	the Ottoman Empire to be. We're joined by Cy Shepard, author of the new book, Crescent Dawn,
1:29.0	The Rise of the Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern Age.
1:32.2	Hope you enjoy this discussion.
1:36.4	And one more thing before we get started with this episode,
1:38.7	a quick break for a word from our sponsors.
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