Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This book presents a comprehensive history of the Ottoman Empire, tracing its evolution from a ministate in Anatolia to a world empire spanning Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. It examines how the sultans, as the most powerful rulers and defenders of Islam, build a highly centralized and efficiently governed state that embraces religious diversity. Through an exploration of politics and war, economics and society, and culture and religion, the book illuminates both the empire’s endurance and the lives of its diverse communities, including Muslims, Christians, and Jews. It highlights the reformist dynamism that enables the Turkish people to survive near destruction in World War I and re-emerge with renewed vitality. Finally, the book shows how these transformations culminate in the rise of the Turkish Republic, marking both the end of an empire and the beginning of a new national era.</jats:p>