Ottoman Expansion, 1451–1556 I. Consolidation of Regional Power, 1451–1503

Abstract

The discourse on Ottoman military matters has long been dominated by considerations of the Ottomans’ readiness for war, especially their ideological readiness, and on their military organization and methods of warfare. This focus on Ottoman weaponry and battlefield tactics gives pre-eminence to debates over the superiority, inferiority or simple parity of Ottoman military methods vis-à-vis the west, with the underlying assumption that the only obstacle to unlimited Ottoman expansion was their ability to overcome their enemies in a purely military sense (Parry, 1975). This emphasis, and the evidence on which it rests, is largely derived from contemporary western sources, which were written at a time when the Ottoman empire was not just a military adversary but also an ideological and political foe.