Cross & Crescent in the Balkans: The Ottoman Conquest of Southeastern Europe

by David Nicolle

This is NOT just another retelling of the Fall of Constantinople, though it does include a very fine account of that momentous event. It is the history of a quite extraordinary century, one which began when a tiny of force of Ottoman Turkish warriors was invited by the Christian Byzantine Emperor to cross the Dardanelles from Asia into Europe to assist him in one of the civil wars which were tearing the fast-declining Byzantine Empire apart.One hundred and eight years later the Byzantine capital of Constantinople fell to what was by then a hugely powerful and expanding empire of the Islamic Ottoman Turks, whose rulers came to see themselves as the natural and legitimate heirs of their Byzantine and indeed Roman predecessors. The book sets the scene, explains the background and tells the story, both military, political, cultural and personal, of the winners and the losers, plus those 'outsiders' who were increasingly being drawn into the dramatic story of the rise of the Ottoman Empire.

Genres: History, Medieval, Middle East, Nonfiction

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 19, 2011

About the author

David C. Nicolle is a British historian specialising in the military history of the Middle Ages, with a particular interest in the Middle East.

Reviews

[Anton Tomsinov · Rating 3 out of 5]

One more of those ‘not much better than Wikipedia’ type of books. Dull narrative, lack of references, too few original details or thoughts, questionable structure and inexplicable differences in detail level for similar topics. Overall it's a dutiful round-up or an introduction, an obsolete style in the shadow of such new brilliant popular authors like Roger Crowley.

[Alexandru · Rating 2 out of 5]

A half-decent summary of the Ottoman advance and conquest of the Balkans. The major issue is that I was expecting a lot more information about the Ottoman battles and conquest of Serbia, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and the like. Instead the author mostly focuses only on a few key events, mainly the Crusade of Nicopolis, the Crusade of Varna, the fall of Constantinople and the Ottoman-Venetian wars.

There seems to be a great deal of passages copied straight from the author's book about the Crusade of Nicopolis. The author also spends a great deal of time describing Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, habits, organisation and society. All that is interesting but what does it have to do with their conquests?

I was expecting a lot more information about the campaigns of Skanderbeg, the Serbian-Ottoman wars, the Ottoman-Wallachian and Ottoman-Moldavian wars, the exact details of the Ottoman conquest of Morea, Epirus and so on . Many of these events are barely even mentioned.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr David Nicolle is the author of numerous books dealing with medieval European and Islamic warfare, including Constantinople 1453: The End of Byzantium (2000), Nicopolis 1396: The Last Crusade (2001), Crusader Warfare (2007), and Knights of Jerusalem: The Crusading Order of the Hospitallers 1100-1565 (2008). He has been a prolific writer for the Osprey military history series. In the present study, the author provides a narrative that examines the complex history of Southeast Europe and the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Nicolle addresses the culture of the numerous groups of people in the region, including government and politics, economics, religion, law, literature, as well as military tactics and equipment. His study focuses on the turbulent history of the Middle East and the gradual unifying effect of Ottoman military might over a fragmented Anatolia and Southeast Europe.

The main thrust of this study that will interest military historians is on the Ottoman conquest of Southeast Europe. By the fourteenth century the Byzantine Empire was weak militarily. The Byzantines needed the alliance of the Ottoman Turks in the struggle against Christian Balkan states. In 1353-55, the Ottomans gained their first foothold on the European continent as an ally of the Byzantine Emperor. The Turks manned the fort of Çinbi and neighboring towns on the Gallipoli peninsula. As Nicolle writes: “This would thereafter be the launch-pad for the Ottoman state’s eventual conquest of the entire Balkan peninsula” (p.64). In fact, the Byzantines soon turned to the Serbs and Bulgarians for assistance against the Ottoman Turks. But, the Ottomans, under Emir Murat (Murad) I (1362-89), pushed deep into Thrace, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Serbia. He became “one of the most remarkable conquerors in medieval European history” (p.66). Having captured Adrianople in eastern Thrace, Murat I renamed it Edirne and established the capital of the Ottoman Empire there in 1365. He conquered western Thrace and Macedonia in 1371-76, and then obtained the vassal states of Bulgaria in 1376 and Dobruja in 1388. Murat I took the title of sultan in 1383. He led the Ottoman forces that defeated the Serbs at the First Battle of Kosovo in 1389.
Bayezit (Bayezid) I (1389-1402) picked up where his father left off. He forced Serbia and Bosnia to become vassals of the Ottoman Empire in 1389, followed by Wallachia in 1391. The Ottomans had control of the southern Balkans, having reduced the Byzantine Empire to the area immediately surrounding Constantinople. In 1393, the Turks captured Nikopol (Nicopolis) in Bulgaria. At this point, in 1394, Pope Boniface IX, with encouragement from the threatened states of Hungary, Venice, and Genoa, declared a crusade against the Ottoman Turks. The crusade would include ground and naval forces from France, Burgundy, Hungary, Knights of St. John, the German Empire, Italian city-states, Byzantine Empire, and various other Christian states. The crusade ended at the Battle of Nikopol, where the Ottomans soundly defeated the Crusaders, in September 1396. The author stresses that, “the best Crusading army that western Christendom could muster had been utterly defeated in its first real battle” (p.123). As a result, the Kingdom of Hungary was gravely weakened in its defense against the Turkish threat. Fortunately, Bayezit I turned his attention away from Europe to the danger of Timur-i Lenk (Tamerlane) on the Asian front. Timur had already overrun large parts of Russia, Iran, India, and Central Asia. In 1400, Timur moved his army into Anatolia and northern Syria, capturing Damascus in 1401, and then outmaneuvering and defeating Bayezit I at the Battle of Ankara in 1402. The Sultan was captured (and died in captivity) while the shattered Ottoman army fled to the west. Timur ravaged Turkish lands to the Aegean Sea, capturing Izmir in 1402. Nicolle points out that “the defeat . . . could have spelled the end of the Ottoman state, but the fact that it did not do so says a great deal for the inherent strength of early Ottoman government and military systems” (p.136). Fortunately, Timur turned towards the goal of conquering Chinese territory.

The Ottoman Sultanate remained in turmoil for a number of years. The Ottoman Empire experienced a series of civil wars between the four sons of Bayezit I for control of the Sultanate. As a result, Serbia, Bosnia, and Wallachia threw off Ottoman control. Eventually, in 1413, Mehmet I (Mehmed) (1413-21) emerged as the leader of the Ottomans. Ottoman power would rise under the leadership of Mehmet I, his son Murat II (1421-44, 1446-51), and his son Mehmet II (1444-46, 1451-81). The Ottomans regained the lost Balkan provinces by 1524, and forced Dubrovnik (Ragusa) to become a vassal state in 1430, followed by conquering Epirus and southern Albania in 1431-33. The growth of Ottoman power resulted in King Wladislaw (Wladyslaw) III of Poland-Hungary launching a crusade against the Turks in 1443. However, Murat II defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Varna in 1444. “Once again,” so declares Nicolle, “a victory against the biggest and best-equipped army that Western Christendom could send against them brought huge prestige to the Ottomans” (p.153). Now the Turks forced Morea to become a vassal state, and then imposed direct rule over Bulgaria in 1446. Shortly thereafter, in 1448, Janos Hunyadi, the Regent-Governor of Hungary, led a Hungarian-Wallachian invasion of Ottoman territory. This time the Turkish army under Murat II defeated the invaders at the Second Battle of Kosovo. The Turks now dominated the Balkan Region.
The youthful Mehmet II sought to conquer the fragmented remnants of the Byzantine Empire. The main goal was the city of Constantinople, technically a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, ruled by Constantine XI Palaiologos (1449-1453). The author points out that in “purely military terms the Byzantine Empire was now a very minor player in the events of south-eastern Europe” (p.176). But Constantinople was protected by massive walls, a small army and navy, and held the strategic island of Imroz off the mouth of the Dardanelles. Even so, the Ottomans had the advantages of a larger naval fleet, massive siege guns, and a large army against the Byzantines and their allies in the siege of Constantinople in 1453. The actual siege lasted for fifty-four days before the Turks overran the city. “The impact of the fall of Constantinople on the Byzantine world, “Nicolle writes, “was of course catastrophic and sent shock waves across Orthodox Christendom . . .” (p.217).
Mehmet II “the Conqueror” next turned towards Wallachia, Moldavia, and Greece, taking control of most of the Balkans by 1460. All that was left to resist Turkish power in the region were Venetian enclaves around Greece and the Balkans, Venetian and Genoese outposts in the Aegean and Adriatic Seas, as well as Genoese outposts in the Crimea. The Aegean and Black Seas, however, would become Ottoman lakes in the late fifteenth century, and the Venetian Republic and its overseas empire would continue its struggle against the Ottoman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The Turks would raid into northeastern Italy in the late 1490s and soon be knocking on the door of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Nicolle’s Cross and Crescent in the Balkans: The Ottoman Conquest of South-Eastern Europe (14th-15th Centuries) is a good introduction to the early Ottoman Empire and the conquest of Southeast Europe. It conveys the complex history of the region with its numerous fragmented states over several hundred years of history. It is highly informative, but the author goes off track at times from the theme of the Ottoman’s conquest of Southeast Europe and the study almost becomes a general history of the region. The book has a few typographical errors and mistakes, which the editor should have caught, resulting in frustration and confusion for the reader. It also lacks notes citing the sources used. Overall, however, this study is useful for general readers and undergraduate students.

[A.L. Sowards]

Good information, with about as much depth as you would expect from a 300 page book on such a big subject. The author did a good job covering a wide range of subjects within this topic. I felt the organization could have been better. There were also enough typos to be distracting (at least in the ebook), and a strange tendency to refer to Constantinople as Istanbul when discussing the city in the 13th and 14th centuries. 3 + stars.

[Matthew Dambro · Rating 3 out of 5]

An adequate introduction to a little understood time period. It suffers from a lack of detailed maps of an area of Europe that is little known in America. The author clearly understands his subject and writes well.

[Mick Maye · Rating 3 out of 5]

brief reading of the conquest of the southern balkan

A brief view of the initial conquest of the southern balkans including Constantinople. It includes the response or rather the lack of a response from the Christian forces.

[Joanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This veered from military history to over-generalizations about music history, all with too much reliance on poorly digested secondary sources.

[John Bianchi · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Nicolle is consistently engaging as a chronicler of medieval Europe especially the Balkans. This book is at once the definitive overview of the ottoman conquest, and yet, it's not as immediately engaging as his works that are narrower in scope. Still, its the must have for students of the medieval Balkans and anyone interested in why southeastern Europe looks the way it does today.