The Ottoman Empire and its conflicts provide one of the longest continuous narratives in military history.

Its rulers were never overthrown by a foreign power and no usurper succeeded in taking the throne. At its height under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Empire became the most powerful state in the world - a multi-national, multilingual empire that stretched from Vienna to the upper Arab peninsula. With Suleiman''s death began the gradual decline to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 in which the Ottoman Empire lost much of its European territory.

This concise introduction covers the main campaigns and the part played by such elite troops as the Janissaries and the Sipahis, as well as exploring the social and economic impact of the conquests.