The transition from the declining Ottoman Empire to the contemporary Middle East is a story of profoundly tragic transformation fundamentally shaped by Western interests, strategies and intervention. The “West”, primarily represented by Britain, France, and later the United States, acted as the architects of the modern Middle East, carving out borders, installing regimes, and managing resources to suit their own selfish interests, often to the detriment of the local populations. The Ottoman Empire started as a small Anatolian principality in present-day Turkey in 1299.

The word “Ottoman” is an Anglicized, historical derivation of Osman. The Ottoman Empire was named after Osman I (or Osman Gazi), the leader of a Turkish tribe who founded the dynasty and the empire. The empire was ruled by the same dynasty, the House of Osman from roughly 1299 to 1922. By the 17th century, the empire was a vast, multi-ethnic superpower stretching across Asia, Europe, and North Africa, controlling the holy sites of Islam in Mecca and Medina, and key Mediterranean trade routes.

This phase of the Ottoman Empire’s expansion largely overlapped with the rise and consolidation of the Mughal Empire under emperors Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan, thus simultaneously establishing two of the world’s most powerful Islamic gunpowder empires. The Ottoman Empire was much bigger in geographical area. At its peak, it spanned 5.2 million sq. kilometres. By comparison, at its peak under Emperor Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire, which spanned nearly the entire Indian subcontinent ~ including modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and parts of Afghanistan ~ covered approximately 4 million sq. kms.

The Ottoman Empire had reached its greatest territorial extent just before the Battle of Vienna fought in September 1683. Following its decisive defeat at the Battle of Vienna, the Ottoman Empire entered a long period of decline, losing vast territories in Europe. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, continued military losses, nationalist revolts, and territorial cessions in North Africa to European powers further reduced their reach. By the onset of World War I, the empire had lost the vast majority of its European and........

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