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Cultural sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa : an encyclopedia. v. cm. -- (SAGE reference) Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 1. Middle East / [edited by] Andrea L. Stanton -- v. 2. Africa / [edited by] Edward Ramsamy -- v. 3. East and Southeast Asia / [edited by] Peter J. Seybolt -- v. 4. South, Central, and West Asia / [edited by] Carolyn M. Elliott ISBN 978-1-4129-8176-7 (cloth) 1. Culture--Middle East--Encyclopedias. 2. Culture--Africa--Encyclope-dias. 3. Culture--Asia--Encyclopedias. I. Stanton, Andrea L. HM626.C843 2012 306.09--dc23 2011036143

12 13 14 15 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Vice President and Publisher: Rolf A. JankeSenior Editor: Jim Brace-ThompsonProject Editor: Tracy BuyanCover Designer: Gail BuschmanEditorial Assistant: Michele ThompsonReference Systems Manager: Leticia GutierrezReference Systems Coordinator: Laura NottonMarketing Manager: Kristi Ward

Contents

About the Volume Editor viIntroduction viiRegional Map ixReader’s Guide xiList of Articles xvList of Contributors xixChronology xxviiArticles by Chronological Period Part I: Prehistory to 1250 1 Part II: 1250 to 1920 123 Part III: 1920 to Present 233Glossary 381Resource Guide 389Appendix: Country Statistics 393Volume 1 Index 399Photo Credits 426

Volume 1

Andrea L. Stanton teaches in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Denver. Trained as a historian (Ph.D., Columbia University, 2007), her research focuses on the 20th-century Middle East, and particularly the intersections between technol-ogy, communications media, and identity forma-tion. Her dissertation, now undergoing revision as a manuscript, analyzes the history and impact of the Palestine Broadcasting Service, which broadcast from Jerusalem from 1936 to 1949. Her most recent work considers expressions of religious identity in print and broadcast media and investigates the sometimes con-flictual, sometimes cooperative relationship between new technologies and claims to religious authority. A forthcoming article examines government manage-

vi

ment of religious broadcasts in Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s. She connects this to a broader history of Middle Eastern states controlling religious communi-ties’ access to radio and television, including the com-plications engendered by the satellite phenomenon that started in the late 1990s.

She has previously taught at Sarah Lawrence Col-lege and the American University of Beirut, and currently serves on the Board of the Syrian Studies Association as editor of the association’s quarterly newsletter. She also serves as editor of H-Levant, an academic listserv with over 900 members, and as a manuscript reviewer for the Digest of Middle East Studies and the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies.

About the Volume Editor

xix

List of Contributors

Faina C. Abaya-UlindangMindanao State University

Mohamed Alaa Abdel-MoneimAmerican University and Cairo University

Hamid AbdollahyanUniversity of Tehran

Tosin Funmi AbiodunUniversity of Texas at Austin

Ahmed AchratiHoward Community College

Benjamin T. AcostaClaremont Graduate University

Lady Jane AcquahUniversity of Texas at Austin

Nassef M. AdiongMiddle East Technical University

Razi AhmadUniversity of Arizona

Hossam I. AhmedUniversity of Utah

Akram Al ArissChampagne School of Management

Allison AlexyLafayette College

Adam AliUniversity of Toronto

Shatha AlmutawaUniversity of Chicago

Asaad Al-SalehUniversity of Utah

Katherine AlthlathiniAmerican University in Cairo

Vivian Djokotoe AmantanaWestern Oregon University

Kyle David AndersonCentre University

Grace AnnorOhio University

Anatoliy AnshinRussian State University for the Humanities

Arif ArshadIndependent Scholar

Meera AsharCity University of Hong Kong

Abimbola O. AsojoUniversity of Oklahoma

Serpil Atamaz-HazarUniversity of Arizona

xx List of Contributors

Abdellatif AttafiCollege of Charleston

Mark AuslanderBrandeis University

Kobina AyitteyOhio University

Heba AzizUniversity of Alexandria

Tierno S. BahSmithsonian Institution

Jayant Bhalchandra BapatMonash University

James BarryMonash University

Jennifer E. BeamerUniversity of Alberta

Abdessamad BelhajPázmány Péter Catholic University

Alexandre BenodUniversité Jean Moulin–Lyon 3

Lars BergerUniversity of Salford

Thomas J BerghuisUniversity of Sydney

Amos J. BeyanWestern Michigan University

Nilanjana BhattacharyaVisva-Bharati University

Laurel Birch de AguilarUniversity of Edinburgh

Shampa BiswasWhitman College

Sarah BoslaughKennesaw State University

Odette Boya RestaJohns Hopkins University

Joyce Tang BoylandAlverno College

Jaquelene BrintonUniversity of Kansas

Walton Brown-FosterCentral Connecticut State University

Elizabeth Summer BucknerStanford University

Noah ButlerNorthwestern University

Qing CaoLiverpool John Moores University

Christina CappyUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison

James CaseyPrinceton University

Elizabeth ChackoGeorge Washington University

Nawaraj ChaulagainHarvard University

Pin-Hsi ChenUniversity of Pittsburgh

Sheng Yao ChengNational Chung Cheng University

Jepkorir Rose Chepyator-ThomsonUniversity of Georgia

Sam CherribiEmory University

Omar ChetaNew York University

Peter A. CoclanisUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Justin CorfieldGeelong Grammar School

Bezen Balamir CoskunZirve University

Russ CrawfordOhio Northern University

Christopher CusackKeene State College

Peter T. DanielsIndependent Scholar

Anandini DarRutgers University

Kamala Kanta DashMonash University

Gareth DaveyHong Kong Shue Yan University

Carmen De MicheleLudwig-Maximilians University Munich

Alper Y. DedeZirve University

Marco DemichelisUniversity of Genoa

Anitha DeshamudreUniversity of North Carolina, Charlotte

Eric G. DinmoreHampden-Sydney College

Courtney DorrollUniversity of Arizona

List of Contributors xxi

Philip DorrollEmory University

Teresa M. Downing-MatibagIowa State University

Richard Jean Dumbrill Sr.University of London

Debalina DuttaPurdue University

Mohan DuttaPurdue University

el-Sayed el-AswadUnited Arab Emirates University

Moulay Youness ElboustyEmory University

Alix Méav Ellinwood-JeromeCollege of William & Mary

Aykan ErdemirMiddle East Technical University, Ankara

Ifeanyi EzeonuBrock University

Thomas FeldhoffGoethe University Frankfurt

Mario D. FenyoBowie State University

Matthew James ForssIndependent Scholar

Kim FouldsTeachers College, Columbia University

Vanessa FrangvilleUniversité Jean Moulin–Lyon 3

John T. FriedmanUtrecht University

Allen FromherzGeorgia State University

Caren J. FrostUniversity of Utah

Kazuya FukuokaSaint Joseph’s University

Benjamin GeerUniversity of London

Ioannis GeorganasFoundation of the Hellenic World

Christina GhanbarpourUniversity of California, Irvine

Mohammad GharipourMorgan State University

Fatma Müge GöçekUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Francis Ebenezer GodwyllOhio University

Casey GolomskiBrandeis University

June GrassoBoston University

John Aron GrayzelUniversity of Maryland

Fiona Rose GreenlandUniversity of Michigan

Terje GrønningUniversity of Oslo

Allison HahnUniversity of Pittsburgh Honors College

Michael R. HallArmstrong Atlantic State University

Shak HanishNational University

Kelly J. HansenUniversity of British Columbia

Rachel S. HarrisUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Reza HasmathUniversity of Toronto

John C. HawleySanta Clara University

Zackery M HeernUniversity of Utah

Kevin HewisonUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Jun Seong HoAcademy of Korean Studies

Elaine HsiehUniversity of Oklahoma

Yongguang HuState University of New York, Binghamton

LaRese HubbardCalifornia State University, Long Beach

Tin-bor Victoria HuiUniversity of Notre Dame

Wonjae HwangUniversity of Tennessee

Dina A. IbrahimSan Francisco State University

A.R.M. ImtiyazTemple University

Heather InwoodOhio State University

xxii List of Contributors

Abdul JabbarCity College of San Francisco

W. James JacobUniversity of Pittsburgh

Julio A. JeldresMonash University

Xiaoqian JiUniversity of Pittsburgh

Hong JiangNorthwestern University

Hyejung JuUniversity of Oklahoma

J. Seraphin KamdemSOAS, University of London

Kristen KaoUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Hasan KaratasNew York University

Loveleen KaurMonash University

Sarah Elizabeth KeilIndiana University

Jay KeisterUniversity of Colorado, Boulder

Mohammed Abdul Mujeeb KhanUniversity of Tokyo

Belinda KongBowdoin College

Mickie KosterLonestar College

Eric Mark KramerUniversity of Oklahoma

Bill Kte’piIndependent Scholar

Vani S. KulkarniYale University

Andrew KurtGeorgia State University

Priya LalNew York University

Robert G. LaunayNorthwestern University

Samantha LaurenUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

Robert LawlessWichita State University

Anthony A. LeeUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Che-Wei LeeUniversity of Pittsburgh

Hee Sook Lee-NiiniojaOxford Brookes University

Stefano A.E. LeoniUniversity of Urbino

Hongling LiangCity University of Hong Kong

Pei-Yin LinUniversity of Cambridge

Isidore LobnibeWestern Oregon University

Matthew L. LongChatfield College

Rui Oliveira LopesUniversity of Lisbon

Jonathan Z. LudwigRice University

Brandon D. LundyKennesaw State University

Solomon Chiemene MadubuikeBowen University

Driss MaghraouiAl-Akhawayn University

Cuong T. MaiUniversity of Vermont

Sebastian MaiselGrand Valley State University

Sarasij MajumderKennesaw State University

Ntambwe MalanguUniversity of Limpopo

Josep MartíSpanish Council of Scientific Research CSIC

Sara MartinsGoldsmiths University of London

Mary MazzilliUniversity of London–SOAS

Babacar M’BayeKent State University

Deric McNishUniversity of Colorado, Boulder

Liuxi MengKennesaw State University

Aaron L. MillerKyoto University

Patit Paban MishraSambalpur University

List of Contributors xxiii

Kamaludeen Mohamed NasirUniversity of Western Sydney

Barry MowellBroward College

Debali Mookerjea-LeonardJames Madison University

Fatima Mueller-FriedmanUtrecht University

Sucharita Sinha MukherjeeSaint John’s University

Todd S. MunsonRandolph-Macon College

Jennifer MurtazashviliUniversity of Pittsburgh

Todd Eric MyersSan Diego State University

Jeffrey NeilsonUniversity of Sydney

Sajjad NejatieUniversity of Toronto

Karen W. NgonyaOhio State University

Elizabeth NgumbiOhio University

Thien-Huong NinhUniversity of Southern California

Segun ObasaUniversity of Texas at Austin

‘BioDun J. OgundayoUniversity of Pittsburgh

Benjamin Akíntúndé OyètádéUniversity of London

Cenk OzbayUniversity of Southern California

Ramazan Hakki OztanUniversity of Utah

Gairoonisa PalekerStellenbosch University

Sharon L. ParkerZayed University

Michael John PatonUniversity of Sydney

Hillary PedersenIndependent Scholar

Daniel C. PetersonBrigham Young University

Ihor PidhainyMarietta College

Scopas S. PoggoOhio State University

Xun zhang PomponioSt. Olaf College

Elizabeth Rholetter PurdyIndependent Scholar

Marina PyrovolakiAmerican University of Beirut

Danielle Ooyoung PyunOhio State University

Tahera QutbuddinUniversity of Chicago

Harith Bin RamliOxford University

Edward RamsamyRutgers University

Francesca RecchiaIndependent Scholar

Alena RettováUniversity of London

Wylene RholetterAuburn University

David Alexander RobinsonEdith Cowan University

Jack Drake RollinsIndiana University, Bloomington

Ashok K. RoyKennesaw State University

Emrah SahinMcGill University

Abdulkareem Said RamadanGettysburg College

Takuya SakuraiUniversity of Oklahoma

Anthony Mawuli SallarOhio University

Samiparna SamantaFlorida State University

Natasha SarkarNational University of Singapore

Bryce SasakiWestern Washington University

Amita SatyalRutgers University, Newark

Leonardo SchiocchetBoston University

Sven Alexander SchottmannMonash University

xxiv List of Contributors

John SchroederSt. Mary’s College of Maryland

Ulrike SchuerkensÉcole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

Alexander Hugo SchulenburgIndependent Scholar

Peter J. SeyboltUniversity of Vermont

Yochanan ShachmuroveCity College of New York

Purnima ShahDuke University

Mordecai George SheftallShizuoka University

Nahda ShehadaErasmus University Rotterdam

Robert J. ShepherdGeorge Washington University

Chuan-kang ShihUniversity of Florida

Vicensia ShuleUniversity of Dar es Salaam

Benjamin R. SiegelHarvard University

Kapila D. SilvaUniversity of Kansas

Rita J. SimonAmerican University

Srini SitaramanClark University

Nancy SnowCalifornia State University, Fullerton

Andrea L. StantonUniversity of Denver

Matthew StavrosUniversity of Sydney

James McLeod Steele Jr.University of Southern California

Lior Betzalel SternfeldUniversity of Texas at Austin

Kearsley StewartNorthwestern University

Chen-Jui SuUniversity of Pittsburgh

Mike Tadashi SugimotoPepperdine University

Shunichi TakekawaRitsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Naoko TakemaruUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegas

Nicholas Charles TappEast China Normal University

Betsy TaylorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Alexis B. TenganIndependent Scholar

Aysecan TerziogluCity University of New York

Tharaphi ThanUniversity of London

Christina TornsBriarcliffe College

Marcella Bush TrevinoBarry University

Lik Hang TsuiUniversity of Oxford

Krzysztof UlanowskiUniversity of Gdansk

Pheroze UnwallaSOAS, University of London

Ivan Vander biesenCatholic University of Leuven/McGill University

Rodolfo M. VegaUniversity of Pittsburgh

Lavanya VemsaniShawnee State University

Elena VezzadiniUniversity of Bergen

Florent VillardUniversité Jean Moulin–Lyon 3

Anne J. WaliaulaIndependent Scholar

Ken Walibora WaliaulaUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison

John WalshShinawatra University

J. Thomas WalzerIndependent Scholar

Ning WangArizona State University

Cy Ashley WebbStanford University

R. Charles WellerYale University

Christine M. WestphalSuffolk University

List of Contributors xxv

Ken WhalenUniversity of Brunei Darussalam

J. Tia WheelerUniversity of St. Andrews

Mark Douglas WhitakerKookmin University

James H. WilliamsGeorge Washington University

Alex WilsonOhio University

Khonsura A. WilsonCalifornia State University, Long Beach

Justin T. WinslettUniversity of Oxford

Chuen-Fung WongMacalester College

Pichamon YeophantongAustralian National University

Almaz ZewdeHoward University

Xiaowen ZhangAugustana College

Willa ZhenUniversity of London

Liren ZhengCornell University

Jonathan ZilbergUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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170 Ottoman Asian Conquests

discovery in 1927 at Baba Gurgur in Iraq demon-strated, nowhere was that oil more apt to be found than in the Middle East.

By the end of World War I, the role that oil had played in the international system dramatically changed. During World War I, the main difference between the Allied forces of England, France, and the United States and those of Germany, Austria-Hun-gary, and Ottoman Turkey was not just tactics and leadership but oil supply. World War I showed that a nation could not be secure without a steady supply of oil.

Although Western oil companies pumped and exported nearly all of the oil to fuel the rapidly expanding automobile industry and other Western industrial developments, the kings and emirs of the oil states became immensely rich, enabling them to consolidate their hold on power and giving them a stake in preserving Western hegemony over the region. Oil wealth also had the effect of stultifying whatever movement toward economic, political, or social reform might have emerged in the Arab world.

Impact on Other TradeIn the pre-oil era trade, shipping and pearling were the main economic activities in the region. These economic activities dominated the decisions regard-ing production process and mode of production. Hence, they determined the political, social, and cul-tural institutions of the region. The mode of produc-tion was changed with the involvement of Britain, and the technological changes in pearl production were replaced with those based on oil. The new era generated considerable affluence but brought few changes in political structures and regimes. When oil was discovered and oil revenues prevailed, the other revenues from the original economic basis of the region’s wealth vanished but the social hierarchies remained. Since the rise of oil revenues, the old mer-chant class has become less and less influential on government. While revenues have accumulated, and as many members of the ruling family have become more and more interested in business, pre-oil sepa-ration between the sheikh-dominated governmental realm and the merchant class–dominated business realm began to disappear. The discovery of large oil reserves has most profoundly impacted the culture and people of Middle Eastern countries. Because the

world depends on petroleum as a primary source of fuel, the discovery of oil has created many trading opportunities for the Middle East, thus, the Middle Eastern societies opened up to Western influence.

Bezen Balamir CoskunZirve University

See Also: European Economic Impact; Imperialism; World War I.

Further ReadingsNiblock, Tim, ed. Social and Economic Development in the

Arab Gulf. London: Croom Helm, 1980.Rumaihi, M. G. “The Mode of Production in the Arab Gulf

Before the Discovery of Oil.” In Social and Economic Development in the Arab Gulf, Tim Niblock, ed. London: Croom Helm, 1980.

Waldron Grutz, Jane. “Prelude to Discovery.” Saudi Aramco World (January/February 1999).

Ottoman Asian Conquests Ottoman expansion in Asia mostly took place in the 15th and 16th centuries and covered Asia Minor, the Caucasus, the Fertile Crescent, and the Arabian Peninsula. The Ottoman empire in the 14th century largely remained in western Anatolia. Only after their incorporation of the north Anatolian cities of Ankara (1354) and Amasya (1387) did the Ottomans become a major player in the affairs of central and eastern Ana-tolia. The Ottomans spent the rest of the 15th century annexing the remainder of Anatolia, west of the diago-nal line extending from Trebizond (southeastern Black Sea port) to Cilicia in south-central Anatolia. The 16th century witnessed almost exponential growth of the Asian territories of the empire. In the first two decades of this century, the Ottomans conquered eastern Ana-tolia, the southern Caucasus, the Fertile Crescent, and the Arabian Peninsula. The fact that these territo-ries remained in Ottoman hands until the end of the empire in the 20th century leads to the conclusion that the Ottomans were partially successful in incorporat-ing these lands into their imperial system.

The first major Asian conquest by the Ottomans was the Byzantine city of Brusa, which was located in

1250 to 1920 Ottoman Asian Conquests 171

northwestern Anatolia and fell into Ottoman hands in 1326. Until the conquest of the central Anatolian city of Ankara in 1354, the Ottomans enlarged their territories in Asia Minor mostly at the expense of the Byzantine Empire. After the succession of the ener-getic Bayezid I (“the Thunderbolt,” d. 1402) to the Ottoman throne, the Ottomans quickly annexed the Anatolian territories ruled by various Turkish princi-palities. Bayezid I went on to conquer cities located in eastern and southern Anatolia (Erzincan, Malatya, and Elbistan), the latter two belonging to the Mamluk Empire. However, Bayezid I’s imperial project, along with his army, was crushed by Tamerlane near Ankara in 1402. Timur returned the territories conquered by the Ottomans to their previous rulers. For the next century, the Ottoman Empire strived to recoup the lands conquered by Bayezid I, in addition to making relatively small acquisitions like the Black Sea ports of Amasra (1454) and Trebizond (1461). The 15th cen-tury closed with a prolonged war between the Otto-mans and the Mamluks (1484–91) for domination in Cilicia, located in southern Anatolia. Although the Ottomans were mostly unsuccessful, they demon-strated that they would be a formidable enemy to the Mamluks in the following century.

The 16th century is, in many respects, the zenith of the Ottoman Empire. This century started with an eastern threat coming from a young mystic/war-rior Shah Ismail, the founder of the Safavid Empire. The Ottomans were initially on the defensive because of the dynastic struggle among various princely fac-tions. The contending princes included Selim I (“the Grim,” d. 1520), who later succeeded to the Ottoman throne (1512) and expanded the Asian holdings of the empire to an unmatched extent in merely eight years. Under Selim I’s rule, Ottomans first reacted to Shah Ismail’s activities in Anatolia in a decisive manner, defeating his army in Caldiran (1514) in eastern Ana-tolia and annexing his territories in the southern Cau-casus and eastern Anatolia. Selim I then turned his attention south to the Syrian territories under Mam-luk rule. In 1516 and 1517 he defeated the Mamluks twice, in northern Syria and then near Cairo, respec-tively. The Ottomans took over Mamluk territories in Syria, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula, but they had to deal with two rebellions (Canberdi Gazali in 1521 and Ahmet Paşa in 1524) while they spent the next 10 years consolidating their hold over these newly

acquired territories. The incorporation of the Arab territories was quite successful—no significant rebel-lion occurred until the early 19th century.

The same cannot be said about the Ottoman-Ira-nian frontier, which not only marked the territories of two imperial systems but also of two diverging reli-gious traditions. The Ottomans adopted the Sunni creed, while their Safavid rivals were the champions of Shiite beliefs, two different Islamic sects. Also, the difficulty of the terrain, which is mostly covered by mountains and has no naval access, made control of the acquired territories in the southern Cauca-sus and Iraq highly problematic for the Ottomans. Major cities of the region—Tabriz, Baghdad, Shirvan, Yerevan, and Mosul—continuously changed hands between the Ottoman and Safavid empires until the demise of the latter in 1723. Following the collapse of the Safavid Empire, the Ottomans were quick to seize the opportunity and reconquered major west-ern Iranian cities, such as Tabriz and Hamedan. But after 1730, the newly established Qajar dynasty was able to reclaim these cities, for the last time in the name of Iran.

Hasan KaratasNew York University

See Also: Mamluk Dynasty; Ottoman Origins; Safavid and Shi’i Iran; Süleyman the Magnificent; Tamerlane.

A regional map by Emanuel Bowen (ca. 1752) illustrates Asian territories of the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Safavid Empire.

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172 Ottoman Balkan Conquests

Further ReadingsCasale, Giancarlo. The Ottoman Age of Exploration.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The Story of the Ottoman

Empire, 1300–1923. New York: Basic Books, 2006.Har-El, Shai. Struggle for Domination in the Middle

East: The Ottoman-Mamluk War, 1485–91. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 1995.

Imber, Colin. The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power. 2nd ed. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Inalcik, Halil. An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Ottoman Balkan ConquestsThe Balkan region was conquered by the Ottomans in the 14th and 15th centuries. It became the richest and most important part of their empire. Until its expan-sion into the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire drew most of its wealth from taxation of this rich region and most of the recruits of the devshirme system that served in the administration and the Janissary corps. Ottoman presence in the Balkans was impor-tant because it put them in close proximity to the rest of Europe and formed a new base from which the empire could expand further into Europe, as well as into eastern and central Anatolia and the Middle East. The Balkans remained under Ottoman control until the nationalist independence movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries resulted in rebellions that loosened the Ottoman grip over the region and eventually saw the emergence of independent states.

BackgroundThe Balkan region was in a weak position in the 14th century. It had lost its political unity after the Fourth Crusade temporarily conquered Constantinople in 1204. The Balkan Peninsula became fragmented with Byzantines, Serbian princes, the Genoese, and the Venetians all vying for economic and political control and fighting against one another. The Ottomans were able to exploit this state of disunity and weakness to conquer what later became the most important part of their empire.

Orhan’s (r. 1324–62) forces had been enlisted by the Genoese to aid them in their fights against the Venetians and the Byzantines. They even ferried the Ottoman forces across the Bosporus. However, it was the Byzantine emperor, John V Kantakouzinos, who requested help from Orhan and invited a band of Turks, led by his son Süleyman, to garrison the fort of Tzympe in Thrace in 1354. This was the Ottomans’ first permanent stronghold in the Balkans. In the next few years, Süleyman’s forces proceeded to occupy a number of forts and towns in Gallipoli. The Byzan-tine sources attribute these successes to a huge earth-quake that weakened the defenses of these forts; how-ever, the Ottoman sources do not mention this event.

Enter the OttomansThe Ottomans became a major player in the poli-tics and warfare of the Balkans. Initially, they allied

During their conquest of Bulgaria, the Ottomans captured the Belogradchik Fortress in 1396 and expanded it for protection.