Klaus-Peter Matschke

A good general account of the advance of the Ottoman Empire into Europe. The author shows that apart from the organizational strengths of the Ottomans, it was repeated internal disunity among the European rulers and their subjects, as well as the weakness of their proto-states that led to the fall of one bulwark after another. The Turkish advance could have been stopped much earlier. Unfortunately, the conquest only affected Europe's backwater areas. Mourir pour Belgrade? Certainly not. The crusade of 1456 which relieved the siege of Belgrade was precisely a much talked about exception.

I wish the author had continued his story beyond the early 17th century. The book abruptly stops after the 1683 siege of Vienna, which is given much less coverage than the earlier one. Prince Eugene's Turkish campaigns and the events of the 18th century are hardly discussed. Thus, we are faced with either a missing volume II or a rather botched ending of an otherwise good book that is now sadly out of print.… (mer)