All language subtitles for Ottomans.vs.Christians.The.Battle.for.Europe.S01E01.2160p.WEB.h264-VOYAGES_track3_[eng]

- From obscure beginnings as

a warrior tribe of nomadic horsemen,

the Ottoman Empire rose to
become the most powerful force

in the Islamic World.

With its magnificent capitol, Istanbul,

here on the European
shores of the Bosporus,

it stood as a self-styled caliphate

whose territories rivaled
those of Ancient Rome.

This was an empire founded
on military conquest.

And the Ottomans had a mastery
of Europe in their sight.

For 500 years, the battle
raged back and forth

as the Ottomans tried to establish

a permanent presence in Eastern Europe.

It's a legacy that continues to haunt

these contested lands to this day.

For all its grandeur and might,

little is known about

the Ottoman Empire's earliest beginnings.

But legend tells us
something of its purpose.

And the legend goes something like this.

Osman, a young Turkoman tribal warrior

living somewhere in northwest Anatolia,

traveled to the home of Edebali,

a highly regarded
religious man in the area.

Osman knew Edebali and
he admired his teachings.

He also had his eye on
the old man's daughter.

Edebali, for his part,
wasn't quite so enamored

of his prospective son in law.

But Osman persevered.

He continued his visits.

And then one night something
extraordinary happened.

Osman dreamed he saw the moon rise up

from the holy man's
chest as he lay sleeping.

It crossed the sky and it
set in Osman's own chest.

Then a tree sprouted from Osman's navel.

It grew large and strong.

And its branches spread
across the entire sky.

Casting a cooling shade on all the land.

Streams of fresh water rushed
down from the mountains

that people drank from.

Osman immediately woke up
Edebali and told him his dream,

which the old man interpreted
as a divine prophecy

foretelling a glorious future of Osman

and the expansion of his people.

A dream of empire, no less.

Well, the stuff of legend probably.

But Osman the Turkoman warrior
was a real historical figure

and is recognized as the
founder of the Ottoman dynasty.

The word Ottoman actually
means the people of Osman.

And the name Osman means bone cruncher.

A rather ominous portent for the future.

Oh, in case you're wondering,
yes, he did get the girl.

He married her.

- This legend is rooted in
Central Asian mythology.

This is an example of the Ottoman Turk's

pre-Islamic origins.

The tree story is one of several

which are justifications
for expansion and rule

and, to some extent,

you might say, universal domination.

The idea that the Turks are
destined to rule the world.

- [Julian] Exploiting
their legendary skills

as warrior horsemen, the
people of Osman spread out

across northwestern Anatolia.

They ransacked towns and villages,

both Byzantine and Muslim.

Acquiring more territory,
booty, and recruits.

But it wasn't until they captured

the Byzantine town of Prousa in 1326

that their status would change.

Setting them on a course for empire.

Prousa was little more than an outpost

on the edges of the
dwindling Byzantine Empire.

Osman had his eye on
the city for some time.

But it wasn't until his
son Orhan came to power

that the Ottomans succeeded in taking it.

Known today as Bursa,

the city is the fourth largest in Turkey

and one of the country's historical gems.

But, for the Ottomans of
the early 14th century,

it represented not the
past but the future.

- Bursa was important.

When they took control of it,

it sort of altered the
whole of their society.

They certainly became
rulers of a significant town

for the first time.

- The Ottomans renamed the city Bursa

and they made it their capitol.

So, suddenly, we see them
abandoning a tribal way of life

and adopting an urban lifestyle.

And they also acquire imperial ambitions.

A dream of empire which they realized

by rebuilding the city in their own image.

It's like their calling card.

They say, "We've arrived.

We're here to stay.

And we mean business."

And it's really a quite
dramatic transformation

and it happens very quickly.

Considered by many to be the true heart

of the Ottoman empire,

Bursa is filled with impressive monuments

from the Early Ottoman Period.

Dominating the city is the
grand Ulu Cami, or Great Mosque.

Built at the end of the 14th century,

its scale and beauty expresses perfectly

the empire's lofty ambitions.

But it is, perhaps,

the older Yildirim Bayezid Mosque Complex,

built about 60 years
after the city's conquest,

that tells us more
about the Ottoman's aims

in those nascent days of empire.

Set just outside the city center,

with its own hospital,
school, bathhouse, kitchen,

it was the Ottoman's first mosque complex.

Built to attract a community
that could be taxed

and thereby generate revenue.

Stepping inside this mosque,

one is immediately struck by
the grandeur of the interior,

which is, of course,
precisely what was intended.

This is a power statement.

But one also gets the impression that

it's not very mosque-like.

It's a bit like a church, if
that's not too sacrilegious.

It has a transept.

Except the transept is towards the door.

And I think, probably, the
early architects and artisans

and builders who were
responsible for this building,

they probably came from
Byzantium themselves.

And that, of course,
was the benchmark that

the Ottomans were pitching
themselves against.

Impressive as it was,
Bursa couldn't compare

with the legendary capitol

of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople,

located 56 miles to the north.

Spread out along the European
side of the Bosporus,

Constantinople sat at the crossroads

of ancient trade routes
between East and West,

which made the city immensely
powerful and wealthy.

Known today as Istanbul,

Constantinople was once the epicenter

of the Eastern Roman Empire

and the Orthodox Christian Church.

- The Byzantine Empire had shrunk

and was no longer powerful.

But it had this cultural significance.

It had been there since the
first expansion of Islam.

It had resisted attack

by the early Muslim Arabs successfully.

It had resisted attacks over centuries.

It loomed hugely in the imagination

and the political sort of
landscape of the Ottomans

and, indeed, of all
Muslims of the Middle East.

- By the mid-14th century,

the Byzantine Empire was embroiled

in a power struggle between
two claimants to the throne.

John VI Kantakouzenos,

a close confidant of the previous emperor,

and John V Palaiologos,

the 20 year old hereditary
heir to the throne.

Kantakouzenos, aware of the Ottomans'

formidable reputation as warriors,

invited Orhan's forces to help
him suppress the rebellion.

So, in 1352, an Ottoman force made its way

to the Dardanelles Straights,

a narrow strip of water separating

Anatolia from the Gallipoli Peninsula

on the mainland of southeastern Europe.

Born of desperation, the
Byzantine king's decision

was to have dire consequences.

Not only for the future of Byzantium.

But also the Balkans.

The backdoor to Europe had been literally

flung open to Ottoman expansion.

And the pickings were rich.

Landing on the European
side of the straight,

Orhan's forces marched into Thrace

where they roundly defeated
the Byzantine rebels.

This was the first major battle

the Ottomans would fight
and win on European soil.

Kantakouzenos's reign was secured.

But any expectations he might have had

about Orhan's armies returning
from whence they came

were quickly dispelled.

- According to Islamic law,

once some land has been
conquered by Islam,

it becomes part of the Islamic World.

It was believed the Islamic
World was destined, really,

to sweep over the whole of the Earth.

And so, there could only
ever be an advance in this.

And, once the flag had been
planted in a piece of land,

it was theirs and it was nonnegotiable.

- Orhan does seem to have used this idea

that you can't abandon territory

which has once been conquered by Muslims.

So, he can't give back
this little fortress.

Gives him the base.

The Byzantines are not strong enough

to take it back by force.

And, from there, they can raid.

- [Julian] Ottoman forces swept northwards

across Thrace with breathtaking speed.

Bypassing Constantinople itself,

they pushed deeper into Europe.

Reaching the city of Adrianopolis

near the Bulgarian border in
little more than a decade.

- Under late Byzantine rule,

the Balkans was a chaotic
collection of little kingdoms.

Very fragmented.

And ruled by Christian feudal overlords

who oppressed their
peasantry very heavily.

- You could say, really,

it was absolutely ripe for the picking.

There had been fighting between

the Byzantines, the Bulgarians, the Serbs,

various other people.

The place was in a mess.

- It really provided an opportunity

for the Ottomans to step in

and actually to provide
something a little bit better.

- In some places, they were accepted.

In some places, they were even welcomed.

It's almost like a sense of relief.

"Finally," the locals might be saying,

"we've got a government that can govern."

- Named after the Roman Emperor Hadrian,

Adrianopolis was a significant
conquest for the Ottomans.

It was perfectly positioned to launch

far reaching campaigns into Europe.

By the time of its capture, Orhan had died

and his more than capable
son Murad had come to power.

Murad was an accomplished military leader

who understood the city's
strategic potential.

So, he changed its name
to the Turkish Edirne

and began to transform it into

a grand European capitol for his empire.

The Ottomans celebrated
their entry into Europe

with a dazzling display of
architectural magnificence.

But, for all that, Edirne
was, first and foremost,

a military center.

It's a legacy that is still
very much alive to this day.

(applause)

Edirne lays claim to the
longest continually running

state-sanctioned sports
competition in the world,

the Annual Kirkpinar Oil
Wrestling Tournament.

Oil wrestling is the
national sport of Turkey

and its history goes back a long way.

But the competitions at Edirne

began in the 14th century

when the Ottoman army came to town.

Turkish historian Sana
Turson is a fan of the event

and he's invited me to
watch a practice match

between two of this year's
strongest contenders.

Watching these gentlemen
writhing around as we are,

tell me something about the rules.

- The rules are different
from modern wrestling.

If the belly of a wrestler
is exposed to sun,

then the wrestling is over.

Alternatively, if a
wrestler grabs the other one

into the air and walks three steps,

then the wrestling is over, too.

- Well, so that was a lift.

- Yeah, good lift, but he
walked forward two paces.

- Ah, right, he's gotta take three.

- Yes.

- According to legend,

oil wrestling came to
Edirne in the 14th century

when a group of Ottoman soldiers
began to wrestle nearby.

Two of the soldiers were so evenly matched

that they wrestled through the night

until they both died of exhaustion.

To honor them, a wrestling competition

has taken place at Edirne ever since.

Oily men in leather breeches,

where does that come from, Sana?

- It comes from Central Asia.

It was a kind of preparation for war.

So, every Turkish warrior was
a wrestler at the same time.

- The Ottoman army's famous for being

very well organized and structured.

How were the forces recruited?

- The real power of the
Ottoman army was the Janissary

who formed, at most, 10% of the army.

Those Janissaries were not Turks.

They were taken from
Christian families in Balkans.

Their children were
taken as a kind of tax.

- And these children were

forcibly removed from their families,

I understand it.

Which seems a terribly harsh imposition.

- In the beginning, it was.

But, in time, as families saw that

their children could rose
to the highest positions,

most of the families gave
their children voluntarily.

- So, that's rather extraordinary

that some of the highest
offices in the land

were occupied by non-Turks

and originally people who were Christians.

- Yes, but of course.

They learned Turkish traditions

and, of course, they became good Muslims.

And, once they were taken
from families and trained,

they were only loyal to the sultan.

(exciting music)

- [Julian] So, that's game over, is it?

- [Sana] Yes.

- Congratulations.

Great battle.

Titans.

Very spectacular.

(speaking foreign language)

- Would you like to try?

- Oh, I think I need to bulk up a bit

before I take you on, but I'll be back.

In the latter half of the 14th century,

the Ottoman army was
probably the most efficient

and formidable fighting
force in the Western world.

With professional salaried
troops at its core,

each with its specific role to play,

it was a very modern army
compared to its European rivals.

Each division was immediately recognizable

by its colorful uniforms and insignia.

Feathers, plumes, that kind of thing.

And it played a very specific role

in the Ottoman war machine.

Now, these rather fearsome
bunch of desperadoes behind me,

they're from the Balkasier Carassi

Cavalry Re-Enactment Group.

And they're gonna show me exactly how

all of this fitted together.

Gentlemen, are you ready?

(speaking foreign language)

I'm out of here.

At its core were the Janissaries.

That elite force of infantrymen
drawn from Balkan children.

The salaried force loyal to the sultan,

the Janissaries were
highly trained fighters

likened to the Roman praetorian guards.

Their reputation for ferocious
charges was unrivaled.

Just as elite were the sipahis

and the sultan's own Kapi
Kulu sipahis cavalry.

They were the main
attacking force of the army

leading charges from the front

and performing pincer-like
attacks from the flanks.

(exciting music)

Then there were the irregular forces.

Called up in times of war,

they were unsalaried and unpredictable.

The bashi-bazouks were foot soldiers

motivated primarily by
the promise of booty.

The word bashi-bazouk means
damaged head in Turkish.

A reference to their
complete lack of discipline

and reckless courage in battle.

Last but not least were the akinji,

a light cavalry used for surprise attacks

and lightning raids on the enemy

before the battle had even begun.

Often drawn from religiously
motivated warriors,

the akinjis were the Jihadis of their day.

Known as the crazies because of their

suicidally courageous tactics,

they were respected for their horsemanship

and skilled use of weaponry.

(exciting music)

To give you a better idea
of their capabilities,

these watermelons represent
the heads of their enemy.

(exciting music)

These were the fighting divisions.

But the Ottomans fielded huge armies.

100 to 150,000 men.

And they all had to be provided for.

So, there was a huge
contingent of camp followers.

The people who put up the
tents and carried them.

The people who cooked for the army.

Water bearers, medical supplies,

people who carried the weapons.

And then there were the
engineers who made the roads

and put bridges over the rivers ahead.

There was even a marching band.

An Ottoman army on the move
was a huge logistical exercise.

Now, where did everybody go?

With his well organized army,

Murad marched deeper into the Balkans.

Sweeping eastward to the
shores of the Black Sea,

westward to the frontiers
of Greece and Macedonia,

and northward into Bulgaria.

Taking the important trading
center of Plovdiv in 1364.

Ottoman expansion seemed unstoppable.

But there was one obstacle
looming on their horizon, Serbia.

At its height, the
Serbian Empire stretched

from the souther border of
Hungary down the Adriatic Coast

and deep into Macedonia and Greece.

- Serbia was one of the major powers

of the Orthodox Christian Balkans.

But it always seemed to be on the verge

of taking over from the
Byzantine, from the Roman Empire,

becoming the new Rome.

Which would defend the Orthodox faith

and Orthodox civilization.

It didn't happen.

Why didn't it happen?

It's those rotten Turks.

They came and spoiled it all.

- [Julian] Murad's forces defeated

Serbian resistance in Macedonia,

making vassals of the local princes,

before pushing into the Serbian heartland.

Taking the city of Nis in 1385.

As the Ottomans closed in,

what remained of the
once great Serbian Empire

was being held together
by a regional prince,

Lazar Hrebeljanovic.

Prince Lazar managed to repel
Ottoman advances for a time.

But Murad's forces launched
a devastating offensive

climaxing here in fields
just outside of Pristina

in what was then the
Serbian province of Kosovo.

The Battle of Kosovo took place in 1389.

And it was fought here at
Kosovo Polje, Kosovo Fields.

It was an epic struggle
between two mighty armies

that acquired a legendary status

in the hearts and minds
of the Serbian people.

Now, shortly before the battle,

Prince Lazar issued a
famous proclamational curse

on anyone who didn't turn up

to defend the homeland
against the infidel.

And it goes like this.

Whoever is a Serb, of Serb birth,

of Serb blood, or Serb heritage

and comes not to fight at Kosovo,

may he never have progeny born of love.

Neither son nor daughter.

And may nothing sown
by his hand ever grow.

Neither red wine nor white wheat.

And may he be forever dying in filth

as long as his children may live.

Pretty potent stuff.

On June 15, an Ottoman
force of some 25,000 men

under the command of Murad himself

clashed head on with a
Serbian force of about 16,000

under the leadership of Prince Lazar.

The Serbs put up a good fight,

but they were ultimately no match

for the superior numbers and
discipline of the Ottoman army.

As the battle turned against the Serbs,

legend holds that one of their noblemen,

a knight named Milos Obilic,

pretended to desert to the Turkish side.

When he was brought before Sultan Murad,

he pulled out a hidden
dagger and slew him.

Slashing him from belly to neck.

The story continues when
the sultan's son, Bayezid,

who was also at the battle,

learned of his father's murder.

He sent for his brother Yakub

and gave orders that he not be informed

of what had happened.

When Yakub arrived from the battlefield,

his father's death was revealed to him.

But what he didn't realize was that

his brother Bayezid had arranged

for him to be strangled to death.

Leaving Bayezid as the sole
heir to the Ottoman throne.

It was a neat, if cynical,
trick on Bayezid's part.

But one that set a dangerous precedent

for institutionalized fratricide

amongst future claimants to the sultanate.

Murad was buried at Kosovo Field.

This is his tomb.

The Ottomans had lost their sultan.

But the Serbs, they, too,
had lost their leader.

Prince Lazar was also killed
on the field of battle.

And both sides had suffered
enormous casualties.

One can't really say it was
a victory for the Ottomans

and it certainly wasn't
a victory for the Serbs.

Because there is a difference.

The Ottomans had plenty of soldiers

deployed elsewhere in the empire.

But, for the Serbs, it
was an entire generation

of fighting men cut short, wiped out.

They would never make a recovery.

For the Ottomans, it was
but a temporary setback

in an otherwise relentless
advance through the Balkans.

- The Battle of Kosovo
would cast a long shadow

over Serbian memory.

It is going to be carried forward

for hundreds of years that, one day,

an extinction of Serbia's
hopes of a national identity

is not going to be forgotten.

- [Julian] The Battle of Kosovo lives on

in the collective memory of Serbs today.

Every year, on the
anniversary of the battle,

hundreds of Serbs pour into Kosovo,

now an independent and
largely Muslim republic,

to commemorate their
history at the Gazimestan,

or Hero's Monument,

situated here near the site of the battle.

(speaking foreign language)

As part of the ceremony,

representatives of the Serbian
Orthodox Christian Church

perform mass in front of the monument

on which is inscribed
Prince Lazar's famous curse.

(speaking foreign language)

(applause)

- Battle of this place between
Serbian and Ottoman Empire

is very important in our history.

- Is this the first time you've come here?

- Yes, first.

And I plan to...

- [Julian] Come again.

- Come again, yes.

- You're a young person.

When you go to school,
do you learn about this

in your history lessons?

- Of course, of course.

This part of history that
every child have to know

that is from Serbia and from
Balkan that was a big battle.

And we all know about that.

And we love our history.

We love Kosovo.

Kosovo is Serbia.

Yes, it really is.

(speaking foreign language)

- [Julian] The Battle of Kosovo

has long been a potent symbol
for Serbian nationalism.

And the ceremony has, in recent times,

been used to promote the restoration

of Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo.

(speaking foreign language)

But the battle was, perhaps,
most controversially invoked

by Slobodan Milosevic in 1989

when he gave his speech at the site

calling for Serbian unity in the face of

a rapidly disintegrating Yugoslavia.

(speaking foreign language)

- The great Battle of
Kosovo was a massive defeat

for the Serbian people.

And, put simply, it was followed by

centuries of foreign
occupation and oppression.

Their history has given them

what can really be called
a sense of persecution.

You know, everybody's against us.

And this was built upon and it festered.

And then it was used by politicians.

It did have roots in reality.

So, it's both justified and
understandable and tragic.

- Obilic is going to reemerge.

And the curse of Lazar
is going to reemerge

with Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s

and the Bosnian genocides.

(cheering)

- [Julian] In the 14th
century, as in the 20th,

the defeat of Serbia was portrayed
in the starkest of terms.

It was good versus evil.

Christian against Muslim.

The reality, however, was
much more complicated.

- The Ottomans actually improved life

for Christian peasants.

- The local Christian
population in the towns

and certainly in the countryside,
they were left alone.

- They were not encouraged to convert.

In fact, they were encouraged
not to convert, in a way,

because conversion to Islam

actually brought lower taxes
to the Ottoman treasury.

- Most of the Orthodox Church structure

accepted the new political
reality and worked with it.

- The patriarch would be in charge of

the Orthodox Christians,
the Jews, and the Muslims.

And, as long as you paid your taxes,

you are all effectively the
flock, the sultan's flock.

You are all protected people.

The one limitation to what
you could do, for example,

permission to build churches was limited.

You couldn't ring a church bell.

- For a few centuries,
you might have to give

one of your numerous children.

They had a chance of survival

if he's taken by the sultan to
become a Janissary, actually.

- There probably were times of the year

during Islamic festivals and so on

when it was probably best to
keep your head down a bit.

But they were not ghettoized
in a kind of formal way.

And you did not have
pogroms in the way that

you did in Western Europe.

- Despite a policy of religious tolerance

in the Ottoman Balkans,

many Christians did convert to Islam.

And one of the most popular
engines of conversion

were the dervish orders.

Much like the Christian missionaries,

the dervishes accompanied the Ottoman army

on the Balkan campaigns and remained

after the fighting was
over to help establish

a peaceful transition.

Offering a more mystical form of Islam,

dervishes were very popular

and continued to thrive
in pockets of the Balkans.

Here, in the Kosovan town of Prizren,

dervishes from the Rifa'i sect

practice their faith in
the time honored way.

Offering us a glimpse into religious life

during the Ottoman Period.

Today, they will be performing

an annual piercing
ceremony at their lodge.

But, before it begins, Sejemali Shehu,

the lodge leader's son,

is going to help me understand

a bit more about their faith.

So, this functions like
a mosque, this space?

- Yes, of course.

Because it's a mihrab up here,

it orients us to the Mecca.

_ Alright, so this is where
the ceremony will take place.

- Yes.

- So, tell me something
about the actual ceremony.

What's going to happen.

- Today's ceremony calls in
our religion Sultananevros.

It means the birthday of Haji Imam Ali.

- He was the cousin, the
nephew of the Prophet

and his son in law.

- Yes.

- Right.

These look extraordinarily
sharp instruments.

Tell me about what they
are and how you use them.

- First, they are the smalzars.

They called zar.

- Zar, yeah.

- Yes, this zars are
piercings for childrens.

- [Julian] And what part
of the body do you pierce?

- In cheek.

From the side.

And out on this side.

- [Julian] Really?

- [Sejemali] And they stay like this.

- Yeah, right.

This must be extremely painful.

- No, it's not painful.

We don't have pain.

Just because, when you
know for who you are doing

and why you are doing,

you don't feel nothing.

- What age were you when
you did this ceremony

for the first time?

- [Sejemali] First time when I was six.

- Really, that young?

- Yes.

- And how do you feel after
you've performed this ritual?

It must be an extraordinary experience.

- I feel really powerful.

Really good feelings.

Really happy.

Because I am doing with love.

And this is it.

(speaking foreign language)

- [Julian] The ceremony begins with

the arrival of the lodge's
spiritual leader, Sheik Shehu.

As the devotees sing and dance,

the sheik decides when the time is right

for the piercings to start.

There is no set order to the proceedings.

Sheik Shehu spontaneously
chooses those he feels are ready.

Blessing the implements
with his lips, he begins.

(speaking foreign language)

The Rifa'i piercing ritual
originated centuries ago

with the order's founder
Sayyid Ahmad ar-Rifai.

He wanted to demonstrate
the miracle of God's power

by showing that one could overcome pain

through faith and devotion to God.

You know, this ritual,

in the context of the dervish community,

it's all about devotion.

Devotion to Allah.

But I can see how this
kind of mystical Islam

might have also had an appeal

to Christian communities
in the Balkans, as well.

There's that sort of
element of flagellation,

self-mortification,

that kind of thing which you
find in the Christian church.

And it also maybe even ties in earlier

with pagan beliefs, as well.

So, I can see the appeal when the Ottomans

first came into this area.

This might have been picked up upon

by local communities, as well.

(speaking foreign language)

There may have been a
degree of religious harmony

in the Ottoman Balkans.

But the Battle of Kosovo
raised alarm bells

across many of the Latin Christian nations

in Central Europe.

In particular, Hungary.

At Buda, part of today's
Budapest, as its capitol,

14th century Hungary was one of Europe's

largest and most powerful kingdoms.

Controlling much of present day Austria,

the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Romania,

Hungary was acutely aware
of the Ottoman menace

now threatening its southern borders.

- The medieval kingdom
of Hungary was huge.

It was also emphatically
Catholic Christian.

Hungary is the frontier between Catholic,

that is, Latin and Christendom,
and the Orthodox world.

The Hungarian state, a bit like the Serbs,

they expected to become the dominant power

of this very large region.

All of a sudden, there's
another dominant power

that seems to have come from nowhere.

So, we've got to stop them.

- Hungary was regarded by the pope

as an eastern bulwark
of Latin Christianity.

So, Hungary's King Sigismund,

based in his palace here in Buda Castle,

campaigned vigorously for

a united front against the Ottomans.

And managed to persuade Pope Boniface IX

to back a new Crusade.

Despite enthusiastic
support from across Europe,

it would turn out to be the
last of the big Crusades

and end in appalling disaster.

In a real moment of European unity,

an alliance of Crusader knights

from France, Burgundy,
Germany gathered here

in the Castle of Buda
in the summer of 1396

to join forces with King
Sigusmund's Hungarian army.

King Sigusmund himself was so
enthused by the assembled host

that he wrote excitedly,

"Their lances could have upheld the sky."

In July of that year,

the Crusader army headed
south along the Danube River

towards the Balkans
where they would join up

with local forces to
route the Muslim invader

from Europe once and for all.

Then, it was on to the Holy Land

to liberate Jerusalem
from the sword of Islam.

Well, that was the plan, anyway.

- The Crusaders say, "It's gonna be easy.

We can fight Turks.

They don't hardly wear any armor

and they just shoot
with feeble little bows.

Their blood is sin, which
is why they won't come into

close contact with us
red blooded Frenchmen.

And we can go out there
with our full armors

and our lovely big horses
and great big swords.

And we're gonna all come
gloriously home again.

And the ladies are gonna love us."

- The Crusaders' chosen
course, the Danube,

was a hugely important
waterway and trade route

that flowed from southern
Germany past Vienna and Budapest

and down through the heart of
the Balkans to the Black Sea.

And it formed a natural border

between Serbia, Bulgaria,

and the Romanian province of Wallachia.

By the 14th century, the river had become

the frontline in a war between

Hungary and the Ottoman Empire

that would last for years to come.

Whoever held the Danube
held the advantage.

The Ottomans occupied a
number of fortified positions

along the Danube River,

which the Crusader army
was keen on liberating.

The most important of these

was the garrison town of Nicopolis,

which lay downstream from here.

A few hundred kilometers
through these gorges.

And, in order to get there,

they had to pass through
treacherous enemy territory

with the threat of ambush
at every bend in the river.

(dramatic music)

The Crusaders made good progress.

And everything seemed to be going to plan

until they entered northwest Bulgaria

where the local population
were Orthodox Christians.

Here, the French and the Burgundian troops

behaved appallingly.

Basically, they ran amok laying waste

to Ottoman-held towns and villages

and slaughtering the Christians,
as well as the Turks.

This really angered the local

Wallachian and Bulgarian militias

which, in turn, upset King Sigusmund.

He'd been relying on them for support.

Worryingly, it revealed serious divisions

in the Crusader camp before they'd even

engaged the Ottomans in a major battle.

The Crusaders persevered.

Reaching Nicopolis, today's Nikopol,

in September of 1396.

These days, Nikopol is
a sleepy Bulgarian town

with a sizable Muslim minority.

But, in the 14th century,
it was an important Ottoman

stronghold on the fringes of their empire.

Sultan Bayezid had
fortified the town well.

Manning it with both Ottoman troops

and Orthodox Christian vassals.

But he and the bulk of his army

had yet to reach the city
before the Crusaders arrived.

Sigusmund's forces lay siege

to Nikopol's sturdy fortifications,

including its citadel, which stood here

on a bluff overlooking the river.

But they failed to take the town

before the sultan turned
up with his reinforcements.

The ensuing battle would
be a humiliating disaster

for the Crusaders on many levels.

- The Crusaders had been
misbehaving themselves

not just with the raping and pillaging,

but having a fair number
of whores and prostitutes

with the army feasting and carousing

and generally not behaving life

as sort of a pious Christian army.

They were caught with their trousers down.

In many cases, literally.

- King Sigusmund tried to organize

some kind of plan of attack.

He suggested that his own troops,

who were experienced at
fighting the Ottomans,

should lead the order of battle
with the French following.

bUt the French weren't having any of that.

They weren't going to follow

some Hungarian peasants into battle.

So, they charged off in
their rather drunken stupor

and, instead of meeting their

great, glorious battle with the sultan,

they met their deaths.

- The Burgundians, they
wanted to just get in there

and get stuck in.

Because this is the way they fought.

Massive cavalry charge
busting through the enemy.

They were quite convinced they could just

push aside anything.

Well, in actual fact, they did.

They pushed aside the
first line of defense.

They smashed into and through
the second line of defense.

They're exhausted.

They're absolutely exhausted.

And then, all of a sudden,

there's another Turkish
army charging downhill

against a bunch of sweaty,
exhausted, thirsty,

and, very often, wounded or
injured men in heavy armor.

And there was a certain
amount of fighting.

But they just bowled the Burgundians over.

- [Julian] Angered by
the Crusaders' slaughter

of Ottoman prisoners in
the lead up to the battle,

Bayezid ordered his own captives beheaded.

The resulting bloodbath was
reported to be so violent

that the sultan himself became sickened

and stopped the massacre halfway through.

- It was picked out by the
Christian propagandists

portraying the Muslims
as ruthless barbarians

who slaughter their prisoners.

And, on the other side, propagandists say

precisely the same thing
about the Christians,

because they had already
slaughtered many of their prisoners

just before the battle started.

So, this is feeding into the mythology

of fear, mistrust, and
eventually hate on both sides.

- For Christian Europe,

the defeat of the
Crusader army at Nicopolis

was more than just a military
disaster and a humiliation.

It put religion at the
center of the conflict.

Stories of Sultan Bayezid's

merciless massacre of prisoners of war

spread across the continent like wildfire.

The Ottomans were not just
a foreign invading army.

They were evil incarnate.

And their sultan the antichrist.

By the end of the 14th century,

Ottoman control of the
Bulgarian Danube was secure.

But Bayezid had a much
bigger prize in his sights.

One that he was in the
process of capturing

before the Crusaders of
Nikopol distracted him.

Known as the Red Apple was the capitol

of Eastern Christendom
itself, Constantinople.

Surrounded on all sides
by Ottoman territory,

it was only a matter of time

before the famed city would fall.

But fate intervened.

The mighty armies of

the legendary Mongol
warrior King Tamerlane

attacked eastern Anatolia.

War ensued.

Bayezid was taken prisoner and died.

Even the very future of

the Ottoman sultanate in question

as rival sons fought for the throne.

The conquest of Constantinople
would have to wait

some 50 years when an
ambitious new sultan,

Mehmed II, came to the throne.

- Mehmed's ambition was to gain legitimacy

within the Islamic World.

To be the one who fulfilled prophecies

which are attributed to the Prophet.

And to take the Red Apple,
the Turks called the city.

This has been the most
powerful city in the world

for a thousand years.

And, to give himself legitimacy.

His role model was Alexander the Great.

He was going to be the
Muslim Alexander the Great.

- Mehmed's ambitions were
lofty, to say the least.

But he set about achieving his goal

with steely determination.

In 1452, less than a year
after he'd come to the throne,

Mehmed began constructing this fortress

on the European side of the Bosporus

a few miles northeast of Constantinople.

Now, directly opposite, on the
other side of the Bosporus,

there was an earlier Ottoman castle

built by Bayezid I when he
tried to take the city in 1394.

And, between them,
these two fortifications

effectively gave Mehmed
control of all sea traffic

passing up and down the Bosporus.

Thereby denying Constantinople
reinforcements and supplies.

He had the city by the throat.

- The other thing he does is that

he's the first Ottoman
sultan to construct a fleet.

And he builds a fleet of
about 25 ships at Gallipoli.

And these appear outside
the walls of the city.

And these completely stun the defenders.

- [Julian] But Mehmed had
another trick up his sleeve.

A secret weapon he had
specially commissioned

to bring Constantinople to its knees.

It was a new super cannon.

Larger and more powerful
than anything seen before.

- The iconic weapon brought to the world

was an enormous cannon.

Big enough for a man to climb inside.

Which he had created
at his capitol, Edirne.

There was a great PR
thing around this, really.

He had it hold outside
the city walls at Edirne.

He had the cannon loaded
and fired and the huge shot,

which weighed about half a ton,

shot across the land for about a mile

and buried itself in the earth.

And he made sure the news
of the coming of this cannon

preceded it so that it was
a psychological weapon,

as well as actually a weapon of war.

- [Julian] With Constantinople's
sea approaches sealed off,

Mehmed surrounded the
landward sides of the city

with a force of over 100,000 men.

And an enormous range of artillery.

Constantinople's legendary
walls had withstood

numerous sieges in the past.

But this was a new kind of threat

of a size and capability
never seen before.

As the guns began to
fire from all directions,

it became abundantly clear
Constantinople was doomed.

- The scale of this thing,
the size of the army

along a four mile front.

Cannons dug in all the way along.

The banners, the tents,

the huge numbers of people and animals.

The call to prayer,
the nighttime chanting,

particularly as they
approach the final attack,

the line of fire ringing the front line

all the way across this four mile front,

it certainly frightened
the Byzantine defenders.

They thought the end of the world come.

- [Julian] Mehmed's forces
relentlessly bombarded the city

for nearly two months.

Until, on May 29, 1453, they
ordered a full scale assault.

Ottoman troops surged.

Overwhelming the defenders
and breaking into the city

where they sacked and
burned everything in sight.

Constantinople, the symbolic heart

of Eastern Christendom
for over a millennium,

had fallen.

- It was almost like the
beginning of the end of days.

What did it mean?

What would happen?

Would this mean the final triumph of Islam

which was followed by the day of judgment?

- It was, if one can make a
crude analogy, a 9/11 moment.

People could remember where they were

when they heard the news.

And people wept in the streets of Rome.

Because this city had
been there for so long.

It had been there for 1300 years.

And it was one of the fixed
realities of the world.

Even as far away as England and Sweden,

people were appalled
by this alien presence

coming into the European arena

and destroying what seemed like

one of the cornerstones of Christendom.

- For the Muslim world, the
fall of Rome, Eastern Rome,

Constantinople, the
bastion of Christianity

against Muslim expansion
was hugely significant.

'Cause this catapult the Ottoman state

into the center of the
perception of the Islamic World.

All of a sudden, this sort of
nouveau bunch of characters

suddenly become the center of power.

Center of cultural perceptions
in the Middle East.

This was really, really profound.

- [Julian] In little more than 150 years,

the Ottomans had emerged from
a rabble of nomadic warriors

to become one of the
great powers of the day.

Now, the empire would
enter into a golden age.

A flowering of cultural
and artistic achievements.

But the Ottomans were not
about to put away their sword.

As self-styled defenders
of the Muslim faith,

their rapidly expanding frontiers

ran smack into the eastern
borders of Christendom.

Christian Europe, both
fascinated and fearful,

braced itself for a titanic
struggle with an implacable foe.

Part two of Ottomans Versus Christians,

we follow the Ottoman campaign
into the heart of Europe

and the great siege of Vienna.

(dramatic music)