Meet the Ottomans (w/ Michael Talbot)

The Ottomans played a critical role in the 1792-1815 period, but we haven't been paying too much attention to them - until now. The signing of a peace treaty with France is the hook for this bonus episode which introduces us to the Ottomans and the challenges facing their reforming leader, Sultan Selim III. He faces a tough challenge in shaking up what is, after all, "an Empire besieged", and the tensions his policy agenda creates against entrenched forces of conservatism will come to a head in the most jaw-dropping fashion. That's still to come on the Napoleonic Quarterly - for now, Dr Michael Talbot, Associate Professor of History at the University of Greenwich here in the UK, gives us a guided tour of the Ottoman Empire - and sets ourselves up for the dramas to come.