History of the Ottoman Empire... Once a small independent Turkic principality, having started a “holy war”, turned into a great country - the most powerful Muslim state of the Middle Ages, a powerful military-feudal power that managed to do what the Arabs failed to do - to conquer Byzantium... In the Ottoman Empire, which included most of Eastern and Southern Europe, significant territories of North Africa and almost the entire Arab East, trade and crafts, science and art flourished. What weakened this powerful power and led to its death and collapse? The Ottoman Empire from its rise to its decline is the subject of a fascinating book by English historian Caroline Finkel.