Ep. 232: The Ottomans – From Mehmet the Conqueror to Selim the Grim (1444-1520)

Ep. 232: The Ottomans – From Mehmet the Conqueror to Selim the Grim (1444-1520)

From History of the Germans by Dirk Hoffmann-Becking

April 9, 2026 · 38 min · Episode 232

About this episode

The episode explores the rise of the Ottoman Empire and its impact on the Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire during the 15th and 16th centuries.

These last dozen or so episodes we have examined the genesis of two of the three major strategic preoccupations of the Habsburg empire, the rivalry with the French kings and the relationship with the imperial princes. Today we will look at the build-up of the third major strategic challenge to the rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottomans. One can argue, and many have, that the threat of an Ottoman invasion in the 1520s and 1530s prevented the emperor Charles V from clamping down on the protestants in the empire. By the time the border had been stabilised and the Habsburgs could focus again on the religious and political changes in the German lands, it was too late to reverse events. There is an element of irony here that I will refrain from elaborating on. When Constantinople fell in 1453, the Christian nations of Western Europe assumed that they could regain the ancient capital of Byzantium and even Jerusalem if only they were united under the crusading banner. By the time Suleiman the Magnificent appeared before Belgrade in 1521, that had become inconceivable. The Christian nations, and in particular the Habsburgs were on their back foot. So, what had happened in these 70…

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