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History of Turkey

A country mainly in Anatolia in West Asia, with a smaller part in Southeast Europe.. 4 eras, 1650 BCE to today.

Hatti, 1650–1178 BCE Draft, not yet reviewed

The Hittites were an Anatolian Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Their empire was centered on their capital, Hattusa, around 1650 BC. It reached its peak during the mid-14th century BC under Šuppiluliuma I, when it encompassed most of Anatolia and parts of northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. From the late 12th century BC, during the Late Bronze Age collapse, the Hittites splintered into several small independent states.

Seat of power: Hattusa

Sultanate of Rum, 1077–1307 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Sultanate of Rum was a culturally Turco-Persian, Sunni Muslim state established over conquered Byzantine territories and peoples of Anatolia by the Seljuk Turks following their entry into Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Sultanate of Rum seceded from the Seljuk Empire under Suleiman ibn Qutalmish in 1077. It reached the height of its power during the late 12th and early 13th century, when it succeeded in taking key Byzantine ports on the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. The Seljuk sultans bore the brunt of the Crusades and eventually succumbed to the Mongol invasion at the 1243 Battle of Köse Dağ.

Seat of power: Konya

Rulers

Ottoman Empire, 1299–1922 Draft, not yet reviewed

The Turkoman tribal leader Osman I founded a beylik, or principality, in northwestern Anatolia in c. 1299, and the empire emerged from it. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire became a global power. The Ottoman Empire entered World War I in 1914, during which the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian subjects.

Seat of power: Istanbul

Rulers

Turkey, 1923 to today Draft, not yet reviewed

The Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, modelled on the reforms initiated by its founder and first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Following Ottoman defeat, the Turkish War of Independence resulted in the abolition of the sultanate and the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne. Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II, but was involved in the Korean War. Several military interventions interfered with the transition to a multi-party system.

Seat of power: Ankara

Rulers

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.