---------------------------------------------------------------- Transcriber’s note: Some of the unusual Latin transliterations of Turkish names from Arabic-Persian Alphabet used by the Ottomans have been corrected to be closer to the modern spellings of these names. ---------------------------------------------------------------- THE TURKISH EMPIRE ITS GROWTH AND DECAY _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ Demy 8vo, cloth, +7s. 6d.+ net. WITH 4 MAPS AND 8 ILLUSTRATIONS. The Partitions of Poland (Second Edition) “In this volume Lord Eversley gives us the story of Poland’s tragedy with his usual precision and compression, but adding the special charm of a delightfully fresh, sustained, and vivid handling.” +_Westminster Gazette._+ “Thoroughness, dignity, and a calm, even judgment are the conspicuous characteristics of Lord Eversley’s study of the sufferings and wrongs of Poland during the last 150 years.... It was always Lord Eversley’s way to pursue any theme with complete independence of judgment, and an assiduous determination to get back to facts, and this volume is a meritorious example of its author’s industry and intellectual vigour.” +_Daily Telegraph._+ LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN LTD. [Illustration] [Illustration: MAHOMET THE CONQUEROR From a medallion in the British Museum attributed to the Italian artist Gentile Bellini, who was invited by Mahomet to Constantinople, in 1480, and painted a portrait of him. The portrait is in the Layard Collection.] THE TURKISH EMPIRE ITS GROWTH AND DECAY BY LORD EVERSLEY Author of “The Partitions of Poland,” “Peel and O’Connell”, “Gladstone and Ireland” WITH A FRONTISPIECE AND THREE MAPS LONDON T. FISHER UNWIN LTD. ADELPHI TERRACE _First published in 1917_ _Second Impression 1918_ (_All rights reserved_) PREFACE THE favour with which, two years ago, my book on _The Partitions of Poland_ was received by the public has induced me to devote the interval to a study of the history of another State which, in modern times, has almost disappeared from the map of Europe—namely Turkey. The subject is one in which I have for many years past taken great interest. In the course of a long life, I have witnessed the greater part of the events which have resulted in the loss to that State of all its Christian provinces in Europe and all its Moslem provinces in Africa, leaving to it only its capital and a small part of Thrace in Europe, and its still wide possessions in Asia.