Gabor J. Agoston

This project examines how Ottoman expansion, Habsburg-Ottoman imperial rivalry, and Russia’s “Turkish wars” shaped the history of central and southeastern Europe. Based on extensive research in the Ottoman archives as well as on published German, Hungarian, and Russian sources, it is the first attempt to compare and relate the evolving military capabilities of the three empires. It argues that understanding these changes helps us to better appreciate imperial trajectories toward Habsburg and Romanov centralization and Ottoman decentralization/military devolution. The project contributes to three major areas: Ottoman history (re-conceptualizing “Ottoman decline”), comparative empire studies, and the growing historiography on war and empire building in the less-studied east European context.