The Turkish History Podcast

The crusading army marches into a completely undefended Anatolia and right up to the walls of İznik, the capital of the Sultanate of Rum. Finally waking up to the danger, Kılıç Arslan makes a deal with the Danishmends and begins racing back West. Kılıç Arslan fights the Crusaders in front of the walls of İznik and the Turks resist. Meanwhile, as one of the greatest defeats

The People's Crusade invades Anatolia, and the chaotic army of undisciplined peasants is easily destroyed by the forces of the Sultanate of Rum under Ilhan Bey as Kılıç Arslan besieges Malatya. But the chaos and ineptitude of the People's Crusade proves to be a boon to both the Byzantine Emperor and even the now-assembling First Crusade. In Constantinople, Emperor Alexio

As Turkish power is entrenched across Anatolia and Kılıç Arslan consolidates the power of the Sultanate of Rum, in Constantinople Emperor Alexios Komnenos calls for aid from the West. The Emperor envisions a relatively large, but still manageable, army of experienced Latin knights of the type that have fought for Byzantium in the past in order to retake Anatolia. But his call fo

As Kılıç Arslan sits in prison in Esfahan, Emperor Alexios Komnenos attempts to restore imperial authority on the coasts of Anatolia, even if the plateau itself remains lost to him. Constantinople tangles with the Black Sea beylik of Karategin and the Marmara beylik of İlhan. In İzmir, the rebel Turkish Roman General Çaka Bey creates the first Turkish navy and establishes an

After the death of Sulayman, his sons Kılıç Arslan and Daud are imprisoned in Esfahan by Melik Shah. In their absence, the Sultanate of Rum is ruled under a quasi-regency by the man Sulayman left in charge of İznik - Ebu'l Kasım. Ebu'l Kasım fights and negotiates with the Roman Emperor and the Great Seljuk Sultan, maintaining the independence of the Sultanate - until Kılıç

In 1081, Sulayman reigns in İznik as the Sultan of Rum. But his sultanate is aspirational - really, he is a mere border lord. A bey among beys. And so Sulayman begins to lay the foundations for the Sultanate of Rum, expanding his power across Western Anatolia. Burning with ambition and desire to reclaim the birthright of the line of Kutalmish, Sulayman then invades Antioch and eve

Following Manzikert, the civil war in Byzantium and the failure of the Roman Empire to retake Anatolia, the first Turkish beyliks emerge in Anatolia. In the anarchy caused by the collapse of the Roman military apparatus, bands of Turks begin making alliances with the settled elites of Anatolia, offering them protection for a price. Soon the Turks are invited into the cities of Anat

We resume the narrative, and begin by introducing the land that will come to be the homeland of the Turks.In the aftermath of the Battle of Manzikert, the Roman state falls into chaos.  As a result of civil war, invasion and rebellion, Imperial authority collapses over much of Anatolia.  And the Turks begin to enter Anatolia, and the seeds of the coming Beyliks, and even

This is the fifth and last episode in a short series of non-narrative episodes.  In this episode we cover the court culture of the Great Seljuk Empire and the greatest cultural achievements of the Empire.  How the Sultan and his court lived, and the life and times of two of the most important cultural figures of the Great Seljuk Empire: Al-Ghazali and Omar Khayyam.  

This a standalone episode on the history of the Ismaili Nizaris and their Order of Assassins. The minority sect of Ismailism first arises as the Abbasid Caliphs keep the Shi'a Imams in confinement in Samarra - a hidden religion, secretive and rigidly hierarchical, and professing a unique system of beliefs drawing heavily from Greek philosophy and Gnosticism. The Ismailis ultimately