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The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors

The Ottomans: Europe's Muslim Emperors is a three-part BBC documentary series presented by Rageh Omaar, tracing the history of the Ottoman empire. It was the world's last Islamic empire - a super-power of a million square miles, it matched the glories of Ancient Rome and collapsed less than a hundred years ago.

Filmed on location in Turkey, the Balkans, Greece and the Middle East, The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors examines the many sides of the dynasty of Sultans including the changing role of religion, its economic ambitions, social organisation and its relationship with non-Muslims. And the program explains how the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the First World War left problems that still exist in Europe and the Middle East.

Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3

Episode 1 - Roots of the Ottomans
Rageh Omaar discovers the surprising roots of the Ottomans and the extraordinary speed at which nomadic horsemen, from a corner of what is today Turkey, became powerful rulers across three continents.

Episode 2 - Suleiman the Magnificent and Abdul Hamid II
Rageh Omaar explores the huge contrasts in the times of two very different Ottoman sultans - the most famous Suleiman the Magnificent in the Golden Age of the 16th century and the troubled reign of Abdul Hamid II in the 19th century, when the Ottomans were dubbed 'the Sick Man of Europe'.

Episode 3 - Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Rageh discovers how this great empire was finally destroyed, why its achievements were largely lost in the trauma of its final years, and how the fallout from its collapse created tensions that still resonate across Europe and the Middle East today.