The History of the Ottoman Empire

The big breakthrough came in 1453, when Mehmed II overran the city of Constantinople itself. The Ottomans regrouped, took back their territory in Anatolia and renewed attacks against Christian forces in the Balkans. At least as important was their rivalry with another Muslim empire located to the east, the Safavids in Persia. Many Sunni scholars relocated from the newly Shiite Persia to the Ottoman realm.