Crescent Dawn - by Si Sheppard (Hardcover)

About the Book

A groundbreaking new history of the wars of the Ottoman Expansion, a truly global conflagration that crisscrossed three continents and ultimately defined the borders and future of a modern Europe.

Book Synopsis

A groundbreaking new history of the wars of the Ottoman Expansion, a truly global conflagration that crisscrossed three continents and ultimately defined the borders and future of a modern Europe.

The determined attempt to thwart Ottoman dominance was fought across five theaters from the Balkans to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, from Persia to Russia. This intercontinental melee is expertly re-told in this fascinating new history by historian Si Sheppard.

But this is not the story of a clash of civilizations between East and West as you might assume. Europe was not united against the Turks; the scandal of the age was the alliance between King Francis I of France and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Meanwhile, the resistance of the Saadi dynasty of Morocco to Ottoman encroachment played a critical role in denying Constantinople direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. By the same token, though religious imperatives were critical to the motivations of all the key actors involved, these in no way fell neatly along the Christian Muslim divide. Crescent Dawn expertly shows how the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V desired nothing more than to eradicate the Protestant heresy metastasizing throughout his domains, but the threat of Turkish invasion forced him to stay his hand and indulge his Lutheran subjects to ensure a common defense. Nevertheless, the collective effort to constrain the expansion of the Ottoman superpower did succeed with the ultimate victory in 1571 the tipping point in reordering the trajectory of history.

Crescent Dawn features some of the legendary figures of the era - from Mehmet the Conqueror, and Suleiman the Magnificent on the Ottoman side, to Charles V and Vasco de Gama on the other - and some of the most exotic locales on Earth - from the sumptuous palaces of Constantinople to the bloody battlefields of the Balkans to the awe-inspiring mountains of Ethiopia. This is a colorful history that brings the great battles of the age to life and clearly shows how the western struggle against the Ottomans constituted the first truly world war.

Review Quotes

"An impressive account of one of the great contests in world history." --Roger Crowley, author of 'Empires of the Sea'

"Highly detailed history...This exhaustive work will find a readership among specialists as it details key battles and ideological impetuses of important figures. Sheppard also succinctly explains the reasoning behind crucial events during a turning point in European history." --Library Journal

"This is a groundbreaking new history...This colorful history brings the great battles of the age to life and clearly shows how the wars for and against Ottoman expansion constituted the first true world war." --ARMORAMA

"Crescent Dawn is a fascinating read. It has relevance to the power politics of today's world, offering lessons best heeded by 21st-century leaders." --Ricochet

About the Author

London-born Si Sheppard completed his Bachelors and Masters degrees in New Zealand before receiving his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in the United States. He is currently an associate professor of political science and international relations at Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York, and has written several books focusing on the interrelations between geography, technology, and strategy.