The Ottoman Empire began in 1300 under the almost legendary Osman I, reached its apogee in the sixteenth century under Suleiman the Magnificent, whose forces threatened the gates of Vienna, and gradually diminished thereafter until Mehmed VI was sent into exile by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk). This text elaborates on the grand, audacious, and sometimes ruthless personalities involved, while keeping in focus the larger economic, political, and social issues.