# Rise of Empires: Ottoman

Rise of Empires: Ottoman is a Turkish historical docudrama, starring Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu, Tommaso Basili and Daniel Nuță. Its first season, which consists of 6 episodes, is directed by Emre Sahin and written by Kelly McPherson. It became available for streaming on Netflix on 24 January 2020. It deals with the Ottoman Empire and Mehmed the Conqueror and tells the story of the Fall of Constantinople. The second season also has 6 episodes and premiered on 29 December 2022, focusing on the 1462 campaign against Vlad the Impaler in Wallachia (in present-day Romania).

## Premise

In Season 1, Rise of Empires: Ottoman, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror wages a campaign to take the Eastern Roman capital of Constantinople in 1453, resulting in the capture of the city and establishment of the Ottoman Empire.
In Season 2, Mehmed vs. Vlad, Mehmed the Conqueror and Vlad the Impaler, childhood companions in the Ottoman court, go head-to-head in the 1462 Ottoman invasion of Wallachia.

## Cast

* Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu as Mehmed the Conqueror
* Tommaso Basili as Constantine XI Palaiologos (season 1)
* Daniel Nuță as Vlad the Impaler (season 2)
* Radu Andrei Micu as Dimitrie (season 2)
* Ali Gözüşirin as Radu the Beautiful (season 2)
* Tuba Büyüküstün as Mara Branković
* Yasemin Eti as Gülbahar Hatun (season 2)
* Damla Sönmez as Ana
* Osman Sonant as Loukas Notaras (season 1)
* Tolga Tekin as Murad II
* Ushan Çakır as Zaganos Pasha
* Nik Xhelilaj as Mahmud Pasha (season 2)
* Selim Bayraktar as Çandarlı Halil Pasha (season 1)
* Birkan Sokullu as Giovanni Giustiniani (season 1)
* Tansu Biçer as Orban (season 1)
* Nail Kırmızıgül as Hızır Çelebi (season 1)
* Eva Dedova as Katarina (season 1)
* Tuğrul Tülek as George Sphrantzes (season 1)
* İlayda Akdoğan as Therma Sphrantzes (season 1)
* Erdal Yıldız [de] as Suleiman Baltoghlu (season 1)
* Baki Davrak as Đurađ Branković (season 1)
* Ryan OL as Genovese Nobleman (season 1)
* Roger Crowley, historian (season 1)
* Lars Brownworth, historian (season 1)
* Jason Goodwin, historian (season 1)
* Marios Philippides, historian (season 1)
* Michael Talbot, historian (season 1)
* Emrah Safa Gürkan, historian (season 1)
* Andrei Pogăciaș, historian (season 2)
* Mihai-Florin Hasan, historian (season 2)
* Celâl Şengör, geologist
* James Waterson, author of Dracula's Wars (season 2)

## Episodes
### Series overview

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| 1 | 6 | 6 | 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) | 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) |
| 2 | 6 | 6 | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) |

### Season 1 (2020)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "The New Sultan" | Emre Şahin | Liz Lake, Kelly McPherson, Emre Şahin | 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) |
| Following an interregnum when he was a child ruler, Mehmed II inherits the Ottoman throne at the age of 19 in 1451. His Grand Vizier is Halil Pasha. The Ottoman capital at the time is Adrianople. The Greek-speaking eastern Romans in Constantinople nurture Prince Orhan who is a claimant to rule the Ottoman Empire. Mehmed II orders the "Throat-Cutter Fortress" to cut off all supplies and military aides from the Roman allies in the Black Sea. Loukas Notaras, the Grand Duke under Constantine XI, distrusts the Catholic Church based in western Rome under the Pope's control. The Eastern Romans have had―for over 400 years―their own Greek-speaking Orthodox Church following the East–West Schism in 1054. After claiming the Ottoman throne, Mehmed II sends an unmistakable signal to Byzantine emperor Constantine XI. Genoese mercenary Justinianus comes to the aid of the vastly under-staffed Eastern Romans with barely 7,000 troops to defend 14 miles of Theodosian Walls. Unlike the dis-united Crusades from western Europe to Jerusalem, the Ottoman army was highly centralized under the leadership of Mehmed II focused on breaking into Constantinople. ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Through the Walls" | Emre Şahin | Kelly McPherson, Emre Şahin, Liz Lake | 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) |
| Mehmed II uses the Basilica cannon to penetrate the Theodosian Walls. In a flashback to Mehmed's childhood, the narration goes back to when Murad II appoints his teenage son as the governor of the Amasya Province. Afterwards, Mehmed II starts with first reign of the Ottoman Empire at the age of 13—becoming the youngest king in Ottoman history. His ministers (viziers) informed him that John Hunyadi is a major threat in the west. Mehmed launches an ambitious siege to break through the walls of Constantinople, but Giustiniani's mercenaries manage to forestall the Janissaries. ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Into the Golden Horn" | Emre Şahin | Emre Şahin, Liz Lake, Kelly McPherson | 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) |
| The seaward walls of the Golden Horn was vulnerable to Ottoman attacks The Galata Tower is a colony of Genoa serving as a watchtower over the Golden Horn. Baltoghlu, an Ottoman admiral, wants to stop the reinforcements from Genoa. John Grant susses out the localities of the Ottoman sappers undermining the city walls. Upon locating the Ottoman tunnels, Grant and his men torch them with Greek fire. Đurađ Branković, the ruler of Serbia, is hosting her daughter Mara who is also Mehmed II's stepmother. Mehmed's men dig underground tunnels in an attempt to shatter city walls. The tides turn against the Ottomans when a naval blockade founders. ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Loose Lips Sink Ships" | Emre Şahin | Liz Lake, Kelly McPherson, Emre Şahin | 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) |
| The Eastern Roman Empire is essentially the walled-off city-state of Constantinople in 1453. Mehmed moves his ships overland to the Golden Horn in a daring, visionary feat. In the shadow of betrayal, Giustiniani attacks the Ottoman fleet. ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Ancient Prophecies" | Emre Şahin | Kelly McPherson, Emre Şahin, Liz Lake | 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) |
| Amid a spiral of brutality and low morale, Mehmed makes Giustiniani an enticing monetary offer. The coffers of the city-state of Constantinople have become empty since the last ruler John VIII; the old hub of the Roman Empire can't trade to generate any revenue. Constantine XI can't pay the few remaining soldiers fighting to keep the Roman Empire afloat while no aid arrives from western Roman Catholics. Constantine announces that "God will pay" the soldiers, ordering a raid on the assets and artifacts of the Greek Orthodox churches. The grand vizier urges Mehmed to seek a truce with his rival. ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Ashes to Ashes" | Emre Şahin | Emre Şahin, Liz Lake, Kelly McPherson | 24 January 2020 (2020-01-24) |
| Ottoman cannons reduce the city walls to rubble, and Venetian reinforcements arrive too late. Catholic Europeans don't answer the Crusade calls of the Greek-speaking Romans in Constantinople (although back in 1203 when the 4th Crusaders arrived, they overthrew the Roman Emperor to set up the Latin Empire.) Mehmed II named himself the Caesar of Rome since Constantinople had become the new Roman capital a 1,000 years prior. Mehmed orders the execution of Notaras. Finally, Mehmed executes Halil Pasha, his Grand Minister, for not believing in him when he was a teenage king. ||||||

### Season 2 (2022)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 7 | 1 | "House Of War" | Emre Şahin | Liz Lake, Kelly McPherson, Emre Şahin | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) |
| Mehmed II solidifies his reign, but in nearby Wallachia, childhood friend Vlad the Impaler gains notoriety and seeks to challenge Mehmed's hegemony. Hamza Bey is dispatched to forcibly bring Vlad to Constantinople. Vlad travels to Buda to solidify a military alliance with Matthias Corvinus. ||||||
| 8 | 2 | "Troubled Waters" | Emre Şahin | Kelly McPherson, Emre Şahin, Liz Lake | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) |
| Mehmed sends Mara to coax Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus into an alliance. Mehmed's forces reach the port city of Nicopolis; an epic battle along the Danube River looms, and Vlad has the upper hand. In a flashback, Radu and his brother Vlad the Impaler are being raised by Murad II in Constantinople to ensure that their father Vlad II Dracul doesn't join forces with Hungary to fight against Ottomans. ||||||
| 9 | 3 | "Land of Dracula" | Emre Şahin | Emre Şahin, Liz Lake, Kelly McPherson | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) |
| In June 1462, Mehmed II's troops have crossed the Danube River into Wallachia; As the night attack at Târgoviște unfolds, Vlad employs guerrilla tactics to weaken his rival. A threat lurks in the imperial palace. Radu, Vlad's brother who was raised in the Ottoman royal court, is in Mehmed's camp. ||||||
| 10 | 4 | "Brothers No More" | Emre Şahin | Liz Lake, Kelly McPherson, Emre Şahin | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) |
| As the war drags on and resources dwindle, Vlad wages biological warfare on Mehmed's army. Radu closes in on Vlad's castle to take Anastasia, Vlad's wife, hostage. However, she commits suicide. ||||||
| 11 | 5 | "Night Attack" | Emre Şahin | Kelly McPherson, Emre Şahin, Liz Lake | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) |
| Mehmed prepares to strike a fatal blow to Vlad's army. A spy is found in Mehmed's camp. Vlad launches a nighttime attack, but a surprise awaits. ||||||
| 12 | 6 | "Destiny" | Emre Şahin | Emre Şahin, Liz Lake, Kelly McPherson | 29 December 2022 (2022-12-29) |
| Vlad and Mehmed face off. Mara and Gülbahar foil the Wallachian plot. Ottoman troops march into a scorched Târgoviște and face a gruesome sight. Vlad impales Hamz Bey. Radu is crowned in Wallachia after Vlad Dracula flees to Transylvania ||||||

## Critical response

Generally, the reception is positive. Rise of Empires: Ottoman delivers, with a similarly novel approach, a chronicle of historical events. Daily History concludes that "the series uses correct timeline and description of the attack on Constantinople is incredibly accurate from the Ottoman perspective." However, "despite the historical accuracy of the show, the dramatized events are more geared towards a captivating watching experience rather than an actual depiction of events." Some historians, such as Florian George Calian, suggest that the historical accuracy of at least the first session might be open to question: "In the Netflix production Mehmed enters an empty Hagia Sophia alone, thus converting the most wanted building in the world into a mosque. The scene is dubbed by interviews with contemporary scholars, making viewers interested in acquiring historical knowledge believe that the series is well documented. But unfortunately, everything depicted here is inaccurate."
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 87% based on 66 reviews, and an average rating of 4.3/5.