List of the main battles in the history of the Ottoman Empire are shown below. The life span of the empire was more than six centuries, and the maximum territorial extent, at the zenith of its power in the second half of the 16th century, stretched from central Europe to the Persian Gulf and from the Caspian Sea to North Africa. The number of battles the empire fought is quite high. But here only the more important battles are listed. Among these, the battles fought in the 20th century (Turco-Italian War, Balkan Wars, and World War I ) as well as the sieges (like the sieges of Constantinople, Cairo, Belgrade, Bagdad, etc.) which most lists include as battles are not shown except in cases where the siege is followed by a battle (i.e. Vienna, Khotyn, Plevna).