In 1221 on the plains of current-day Turkmenistan lay the city of Merv. The town faced a Mongol besiegement under one of Genghis Khan’s sons and opened its gates in the hopes of experiencing mercy.

The next few decades saw many turbulent changes, among which a war with the Timurid Empire to the east, a civil war between Bayezid's sons (the Ottoman Interregnum) and several besiegements of the ...

Professor Alice Roberts takes a train ride that covers 600 years of the Ottoman Empire. Her mission is to learn about this vast empire that started with a dream in the 14th century.

Mehmed launches an ambitious siege to break through the walls of Constantinople, but Giustiniani's mercenaries manage to forestall the Janissaries. Mehmed's men dig underground tunnels in an attempt ...