Ottoman Empire:
History in a nut shell.
1325: The forces of sultan Orhan takes control over Bursa, and makes this the capital.
1338: The Byzantines are drive out of Anatolia. But their great city of Constantinople (today Istanbul) is still under their control.
1354: The region of Ankara is conquered.
1355: Gallipoli (Gelibolu) is conquered, and becomes an important staging post for the Ottoman's European expansion.
1361: The city of Adrianople (Edirne) on the western side of the Bosphorus, is conquered.
1393: Northern Greece is captured.
1402: The Ottomans are heavily defeated by Timur Lenk near Ankara, leading to a weakening that should last for a few decades. But the Ottoman empire would return to its old strength.
1453: After years of siege, the Ottomans takes control over Constantinople.
1466: Albania is conquered.
1475: Crimea is put under the empire as a vassal state.
1514: Iran is defeated with the battle at Chaldiran.
1517: Mamlukes of Egypt and Syria are defeated, and their territories are included into the empire. Together with this came the holy Muslim places in Arabia.
1519: Algiers becomes part of the empire as a vassal state.
1521: Barka (northeastern Libya) is added to the empire.
— Belgrade is captured.
1526: Hungary is defeated at the Battle of Mohacs.
1529: Sultan Süleyman 1 tries to conquer Venice, but does not succeed.
1531: Tunis is included to the empire as a vassal state.
1551: Tripolis (of today's Libya) is added into the empire as a vassal state.
1534: Iraq is added into the empire.
1829: Greece gets autonomy.
1830: Serbia gets autonomy.
— Northern Algeria is taken by France.
1832: Greece becomes independent.
1839: Beginning of Tanzimat, the reform process that intended to bring the empire up on level with European states in administration and other fields.
1875: The Ottoman empire is bankrupt, and can no longer pay interests on its debts to European finance institutions.
1876: Under sultan Abdülhamit 2, the Ottoman empire gets its first constitution.
1878: The constitution is suspended.
— Romania, Serbia, Montenegro as well as part of Bulgaria becomes independent as a part of the Treaty of san Stefano.
1881: The Ottoman empire is forced ot accept European financial control.
— Tunisia is taken by the French.
1882: Egypt is occupied by Britain.
1912: Libya is annexed by Italy.
1914: The Ottoman empire enters the World War 1 in alliance with Germany, and in the beginning it sees several military victories.
1915-16: Armenians east in Anatolia are deported, and many massacred by Kurdish irregulars. 600,000 (some estimates run over 1 million) Armenians died.
1917: Beginning of the British campaigns in Iraq and Syria. This leads to several Ottoman defeats, and the following year the loss of the Middle Eastern territories.
1919 May: Greece attacks Anatolia at Smyrna, and takes control over many areas in western regions.
1920: The Ottoman empire is forced to sign the Treaty of Sèvres, leading to the loss of Arab territories and a partition of Anatolia.
1922: Nationalist Turks drive the Greek out of western Anatolia under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal.
— November 1 The Ottoman empire is abolished, and would the following year be replaced with the Republic of Turkey.
