CRESCENT DAWN

A groundbreaking new history of the wars of the Ottoman Expansion a truly global conflagration that crisscrossed three continents and ultimately defined the borders and future of a modern Europe The determined attempt to thwart Ottoman dominance was fought across five theaters from the Balkans to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean from Persia to Russia This intercontinental melee is expertly re told in this fascinating new history by historian Si Sheppard But this is not the story of a clash of civilizations between East and West as you might assume Europe was not united against the Turks the scandal of the age was the alliance between King Francis I of France and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent Meanwhile the resistance of the Saadi dynasty of Morocco to Ottoman encroachment played a critical role in denying Constantinople direct access to the Atlantic Ocean By the same token though religious imperatives were critical to the motivations of all the key actors involved these in no way fell neatly along the Christian Muslim divide Crescent Dawn expertly shows how the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V desired nothing more than to eradicate the Protestant heresy metastasizing throughout his domains but the threat of Turkish invasion forced him to stay his hand