East to West

This is the untold story

of the making of the modern world.

A fresh perspective,

charting the spread of civilization

across the globe,

from the dawn of mankind and the first cities and Empires

to the belief in One God.

We follow the flow of civilization

from the Middle East,

an extraordinary place that has been a vital link

between the continents of Asia,

Africa and Europe for millennia...

an economic, scientific

and cultural center of the world.

This is an epic journey of discovery,

from the East to the West.

Istanbul -

the only city in the world that sits astride two continents,

Europe and Asia.

This was once the capital

of one of the greatest imperial powers in history -

the vast Ottoman Empire.

As the dream of a great dynasty became a reality,

the Ottoman Sultanate developed into a Renaissance Superpower.

The dynamism and sophistication of their court at Topkapi Palace

inspired both fear and fascination in the Empire and beyond.

In its golden age, the Ottoman Empire

would become invincible both on land and sea.

Revered as THE model - tor state, trade and culture.

It is incredible . . .

from two points of view -- both as a believer and as an architect

But, a tide of change

threatened to bring the Age of Empire crashing to a close.

There is a real quantum shift in the 19th century.

You get the sense that they realise

they cannot survive unless they start to face outwards.

It was a time when relations with the West would shape the East.

This is the story of the Ottoman Empire and the West.

In the 16th century,

the Ottoman Empire expanded across three continents.

The Ottomans controlled much of Western Asia,

North Africa and South-eastern Europe.

At the head of the ruling Ottoman dynasty

was Sultan Suleiman ll -

known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent.

1529.

The 300,000-strong Ottoman war machine

has pushed its way to the gates of Vienna.

Suleiman has shaken Christian Europe to its core.

It is a watershed moment in history.

But after months of siege, Vienna's defenders prevail.

The prolonged siege and upcoming winter

force the Sultan to change his mind.

But, although their advance may have been checked at Vienna,

the Ottomans were still a permanent fixture in Europe.

And within the Empire, their wealth and potency seemed unaffected.

One priceless object in Topkapi Palace

epitomizes the extent of Suleiman's power.

This is one of Sultan Suleiman's swords

It is one of those that bears his name.

It reflects the refined workmanship of Suleiman's era.

It's plain, but with very high quality, elaborate workmanship.

On it there is a name, sometimes there are poems or prayers,

but generally the Sultan's own swords carry his title.

Sultan Suleiman Shah bin Salim . . . and so on . . .

The end of this inscription has worn away, but you get a sense of the full title from the start.

Made almost 500 years ago,

this sword could have been carried in a court ceremony

by Suleiman himself, as a display of royal splendor.

This sword shows that Suleiman could obtain the finest resources

and attract the most talented craftsmen

from both inside and outside the Empire.

Generally, precious stones came from outside the empire.

We still call this one Ruby or Yakut.

Rubies usually came from places like India or Burma.

Firuze came from the city of Firuz in Iran, that's why we call it Firuze in Turkish

But in the West it's known as turquoise meaning "Turkish blue".

This parchment map was made around 1560 for Sultan Suleiman

by cartographer Al-Hajj Abul Hassan.

The Ottoman flags flying over places like Belgrade, Buda and Rhodes

show that despite the setback at Vienna,

much of Europe was now under Ottoman control.

And it was not only on land

that the Ottomans had been interfering in European concerns.

Now, Suleiman's navy became the scourge of the Christian West.

Behind the scenes at lstanbul's Naval Museum

is a restoration warehouse.

Inside, it houses a unique bounty...

Ottoman vessels, kept under wraps.

These are imperial kayaks and galleys

that once sailed the Black Sea and Mediterranean...

The task of restoring them to their original glory has begun.

They are relics of a time when the Ottomans were known

by friend and foe alike

as the “lords of the sea”.

We are standing on the oldest and the only surviving original galley.

This gallay dates from the 16th century.

It is impossible for any Mediterranean historian not to feel excited

when faced with such an example.

There are benches, three-person benches

In each row there are 24 benches. In total there are spaces for 144 oarsmen.

This was the age of discovery -

a time when European states had begun to colonize the New World

and trade spices as far afield as the Indian Ocean.

Now, Ottoman fleets attempted to monopolize

the lucrative trade from the east.

They captured strategic island and coastal outposts,

turning the Mediterranean into an Ottoman lake.

To grasp control of the shipping lanes

the Ottomans employed an ingenious tactic.

The countless pirates, privateers and corsairs that roamed the seas

were usually lawless raiders and traders.

But, by making shrewd and tactical alliances,

Sultan Suleiman turned the most sea-worthy corsairs

into Ottoman Admirals.

This 16th century miniature shows the Sultan

receiving the most successful privateer in Ottoman history.

His name was Hayreddin Barbarossa.

Barbarossa is among the whole of 16th Century Europe's . . .

most charismatic figures.

Barbarossa is a hero who has been immortalized . . .

in novels, poems, wall hangings, songs -- every type of literature.

Under Barbarossa's command,

the Ottomans interrupted vital European sea-borne trade.

Cities all over Europe saw their livelihoods hang by a thread.

16th century Europe may have been divided by internal rivalries,

but they had a common enemy.

The Ottomans were such a threat,

that Western Europe formed a “Holy League” to defend themselves.

Two of the largest navies ever assembled,

clashed off the coast of Greece

at Lepanto.

The battle of Lepanto is often seen as a breaking point

As soon as Cyprus was captured by the Ottomans, the great powers -- the Papacy, Spain, and Venice . . .

created an alliance and were determined to bring an end to this problem once and for all.

This ends with a thrashing for the Ottomans.

In the course of the battle,

the Ottomans lost four times as many ships as the Europeans,

and double the troops.

Lepanto was celebrated by the Holy League

as a major victory.

Now, they hoped to reclaim control of the Mediterranean.

But, most importantly,

the idea that the Ottomans could be decisively beaten was born.

In the West, this naval battle has traditionally been seen

as a major turning point in the struggle against the Ottomans.

But in the East, this was just a setback.

Within a year, the Ottomans had rebuilt their fleet.

Lepanto was far from the end of Ottoman power.

In their relations with the Ottomans,

Europe's mercantile powers walked a tightrope -

between alliance and defense.

Ambassadors from Francis I's France and Elizabeth I's England

were sent on diplomatic missions to the Ottoman court

as treaties of “friendship and commerce”

became essential to their survival.

In this Ottoman miniature, King John Sigismund of Hungary

is depicted paying homage to Suleiman.

It reveals the continuing influence of the Ottomans

upon the Western world.

You can't understand Europe without the Ottomans,

and you can't understand the Ottomans without Europe.

This doesn't only apply to the period of Suleiman the Magnificent,

it was like this from the start to the end of the Empire.

European identity was created by being both in alliance with and opposition to the Turks.

So we are talking about two entities which created each other.

At Topkapi Palace western visitors discovered an imperial playground

that could equal any European Renaissance court -

in riches, taste and in the language of kingship.

Their reports of the splendor of Suleiman's court

earned him the title, Suleiman the Magnificent.

But perhaps Suleiman's greatest legacy

was his creation of a system of government

that the world still uses today.

Suleiman's second period saw the creation of the first modern government.

in Suleiman's government there was a regular army . . .

a powerful tax system and a strong bureaucracy which maintained it.

This was established in Suleiman's second period,

Modern European governments, by taking this as an example . . .

began an era of building modern nation governments

Topkapi didn't just become a center of modern government,

it became a model of artistic design.

Here, the Ottomans drew together

the different artistic styles of East and West,

and founded their own Ottoman means of expression.

Even after Suleiman's time,

later sultans built upon this tradition,

and endowed the Palace grounds with ever more elaborate Ottoman designs.

Today, a restoration team are replicating the work

of Ottoman master craftsmen of the classical age.

The tiles in Topkapi Palace are all very good examples of Ottoman era tiles

At the moment we are re-painting the repaired parts of the original tiles

with exactly matching colors.

The Revan Pavilion was built in 1635,

to celebrate the conquest of Yerevan,

today the capital of Armenia.

It represents a pinnacle of the Ottoman artistic legacy -

fueled by continuing conquests.

In the maturity of his reign,

at the age of 54,