The Largest Possible Ottoman Empire?

Assuming the Turks won the Seige of Vienna in 1529, how much more could the Ottoman Empire expand? I personally can't really see them going past Austria at the most. Perhaps they could take out Southern Italy if their lucky at sea, but that's about it.
 
Assuming the Turks won the Seige of Vienna in 1529, how much more could the Ottoman Empire expand? I personally can't really see them going past Austria at the most. Perhaps they could take out Southern Italy if their lucky at sea, but that's about it.

They really can't expand all that much further because of geographic and technological limitations. Vienna was their logistical limit in the north, Tunisia in the west, Yemen in the south, and the current Iraqi border with Iran in the east.
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Perhaps they could take out Southern Italy if their lucky at sea, but that's about it.

They held Otranto for a few months, but that was about it. I suppose they could have done somewhat better, but I doubt they could have held on to any territory for very long. By the 1400s, the Christian powers were too strong.
 
They really can't expand all that much further because of geographic and technological limitations. Vienna was their logistical limit in the north, Tunisia in the west, Yemen in the south, and the current Iraqi border with Iran in the east.

I could see them taking parts of Moravia, but I agree in that taking places such as Bohemia proper and Tyrol would be beyond the Ottomans.
 
I could see them taking parts of Moravia, but I agree in that taking places such as Bohemia proper and Tyrol would be beyond the Ottomans.

I can't even see them doing that much. Given the limitations of all armies of the time, the most they'd do is taken and hold Vienna for maybe a half-century and then it's the first major European city retaken. The Ottomans, as Mohacs showed, were perfectly able in the 16th Century to pulverize European armies, but there's only so far they were logistically able to go when dependent on footpower, horsepower, and a relatively crude musketry and artillery system. Vienna was that "so far."

And in terms of occupying large parts of Italy.....only if they want to ruin themselves in the process the same way Justinian did before them.
 
They held Otranto for a few months, but that was about it. I suppose they could have done somewhat better, but I doubt they could have held on to any territory for very long. By the 1400s, the Christian powers were too strong.

Too early, as after all one of the most pulverizing Ottoman victories was won at Mohacs just before the failure at the first Siege of Vienna. It was by the 17th Century that the balance of power began to tilt in favor of Europe and even then it was hardly a universal tilt. The Ottomans picked a really, really bad time to slip into a disastrous internal crisis, however......
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Well off the top of my head they could plausibly rule all of Arabia

In a pre-oil world, why on Earth would they want to? They controlled the coasts, through which ran the trade routes. All the rest would just have been useless desert.
 
I can't even see them doing that much. Given the limitations of all armies of the time, the most they'd do is taken and hold Vienna for maybe a half-century and then it's the first major European city retaken. The Ottomans, as Mohacs showed, were perfectly able in the 16th Century to pulverize European armies, but there's only so far they were logistically able to go when dependent on footpower, horsepower, and a relatively crude musketry and artillery system. Vienna was that "so far."

And in terms of occupying large parts of Italy.....only if they want to ruin themselves in the process the same way Justinian did before them.

Grabbing bits of Moravia isn't beyond reason - the terrain is rather flat and it wouldn't be too difficult to hold down.
 
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