The Expansion of the Ottoman Empire 1328–1672

The death of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1566 marked the end of the Ottoman Empire’s classical age, in which it achieved its greatest territorial expansion and social stability, and ushered in the era of transformation. The victory of the Knights Hospitaller after the Great Siege of Malta in 1565 demonstrated to the European Christian powers that the mighty Ottomans could be defeated and marked the beginning of Christian alliances in the face of Ottoman attacks. Although territorial expansion had slowed down, the Ottomans still secured a number of new territories during the transformation, including Cyprus from the Venetians and Tunis from the Spanish in 1573–74. Along with the rest of Europe, the Ottoman economy experienced very high inflation over the latter half of the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, which led to increasing political tensions. Subsequently, Osman II was killed by his own troops during a Janissary uprising in 1622.