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What Happened When Ottoman Mercenaries Refused to Leave Gallipoli? - From Temporary Allies to Permanent Rulers in the Byzantine Balkans | Sleepy Facts About History
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In the 1340s, Turkish cavalry crossed the Dardanelles not as invaders but as hired hands, ferried over in small boats to fight for one Byzantine faction against another. Yet within a decade, these temporary mercenaries would refuse to leave, and the earthquake-damaged fortress of Gallipoli would become the first permanent Ottoman settlement on European soil. This episode examines how a prolonged Byzantine civil war created an opening for Ottoman forces, and how a calculated alliance…
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