52 THE INFLUENCE OF THE EAST ON EUROPEAN HISTORY 
This invasion drove from its home near the Altai mountains a 
tribe of Turks who afterwards acquired fame as the Ottoman Turks. 
In the course of their wanderings they settled in Asia Minor and 
rendered assistance to the Seljukian Turks. After the power of the 
latter had been shattered by the Mongols the Ottoman Turks 
gradually rose to supreme influence in Asia Minor, and in extending 
their influence they came in conflict with the Eastern or Bysantine 
Empire. Their first landing in Europe took place a little after 1350 
and they soon subdued a large amount of territory to the west of 
Constantinople, but the city itself was not captured till 1453. It 
would have been captured much earlier had there not been an 
invasion of Asia Minor by the Tartars under the famous Timur or 
Tamerlane. The Turks and Tartars met at Angora in 1402: the 
Turks received their first defeat and their renowned Sultan Bajazet 
“The Thunderbolt” was captured and imprisoned in an iron cage. 
With the capture of Constantinople and the fall of the Eastern 
Empire, modern History practically begins. Since this time there 
have been no invasions from the East ; as for the future, ‘‘ it is in the 
lap of the Gods.” The great yellow slumbering giant awakened 
from his long sleep by the prickings of Europeans, anxious in their 
desire for wealth to give him a civilisation which he is unwilling to 
receive, may awaken also to the realisation of its power and of his 
own and then—~ 
