Ottoman history is the history of the Ottoman Empire. It may seem ridiculous to state so self-evident a proposition; but is is put forth here to indicate the complexities in the study of Ottoman history. For the Ottoman Empire still, at the end of the eighteenth century, included the territories of what are now nineteen independent countries. The lands of twelve future independent countries were yet within the Ottoman borders in 1914 at the start of the war which sounded the death-knell of the sprawling conglomerate. Of course some of these areas were only nominally or very loosely under the control of the Istanbul government. Yet they were still within the empire, and created problems for it, if nothing else.