Talk:Ottomans/@comment-94.123.227.180-20110205104044/@comment-27726014-20190118174833

The Turks have been defeated many times but it's more that their land wasn't very valuable. The trade routes along it were mostly irrelevant with the sea routes and most of the land is not very fertile. The land that was fertile they lost to Russia over many wars.

In fact as the description indeed says the British who were competing with the Russians for land in central Asia propted up the Ottomans and helped them. Most notably in the Crimean war.