"Edhem Eldem is Professor in the Department of History at Bogazici University in Istanbul. He has also taught at Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, EHESS, EPHE and ENS, and held the International Chair of Turkish and Ottoman History at the Collège de France. In this lecture, he traces the history of the Ottoman Empire from its emergence in the 14th century to its fall in the aftermath of the First World War. From the moment of its emergence, this empire was faced with the challenges of its gigantic size and its ethnic and cultural diversity. Breaking away from the prisms of orientalism and nationalism, the author provides us with the essential keys to understanding the complexity of this unique empire, highlighting the internal dynamics that have marked its course through the centuries. 3 CD audiobook. In French."