Pasha Hilim Receiving Archduke Maximilian of Austria As this painting suggests, Ottoman leaders became well versed in European languages and culture. They also mastered the game of power politics, playing one European state against another to secure the Ottoman Empire’s survival.
(By Peter Johann Nepomuk Geiger [1805–1880]/Miramare Palace, Trieste, Italy/Alfredo Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY)