RULERS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Apparently well known but actually less so, the Ottoman Empire is represented in the portraits of its 36 rulers. Who were the sultans, and what sort of personalities were those who created the empire? What were their strong sides, what did they look like, and how happen that the all-powerful rulers of South-Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and South-West Asia sometimes became tools in the hands of their subordinates?