P>From the very end of the eighteenth century to the collapse of their Empire after World War I, the Ottomans "discovered", adapted and gradually put to extensive use western forms of honors: orders, medals and decorations. From the aigrette bestowed on Admiral Nelson in 1798 to the "Iron Crescent" of a doomed war, this work retraces the complex and fascinating history of Ottoman decorations, with a particular emphasis on their historical significance, symbolism and meaning. Illustrated with real-size reproductions of each of the items discussed, it constitutes a serious attempt to merge historical analysis with a detailed phaleristic approach.