 From the Persian Empire of Darius the Great, it fell into the hands of Alexander the Great, then to the Hellenistic Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and finally the Sunni Ottoman Empire until 1923–1924, even though originally the Ottoman Dynasty was Alevi.That is why the Janissaries followed the Bektashi-Alevi religion.This Central Empire had been subject to attempts by other empires to seize succession, situated along its periphery, the Caliphate, the Persian Empire and the Russian Empire (until 1917).