The Fall of the Empire
The Ottoman Empire was one of the greatest of it’s time. In the 16th century, Europeans marveled at its glory: a large army and navy made up of extremely loyal janissaries, the capital city Istanbul, which was larger than Paris, and government that promoted religious tolerance. After reaching it’s peak expanse in 1683, the Ottoman empire began to see a decline in their society. This is because while Europe and Asia had begun to modernize and industrialize, the empire remained stuck in its ways of old. Had the leaders of the Ottomans been more willing to adapt to changing times, their presence might’ve been a stronger one in the years that were to come.
The Sultans following the reign of Suleiman the Great were not as competent leaders as he was. Under his reign in the late 16th century, the empire had reached it’s peak and spanned over the Balkans and Hungary, reaching as far as Vienna. However, after his death the Ottomans suffered many military losses against the other powers of the world. Much later, as the Europeans around them began to industrialize in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Ottomans did not. Their Caliphs chose to stick to their deeply rooted traditional values instead. This contributed to much of their empire being taken in military conquests and to their becoming perceived as the “sick man”. Had the Ottomans industrialized with Europe, they would have had a more modern nation that could compete with the other nations.
The 19th Century featured sultans who did try to adopt European ideas and modernize accordingly, but these attempts were unsuccessful. The devshirme was dismantled, a step in “modern” direction, and in its place a new European style army was formed. A series of reforms were also put into place by Abdulmecid I and continued by his successor, Abdulaziz, during this time period called the Tanzimat Reforms. They attempted to unite the ethnic groups within the empire under the call of “Ottomanism”- a broad umbrella term they hoped would allow for non-Muslims and non-Turks to feel more assimilated. This was also an attempt at industrialization. Factories,mills, and farms were were built, and schools were errected for technical and agricultural studies. Generally during this time, there was more emphasis placed on a European-like education, better communication systems such as railroads and telegraph, newspapers began to circulate, and a constitution was eventually introduced. Most of the machinery was imported directly from Europe, along with the its operators. This attempt to “catch up” as it can be seen was not at all effective, and caused tension for traditional Islamists who saw the adoption of European culture to be demeaning.
Political instability as the Ottoman Empire reached it’s final years also contributed to it;s decay. Having a very conservative sultan in the latter half of the 19th century did not help the Ottoman People, who’s younger and educated generations craved the respect of their inherent rights. Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909) was the last sultan before the Empire entered the first World War. He is seen as having centralized the government, but did not do much to liberalize the empire. Under his rule, there was much corruption. For the few centuries leading to the fall, the Sultans of the Empire became tainted with corruption. The Osman Dynasty has established the concept of government positions to be granted because of merit but with less capable Sultans came more relaxed rules. People in the later centuries of the empire were able to to bribe, sell, buy, or gift positions, allowing for very fraudulent rulers. Many people spent all of their money on buying a position, and would charge their provinces high taxes which they would keep to regain their money. Because the empire was so large, it was very difficult to have a strong, centralized government that reached even the outskirts of the empire.
Sultan Abdul Hamid II was soon deposed and was followed by Sultan Mehmet V, who ruled from 1909 to 1918. Under his government, power was transferred to the parliament so they would have more say in the government. Soon after establishing the parliament, the Young Turks won a majority in the election held in 1912, allowing it to have a great say in the Parliament. The Young Turks were key players in the fall of the Ottoman Empire. While they wished to reform the government of the Sultan, they actually made it easier for the empire to collapse. The Committee of Union and Progress, as the Young Turks were also known, had members with a wide range of views. The views spanned from very secular to extremely traditional and Islam-based. They were strong supporters of a constitutional government with a representative assembly and hoped to modernize the Ottoman Empire. This meant ending corruption and once again imposing checks on the central government. A coup that constituted of a small group of CUP officers and soldiers was staged, referred to as the Sublime Porte Incident. This was intended to force the abdication of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Kamil Pasha and establish a new minister they approved of. This eventually led to the position being held by Said Halim Pasha.
The CUP was responsible for many administrative reforms leading to more centralization and industrialization, but according to European Standards the Empire remained very weak, especially in it’s most widespread parts. The Empire’s system of taxation was very underdeveloped compared to its European Counterparts, and thus it lacked funding that other nations received.
World War 1 was also a large contributor to the fall of the Ottoman Empire.In 1914, the Ottomans entered into the First World War on the side of the Central Powers. This was because the empire had made an alliance with Germany. The Minister of War at the time, Enver Pasha, was very opportunistic and saw the early victories of the Germans as a reason to form an alliance with them. The Ottomans also had much contempt for the Russians, feeling that they supported the Christian Minorities within their Muslim Empire, but most specifically the Christian Armenians. They fought well on the Eastern Front, in places like Asia Minor, Azerbaijan. Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine, as well as in some skirmishes on the European Front.
Meanwhile at home, leaders of the empire ordered the planned execution of hundreds of thousands Christian Armenians. This is now called The Armenian Genocide.
Halfway through the war, the armed forces of the Empire began to fall apart on a massive scale, and the economic situation at home became bleak. More and more regions under Ottoman rule began to break off for self-rule.
An armistice was signed by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey and a British Admiral in 1918 which ended Ottoman hostilities. The treaty of Sevres signed in 1920 dissipated the Ottoman Empire and relinquished all power in Arabia and Northern Africa. Armenia was given its independence, Kurdistan was self governed, and Greece was allowed to exert influence on Thrace and parts of the western Anatolian Coast, and exercise power over the Aegean Islands.
Disclaimer: This is a school project. All photos are not owned by the creators of this site, and all work has been cited.
Works Cited:
http://muslimmatters.org/2011/12/20/part-i-the-decline-of-the-ottoman-empire/
http://www.turizm.net/turkey/history/ottoman3.html
http://richard-hooker.com/sites/worldcultures/OTTOMAN/17TH.HTMl
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ottomanempire_1.shtml
http://faith-matters.org/images/stories/fm-publications/the-tanzimat-final-web.pdf
http://www.historytoday.com/geoffrey-woodward/ottomans-europe
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ottoman-empire-signs-treaty-with-allies
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/536839/Treaty-of-Sevres
Clark, Edward C. "The Ottoman Industrial Revolution." International Journal of Middle East Studies: 65-76.
The Sultans following the reign of Suleiman the Great were not as competent leaders as he was. Under his reign in the late 16th century, the empire had reached it’s peak and spanned over the Balkans and Hungary, reaching as far as Vienna. However, after his death the Ottomans suffered many military losses against the other powers of the world. Much later, as the Europeans around them began to industrialize in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Ottomans did not. Their Caliphs chose to stick to their deeply rooted traditional values instead. This contributed to much of their empire being taken in military conquests and to their becoming perceived as the “sick man”. Had the Ottomans industrialized with Europe, they would have had a more modern nation that could compete with the other nations.
The 19th Century featured sultans who did try to adopt European ideas and modernize accordingly, but these attempts were unsuccessful. The devshirme was dismantled, a step in “modern” direction, and in its place a new European style army was formed. A series of reforms were also put into place by Abdulmecid I and continued by his successor, Abdulaziz, during this time period called the Tanzimat Reforms. They attempted to unite the ethnic groups within the empire under the call of “Ottomanism”- a broad umbrella term they hoped would allow for non-Muslims and non-Turks to feel more assimilated. This was also an attempt at industrialization. Factories,mills, and farms were were built, and schools were errected for technical and agricultural studies. Generally during this time, there was more emphasis placed on a European-like education, better communication systems such as railroads and telegraph, newspapers began to circulate, and a constitution was eventually introduced. Most of the machinery was imported directly from Europe, along with the its operators. This attempt to “catch up” as it can be seen was not at all effective, and caused tension for traditional Islamists who saw the adoption of European culture to be demeaning.
Political instability as the Ottoman Empire reached it’s final years also contributed to it;s decay. Having a very conservative sultan in the latter half of the 19th century did not help the Ottoman People, who’s younger and educated generations craved the respect of their inherent rights. Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1909) was the last sultan before the Empire entered the first World War. He is seen as having centralized the government, but did not do much to liberalize the empire. Under his rule, there was much corruption. For the few centuries leading to the fall, the Sultans of the Empire became tainted with corruption. The Osman Dynasty has established the concept of government positions to be granted because of merit but with less capable Sultans came more relaxed rules. People in the later centuries of the empire were able to to bribe, sell, buy, or gift positions, allowing for very fraudulent rulers. Many people spent all of their money on buying a position, and would charge their provinces high taxes which they would keep to regain their money. Because the empire was so large, it was very difficult to have a strong, centralized government that reached even the outskirts of the empire.
Sultan Abdul Hamid II was soon deposed and was followed by Sultan Mehmet V, who ruled from 1909 to 1918. Under his government, power was transferred to the parliament so they would have more say in the government. Soon after establishing the parliament, the Young Turks won a majority in the election held in 1912, allowing it to have a great say in the Parliament. The Young Turks were key players in the fall of the Ottoman Empire. While they wished to reform the government of the Sultan, they actually made it easier for the empire to collapse. The Committee of Union and Progress, as the Young Turks were also known, had members with a wide range of views. The views spanned from very secular to extremely traditional and Islam-based. They were strong supporters of a constitutional government with a representative assembly and hoped to modernize the Ottoman Empire. This meant ending corruption and once again imposing checks on the central government. A coup that constituted of a small group of CUP officers and soldiers was staged, referred to as the Sublime Porte Incident. This was intended to force the abdication of the Grand Vizier Mehmed Kamil Pasha and establish a new minister they approved of. This eventually led to the position being held by Said Halim Pasha.
The CUP was responsible for many administrative reforms leading to more centralization and industrialization, but according to European Standards the Empire remained very weak, especially in it’s most widespread parts. The Empire’s system of taxation was very underdeveloped compared to its European Counterparts, and thus it lacked funding that other nations received.
World War 1 was also a large contributor to the fall of the Ottoman Empire.In 1914, the Ottomans entered into the First World War on the side of the Central Powers. This was because the empire had made an alliance with Germany. The Minister of War at the time, Enver Pasha, was very opportunistic and saw the early victories of the Germans as a reason to form an alliance with them. The Ottomans also had much contempt for the Russians, feeling that they supported the Christian Minorities within their Muslim Empire, but most specifically the Christian Armenians. They fought well on the Eastern Front, in places like Asia Minor, Azerbaijan. Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine, as well as in some skirmishes on the European Front.
Meanwhile at home, leaders of the empire ordered the planned execution of hundreds of thousands Christian Armenians. This is now called The Armenian Genocide.
Halfway through the war, the armed forces of the Empire began to fall apart on a massive scale, and the economic situation at home became bleak. More and more regions under Ottoman rule began to break off for self-rule.
An armistice was signed by the Ottoman Minister of Marine Affairs Rauf Bey and a British Admiral in 1918 which ended Ottoman hostilities. The treaty of Sevres signed in 1920 dissipated the Ottoman Empire and relinquished all power in Arabia and Northern Africa. Armenia was given its independence, Kurdistan was self governed, and Greece was allowed to exert influence on Thrace and parts of the western Anatolian Coast, and exercise power over the Aegean Islands.
Disclaimer: This is a school project. All photos are not owned by the creators of this site, and all work has been cited.
Works Cited:
http://muslimmatters.org/2011/12/20/part-i-the-decline-of-the-ottoman-empire/
http://www.turizm.net/turkey/history/ottoman3.html
http://richard-hooker.com/sites/worldcultures/OTTOMAN/17TH.HTMl
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/ottomanempire_1.shtml
http://faith-matters.org/images/stories/fm-publications/the-tanzimat-final-web.pdf
http://www.historytoday.com/geoffrey-woodward/ottomans-europe
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ottoman-empire-signs-treaty-with-allies
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/536839/Treaty-of-Sevres
Clark, Edward C. "The Ottoman Industrial Revolution." International Journal of Middle East Studies: 65-76.