Objective
Explain how internal and external factors contributed to change in the Ottoman Empire after 1900.
Reading Questions
- What internal problems contributed to the fall of the Ottoman Empire?
- What external problems contribute to the fall of the Ottoman Empire?
- What reforms did the Ottomans attempt?
- Who were the opponents of the Ottoman reforms? Why did they oppose the reforms?
- Who were the supporters of the Ottoman Reforms? Why id they support the reforms?
- How did WWI lead the the fall of the Ottoman Empire?
- What were some of the democratic reforms instituted by Mustafa Kemal?
External Problems
Losses in War
By the late 17th century, the Ottoman Empire had reached its peak and was on the downward slide. Ottoman armies suffered humiliating defeats on the battlefield, especially at the hands of Austria and Russia. Ottoman forces lagged behind European armies in weapons, tactics, and training.
By the late 17th century, the Ottoman Empire had reached its peak and was on the downward slide. Ottoman armies suffered humiliating defeats on the battlefield, especially at the hands of Austria and Russia. Ottoman forces lagged behind European armies in weapons, tactics, and training.
Capitulations
Furthermore, a series of capitulations- agreements between European countries and the Ottoman Sultan dictated that Westerners had exemptions from Ottoman law and taxation. Those capitulations were very similar to the Chinese unequal treaties.
Furthermore, a series of capitulations- agreements between European countries and the Ottoman Sultan dictated that Westerners had exemptions from Ottoman law and taxation. Those capitulations were very similar to the Chinese unequal treaties.
Internal Problems
Balkan Independence
Additionally, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania (The Balkans) achieved independence based on nationalism and with the help of the British. The Ottoman empire’s internal struggles were compounded by European exploration.
Economic Problems
The Ottoman empire and Constantinople were no longer the center of trade between Asia and Europe. Europeans explored finding a new source of revenue in their American colonies and direct access to Asian goods. The Industrial Revolution added to the demise of the Ottomans. Cheap manufactured goods from European countries were now being sold in the world markets and the Ottoman empire’s markets as well. Ottoman artisans were particularly hit hard leading to urban riots protesting the capitulations. Compounding the struggles was the inability of the Janissaries to adapt.
Reforms
Sultan Selim III ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. aimed at improving administrative efficiency and building a new army and navy trained with new European weapons, tactics and training. The Janissaries and many conservative clerics saw this as a threat to their power and influence so they toppled the Sultan in 1807.
When Mahmud II took the throne, he knew he had to curtail the power of the Janissaries. He built a private, professional army. He fomented a revolution of Janissaries and crushed them with that private army. Once he destroyed the power of Janissaries and their religious allies, he was able to initiate reform of the Ottoman Empire on Western precedents.
Mahmud II reforms were called the Tanzimat Reforms. The Reforms included Factories producing cloth, paper, and weapons, telegraphs, steamships, railroads, a modern postal service, unused land was reclaimed for farming, secular schools opened up, and Western-style law codes and courts emerged. Most revolutionary was granting equality under the law to the empire's many minorities.
Supporters and Opponents of Reforms
Among the supporters of the reforms were lower level officials, military officers, writers, poets, and journalists who called themselves Young Ottomans. These young intellectuals wanted to institute a western style constitution and parliament that could end the the absolute power of the Sultan and build a feeling of national identity in the Ottoman Empire based on Islam. They believed that an Islamic identity and technological/scientific advancement could coexist. In 1876, the Sultan accepted a constitution and a parliament. But, the Sultan would suspend the reforms and return to ruling with absolute power.
Opposition to the absolute power of the Sultan rose again in the form of the Young Turks. These reformers wanted modernization along European lines, military reforms, and a secular public life without any connection of Islam to the state. They also advocated for nationalism based on Turkish culture. In 1908, the Young Turks came to power after a military coup. Although they opened secular schools, ended polygamy and created a Single Law of Family Rights, they also espoused a form of Turkish nationalism which was xenophobic and exclusionary in its thinking leading to the Armenian Genocide during WWI and the eventual end of the Ottoman empire.
Final External Problem
World War I
The Ottomans entered World War I (1914–18) on the side of the Central Powers. The Ottoman Empire had lost territory in North Africa, the Caucasus, and southern Europe to Britain, France, Russia, and Bulgaria, among others. The Young Turk leaders hoped that allying with Germany in the war might offer them an opportunity to recover some of their lost territory. Ottoman troops made an important contribution to the Central Powers’ war effort, fighting on multiple fronts.
In 1915, members of the Young Turk government directed Ottoman soldiers in Eastern Anatolia, near the Russian front, to deport or execute millions of Armenians in an event that later came to be known as the Armenian Genocide. Upon the end of the war, with defeat imminent, the Young Turk cabinet resigned on October 9, 1918, less than a month before the Ottomans signed the Armistice of Mudros. The Ottoman Empire was also forced to give up all its territories except Turkey
Republic
In 1919, Greek soldiers invaded Turkey trying to conquer it. The Turkish sultan could do nothing to stop the Greeks. However, in 1922 army commander Mustafa Kemal (keh•MAHL), successfully led Turkish nationalists in defeating the Greeks and their British backers. After winning a peace, the nationalists overthrew the last Ottoman sultan. In 1923, Kemal became the president of the new Republic of Turkey. Kemal transformed Turkey into a modern nation, by ushering in these sweeping reforms:
• separated the laws of Islam from the laws of the nation
• abolished religious courts and created a new legal system based on European law
• granted women the right to vote and to hold public office
• launched government-funded programs to industrialize Turkey and to spur economic growth
Below is a good review of the Ottoman Empire from 1200 to 1900
• separated the laws of Islam from the laws of the nation
• abolished religious courts and created a new legal system based on European law
• granted women the right to vote and to hold public office
• launched government-funded programs to industrialize Turkey and to spur economic growth
Below is a good review of the Ottoman Empire from 1200 to 1900