Decline of the Ottoman Empire

As you have read, many things attributed to the rise of the Empire. Many things also attributed to its fall as well. These included poor leadership, economic trouble, as well

While taking the class of Early Modern European History there was two states that really stuck out and peaked my interest the most. They were the Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe. If you compare and contrast both the Ottoman Empire and Early Modern Europe during the 16th Century through the 18th Century, you will see that there are a number of similarities as well as differences when you look at the expansion of the states. You will also see many of these contrasts as well when you look in terms of each states military and commerce. Although the Ottoman Empire existed before the 16th century and continued to exist past the 18th century and in great decline until the early 20th century, when looking at the state as a whole the time

The Ottoman Empire was successful because of its tolerance towards people’s beliefs and religions and having a highly skilled army.

The Ottoman Turks emerged on the periphery of the Byzantine Empire and the Saljuk Turks. Under a Turkish Muslim warrior named Osman, raids were conducted in western Anatolia on Byzantine settlements and a vast number of Turks were united under his banner. Those Turks who flocked to Osman's banner and followed him into the history books came to be called the Ottomans. The word Ottoman, fits these Turks well as it roughly translates from Turkish as "those associated with Oman."

The Austrian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires faced such great challenges to control their land because of some key factors such a nationalism and disunity. After Austria had been split in half by Emperor Francis Joseph. Austria and Hungary became two independent states thus, becoming the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Over the course of forty years though, Emperor Francis Joseph would find it hard to control the land of the Austro-Hungarian Empire because of many nationalist disputes that that weakened the empire. After World War I the Austria-Hungary empire broke in many separate nation-states. In the Russian Empire nationalism and disunity helped to weaken and break the 370-year-old Russian Empire. Besides the Russians themselves the Russian empire had ruled over Ukrainians, Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Jews, Romanians, Georgians, Armenians, Turks, and other smaller nations. With this each country had their own culture. The Romanov dynasty of Russia however, wanted to keep tight control over this diversity. With that, Russification was instituted into the empire forcing all the countries in the empire to adopt the Russian culture. With this you can see how nationalism kept it hard for the Russian Empire to control their land because no country wanted to follow the Russian culture they wanted to follow the culture of their own country. So as nationalistic feelings were strengthened all over the empire after the Russification policy had been instituted Russia was now on its way to disunity and the falling of the empire with the last czar giving up his power in 1917. For the Ottoman Empire one challenge this empire faced to control their land was that of where you stood on the class spectrum. With this in 1856 all people under Ottoman ruling such as the Greeks, Slavs, Arabs, Bulgarians, and Armenians were given equal citizenship. This however, angered angered Turks who were conservative that did want this change to occur resulting in tensions in the

12.  In what ways was the Ottoman Empire important for Europe in the early modern era?

The Ottoman Empire’s politics were very clever to achieve rapid success because its structure was based on adaptation and attractions. During Osman’s reign, the sultan, the empire adopted many ideologies from their adversaries to persuade people to joined their improved kingdom. In the book, Pollard explains how, “[ the Ottomans] transformed themselves from warrior bands roaming the borderlands between Islamic and Christian worlds into rulers of a settled state…,” (Pollard, Pg. 392). They saw a clearer vision that their laying foundations was their military might and civilian bureaucracy. Their strategy for territorial expansion across the continent was by attracting civilians to join their military. The soldiers were promised wealth for their victories earned in the

In this essay I will break down and give background on the conflicts between the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires. I will compare and contrast a few of the economical differences between these empires.

Since the beginning, all empires have faced change in many ways, declining and rising in status. Many empires have collapsed, only to start again under a different name. Like all empires, the three Muslim Empires, the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals have faced this inevitable state. Although each individual empire is different, they each have similarities in their reasons for decline. Whether it is social, religious, economic, or political reasons, the empires, like many others, have fallen.

Long before the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was in a period of decline. Due to the corruption of the government, the nation had many resulting conflicts and reforms, such as the Tanzimat Reforms. This reform intended to preserve the Ottoman Empire, but in the long run, weakened it internally. After losing the Russo-Turkish War in 1878, the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of San Stefano in which parts of Asiatic Turkey were ceded to Russia. This humiliating loss weakened the empire further and made it more vulnerable to foreign attack.

The authority of the British, Austrian , French aggression, and Russia caused the Ottoman Empire lost plenty of territory.

The Ottoman empire; one of the greatest empires in history. The Empire, at its height, ruled most of the land around the Mediterranean. It contributed much to culture, science, religion, war, politics, and the world. Its monumental fall will be known throughout history. How can the swift decline of the Ottoman power be explained? Perhaps the best way to understand how important this event was, there needs to be a brief explanation of the history behind this epic collapse; showing the rise before the fall and the drastic change.

Today, there are virtually no multinational states remaining and one would be hard-pressed to find a government that has remained in place since the pre-World War I era. In that sense, it is highly unlikely that the Ottoman Empire could have survived the tumultuous 20th Century. Nevertheless, it may have had a chance. If not for European intervention, Ottoman reforms may have succeeded. However, even with those reforms, they had to compete with the rise of nationalism, which would have been difficult.

The elite standing army called janissaries spent the winter win Istanbul (Goldschmidt Jr., and Davidson 141). The Janissaries were becoming corrupt and using their authority to gain personal exclusive rights from the sultans instead of keeping to the training that made them an elite force and staying on top of new weaponry (Goldschmidt Jr., and Davidson 141). The janissaries used the Ottoman Empire to further their wealth while taking up more remunerative careers (Goldschmidt Jr., and Davidson 141). The military was lagging behind on the times. While other nations became more modern with their industries, the Ottoman Empire remained in the past (Hooker). By 1699 the military had become so unwound that they were forced to sign the Treaty of Karlowitz signing over Hungry to the Habsburg Empire despite the fact that the Ottomans outnumbered the Habsburg military (Goldschmidt Jr., and Davidson 141).

This allowed the Turks to continue their influence. During the 1300’s, the Ottomans began to build an empire. By 1453, they captured Constantinople. The Ottomans changed the capital's name from Constantinople to Istanbul. During the 1500's, the Ottoman Empire expanded and reached the height of its power. After this time the empire began to fall apart. During the 1800's, the Ottoman Empire had fallen into such a state of depravity that it became known as "The Sick Man of Europe". In 1829, after losing a war against France, Britain, Russia, and Greece, the Ottomans were forced to give up control of the Danube River.