Exploring the Effects of the West on The Ottoman Empire Essay examples

However, the plan did not go according to plan for the Ottomans, because once many Europeans started investing in the Middle East and its commerce, access to credit became much easier, which rather helped lead to the decline of the empire. When the Ottoman empire was experiencing financial problems, these Europeans would step in and aid the Ottomans through methods such as loans. However, when the Ottomans could not pay back the loans, events such as the British occupying Egypt would result. Hence, the issue was the loss of economic sovereignty in the Ottoman

The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughals were all gunpowder empires. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the differences between all of these empires mentioned. Each fall into five different categories.

The slow collapse of empires allowed for the unintentional transfer of colonial powers which allowed for the preservation of the European imperialistic system. The slow disintegration of the Ottoman Empire demonstrates the unintended transfer of colonial states which ultimately preserved imperialism during World War One. The Ottoman empire faced large economic and political strain with the Italian invasion of Northern Africa in 1911 and the internal threat of the Balkan Wars in 1912-13. This ultimately created pressure on the Ottoman empire and the decline of imperial conquests. As large tracts of internal territories began to disappear Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria declared war on the Ottoman empire in 1917 which ultimately led

the use of European technology, economic and trade and marketing skills they succeed in Imperializing

The fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries were important years for the Habsburg and Ottoman empires in which empires attempted to grow and conquer lands in both the Europe and lands overseas, primarily with the discoveries of the Americas. Even though the Ottomans were strong militarily and conquered the lands a lot of Europe, the Spanish was able to control majority of the maritime, which helped with the globalization route.

The Ottomans were by far the greatest of the Muslim empires. It was the greatest in size and power, and it lasted the longest out of the three Muslim empires. Altogether, the Ottoman empire had the greatest influence and made the most contributions to world history. The Ottomans had a great influence on religion.

Between the 16th and 18th century a power shift began to occur between Christian Europe and the Turkish Empire. Turkey, being one of the most successful, thriving and longest lasting empires of the world, began to deteriorate in the shadow of the rising European powers. The late 18th century saw Europe ascending as a leading world power. This paper will argue two of the major reasons that contributed to the shift of power from the dominant Turkish Empire to Europe. Firstly, after the death of Sultan Suleiman in 1566, the Turks failed to advance militarily while the Christian empires, who had already advanced far ahead, underwent significant military advancement. Secondly, the policy of a Sultan being chosen for quality and character was replaced with a new policy of inheritance, which contributed to the rise of unskilled and incompetent Sultans running the empire, further contributing to the decline of the Turkish Empire.

As for the Ottoman Empire, they use to hold “the central political fixture of a widespread Islamic World”. However, when they lost their central hold they were found to be more inferior to Europe. By mid to the end of the nineteenth century “ the Ottoman Empire was no longer able to deal with Europe from a position of equality, let alone superiority.” Overall, the Ottoman Empire was tired of the way Europe was taking control of them. This is important because with the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Europe they were not able to successfully interact during the imperialization.

European expansion during the 16th and 17th century was considered an “assault” on the non-European world because of the number of negative effects that European presence caused. The first major effect was the African slave trade, which had a negative impact on the indigenous people. The need for laborers increase and since the Native Americans fell susceptible to disease; the Europeans went to Africa for their workers. According to the first presentation, Europe’s Assault on the World, “The most tragic and reprehensible impact of European expansion was the revival of slavery, which had all but disappeared from Europe by the year 1000.” (Slide 17). Another negative effect that European expansion caused was the spread of only one culture. According to the third presentation, Europe’s Assault on the World, “From the earliest stages of prehistory the cultural trends had always been toward differentiation.” (Slide 2). However, Europeans felt they were superior to everyone else and would disturb other cultures they encountered. Religion was one area where they felt they knew everything and possessed the correct one. Christianity, the Europeans thought was the one true religion. According to the reading, “Their religion was always present as a cultural fact and this gave Europeans the assurance that they were superior to the peoples they came in contact with for the first time.” This would often result in violent exchanges between the two groups. The arrogance of the Europeans and their religion was one

In the late 1800’s a group of young scholars banned to together for the greater good of the ottoman empire. They along with many were extremely displeased with their situation the what happening at the time. Reforming was happening in the empire that was not the problem, it was the type of reforming the Young Ottomans were upset with. They all wanted to somehow preserve the roots to the ottoman empire. That was there was main objective. The Ottoman empire was moving in a way that they would be completely ran with a European government. They would not stand for this because they thought one should have ties to their origins.

I found the primary source From Decline and Fall of Byzantium to the Ottoman Turks by Doukas after the conquest of Constantinople to be interesting. It was interesting because it is uncommon in history to receive a person’s complete view and interpretation of an event that lived during that time. Doukas began his account by mentioning the choice Sultan Mehmed had given the emperor of Constantinople. Mehmed had given the emperor the option to quit the city and leave unharmed with his people or to resist and lose his life as well as the people of Constantinople. The emperor stated that they could live together peacefully, but Sultan Mehmed rejected his offer. Why exactly did Sultan Mehmed refuse to live in peace with the Romans? Also, was the emperor being serious when he responded to Mehmed?

The Byzantine empire had its start in 330 AD with Constantine moving the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire/Byzantine Empire to Constantinople, present day Istanbul. This created a capital in which nearly no one could fully siege control over for centuries. This all changed on April 5,1453 when Sultan Mehmed II, ruler of the Ottoman Empire, determined that he would defeat the Byzantine Empire and take Constantinople, took action and marched to the city. After a 54 day siege, on Tuesday, May 29,1453, Sultan Mehmed II and the Muslim Turks breached the walls of the city and brought the last Roman empire crumbling to its knees. The reasons why the Ottoman Empire was able to bring down what once was the greatest empire in the world was due to a proper financial backing and assistance from allies, greater number of troops, better technological advancements, the type of leader Sultan Mehmed II was, and strategy.

With Russian annexation of territories, the Ottomans would see the Empire dismembered by the Entente powers. The inability to protect the integrity of the empire forced the Ottomans to look for a European alliance. While Britain and France were looked at, both had no interest in an alliance. This would lead to the Ottomans and Germans to sign a treaty on the 2nd of August. (Class Notes)

Arising from the ashes of the Constantinople Empire, the Ottoman Empire ruled the southeastern portion of Europe as well as a majority of the Middle East known as Asia Minor. From the late 13th century to the early 20th century, the Ottomans were seen as an international powerhouse as well as a major influencer of the land they occupied. Although they collapsed in the 1920s, by the1800s they would already have put their stamp on history. Going through seven leaders, the Ottoman Empire was able to ascend Europe in a state of chaos that was seen to be impossible to overcome. The internal and external battles that would take place altered the course of history in which Europe was able to overcome these odds. Religion, diplomacy, independence,

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.