The Tanzimat: Reform in the Ottoman Empire Essay

There was great resistance against this movement, and much of the neighboring Islamic world looked upon this westernization with disdain. Although Ataturk and Reza Shah ruled their countries with absolute power, and suppressed many citizens and minority groups, there were some positive aspects of the movement. The countries of Turkey and Iran would not be what they are today without the influence of these rulers in their

Turkey, though once the throne of Christendom, it began a new and glorious religious history starting in 1453 with the sack of Constantinople by the Islamic Turkish forces. During the next half millennium the strong Ottoman state is primarily controlled by the Islamic Sultanate and Caliphate. Istanbul under the Ottoman Empire was a, if not the, cultural center of the Islamic world. The empire brought great wealth, knowledge and culture into the modern day lands of Turkey. Although the modern Republic tried to suppress its Ottoman past, Turkey's Islamic beginnings remain a source of great Turkish pride. Though most people can no longer access their history through original Ottoman texts it is impossible to hide the

Similar to the Vikings and the Mongols, the Ottomans ravaged the countryside. However, unlike the other outsiders, the Turks used a system to convert young men to the Islamic religion, and then forced them to train, creating loyal soldiers. This system was called the devshirmeh system. The Ottoman Decree also instituted schools. “Moreover, every community is authorized to establish public schools of science, art, and industry. Only the method of instructions and the choice of professors in schools of this class shall be under the control of a mixed council of public instruction, the members of which shall be named by my sovereign command. . .” (Ottoman Decree). As a result of these schools, culture flourished and there was an advancement in

Those associated with Osman, more than any other Turkish state had as their guiding principle the concept of being a gazi, gearing the emirate for conquest. As mentioned earlier, a gazi was a Muslim warrior who inhabited the military borderland between Byzantium and Islam; he was a warrior of the faith. A gazi held the sacred duty to extend and expand Islamic territory at the expense of the non-Muslim's who inhabited the land. The gazi performed his duty to the Umma by means of the gaza, or raid. These raids evolved into perpetual warfare carried out against the nonbelievers, especially the Christians, in the interests of Islam. Because of the Ottomans beneficial location, and their guiding principle, the early Ottoman state did not disintegrate under pressure from internal feuds that plagued other rival emirates because it constantly expanded, gained new territory and relentlessly provided new outlets for the energies of the gazi warriors.

Religion was very important in the Ottoman Empire, and it had a great influence on various activities done in the empire. Economy and Education were two of the many things that religion had influence on and impacted. Religion also changed the social classes and their order. Architecture was completely changed due to the Muslim architects and the way they put it together.

The world began to drastically change before the year fifteen hundred. These changes not only reshaped the world, but continued to change and develop from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Among these changes came the formation of many outstanding empires that included the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. The Ottoman and Safavid Empires account for two of the three Islamic Empires that underwent change and development during these centuries. Both empires had a ruler at the head of the empire; a sultan ruled the Ottoman Empire while a shah ruled the Safavid Empire. Two great rulers emerged from these empires; a sultan named Suleiman the Magnificent ruler of the Ottoman Empire and a shah named Abbas the Great ruler of the Safavid Empire.

People, places, and/or things come and go, changing from one thing to another or none at all. In other cases, it is just not people, places, and/or things, it can also be generations or empires. Empires are known to adopt similar traditions or beliefs from other empires. In addition, some empires have similar, but slightly different laws and/or goals. Two of the empires that were similar, but different is many ways are the Ottoman and Mughal Empires.

The Safavids, Mughals, and Ottomans were powerful islamic empires that were able to rise to great influence and power, becoming main rivals to other European states in the process. This rise into power was possible because of their prodigious investment and development of their militaries, government operation under a fair, merit-based system, and tolerance for various religions; however, these societies faced their demise after crippling government corruption through negligent leadership and ever increasing social tension began to materialize.

The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires all contributed to create what is known as the Age of Gunpowder Empires between 1450-1800 (Islamic Empires). Although these empires were thought to be extremely different, the vast amount of similarities within their actions and methods proved to be almost identical. These empires focused their power on military and used new technological advances with firearms; this included the cannon and small arms. The Empires even took it upon themselves to develop a centralized administration. Each administration dealt with the finance, army, and natural resources necessary in order to purchase gunpowder.

The Ottoman empire, at the turn of the 20th century was considered one of the weakest empires in the entirety of Europe, weakened by political instability, military defeat and civil strife after a century of decline. In 1908 a group called the “Young Turks” seized control of Constantinople, while a figurehead Sultan was put in place in 1909.

History has consisted of many different empires. Two of the earlier empires are known as the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid Empire. The Ottoman Empire was established around 1299 by Osman I, who was also a leader of the Turkish tribes (History.com). The Ottomans began in Asia Minor during the break down of the Turks, which later led the Ottoman Empire to expand and conquer land across Asia and Europe. While the Safavid Empire was established in 1501 east of the Ottoman Empire. The Safavid Empire emerged in modern day Iran, which was east of where the Ottoman Empire started and expanded. Both of these empires were strong in power and had many resources available to them.

The main goal of these reforms was to move the non-Muslims from an inferior national to a full subject of the Empire. The thought was that if the Sultan gave his minority subjects more rights, per say, than they would not form a separatist movement. Or worse the subjects separatist movement lobby international support; for example, in the Greek national movement in 1821. The Greeks were assisted by France, Romanov Russia, and The United Kingdom. In this way two causes for the Armenian genocide interweave. At the same time as nationalistic centrifugal forces are pulling the Empire apart, Europe is sticking their hands in Ottoman internal affairs. The Tanzimat Reforms were really a failure, and did not promote equal citizenship among citizens. Nor

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.

The Ottomans did attempt to reform themselves on multiple occasions. The entire Tanzimat period from 1839-1876 was marked by extensive efforts to modernize and westernize the Ottoman government. Even before then, though, there were

The economic conditions of the Ottoman Empire began to decline as well. New trade routes meant new trading (Goldschmidt Jr., and Davidson 141). The New World later to be called the Americas was victimized for their assets and new routes around Africa and Asia weakened the Muslim countries by limiting their mediation of controlling the trade routes (Goldschmidt Jr., and Davidson 141). Silver from Latin America was cheap and soon