Transformations and Political Events in the Era of Abdul Hamid II

At the age of 26, when his reign began, Sultan Süleyman sought to build an empire more powerful than Alexander the Great and to render the Ottomans invincible. Throughout his 46-year reign, his fame as both the greatest warrior and ruler of his age spread both East and West. With his companion Pargalı İbrahim, Süleyman achieve great victories, and makes his name in the Muslim World. Süleyman called İbrahim his brother, friend and advisor. The television series shows Süleyman's consolidation of his power: Pargalı İbrahim being grand minister of state, reinforcing the rule of law throughout the empire, meeting foreign diplomats, and preparing for military campaigns, all set against the backdrop of the tension between Christian Europe and the

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 Ottoman had several scenes of decline and each one had marked their history and are linked with it so I will explain each one. The armistice of 1918 ended the fighting between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies but didn´t bring stability or peace to the region. The British controlled Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia.

In his twenties, Suleiman took over the role as sultan of the Ottoman Empire. His reign as sultan lasted roughly forty-six years in which he did many great things. The Ottoman Empire grew to maximum potential in size, as well as power during Suleiman’s reign. Suleiman had many accomplishments, not only did he lead his armies into battle, but he revised the legal system, brought religious freedom, and made advancements in culture and in other areas such as philosophy, poetry, and calligraphy. Suleiman himself even wrote a poem called “Poems to the Polish Rose.” Suleiman developed one of the

The Ottoman Empire was one of the most powerful states during the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries. In the twentieth century, this empire grew weaker

The Ottoman Empire actually began to take shape several centuries before the dawn of the early modern period. However, its complete development didn’t take place until 1453 when a Turkish conquest resulted in control of Constantinople. The Ottomans, also known as the Osmanli group of Turks, were not the original Turkish people involved in Middle Eastern affairs. The success of the Ottoman Empire rested on two main

Coming into the nineteenth century, the Ottomans did not have many strong leaders, and generally carried themselves as weak. This was a great opportunity for the West to jump in, for they thrived because of the weaker regions. The Ottomans had relied so heavily on the Europeans in their commercial activity, and had eventually had certain areas of their region become targets of Western expansion. As time in this century moved on, the Ottomans continued to become weaker, now needing to rely even more on Europe’s military. Despite efforts to stand on their own, and even help from Great Britain, the Ottomans were eventually used by Western European countries to resist expansion from Russia.

Sultan Mahmud II and other educated Ottomans with European influence, started one of the largest reform movements in the history of the Ottoman Empire . With the Tanzimat, life in the Ottoman Empire changed significantly, changing the way Ottomans lived. The Ottoman Empire was home to a variety types nationalities, races, religions, and cultures. The Ottomans issued a new policy known as Ottomanism , where they wanted to unite these people under Tanzimat. Some of the results from this policy was the creation of a national anthem

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, by the late 18th century was deteriorating at a rapid rate. Once called the

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

In 1915 the Ottoman Empire was governed by a dictatorial triumvirate. Enver was Minister of War. Talaat was Minster of the Interior. Jemal was the Minster of

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

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is known as a very important idealist in Turkey, which had become an idol for Turks. One of the most important reasons he was that crucial for Turkey was that him being a nationalist founder and leader, and the first president of the Turkish Republic. Ataturk was born in Salonika (then known as the Ottoman Empire), in 1881. The real truth is that, Ataturk, still being at his young ages, started to think about making reforms for his country and society, and eventually had reached his goals making Turkey a 'free' and 'civilized' country, by also being the first president of Turkey. There are several policies and revolutions of Ataturk, which make him a really known, loved, and respected person worldwide, such as Republicanism,

The Bosnian Crisis came directly out of this Revolution and led to tensions between powers. The Young Turks, a fairly new political group, had considerable power in the Ottoman Empire and took western ideals and tried to implement them in the Empire. As Ivan Gueshov, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria at the time describes it, “the Young Turkish Committee constitutes the only organized force in Turkey…[that] possesses power enough to impose its will.” The group’s dominant stance on the Empire’s politics allowed it to generate great change in the country’s leadership. The group overthrew the Sultan in power at the time, Abdulhamid II, and replaced him with Mohammed V. They tried to restore the 1876 constitution in the Ottoman empire which had never taken effect in the nation’s politics. They were, “eager to instill among all the various peoples of the Ottoman Empire a sense of Ottoman identity, and thus forestall its further disintegration. The Young Turks were also determined to modernize the Ottoman armed forces.” The effects of this revolution by the Young Turks were felt by people throughout the Balkans, especially by Austria and Russia, who desired control in the Balkans before any of the changes suggested by the Young Turks were implemented in the Ottoman Empire. Austria’s main objective was the overtaking of Bosnia, due to their already established rule over the region in the past. Russia, on the other hand, was focused on gaining control of the Black Sea Straits, as