Transcript Ottoman

The Rise and Unfortunate and
Depressing Fall of the Ottoman
Empire
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The Rise and Expansion
Just a reminder: Mehmed the Conqueror eliminated the Byzantium Empire in
1453 with the sack of the grand City Constantinople!!!!
-With this win under his belt he was able to easily expanded the
empire with the momentum of the victory. A centralized
government also helped expansion of the empire with ease.
-Serbia, Albania and Greece (last Byzantine outpost in Trebizond) were
conquered by Mehmed II quickly after the sack of Constantinople.
Selim the Grim (1512-1520) occupation of Syria and Egypt (Egypt a rich
asset for the port of Alexandria, grain supply and such)
Height of imperial expansion under Suleyman the Magnificent (reigned
1520-1566).
-In 1534 conquered Baghdad (Tigris and Euphrates valleys…a big
deal).
-He captured Belgrade in 1521 and killed the king of Hungary at the b
attle of Mohacs in 1526 and pushed north towards the Danube.
-Threatened Vienna in 1529 for a brief moment…just to keep the
Hapsburg’s on their toes.
-Also become a major naval power under Turkish corsaid Khayr alDin Barbarossa Pasha.
Mehmed II
Selim the Grim
Suleyman the
Magnificent
It was fun while it lasted…the slippery slope
to foreign control of the Ottoman Empire
-Quality of Leaders Decline
-to limit in fighting and coup from heirs, locked princes up in the palace
to keep “safe” and produced….
-Selim the Sot (means habitual drunk) reigned 1566-1574 and Ibrahim the
Crazy (means crazy) reigned 1640-1648 were the beginning of the decline
of Ottoman rulers. Drained the treasury from poor programs from a lack
of political training.
-Economic Decline
-When an empire expands it can pay for it’s large military and
bureaucracy but when you start losing battles, wage long ineffective
campaigns, weak rulers who spend and no new territories to supply
you with more money…..your economy will begin to crumble.
-Began accepting bribes, expanded foreign trade in the Empire, sold public
offices and raised taxes only solved the problem in the short term.
Military Decline
-Unable to keep up with European military technology development
and were fighting with second hand and out dated military
technology. Ship Wrights closed down because they bought European
ships rather than build them.
-With the economy going down it was unable to pay it’s military
especially the Janissary Corp (elite troops of the Sultan) and
caused them to rebel against their Sultan and replace them with
their own sponsored leader. They became a very powerful political
force.
19th century decline and foreign control
-Territorial losses due to the rise of independent rulers inside empire and to
nationalistic rebellions
-Greece 1830
-Serbia 1867
-Egypt under the rule of Muhammad Ali lead a powerful European trained army
pushed the Ottoman Empire to the brink of collapse from 1805-1848. 1820
establish himself as ruler of Egypt and invaded the Ottoman Empire. Great
Britain had to step in and defeat the Egyptian forces in fear of a collapse
would allow Russia to expand into the area.
-Inexpensive but high quality textile goods were imported into the Empire and
eventually flooded the market with European goods and almost eliminated
Ottoman products
-Lead to heavy reliance on foreign loans to support projects such as building
railroads. 1882 half of the empire’s revenue went to paying debt due to rising
interest rates.
-Lead to capitulations, agreements that exempted European visitors from
Ottoman law. Merchants began charging more for their products in Ottoman ports
and customers.
Tanzimat (Reorganization) Era 18391876
In 1826 massacred Janissaries after a
coup…YAY!!
Remodeled army in a European fashion but
still getting their butts kicked on battlefield due
to poor technology,
Used French legal system as a guide to
model their own system 1850-1876.
-public trials rights of privacy and
equality under law no matter what
of citizen religion.
Mahmud II reigned (18081839)
1876 a radical group seized power of the
government. Installed a puppet and limited his
power. But he dissolved government and ruled
for 30 years which generated more opposition
groups.
Sultan Abd al-Hamid II sent administrators
to Europe for education and the result
created an educated and rebellious liberal
elite.
Ottoman Society for Union and Progress or the Young Turks
Took power in 1909 and established puppet Sultan Mehmed V Rashid but
the Young Turks established a constitutional monarchy and no longer did the
Sultan have power to rule.
Even with a new government with European educated Turks, they could not turn
back decline and the empire only survived because the European powers could
not agree on how to dispose the empire without upsetting the balance of
power.