What lay behind the decline of the ottoman empire in the nineteenth century?
|
Known as one of history’s most powerful empires, the Ottoman Empire grew from a Turkish stronghold in Anatolia into a vast state that at its peak reached as far north as Vienna, Austria, as far east as the Persian Gulf, as far west as Algeria, and as far south as Yemen. The empire’s success lay in its centralized structure as much as its territory: Control of some of the world’s most lucrative trade routes led to vast wealth, while its impeccably organized military system led to military might. But all empires that rise must fall, and six centuries after the Ottoman Empire emerged on the battlefields of Anatolia, it fell apart catastrophically in the theater of World War I. Show
 Photos: 7 Decades of the Soviet UnionHow Neighborhoods Used Restrictive Housing Covenants to Block Nonwhite Families5 Over-the-Top Fashion Trends From the Victorian EraThe Ottoman Empire at its greatest extent in 1683. Peter Hermes Furian/Getty Images Its population was under-educated.Despite efforts to improve education in the 1800s, the Ottoman Empire lagged far behind its European competitors in literacy, so by 1914, it’s estimated that only between 5 and 10 percent of its inhabitants could read. “The human resources of the Ottoman empire, like the natural resources, were comparatively undeveloped,” Reynolds notes. That meant the empire had a shortage of well-trained military officers, engineers, clerks, doctors and other professions. Other countries deliberately weakened it.The ambition of European powers also helped to hasten the Ottoman Empire’s demise, explains Eugene Rogan, director of the Middle East Centre at St. Antony’s College, Oxford. Russia and Austria both supported rebellious nationalists in the Balkans to further their own influence. And the British and the French were eager to carve away territory controlled by the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and North Africa. It faced a destructive rivalry with Russia.Neighboring Czarist Russia, whose sprawling realm included Muslims as well, developed into an increasingly bitter rival. “The Russian empire was the single greatest threat to the Ottoman empire, and it was a truly existential threat,” Reynolds says. When the two empires took opposite sides in World War I, though, the Russians ended up collapsing first, in part because of the Ottoman forces prevented Russia from getting supplies from Europe via the Black Sea. Tzar Nicholas II and his foreign minister, Sergei Sazanov, resisted the idea of negotiating a separate peace with the empire, which might have saved Russia. The Battle of Sarikamish between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, 1915. Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images It picked the wrong side in World War I.Siding with Germany in World War I may have been the most significant reason for the Ottoman Empire’s demise. Before the war, the Ottoman Empire had signed a secret treaty with Germany, which turned out to be a very bad choice. In the conflict that followed, the empire’s army fought a brutal, bloody campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula to protect Constantinople from invading Allied forces in 1915 and 1916. Ultimately, the empire lost nearly a half a million soldiers, most of them to disease, plus about 3.8 million more who were injured or became ill. In October 1918, the empire signed an armistice with Great Britain, and quit the war. If it weren’t for its fateful role in World War I, some even argue that the empire might have survived. Mostafa Minawi, a historian at Cornell University, believes the Ottoman Empire had the potential to evolve into a modern multi-ethnic, multi-lingual federal state. Instead, he argues, World War I triggered the empire’s disintegration. “The Ottoman Empire joined the losing side,” he says. As a result, when the war ended, “The division of territories of the Ottoman Empire was decided by the victors.” Why did the Ottoman Empire decline in the 19th century?Other countries deliberately weakened it.
The ambition of European powers also helped to hasten the Ottoman Empire's demise, explains Eugene Rogan, director of the Middle East Centre at St. Antony's College, Oxford. Russia and Austria both supported rebellious nationalists in the Balkans to further their own influence.
What were the reasons for the decline of the Ottoman Empire?The reasons behind this were due to social factors such as religious leaders not supporting the Ottoman Empire's goals, the Ottoman Empire's weakening economy as they failed to compete with other countries economies and also the decline of Ottoman armed forces led to them constantly losing battles and territories.
What lay behind the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century pgs 844 846?What lay behind the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century? The empire shrank in size both because of European aggression in places like Egypt and because of successful nationalist independence movements in the Balkans.
What happened to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century?By the Treaty of Edirne, on September 14, 1829, the Ottomans ceded to Russia the mouth of the Danube and important territories in eastern Asia Minor and conceded new privileges to the principalities and Serbia. Serbian autonomy was recognized in 1830 and was extended over the full area of the state in 1833.
|
