Posted on 02/02/2020 10:33:28 PM PST by nickcarraway
The Ottoman Empire was once among the biggest military and economic powers in the world. So what happened?
At its peak in the 1500s, the Ottoman Empire was one of the biggest military and economic powers in the world, controlling an expanse that included not just its base in Asia Minor but also much of southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The empire controlled territory that stretched from the Danube to the Nile, with a powerful military, lucrative commerce, and impressive achievements in fields ranging from architecture to astronomy.
But it didn’t last. Though the Ottoman Empire persisted for 600 years, it succumbed to what most historians describe as a long, slow decline, despite efforts to modernize. Finally, after fighting on the side of Germany in World War I and suffering defeat, the empire was dismantled by treaty and came to an end in 1922, when the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed VI, was deposed and left the capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in a British warship. From Ottoman empire’s remains arose the modern nation of Turkey.
What caused the once awe-inspiring Ottoman Empire collapse? Historians aren’t in complete agreement, but below are some factors.
It was too agrarian. While the industrial revolution swept through Europe in the 1700s and 1800s, the Ottoman economy remained dependent upon farming. The empire lacked the factories and mills to keep up with Great Britain, France and even Russia, according to Michael A. Reynolds, an associate professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. As a result, the empire’s economic growth was weak, and what agricultural surplus it generated went to pay loans to European creditors. When it came time to fight in World War I, the Ottoman Empire didn’t have the industrial might to produce heavy weaponry, munitions and iron and steel needed to build railroads to support the war effort.
It wasn’t cohesive enough. At its apex, the Ottoman empire included Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Macedonia, Romania, Syria, parts of Arabia and the north coast of Africa. Even if outside powers hadn’t eventually undermined the empire, Reynolds doesn’t think that it could have remained intact and evolved into a modern democratic nation. “The odds probably would have been against it, because of the empire’s tremendous diversity in terms of ethnicity, language, economics, and geography,” he says. “Homogenous societies democratize more easily than heterogenous ones.”
The various peoples who were part of the empire grew more and more rebellious, and by the 1870s, the empire had to allow Bulgaria and other countries to become independent, and ceded more and more territory. After losing the losing the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars to a coalition that included some of its former imperial possessions, the empire was forced to give up its remaining European territory.
Ottoman Empire map The 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. 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 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."
Because footstools went out of style.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ee/bc/cc/eebccca93f7aebc362aea335453929bd—ottoman-empire-history-jokes.jpg
Because it was full of Muslims?
Not the most adaptive people in the world.
The Ottoman Empire falling pretty much led to world wars and destruction to this day. The fall of the USA would be cataclysmic.
No.
It was based on slavery. Didn’t matter what side they were on.
The world would no longer accept slavery as an economic basis.
One reason, Islam.
China is still around.
Illiteracy and lack of industry are key elements. In order to be somehow successful a metropoly needs to have some appeal among constituents. Turkey lacked in cultural and economic senses and it became especially critical in the era of technologies. They went downhill starting 18th century.
Modern Turkey is still underperforming because of poor education. There are too much illiterate bums doing stupid jobs or outright doing nothing. The environment allows to absent from a rat race which they luckily do. Then they blame Arabs for taking their jobs or Russians embargoed their exports or Jews ‘directing’ all the above.
Not the same.
See the “harvest of the Steppes”.
Ottoman Empire was entirely based on slaves. From Africa to Poland they gleaned slaves for profit.
China’s close though.
I’m shocked you would badmouth a strong ally of Russia.
What happened? Islam happened. This means backwardness, lack of education, falling woefully behind technologically, corruption on a massive scale. In short all the things that mark the Muslim world today. The only difference is that some of them pitched their tents over some of the biggest oilfields on earth.
Islam was there since the beginning.
Russia and Turkey are case study of arch enemies. You won’t find two other major nations warring with each other so much.
There were like a dozen wars between them since 16th century.
The Turks inherited a lot of technology the Byzantines/Greeks developed. Over the centuries, Europe had the Enlightenment. Science and technology took off. The Europeans sailed the oceans, discovered new continents, made a lot of money trading around the world, developed the technology that created the industrial revolution.....Meanwhile the Ottoman Empire stayed the same.
Turkey didn’t exist then. Yes, the Ottomans were enemies from the 16th century into the 19th century. But at the moment they are allies. Turkey buys a lot of Russian oil, and hosts many Russian tourists. They are strong allies. That is how I knew nothing would come of the Russian plane shot down.
You don’t need 6 reasons. It usually boils down to just one. They had to pay off European creditors. Everything else follows.
The Ottoman Empire was already falling apart before World War One. It was in the process of losing the Balkans piece by piece.
All that the war did is finish it off, the same as it did the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
No one today even seems to know that the Austro-Hungarian Empire existed, despite the fact that the assassination of one of its royal family ignited the whole mess.
Let’s say relatively close relation are novel starting about 1990s. That’s nothing comparing to 400 years of war. Especially in light of Ottoman aspirations of Erdogan government. Current Turkish colonization of Georgia and its incursions into Syria and Libya are showing.
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