Question by : Discuss the weakening of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century?
and how this weakening affected the foreign policies of the other European powers. Further discuss why the Middle East fell so far behind Europe.
Was the Ottoman Empire really the “sick man of Europe?” What was it doing to try to reform and how did that lead to more problems?
Best answer:
Answer by freddie
The Ottomans were very religiously conservative- influential religious leaders rejected new European technologies and innovations, which led to a military decline. However, Sultan Mahmoud during the Tanzimat Era (around the 1830s) tried to reform society and politics in the Empire- through suffrage, education, and fiscal improvements. This attracted the ire of many Islamic clerics who despised this change, and they impeded further progression.
These people were a mess! Drinking coffee was considered evil and printing books was a controversial issue.
With all this social unrest, Europeans found a simple way to manipulate the Ottomans- Europeans were given extraterritoriality- exemption from jurisdiction of the local law; European merchants also took advantage of the Ottomans. Western traders ignored Islamic merchants by sailing around Africa to reach markets in India and East Asia. This hurt the empire. But Europeans did not wish to dispose of the empire, because it would lead to a imbalance of power. However, until the end of WW1, the Ottoman would be plagued by social, cultural, economic, and political strife.
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The ottoman empire over expanded. And in the even when they were trying to expand into Austria in 1529 and 1683, they were crumbling. The Ottomans weren’t innovative and they were in a strategic point of trade where they could of easily been one of the middlemen of trade. Instead the Italians took that role. The Muslims since the beduoins to the Abbasid dynasty have beengreat traders but, the Ottomans wanted to concentrate on administrating and expanding rather than innovation. They didn’t get to see Europe during their most innovative time, the Renaissance, which severly hurt them. They began to crumble as all great nations such as China and Europe began to expand and prosper. Jansiarries (The ottomans military) didn’t liek to use new weapons which meant they started to lose battles. War gave revenue to the empire so without war, the ottomans began to decrease their land holding. The Balkans (always a area of racial conflict began to gain independence). The Ottomans idea of millets where they grouped each ethnicity into one area failed miserably because it caused revolts. The break up of the Ottoman Empire led to more land to be claimed so the Balance of power was thrown off. The Ottomans became the sick man of Europe because they were slowly losing what they were, an empire. The Tanzimat reforms started in the 1800′s tried to modernize the ottomans. People such as the Young Turks tried to get new weaponry but, it was to late. In 1919, with the treaty of Versailles, the ottoman empire was no more.