Ottoman Empire HIST102 Notes and Referances
Notes - Fall of Ottoman Empire
from Brittanica
check out the following headings
The decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1566–1807 » Internal problems » Economic difficulties
Muslim and Jewish subjects singled out negatively
The decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1566–1807 » Internal problems » Social unrest
- The decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1566–1807 » Imperial decline in the 18th and early 19th centuries
- The decline of the Ottoman Empire, 1566–1807 » Imperial decline in the 18th and early 19th centuries » Contacts with the West
notes from headings
- imperial decline due to earlier conditions (prior to 1566-1807) - further research...- corrupt/incompetant officials
- weak central gov't, loss of most provinces to local ruling ayan or derebeis (so called in Anatolia) and klephts/hayduks (Europe)
- due to lack of military resources (for suppression purposes)
- local population prefered their rule as central gov't corupt
- Balkans/Anatolia- currents of local nationalism among Balkan Christians- this development taken advantage of by local rulers to take control of their province fr. central gov't
- local rulers gained control of taxes and therefore trade
- private armies-mercinaries and slaves
- provincial revolts
- disrupted food supply
- famine in major cities
- unemployment, plague, riots, executions of officials by the people
***gov't could not resolve without major reform {ie. such as the type seen implemented by interactions w/ west Europeans in India, Japan, as described in our opening statement}
- contacts w/ the west established 18th/19th c.
- ambassadors sent to europe to sighn treatisies
- entrance of european merchants/travelers/consuls***
isolation prior to, more research needed
- Ottoman intellectuals began coresponding w/ others in europe
*** this western contact had "very limited consequences" [Brittanica- fall of the ottoman empire-contacts w/ the west]
- few were exposed to western ideas, those who were shrugged them off as they did not fit into traditional thought patterns
- the few who understood the implications of these new ideas ignored
*only signs of European influence - upperclass style of dress and adoption of French style dwellings/parties, and an obsession w/ growing tulips
- military advancements
{nothing appeared to happen on the revolutionary scale (ie. france) allowing social change leading to integration and stability}
*Military Reforms
- had to form entirely new corps to handle new weapons (main body of military could not accept them) {what's with these guys and their traditional thought patterns??}
- European instructors (European renegades { was this technology not ment to be shared?})
- private "special mercinary bodies"
- bulk of army remained unchanged- hostile to new corps, best equipped to suppress reform at home, but unable to challenge the west {looks like gov't regarded new ideas as reason for it's downward spiral...scape goat}
- military reforms most successful and long lasting
- modernized navy
- built munitions factories (aid of european technicians)
- technological schools to train ottoman officers
- "limited efforts to rationalize Ottoman Administrative machinery {the real problem}, changed largley along traditional lines" {what do we call Ottoman gov't style? Autocratic?}
- Napoleon Bonapart- French expedition to Egypt 1798-1801
- Ottoman allied w/ GB and Russia to drive french out
- Rise of Nationalism stimulated by "agents of Russia, Austria and Revolutionary France
- 1809-39 MUhamud II a reforming Sultan
- greatly increased western knowledge
- tech schools
- larger # of westerners in Istanbul during Era of French Revolution {hiding there? or shit disturbing on purpose}
- broke Ottoman Isolation
- set stage for 19th c reforms that transformed empire{what were these reforms? And there's nothing about the empire collapsing into smaller self governed bits!}
{why could western ideas not be taken up and implemented allowing Empire to retain borders and step into new era on equal ground w/ the west? What attitudes prevented this ?? Traditional thought?? What is the story on this?}
this information can be found at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/434996/Ottoman-Empire
supplied to Brittanica by Stanford Jay Shaw, author of many books about Ottoman empire and with articles on various websites listed at bottom of article