The Decline of the Ottoman Empire

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Government and administration
Military
Economy
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Ottoman has been the largest and powerful empire in history which was inspired by Islam. The empire was most successful at the time of Suleiman who had ruled for forty six years. However, the empire was faced by a very drastic decline in 1571 after it lost the battle of lepanto. Further decline was accelerated by World War I. However; the empire had experienced a great transformation in between the golden age and the time of the decline. This period was referred to as the Tanzimat which was basically a period during which the Ottoman Empire was reorganized and reformed starting from the early eighties.

The main idea of the transformation was to bring about development in the empire through tax revenue collection for military support in order to ensure complete control of its territory and prevent colonization by the powerful nations. The reformations made became the major root of Ottomanism among the majority ethnic groups in the empire which led to formation of nationalists movements. One main attempt of the reformations was to bring together non-Muslims and non-Turks and incorporate them into the Ottoman social believes and norms. They were to get liberty to allow them to exercise equal right to the Turks (Goodwin 1).

Government and administration

The Ottoman Empire experienced some changes in the government and its way of administration which was, in fact one of the major reasons for the decline of the empire. The sultanate administration failed during that period. Previously, the sultanate was a very strong institution from which the sultan was expected to point out a successor. However, the sultanate became weak with time and since it was the strong hold of the empire, its decline had strong contribution its decline. Although the great Suleiman had led the empire into great success during its golden age, he later became weak and this resulted to his less involvement in the affairs of the empire as he was getting old. In addition, he was executed by some of his successors leaving the sit for Selim II who, despite living in the palace for long, had no experience in running the state.

He generally neglected his governing responsibilities and rather paid much attention to personal matters such as physical pleasures. However, during the transformation, governance and administration changed completely to strong and central monarchies across the empire. Constitution reforms were also done during this period. A parliament was formed which had representatives from all the provinces to allow all citizens take part in the running of the state through their representatives who acted as their voices. Local governments were formed too and the sultan was deprived of his powers which were described as dictatorship. Electric administration was introduced for diplomatic purposes (Chambers, 2010, p. 1).

Military

Initially, the Ottoman’s military unit simply consisted of several tribesmen but later became complex as the empire advanced. The whole process of modernization in the empire was initiated by the military where the sultan of the time got rid of the Janissary corps that existed before and instead he formed a modern army for the empire. The modern army was even given then name of the new order to describe the change. The army also began recruiting foreigners and started training its officers in western countries through the foreign experts on the field. The officers sent for training came back and formed the young-turks organization which was inspired by the education they got in the European countries.

Basically, these transformations contributed largely to the expansion of the empire as internal territories and as part of the European continent. However, the power of the military to control the empire’s deals with the European countries later declined. However, the empire became unable to sustain and maintain the military following economic distractions. However, shortly after, the Ottoman air force was established which was one of the world’s greatest organization in combat aviation. This was followed by establishments of pilots and planes for the military officers which enabled the empire to organize its own flights for its officers. An air academy was also established and it increased the rate at which the military advanced on the aviation program. The number of people enrolling in the military increased as specialized programs for training was being developed.

Economy

The Ottoman government had established an economical policy which focused on the development of Bursa which led to the expansion of capital and other commercial centers. The economic policy of the empire was initially based on the societal concept where the empire had the goal to expand its resources through extending its ruler’s power to other states. The empire’s main aim was to obtain revenue for the empire and to keep the social and traditional norms intact as well. Of all the Islamic states, Ottoman had the most developed treasury organization which acted as a body through which training and development of professionalism could be achieved. Due to its gepgraphical location, the empire used its powers to control the link between the west and the east.

It prevented the route between the two regions especially where export of certain economic goods would cause great risks to the economy of the empire. The Ottoman also took control over the vasco da gamma route to enable the state have easy access to trade and market links (Nosotro, 2010, p. 1). Soon the economy of the empire had extended to several continents around the world. The Anglo Ottoman treaty opened the doors for the empire to engage in creates markets in England and France. Besides improving commercial routes, the empire also ensured increased cultivation of land as well as engagement in international trade. These concepts led to improved economic functioning of the state. The economic and political interest went hand in hand during these transformations.

Conclusion

The Tanzimat period had very useful changes especially in the economical and governance concepts. Other developments such as in revenue generation and service delivery by the state have been of great help in bringing equal civilization and modernization in all the communities. It was therefore a great move by the Ottoman society to realize that it had lagged behind and to accept help and modernization from the western nations. The social life of the Ottomans society as a whole changed to the better with the introduction of modern schools since quality education is the key to a better life. However, the governance and administration part of the empire can be said to control all the other aspects of the state especially those that came about following the transformation period. The military was equally important since it played a great role in providing people with the opportunity to explore resources without any problems.

Reference List

Chambers, R. (2010). The ottoman empire. Web.

Nosotro, R. (2010). The decline of the ottoman empire. Web.

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The Decline of the Ottoman Empire

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