So, the Ottoman Empire once ruled land on
three continents; at its height, it produced cultural marvels, connected the east and west
through trade, and its Sultans were recognized as Caliphs, or “successors” of the Islamic
Prophet Muhammad, and the leaders of Islam. But the 20th century and the outbreak of WW1
found the Ottomans on their last legs, and in its aftermath, the empire fell to Mustafa
Kemal Atatürk and his secular Republic of Turkey So then, what caused the slow decline of the
Ottoman Empire—the so-called sick man of Europe? And how and why was it ultimately finished
off? Well, traditionally, the start of the decline
of the Ottoman Empire is marked with two successive events: first, the death of the tenth Ottoman
Sultan, known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the West, whose reign was a golden age
of culture, domestic reform, and territorial expansion for the Ottomans, and then second,
the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 which saw a coalition of Christian states, the Holy League,
smash the previously hegemonic Ottoman navy. Lepanto put an effective end to Ottoman expansion,
but the Turks were able to hold on to most of Suleiman’s conquests for the next century;
the Holy League fell apart immediately after their victory. During that period, the Empire wasn’t so
much declining as it was stagnating. Granted it did lose most of Hungary, but even
still, stagnation is arguably too harsh a word as significant Ottoman advancements in
scholarship, art, and medicine continued through the 17th century. However there were three not totally distinct
problems on the horizon. For one, the Empire was incredibly religiously
and ethnically diverse; that was particularly problematic in the European Ottomans territories
where Christian Slavs and Greeks, had next to nothing in common with Sunni Muslim Turks. Though even their fellow Muslims caused trouble,
with the Arabs in particular viewing the Ottomans as conquerors. That was mitigated somewhat by the Millet
System which gave Ottoman religious communities fairly significant autonomy, though at the
same time the Millets also made it more difficult for the central government to actually get
things done. For another, local Ottoman governors, or Pashas,
were gaining a tendency to seize power for themselves. Notably, Ali, Pasha of Yanina, and then especially
Muhammad Ali of Egypt. That weakened the state further, and contributed
to the Ottomans’ third problem. By the early 1700s, European imperialism was
kicking into gear, and the Ottoman Empire was increasingly looking less like their contemporary,
and more like a target. In 1768 a Russo-Turkish War broke out. The Seventh one, in fact (the Russians and
Turks really didn’t like each other). However, this was the first highly consequential
one, and out of it birthed the Eastern Question. Russia’s victory over the Ottomans and their
seizure of the Crimea, combined with the successful Greek War of Independence 50 years later,
made it clear that the Ottoman Empire could no longer effectively stand up to Europeans
militarily. So Europe naturally had to ask, well what
should happen to it? And different states came to very different
conclusions. Russia was perhaps the most radical of Europe’s
great powers and it pursued the destruction, or at least the subjugation of the Ottomans. The Russians also had a natural affinity with
their fellow Orthodox Slavs in the Balkans, and could potentially benefit from seizing
ports in the Black and Mediterranean seas. Then there was the Austrian Empire, arguably
the Ottomans oldest rival, which was somewhat split. On the one hand, they shared a large border
with the Turks, which made grabbing some easy land... tempting. On the other hand though, Austria had its
own Slavic subjects, and had the Ottomans completely fallen apart, Slavic nationalism
could have, and (spoiler alert) eventually did, play a part in dooming their Empire. That left Britain and France who both saw,
until WW1 anyway, the survival of the Ottomans as in their best interests. For quite different reasons. Britain rivalved Russia in central Asia and
was subsequently intent on opposing them at every available opportunity, hence why they
supported the Turks. Britain was also concerned with protecting
their trade routes to India, especially, after 1859, the Suez Canal in Ottoman Egypt. France was mostly interested in using the
Ottomans to cut off British trade. In sum, the Ottoman Empire’s fate was no
longer wholly its to dictate, but that didn’t mean that the Turks weren’t going to give
it a damn good try. In 1808 Sultan Mahmud II came to head the
Ottoman Empire, and it was under him that Ottoman government and society began to modernize. It was also under him that the Empire lost
Greece, but hey, you win some, you lose some. His most notable reform was the abolition
of the Janissary Corps in 1826. Once a powerful fighting force of technically
enslaved but also very privileged warriors, and the most important military arm of the
Sultans, by the reign of Mahmud II the Janissaries had become decadent, ineffective as a military
unit, all too happy to leech off of the state, and not at all willing to give up their power. In the so-called Auspicious Incident, Mahmud
II announced the creation of a new army, importantly after he had already assembled it, and used
them to crush the Janissaries on the streets of Constantinople. Almost all of the Corps 135,000 members fled
the country or were executed. With the Janissaries out of the way, the sons
of Mahmud II (he died in 1839), were able to continue his reforms in an era known as
the Tanzimat, or the Reorganization. The Sultans weren’t stupid; they could see
that their Empire was declining in both territory and influence, so the reforms were aimed primarily
at self preservation. A key goal during the Tanzimat was to foster
a sense of “Ottomanism,” or Ottoman nationalism, among the disparate peoples of the empire,
and that was done by reducing the influence of Millets, and increasing central power. Among other policies, universal conscription
was implemented (previously only Muslims were allowed to serve as soldiers), the legal system
was reformed with inspiration from the 2nd French Empire, a national census was introduced,
and eventually in 1869, a common Ottoman citizenship was declared without regard for ethnic or
religious identity. Though while they aimed to strengthen the
Empire, the reforms of Mahmud II, and his sons Abdulmejid I, and Abdulaziz didn’t
manage it, and during the Tanzimat period the Ottomans continued to become just a puppet
for European interests. In Egypt, for example, the governor, Muhammad
Ali, was rather upset that he hadn’t been rewarded for helping the central government
attempt, and fail, to put down the Greeks. So naturally, he seized Syria, and there really
wasn’t much that the Ottomans could do about it. His actions split the European powers (Russia
and France supported Ali, while Britain wanted him deposed), and it was ultimately those
Europeans who intervened and ended the crisis. Not the Turks. Ali gained hereditary rule over Egypt and
it effectively ceased to be Ottoman territory. The Tanzimat came to an end in 1876, when
Sultan Abdulaziz was overthrown and eventually replaced with his nephew, Abdul Hamid II. He came to power with the tentative backing
of the Young Ottomans, a secret society which sought to create a constitutional system for
the Empire. For about a year the Sultan's power, for the
first time ever, was not legally absolute, and he ruled alongside a parliament. Unfortunately for the Young Ottomans, Abdul
Hamid turned out to not be so sympathetic to their cause, and the parliament sat for
only about a year before he dissolved it and scrapped the constitution in the midst of
the Twelfth Russo-Turkish War. I did say that the Russians and Turks hardly
got along. That war, which saw the Ottomans humiliated
and the Russians reach the gates of Constantinople itself, ended with the Treaty of San Stefano,
which, three months later, was overridden by the deliberations of Europe’s great powers
at the Congress of Berlin. Chaired by Germany’s charismatic Chancellor,
Otto von Bismarck, the Congress redrew the map of the southern Balkans to suit Europe. Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, which had
de facto been independent for decades, were recognized as sovereign powers, and expanded. Bulgaria, which Russia had originally wanted
to become a large puppet of theirs, was reduced in size and remained, technically, subordinate
to the Ottomans. The Bulgarians officially declared independence
in 1908 without any real resistance. The Congress also saw Bosnia occupied by Austria-Hungary,
Cyprus by the UK, and eventually, Thessaly annexed by Greece. Over the next few decades, the Turks continued
to lose land to Europeans: Tunisia fell to France in 1881, Egypt to Britain the next
year, Libya and the Dodecanese to Italy in 1912, and then over the course of the two
Balkan Wars they were forced out of almost all of their remaining territory in Europe. While all that was going on, in 1908 a new
society, the Young Turks, carried out a revolution and restored constitutional monarchy to the
Empire; Abdul Hamid II was deposed the following year. The next two Sultans acted, for the most part,
as puppets of the new parliament. Which decided to align the Empire with the
Central Powers at the outbreak of WW1. Their hope was to retake lost Balkan territory,
prove that the Ottoman Empire was still a force to be reckoned with, and to gain the
support of a European power: Germany. During the war, the Ottomans closed the Turkish
straits to Entente shipping, which saw them attempt to land at Gallipoli in 1915 in an attempt to secure
Constantinople. They miserably, spectacularly, and famously
failed and the Ottomans, led by, among others, one Mustafa Kemal, held their positions. Other than that though, the Empire had some
trouble. With aid from Britain, most of the Arab world
was lost to the Ottomans by 1917. The same year that Greece joined the war against
them. By 1920, the Turks were spent and they signed
the Treaty of Sevres[sev-ruh] with the Entente. Something that Kemal wasn’t a fan of, as
it gave up much of the Turkish homeland to Europeans. He founded the Turkish National Movement and
fought against several European states, Greece in particular, to ensure that Turks would
remain in control of Anatolia and eastern Thrace. He also abolished the centuries-old Ottoman
sultanate, which he saw as anachronistic and an enemy of modernity, and replaced it with
the Republic of Turkey. Its parliament gave Mustafa Kemal the title
“Atatürk,” or “father of the Turks” in 1934. His republic was recognized by the West through
the Treaty of Lausanne, and has stood until the present day. If you enjoyed this video, don’t forget
to subscribe and hit the notification bell below to ensure that you don’t miss the
next one! As the Ottomans declined in the Middle East,
new powers rose to take their place; one of which was Saudi Arabia. You can find out how the House of Saud came
to power in the video to the left, and as always, I’ve been James and thank you for
watching Look Back History.
