Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire

2025-10-13T12:46:07Z

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{{History of the Ottoman Empire sidebar}}
In the 18th century, the [[Ottoman Empire]] faced threats on numerous frontiers from multiple industrialised European powers as well as internal instabilities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Betty S. |title=A history of the modern Middle East: rulers, rebels, and rogues |date=2016 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-8324-8 |location=Stanford, California}}</ref> Outsider influence, internal corruption and the rise of nationalism demanded the Empire to look within itself and modernize. Kickstarting a period ornal reforms to centralize and standardize governance; European style training regimens for the military, standardized law codes and reformed property laws were initiated to better collect taxes and control the resources within the borders.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Betty S. |title=A History of the Modern Middle East Rulers, Rebels, and Rogues |date=2016 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804798754 |location=Stanford, California, USA |pages=59–61 |language=English}}</ref> The period of these reforms is known as the [[Tanzimat]] starting in 1839.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Betty S. |title=A History of the Modern Middle East Rulers, Rebels, and Rogues |publisher=Stanford University |year=2016 |isbn=9780804798754 |location=Stanford, California, USA |pages=81–82 |language=English}}</ref>

Despite the Ottoman empire's precarious international position, the central state was significantly strengthened.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The process of reforming and modernization in the empire began with the declaration of the [[Nizam-I Cedid]] (New Order) during the reign of Sultan [[Selim III]] and was punctuated by several reform decrees, such as the [[Edict of Gülhane|Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane]] in 1839 and the [[Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856|Hatt-ı Hümayun]] in 1856.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} Over the course of the 19th century, the Ottoman state became increasingly powerful and rationalized, exercising a greater degree of influence over its population than in any previous era.<ref>{{cite book |last=Quataert|first=Donald |editor-last=İnalcık |editor-first=Halil |editor2=Donald Quataert |title=An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914 |volume=2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1994 |pages=762 |chapter=The Age of Reforms, 1812-1914 |isbn=0-521-57456-0}}</ref>

Despite these attempts at revitalisation, the empire could not stem the [[rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire|rising tide of nationalism]], especially among the ethnic minorities in its Balkan provinces, where the newly implemented administrative and infrastructural reforms often intensified local tensions and nationalist movements rather than alleviating them. Numerous revolts and wars of independence, together with repeated incursions by Russia in the northeast and France (and later Britain) in the North African [[eyalets]], resulted in a steady loss of territories throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

By 1908, the [[Ottoman Modern Army|Ottoman military became modernized and professionalized]] along the lines of Western European armies.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The period was followed by the defeat and [[dissolution of the Ottoman Empire]] (1908–1922).{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

== Main issues of the period ==
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[[File:The collapse of the Ottoman Empire.jpg|thumb|The decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries]]
The [[Rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire|rise of nationalism]] swept through many countries during the 19th century, and it affected territories within the Ottoman Empire.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} A burgeoning [[Nationalism|national consciousness]], together with a growing sense of [[ethnic nationalism]], made nationalistic thought one of the most significant ideas imported to the Ottoman Empire.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The empire was forced to deal with nationalism from both within and beyond its borders.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The number of revolutionary, secret societies which turned into [[List of parties in Ottoman Empire|political parties]] during the [[defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922)|next period]] rose dramatically.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} Uprisings in Ottoman territory had many far-reaching consequences during the 19th century and determined much of the Ottoman policy during the early 20th century.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} Much of the Ottoman ruling elite questioned whether the policies of the state were to blame: some felt that the sources of [[ethnic conflict]] were external and unrelated to issues of governance.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} While this era was not without some successes, the ability of the Ottoman state to have any effect on ethnic uprisings was seriously called into question.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The Russian extension in this century developed with the main theme of supporting the independence of the Ottomans' former provinces, and then bringing all of the Slav peoples of the Balkans under Bulgaria or using Armenians in the east to set the stage.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} At the end of the century, from the Russian perspective, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro and the autonomy of Bulgaria were achieved. That alarmed the Great Powers.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} After the Congress of Berlin, the Russian expansion was controlled by stopping the expansion of Bulgaria.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The Russian public felt that at the end of Congress of Berlin thousands of Russian soldiers had died for nothing. {{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The military of the Ottoman Empire remained an effective fighting force until the second half of the 18th century when it suffered a catastrophic defeat against Russia in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1768–74)|1768-74 war]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Aksan |first=Virginia |title=Ottoman Wars, 1700-1860: An Empire Besieged |publisher=Pearson Education Ltd. |date=2007 |pages=130–5 |isbn=978-0-582-30807-7 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Woodhead |first=Christine |title=New Views on Ottoman History, 1453-1839 |pages=983 |quote=the Ottomans were able largely to maintain military parity until taken by surprise both on land and at sea in the Russian war from 1768 to 1774. |journal=The English Historical Review |date=2008 |volume=123 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> [[Selim III]] came to the throne with an ambitious effort for military reforms in 1789. He failed and was replaced by [[Mahmud II]] in 1808 who established martial law through [[Alemdar Mustafa Pasha]]. At first, he allied with the Janissaries to break the power of the provincial governors and then turned on the Janissaries and removed them altogether during the 1826 [[Auspicious Incident]]. Efforts for a new system (1826–1858) began following the Auspicious Incident.

Economic historian [[Paul Bairoch]] argues that [[free trade]] contributed to [[deindustrialization]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]]. In contrast to the [[protectionism]] of China, Japan, and [[Spain]], the Ottoman Empire had a [[Economic liberalism|liberal trade]] policy, open to foreign imports.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} This policy had its origins in the [[capitulations of the Ottoman Empire]], dating back to the first commercial treaties signed with France in 1536 and taken further with [[Capitulation (treaty)|capitulations]] in 1673 and 1740, which lowered [[Duty (economics)|duties]] to 3% for imports and exports.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The liberal Ottoman policies were praised by British economists such as [[John Ramsay McCulloch]] in his ''Dictionary of Commerce'' (1834), but later criticized by British politicians such as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] [[Benjamin Disraeli]], who cited the Ottoman Empire as "an instance of the injury done by unrestrained competition" in the 1846 [[Corn Laws]] debate:<ref>{{cite book|title=Economics and World History: Myths and Paradoxes|author=Paul Bairoch|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|year=1995|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/193124153/Economics-and-World-History-Myths-and-Paradoxes-Paul-Bairoch|pages=31–32|author-link=Paul Bairoch|access-date=2017-12-07|archive-date=2019-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190514014056/https://www.scribd.com/document/193124153/Economics-and-World-History-Myths-and-Paradoxes-Paul-Bairoch|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{blockquote|There has been free trade in Turkey, and what has it produced? It has destroyed some of the finest manufactures in the world. As late as 1812 these manufactures existed, but they have been destroyed. That was the consequence of competition in Turkey, and its effects have been as pernicious as the effects of the contrary principle in Spain.}}

The [[Ottoman public debt]] loomed large during this period.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The Empire had previously not taken foreign loans. But with the demands of the [[Crimean War]], the Empire took its first loans in 1854 {{citation needed|date=February 2025}}. The public debt quickly ballooned, becoming larger than any other European nation's.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The [[Panic of 1873]] depressed the economy, and was followed by poor harvests.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}} The Ottomans found themselves unable to repay the loans, and so defaulted on their debt in 1875. The Ottomans owed their loans to various European countries and their citizens, who were deeply upset at the failure of their investment and lobbied their governments to intervene. This effort became the [[Ottoman Public Debt Administration]], which grew to become a major and independent arm of the Ottoman bureaucracy, whose sole goal was providing returns to European creditors.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Stolz |first=Daniel A. |date=December 2022 |title='Impossible to provide an accurate estimate': the interested calculation of the Ottoman public debt, 1875–1881 |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |language=en |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=477–493 |doi=10.1017/S0007087421000637 |pmid=34622751 |s2cid=238475925 |issn=0007-0874|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The [[stagnation and reform of the Ottoman Empire (1683–1827)]] ended with the dismemberment of [[Ottoman Classical Army]]. The issue during the decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire (1828–1908) was to create a military (a security apparatus) that could win wars and bring security to its subjects. That goal took multiple Sultans with multiple reorganizations during this period. At the end of this period, with the [[Second Constitutional Era]] in 1908, [[Ottoman Modern Army|Ottoman military became modernized and professionalized]] in the form of European Armies.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

== Modernization 1808–1839 ==
=== 1808–1839 Mahmud II ===
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[[Mahmud II]] had to deal with multiple issues inherited from generations past. These issues lasted all through his reign. Shortly, the [[Eastern Question]] with Russia, England, and France, and military problems arising from mutinous Janissaries and factious Ulemas. He also faced numerous internal conflicts with Egyptians, Wahabbis, Serbians, Albanians, Greeks, and Syrians, and had administrative problems from rebellious Pashas, who would fain have founded new kingdoms on the ruins of the House of Osman.

Mahmud understood the growing problems of the state and the approaching overthrow of the monarchy and began to deal with the problems as he saw them. For example, he closed the Court of Confiscations, and took away much of the power of the Pashas. He personally set an example of reform by regularly attending the [[Divan]], or state council. The practice of the sultan's avoiding the Divan had been introduced two centuries prior, during the reign of [[Suleiman the Magnificent|Suleiman I]], and was considered to be one of the causes of the decline of the Empire. Mahmud II also addressed some of the worst abuses connected with the [[Vakif]]s, by placing their revenues under state administration. However, he did not venture to apply this vast mass of property to the general purposes of the government.

==== Serbs, 1810s ====
In 1804 the [[Serbian Revolution]] against Ottoman rule erupted in the [[Balkans]], running in parallel with the [[Illyrian provinces|Napoleonic invasion]]. By 1817, when the revolution ended, Serbia was raised to the status of [[Principality of Serbia|self-governing monarchy]] under nominal Ottoman [[suzerainty]].<ref>L. S. Stavrianos, The Balkans since 1453 (London: Hurst and Co., 2000), pp. 248–250.</ref> In 1821 the [[First Hellenic Republic]] became the first [[Balkan]] country to achieve its independence from the Ottoman Empire. It was officially recognized by the [[Ottoman Porte|Porte]] in 1829, after the end of the [[Greek War of Independence]].

==== Greeks, 1820s ====
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In 1814, a secret organization called the [[Filiki Eteria]] was founded with the aim of liberating [[Greece]]. The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolts in the [[Peloponnese]], the [[Danubian Principalities]], and capital with its surrounding areas. The first of these revolts began on 6 March 1821 in the Danubian Principalities which was put down by the Ottomans. On 17 March 1821, the [[Maniots]] declared war which was the start of revolutionary actions from other controlled states. In October 1821, [[Theodoros Kolokotronis]] had captured [[Tripoli, Greece|Tripolitsa]], followed by other revolts in [[Crete]], [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]], and [[Central Greece (geographic region)|Central Greece]]. Tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. [[Mehmet Ali of Egypt]] agreed to send his son [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]] to Greece with an army to suppress the revolt in return for territorial gain. By the end of 1825, most of the Peloponnese was under Egyptian control, and the city of [[Missolonghi]] was put under siege and fell in April 1826. Ibrahim had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese and [[Athens]] had been retaken. [[Russian Empire|Russia]], Britain and [[Bourbon Restoration in France|France]] decided to intervene in the conflict and each nation sent a navy to Greece. Following news that combined Ottoman–Egyptian fleets were going to attack the Greek island of [[Hydra, Saronic Islands|Hydra]], the allied fleet intercepted the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet in the [[battle of Navarino]]. Following a week-long standoff, a [[Battle of Navarino|battle]] began which resulted in the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet. With the help of a [[Morea expedition|French expeditionary force]] proceeded to the captured part of Central Greece by 1828.

The [[Greek War of Independence]] saw the beginning of the spread of the Western notion of nationalism, stimulated the [[rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire]], and eventually caused the breakdown of the Ottoman ''[[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]]'' concept. Unquestionably, the concept of nationhood prevalent in the Ottoman Empire was different from the current one as it was centered on religion.

==== The Auspicious Incident, 1826 ====
{{see also|Ottoman military reforms}}
Mahmud II's most notable achievements include the [[Auspicious Incident|abolition of the Janissary corps]] in 1826, the establishment of a modern Ottoman army, and the preparation of the [[Tanzimat]] reforms in 1839. By 1826, the sultan was ready to move against the Janissary in favor of a more modern military. [[Mahmud II]] incited them to revolt on purpose, describing it as the sultan's "coup against the Janissaries". The sultan informed them, through a [[fatwa]], that he was forming a new army, organized and trained along modern European lines. As predicted, they mutinied, advancing on the sultan's palace. In the ensuing fight, the Janissary barracks were set in flames by artillery fire resulting in 4,000 Janissary fatalities. The survivors were either exiled or executed, and their possessions were confiscated by the Sultan. This event is now called [[the Auspicious Incident]]. The last of the [[Janissary|Janissaries]] were then put to death by decapitation in what was later called the [[White Tower of Thessaloniki|Blood Tower]], in [[Thessaloniki]].<ref name="Kinross 1977 457-457">{{Harv|Kinross|1977|pp=457}}</ref>

These marked the beginning of modernization and had immediate effects such as introducing European-style clothing, architecture, legislation, institutional organization, and land reform.

==== Russia, 1828–1829 ====
The [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)|Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829]] did not give him time to organize a new army, and the Sultan was forced to use these young and undisciplined recruits in the fight against the veterans of the Tsar. The war was brought to a close by the disastrous [[Treaty of Adrianople (1829)|Treaty of Adrianople]]. While the reforms in question were mainly implemented to improve the military, the most notable development that arose out of these efforts was a series of schools teaching everything from math to medicine to train new officers.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

==== Egypt, 1830s ====
{{See also|Egypt Eyalet#War with the Sultan (1831–1841)}}
Later in his reign, Mahmud became involved in disputes with the [[Wāli]] of [[Egypt]] and [[Sudan]], [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]], who was technically Mahmud's vassal. The Sultan had asked for Muhammad Ali's help in suppressing a rebellion in Greece, but had not paid the promised price for his services. In 1831, Muhammad Ali declared war and managed to take control of [[Syria]] and [[Arabia]] by the war's end in 1833. In 1839, Mahmud resumed the war, hoping to recover his losses, but he died at the time news was on its way to [[Constantinople]] that the Empire's army had been defeated at [[Nezib]] by an Egyptian army led by Muhammad Ali's son, [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]].

=== Economy ===
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In his time the financial situation of the Empire was dire, and certain social classes had long been oppressed by burdensome taxes. In dealing with the complicated questions that arose, Mahmud II is considered to have demonstrated the best spirit of the best of the [[Köprülü family|Köprülüs]]. A [[Firman]] of 22 February 1834 abolished the vexatious charges which public functionaries when traversing the provinces, had long been accustomed to taking from the inhabitants. By the same edict all collection of money, except for the two regular half-yearly periods, was denounced as an abuse. "No one is ignorant," said Sultan Mahmud II in this document, "that I am bound to afford support to all my subjects against vexatious proceedings; to endeavor unceasingly to lighten, instead of increasing their burdens, and to ensure peace and tranquility. Therefore, those acts of oppression are at once contrary to the will of God, and to my imperial orders."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Creasy |first1=Edward |title=History Of The Ottoman Turks: From The Beginning Of Their Empire To The Present Time |date=1877 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |isbn=978-1345960501 |page=530 |edition=First American}}</ref>

The ''[[haraç]]'', or capitation tax, though moderate and exempting those who paid it from military service, had long been made an engine of gross tyranny through the insolence and misconduct of government collectors. The Firman of 1834 abolished the old mode of levying it and ordained that it should be raised by a commission composed of the ''Kadı'', the Muslim governors, and the ''Ayans'', or municipal chiefs of ''Rayas'' in each district. Many other financial improvements were affected. By another important series of measures, the administrative government was simplified and strengthened, and a large number of sinecure offices were abolished. Sultan Mahmud II gave a valuable personal example of good sense and economy, organized the imperial household, suppressed all titles without duties, and eliminated all the positions of salaried officials without functions.

== Tanzimat Era 1839–1876 ==
{{See also|Tanzimat}}
[[File:Mustafa reshid pasha.jpg|thumb|[[Mustafa Reşid Pasha]], the principal architect of the [[Edict of Gülhane]]]]
In 1839, the [[Hatt-i Sharif]] proclamation launched the [[Tanzimat]] (from Arabic: تنظيم ''tanẓīm'', meaning "organisation") (1839–76), period. Previous to the first of the [[firman]]s, the property of all persons banished or condemned to death was forfeited to the Caliph, which kept a motive for acts of cruelty, besides encouraging [[delator]]s. The second firman removed the ancient rights of Turkish governors to condemn men to instant death at will; the ''Paşas'', the ''Ağas'', and other officers were enjoined that "they should not presume to inflict, themselves, the punishment of death on any man, whether Raya or Turk, unless authorized by a legal sentence pronounced by the [[wikt:kadi|kadi]], and regularly signed by the judge."

The Tanzimat reforms did not halt the rise of nationalism in the [[Danubian Principalities]] and the [[Principality of Serbia]], which had been semi-independent for almost six decades. In 1875, the tributary principalities of Serbia and [[Principality of Montenegro|Montenegro]], and the [[United Principalities]] of [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldavia]], unilaterally declared their independence from the empire. Following the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)]], the empire granted independence to all three belligerent nations. [[History of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] also achieved virtual independence{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} (as the [[Principality of Bulgaria]]); its volunteers had participated in the Russo-Turkish War on the side of the rebelling nations.

The government's series of constitutional reforms led to a fairly modern conscripted army, banking system reforms, the decriminalization of homosexuality, the replacement of religious law with secular law<ref>{{cite web|author=Ishtiaq Hussain |title=The Tanzimat: Secular reforms in the Ottoman Empire |url=http://faith-matters.org/images/stories/fm-publications/the-tanzimat-final-web.pdf |website=Faith Matters |page=10}}</ref> and [[guild]]s with modern factories.

=== 1839–1861 Abdülmecit I ===

==== 1840s ====
The Ottoman Ministry of Post was established in Istanbul on 23 October 1840.<ref name=PTT>[http://www.ptt.gov.tr/tr/kurumsal/tarihce.html PTT Chronology] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080913233443/http://www.ptt.gov.tr/tr/kurumsal/tarihce.html |date=September 13, 2008 }}</ref><ref name=PTT2>{{cite web |url=http://www.ptt.gov.tr/index.snet?wapp=histor_en&open=1 |title=History of the Turkish Postal Service |publisher=Ptt.gov.tr |access-date=6 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130401082752/http://www.ptt.gov.tr/index.snet?wapp=histor_en&open=1 |archive-date=1 April 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The first post office was the ''Postahane-i Amire'' near the courtyard of the [[New Mosque (Istanbul)|Yeni Mosque]].<ref name=PTT />

The introduction of the first Ottoman paper [[banknotes]] (1840) and opening of the first post offices (1840); the reorganization of the finance system according to the French model (1840); the reorganization of the Civil and Criminal Code according to the French model (1840); the establishment of the ''Meclis-i Maarif-i Umumiye'' (1841) which was the prototype of the [[First Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)|First Ottoman Parliament]] (1876); the reorganisation of the army and a regular method of recruiting, levying the army and fixing the duration of military service (1843–44); the adoption of an [[Ottoman imperial anthem|Ottoman national anthem]] and [[Ottoman flag|Ottoman national flag]] (1844); the institution of a Council of Public Instruction (1845) and the Ministry of Education (''Mekatib-i Umumiye Nezareti'', 1847, which later became the ''Maarif Nezareti'', 1857); the abolition of slavery and slave trade (1847); the establishment of the first modern universities (''darülfünun'', 1848), academies (1848) and teacher schools (''darülmuallimin'', 1848).

[[Samuel Morse]] received his first ever patent for the [[telegraph]] in 1847, at the old Beylerbeyi Palace (the present [[Beylerbeyi Palace]] was built in 1861–1865 on the same location) in Istanbul, which was issued by Sultan [[Abdülmecid I|Abdülmecid]] who personally tested the new invention.<ref>[http://www.istanbulcityguide.com/history/body_mansions_palaces.htm Istanbul City Guide: Beylerbeyi Palace] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010112702/http://www.istanbulcityguide.com/history/body_mansions_palaces.htm |date=October 10, 2007 }}</ref> Following this successful test, installation works of the first telegraph line (Istanbul-[[Adrianople]]–[[Şumnu]])<ref name=NTVtarih2>[http://www.ntvtarih.com.tr/ Sultan Abdülmecid: İlklerin Padişahı] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212143841/http://www.ntvtarih.com.tr/ |date=12 February 2013}} ''[[NTV Tarih]]'' issue of July 2011. p. 49. (in Turkish)</ref> began on 9 August 1847.<ref name=telekomhistory>{{Cite web|url=http://www.turktelekom.com.tr/webtech/eng_default.asp?sayfa_id=30|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928164731/http://www.turktelekom.com.tr/webtech/eng_default.asp?sayfa_id=30|url-status=dead|title=Türk Telekom: History|archivedate=28 September 2007}}</ref>

==== Identity Card and Ottoman Census, 1844 ====
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2016}}
While the Ottoman Empire had population records prior to the 1830s, it was only in 1831 that the Office of Population Registers fund (Ceride-i Nüfus Nezareti) was founded. The Office decentralized in 1839 to draw more accurate data. Registrars, inspectors, and population officials were appointed to the provinces and smaller administrative districts. They recorded births and deaths periodically and compared lists indicating the population in each district. These records were not a total count of the population. Rather, they were based on what is known as "head of household". Only the ages, occupation, and property of the male family members only were counted.

The first nationwide Ottoman census was in 1844. The first national identity cards which officially named the ''Mecidiye'' identity papers, or informally ''kafa kağıdı'' (''head paper'') documents.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

==== 1850s ====
In 1856, the ''[[Hatt-ı Hümayun]]'' promised equality for all Ottoman citizens regardless of their ethnicity and religious confession; which thus widened the scope of the 1839 [[Hatt-i Sharif|''Hatt-ı Şerif'' of Gülhane]]. Overall, the Tanzimat reforms had far-reaching effects. Those educated in the schools established during the Tanzimat period included [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] and other progressive leaders and thinkers of the [[Republic of Turkey]] and of many other former Ottoman states in the [[Balkans]], the Middle East and North Africa. These reforms included<ref name=NTVtarih>[http://www.ntvtarih.com.tr/ NTV Tarih] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212143841/http://www.ntvtarih.com.tr/ |date=2013-02-12 }} history magazine, issue of July 2011. ''"Sultan Abdülmecid: İlklerin Padişahı"'', pages 46–50. (Turkish)</ref> guarantees to ensure the Ottoman subjects perfect security for their lives, honor and property;

Establishment of the Ministry of Healthcare (''Tıbbiye Nezareti'', 1850); the Commerce and Trade Code (1850); establishment of the Academy of Sciences (''Encümen-i Daniş'', 1851); establishment of the ''Şirket-i Hayriye'' which operated the first steam-powered commuter ferries (1851); the first European style courts (''Meclis-i Ahkam-ı Adliye'', 1853) and supreme judiciary council (''Meclis-i Ali-yi Tanzimat'', 1853); establishment of the modern Municipality of Istanbul (''Şehremaneti'', 1854) and the City Planning Council (''İntizam-ı Şehir Komisyonu'', 1855); the abolition of the [[Jizya|capitation (Jizya) tax]] on non-Muslims, with a regular method of establishing and collecting taxes (1856); non-Muslims were allowed to become soldiers (1856); various provisions for the better administration of the public service and advancement of commerce; the establishment of the first [[telegraph]] networks (1847–1855) and [[railway]]s (1856); the replacement of guilds with factories; the establishment of the Ottoman Central Bank (originally established as the ''Bank-ı Osmanî'' in 1856, and later reorganised as the ''Bank-ı Osmanî-i Şahane'' in 1863)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.obarsiv.com/ob-tarih.html |title=Ottoman Bank Museum: History of the Ottoman Bank |publisher=Obarsiv.com |access-date=6 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614105241/http://www.obarsiv.com/ob-tarih.html |archive-date=14 June 2012 }}</ref> and the Ottoman Stock Exchange (''Dersaadet Tahvilat Borsası'', established in 1866);<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imkb.gov.tr/genel/tarih.htm |title=Istanbul Stock Exchange: History of the Istanbul Stock Exchange |publisher=Imkb.gov.tr |access-date=6 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225094722/http://www.imkb.gov.tr/genel/tarih.htm |archive-date=25 February 2012 }}</ref> the Land Code (''Arazi Kanunnamesi'', 1857); permission for private sector publishers and printing firms with the ''Serbesti-i Kürşad Nizamnamesi'' (1857); establishment of the School of Economical and Political Sciences (''Mekteb-i Mülkiye'', 1859).

In 1855 the Ottoman telegraph network became operational and the Telegraph Administration was established.<ref name=PTT /><ref name=PTT2/><ref name=NTVtarih2/>

==== Crimean War, 1853–1856 ====
[[File:27 of 'The Illustrated History of the War against Russia. Plates' (11046419393).jpg|thumb|The green color marks the territories that were ceded to Russia following the wars with Turkey from the 17th century to the first half of the 19th century.]]
The [[Crimean War]] (1853–1856) was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Britain and France successfully defended the Ottoman Empire against Russia.<ref>Orlando Figes, ''The Crimean War: A History'' (2012)</ref>

Most of the fighting took place when the allies landed on Russia's [[Crimean Peninsula]] to gain control of the Black Sea. There were smaller campaigns in western [[Anatolia]], the [[Caucasus]], the [[Baltic Sea]], the Pacific Ocean and the [[White Sea]]. It was one of the first "modern" wars, as it introduced new technologies to warfare, such as the first tactical use of railways and the telegraph.<ref name=royle1>Royle. Preface.</ref> The subsequent [[Treaty of Paris (1856)]] secured Ottoman control over the [[Balkan Peninsula]] and the [[Black Sea]] basin. That lasted until defeat in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878]].

The Ottoman Empire took its [[Ottoman public debt|first foreign loans]] on 4 August 1854,<ref name=Ottomandebthistory>{{cite web |url=http://gberis.e-monsite.com/categorie,osmanli-borclanma-tarihi-ottoman-debt-history,3219214.html |title=History of the Ottoman public debt |publisher=Gberis.e-monsite.com |access-date=6 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125180142/http://gberis.e-monsite.com/categorie%2Cosmanli-borclanma-tarihi-ottoman-debt-history%2C3219214.html |archive-date=25 November 2010 }}</ref> shortly after the beginning of the Crimean War.<ref>Douglas Arthur Howard: "The History of Turkey", page 71.</ref>

The war caused an exodus of the [[Crimean Tatars]]. From the total Tatar population of 300,000 in the [[Tauride Province]], about 200,000 Crimean Tatars moved to the Ottoman Empire in continuing waves of emigration.<ref>[http://monderusse.revues.org/docannexe1800.html "''Hijra'' and Forced Migration from Nineteenth-Century Russia to the Ottoman Empire"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611035541/http://monderusse.revues.org/docannexe1800.html|date=June 11, 2007}}, by [[Bryan Glynn Williams]], ''Cahiers du Monde russe'', 41/1, 2000, pp. 79–108.</ref> Toward the end of the [[Caucasian Wars]], 90% of the [[Circassians]] were exiled from their homelands in the [[Caucasus]] and settled in the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Memoirs of Miliutin, "the plan of action decided upon for 1860 was to cleanse [ochistit'] the mountain zone of its indigenous population", per Richmond, W. <u>The Northwest Caucasus: Past, Present and Future</u>. Routledge. 2008.</ref> During the 19th century, there was an exodus to present-day Turkey by a large portion of Muslim peoples from the Balkans, Caucasus, [[Crimea]] and [[Crete]]. By the early 19th century, as many as 45% of the islanders may have been Muslim, who had a great influence in molding the country's fundamental features. These people were called ''[[Muhajir (Turkey)|Muhacir]]'' under a general definition.<ref>Justin McCarthy, ''Death and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman Muslims, 1821–2000'', Princeton, N.J: Darwin Press, c1995</ref> By the time the Ottoman Empire came to an end in 1922, half of the urban population of Turkey was descended from Muslim refugees from Russia.<ref name="ReferenceA">Stone, Norman "Turkey in the Russian Mirror" pages 86–100 from ''Russia War, Peace and Diplomacy'' edited by Mark & Ljubica Erickson, Weidenfeld & Nicolson: London, 2004 page 95.</ref> Crimean Tatar refugees in the late 19th century played an especially notable role in seeking to modernize Turkish education.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

==== Armenians, 1860s ====
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2016}}
[[File:Armenian national liberation movement.jpg|thumb|The [[Armenian national movement]]]]
Influenced by the Age of Enlightenment and the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire, the [[Armenian national liberation movement]] developed in the early 1860s. The factors contributing to its emergence made the movement similar to that of the Balkan nations, especially the Greeks. The Armenian elite and [[Armenian fedayi|various militant groups]] sought to improve and defend the mostly rural Armenian population of [[Western Armenia]] the eastern Ottoman Empire from Muslims. The Armenian national liberation movement also sought to [[United Armenia|recreate an Armenian state]] in the Armenian-populated areas controlled at the time by the Ottoman and Russian empires.

=== 1861–1876 Abdülaziz ===

Abdülaziz continued the Tanzimat and Islahat reforms. New administrative districts (''vilayets'') were set up in 1864 and a Council of State was established in 1868. Public education was organized on the French model and [[Istanbul University]] was reorganized as a modern institution in 1861. Abdülaziz was also the first sultan who traveled outside his empire. His 1867 trip included a visit to the United Kingdom. The Press and Journalism Regulation Code (''Matbuat Nizamnamesi'', 1864); among others.<ref name=NTVtarih/> 1876 the first international mailing network between Istanbul and the lands beyond the vast Ottoman Empire was established.<ref name=PTT /> In 1901 the first money transfers were made through the post offices and the first cargo services became operational.<ref name=PTT /> In 1868 homosexuality was decriminalised<ref>Tehmina Kazi (7 Oct 2011). "The Ottoman empire's secular history undermines sharia claims". UK Guardian.</ref>

The Christian [[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millets]] gained privileges, such as in the [[Armenian National Constitution]] of 1863. This [[Ottoman Porte|Divan]]-approved form of the ''Code of Regulations'' consisted of 150 articles drafted by the Armenian intelligentsia. Another institution was the newly formed [[Armenian National Assembly (Ottoman Empire)|Armenian National Assembly]].<ref>[[Hagop Barsoumian|Barsoumian, Hagop]]. "The Eastern Question and the Tanzimat Era", in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume II: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century''. [[Richard G. Hovannisian]] (ed.) New York: St. Martin's Press, p. 198. {{ISBN|0-312-10168-6}}.</ref> The Christian population of the empire, owing to their higher educational levels, started to pull ahead of the Muslim majority, leading to much resentment on the part of the latter.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In 1861, there were 571 primary and 94 secondary schools for Ottoman Christians with 140,000 pupils in total, a figure that vastly exceeded the number of Muslim children in school at the same time, who were further hindered by the amount of time spent learning Arabic and Islamic theology.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In turn, the higher educational levels of the Christians allowed them to play a large role in the economy.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> In 1911, of the 654 wholesale companies in Istanbul, 528 were owned by ethnic Greeks.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In 1871 the Ministry of Post and the Telegraph Administration were merged, becoming the Ministry of Post and Telegraph.<ref name=PTT2/> In July 1881 the first telephone circuit in Istanbul was established between the Ministry of Post and Telegraph in the Soğukçeşme quarter and the Postahane-i Amire in the Yenicami quarter.<ref name=telekomhistory /> On 23 May 1909, the first manual [[telephone exchange]] with a 50 line capacity entered service in the [[Istanbul Main Post Office|Büyük Postane]] (Grand Post Office) in [[Sirkeci]].<ref name=telekomhistory />

==== Bulgaria, 1870s ====
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2016}}
The rise of [[national awakening of Bulgaria]] led to the [[Bulgarian revival]] movement. Unlike [[Greece]] and [[Serbia]], the nationalist movement in Bulgaria did not concentrate initially on armed resistance against the Ottoman Empire. After the establishment of the [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] on 28 February 1870, a large-scale armed struggle started to develop as late as the beginning of the 1870s with the establishment of the [[Internal Revolutionary Organisation]] and the [[Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee]], as well as the active involvement of [[Vasil Levski]] in both organizations. The struggle reached its peak with the [[April Uprising]] of 1876 in several Bulgarian districts in Moesia, Thrace, and Macedonia. The suppression of the uprising and the atrocities committed by Ottoman soldiers against the civilian population increased the Bulgarian desire for independence.
{{multiple image
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|image1=Turkish Refugees from the district of Tirnova coming into Shumla.png
|caption1=Turkish refugees from Bulgaria
|image2=M Tancoigny, Refugees in the Hagia Sophia during the Russo-Turkish War (c1878; scanned from Constantinople (1996)).png
|caption2=1878-Refugees in Aya Sofya
|image3=Distribution of clothing to Turkish Refugees at Shumla.png
|caption3=Distribution Clothing to Turkish refugees in [[Shumen]]
}}

==== Albanians, 1870s ====
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2016}}
Because of the religious ties of the Albanian majority of the population with the ruling Ottomans and the lack of an Albanian state in past, nationalism was less developed among Albanians in the 19th century than among other southeast European nations. Only from the 1870s and onwards did a movement of 'national awakening' evolve among them - greatly delayed, compared to the Greeks and the Serbs. The 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War dealt a decisive blow to Ottoman power in the Balkan Peninsula. The Albanians' fear that the lands they inhabited would be partitioned among Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece fueled the rise of Albanian nationalism.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

=== Debt default ===
After the taking of its first loans, the Empire had taken further loans out in 1858, 1860, 1862, 1863, 1865, and every year between 1869 and 1874. But economic trouble loomed. The [[Panic of 1873]] depressed the economy, and poor harvests followed. Palace intrigues diverted political attention from the debt crisis. Finally, on October 6, 1875, the Empire suspended interest payments on its loans, and formally defaulted on October 30. The amount defaulted on was estimated at 224.5 million British Pounds ({{Inflation|index=UK-GDP|value=214,500,000|start_year=1875|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). But the entire income of the Empire had been a mere 21.7 million British pounds ({{Inflation|index=UK-GDP|value=21,700,000|start_year=1875|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}), a ratio of 10.3.<ref name=":0" /> For comparison, the modern debt to income ratio of the United States was around 7.8 in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time |url=https://www.usdebtclock.org/ |access-date=2023-02-01 |website=www.usdebtclock.org}}</ref> The default on the Ottoman debt was met by outrage in European nations, to whom the debts were owed. The concerted efforts of the United Kingdom and France, whose citizens were the chief bondholders on the Ottoman debt, would lead to the creation of the [[Ottoman Public Debt Administration]] in 1881. It would function as an independent arm of the Ottoman Bureaucracy, whose goal was to secure tax revenue to send back home to its citizen bondholders. Other represented nations were Germany, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, as well as internal Ottoman bondholders.<ref name=":0" /> The Ottoman debt would prove to be a heavy weight on the Empire and only added to the other crises that emerged in the 1870s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Geyikdağı |first=V. Necla |title=Foreign investment in the Ottoman Empire : international trade and relations 1854-1914 |date=2011 |publisher=Tauris Academic Studies |isbn=978-0-85771-943-0 |location=London |oclc=742350446}}</ref>

== Ottoman Constitution, 1876 ==
{{see also|Ottoman constitution of 1876}}
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2016}}
The reformist period peaked with the Constitution, called the ''[[Constitution of the Ottoman Empire|Kanûn-u Esâsî]]'' (meaning "[[Basic Law]]" in Ottoman Turkish), written by members of the [[Young Ottomans]], which was promulgated on 23 November 1876. It established the freedom of belief and equality of all citizens before the law. The empire's [[First Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)|First Constitutional era]], was short-lived. But the idea of [[Ottomanism]] proved influential. A group of reformers known as the [[Young Ottomans]], primarily educated in [[Western world|Western]] universities, believed that a [[constitutional monarchy]] would give an answer to the empire's growing social unrest. Through a [[military coup]] in 1876, they forced Sultan [[Abdülaziz]] (1861–1876) to abdicate in favour of [[Murad V]]. However, Murad V was mentally ill and was deposed within a few months. His heir-apparent, [[Abdülhamid II]] (1876–1909), was invited to assume power on the condition that he would declare a constitutional monarchy, which he did on 23 November 1876. The parliament survived for only two years before the sultan suspended it. When forced to reconvene it, he abolished the representative body instead. This ended the effectiveness of the ''[[Kanûn-ı Esâsî]]''.

{{multiple image
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|image2=Entwurf Kanun-i Esasi 75–83.jpg
|caption2=Draft version, with the personal notes.
}}

=== 1876 Murat V ===
After Abdülaziz's dethronement, Murat was enthroned. It was hoped that he would sign the constitution. However, due to health problems, Murat was also dethroned after 93 days; he was the shortest reigning sultan of the Empire.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

== First Constitutional Era, 1876–1878 ==
The [[First Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)|First Constitutional Era]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] was the period of [[constitutional monarchy]] from the promulgation of the ''[[Kanûn-ı Esâsî]]'' (meaning "[[Basic Law]]" in Ottoman Turkish), written by members of the [[Young Ottomans]], on 23 November 1876 until 13 February 1878. The era ended with the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by [[Abdülhamid II]].

=== 1876–1878 Abdul Hamid II ===

==== Russo-Turkish War 1877–1878 ====
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The [[Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878]] had its origins in a rise in nationalism in the Balkans as well as in the [[Russian Empire|Russia]]n goal of recovering territorial losses it had suffered during the [[Crimean War]], reestablishing itself in the [[Black Sea]] and following the political movement attempting to free Balkan nations from the [[Ottoman Empire]]. As a result of the war, the principalities of [[Romania]], [[Serbia]] and [[Montenegro]], each of which had had ''de facto'' sovereignty for some time, formally proclaimed independence from the [[Ottoman Empire]]. After almost half a millennium of Ottoman rule (1396–1878), the Bulgarian state was reestablished as the [[Principality of Bulgaria]], covering the land between the [[Danube]] River and the [[Balkan Mountains]] (except Northern [[Dobrudja]] which was given to Romania) and the region of [[Sofia]], which became the new state's capital. The [[Congress of Berlin]] also allowed [[Austria-Hungary]] to occupy [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] and [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Great Britain]] to take over [[Cyprus]], while the Russian Empire annexed Southern [[Bessarabia]] and the [[Kars]] region.

====Congress of Berlin, 1878====
{{multiple image
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|caption1= Negotiations for [[Treaty of San Stefano|San Stefano Agreement]] (included "Article 16")
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|caption2= San Stefano (1878)
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|caption3=[[Congress of Berlin]] led to [[Treaty of Berlin (1878)]] (included "Article 61" which was the "Article 16")
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|caption4= Treaty of Berlin (1878)
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The [[Congress of Berlin]] (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a meeting of the leading statesmen of Europe's Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. In the wake of the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)]] that ended with a decisive victory for Russia and her Orthodox Christian allies (subjects of the Ottoman Empire before the war) in the [[Balkans|Balkan Peninsula]], the urgent need was to stabilize and reorganize the Balkans, and set up new nations. German Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]], who led the Congress, undertook to adjust boundaries to minimize the risks of major war, while recognizing the reduced power of the Ottomans, and balance the distinct interests of the great powers.

As a result, Ottoman holdings in Europe declined sharply; [[History of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] was established as an independent principality inside the Ottoman Empire, but was not allowed to keep all its previous territory. Bulgaria lost [[Eastern Rumelia]], which was restored to the Turks under a special administration; and Macedonia, which was returned outright to the Turks, who promised reform. [[Romania]] achieved full independence, but had to turn over part of [[Bessarabia]] to Russia. [[History of Serbia|Serbia]] and [[Montenegro]] finally gained complete independence, but with smaller territories.

In 1878, [[Austria-Hungary]] unilaterally occupied the Ottoman provinces of [[Bosnia Vilayet|Bosnia-Herzegovina]] and [[Sanjak of Novi Pazar|Novi Pazar]], but the Ottoman government contested this move and maintained its troops in both provinces. The stalemate lasted for 30 years (Austrian and Ottoman forces coexisted in Bosnia and Novi Pazar for three decades) until 1908, when the Austrians took advantage of the political turmoil in the Ottoman Empire that stemmed from the [[Young Turk Revolution]] and [[Bosnian crisis|annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina]], but pulled their troops out of Novi Pazar in order to reach a compromise and avoid a war with the Turks.

In return for British Prime Minister [[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s advocacy for restoring the Ottoman territories on the Balkan Peninsula during the Congress of Berlin, Britain assumed the administration of [[Cyprus]] in 1878<ref>A. J. P. Taylor, ''The Struggle for Mastery in Europe: 1848–1918'' (1954) pp 228–54</ref> and later sent troops to [[Egypt]] in 1882 with the pretext of helping the Ottoman government to put down the [[Urabi Revolt]]; effectively gaining control in both territories (Britain formally annexed the still nominally Ottoman territories of Cyprus and Egypt on 5 November 1914, in response to the Ottoman Empire's decision to enter World War I on the side of the [[Central Powers]].) France, on its part, occupied [[Tunisia]] in 1881.

The results were first hailed as a great achievement in peacemaking and stabilization. However, most of the participants were not fully satisfied, and grievances regarding the results festered until they exploded into [[world war]] in 1914. Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece made gains, but far less than they thought they deserved. The Ottoman Empire called at the time the "[[Sick man of Europe]]", was humiliated and significantly weakened, rendering it more liable to domestic unrest and more vulnerable to attack. Although Russia had been victorious in the war that occasioned the conference, it was humiliated at Berlin, and resented its treatment. Austria gained a great deal of territory, which angered the South Slavs, and led to decades of tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bismarck became the target of hatred of Russian nationalists and Pan-Slavists and found that he had tied Germany too closely to Austria in the Balkans.<ref>Jerome L. Blum, et al. ''The European World: A History'' (1970) p 841</ref>

In the long run, tensions between Russia and Austria-Hungary intensified, as did the nationality question in the Balkans. The Congress succeeded in keeping Istanbul in Ottoman hands. It effectively disavowed Russia's victory. The Congress of Berlin returned to the Ottoman Empire territories that the previous treaty had given to the [[Principality of Bulgaria]], most notably [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], thus setting up a strong revanchist demand in Bulgaria that in 1912 led to the [[First Balkan War]] in which the Turks were defeated and lost nearly all of Europe. As the Ottoman Empire gradually shrank in size, military power, and wealth, many Balkan Muslims migrated to the empire's remaining territory in Balkans or to the heartland in Anatolia.<ref>Mann, Michael (2005), ''The dark side of democracy: explaining ethnic cleansing'', Cambridge University Press, p. 118</ref><ref>Todorova, Maria (2009), ''Imagining the Balkans'', Oxford University Press, p. 175</ref> Muslims had been the majority in some parts of Ottoman Empire such as the Crimea, the Balkans, and the Caucasus as well as a plurality in southern Russia and also in some parts of Romania. Most of these lands were lost with time by the Ottoman Empire between the 19th and 20th centuries. By 1923, only Anatolia and eastern [[Thrace]] remained as the Muslim land.<ref>editors: Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to the Present, Vol. 1, ABC-CLIO, 2005, p.437 [https://books.google.com/books?id=2c6ifbjx2wMC Read] quote: "Muslims had been the majority in Anatolia, the Crimea, the Balkans and the Caucasus and a plurality in southern Russia and sections of Romania. Most of these lands were within or contiguous with the Ottoman Empire. By 1923, only Anatolia, eastern Thrace, and a section of the south-eastern Caucasus remained to the Muslim land."</ref>

== İstibdat Era, 1878–1908 ==
[[File:Map-of-Ottoman-Empire-1900.png|thumb|Map of the Ottoman Empire in 1900, with the names of the [[Vilayet|Ottoman provinces]].]]

=== 1878–1908 Abdul Hamid II ===
The reign of [[Abdul Hamid II]] was pejoratively referred to as ''istibdad'' (despotism).<ref>{{cite book|title=Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915
|author1= Joost Jongerden|author2=Jelle Verheij|page=200|year=2012|publisher=Brill}}</ref> His reign struggled with the culmination of 75 years of change throughout the empire and an opposing reaction to that change.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He was particularly concerned with the centralization of the empire.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> His efforts to centralize the Sublime Porte were not unheard of among other sultans. The Ottoman Empire's local provinces had more control over their areas than the central government. Abdul Hamid II's foreign relations came from a "policy of non-commitment".<ref name="ReferenceB">M.Sükrü Hanioglu, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire, 129.</ref> The sultan understood the fragility of the Ottoman military, and the Empire's weaknesses of its domestic control.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Pan-Islamism became Abdülhamid's solution to the empire's loss of identity and power.<ref>M.Sükrü Hanioglu, A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire, 130.</ref> His efforts to promote Pan-Islamism were for the most part unsuccessful because of the large non-Muslim population, and the European influence onto the empire.<ref name="ReferenceC">Dr. Bayram Kodaman, The Hamidiye Light Cavalry Regiments (Abdulhamid II and Eastern Anatolian Tribes)</ref> His policies essentially isolated the Empire, which further aided in its decline. Several of the elite who sought a new constitution and reform for the empire were forced to flee to Europe.<ref name="ReferenceC"/> New groups of radicals began to threaten the power of the Ottoman Empire.

==== Egypt 1880s ====
{{See also|Ottoman Egypt}}
After gaining some amount of autonomy during the early 1800s, Egypt had entered into a period of political turmoil by the 1880s. In April 1882, British and French warships appeared in [[Alexandria]] to support the [[khedive]] and prevent the country from falling into the hands of anti-European nationals.

In August 1882 British forces invaded and occupied [[Egypt]] on the pretext of bringing order. The British supported [[Tewfik Pasha|Khedive Tewfiq]] and restored stability, which was especially beneficial to British and French financial interests. [[List of monarchs of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty#Khedivate (1867–1914)|Egypt and Sudan]] remained as Ottoman provinces ''[[de jure]]'' until 1914, when the Ottoman Empire joined the [[Central Powers]] of World War I. Great Britain officially annexed these two provinces and [[Cyprus]] in response.

==== 1893–96 Ottoman Census ====
In 1867, the [[Turkish Council of State|Council of States]] took charge of drawing population tables, increasing the precision of population records. They introduced new measures of recording population counts in 1874. This led to the establishment of a General Population Administration, attached to the Ministry of Interior in 1881-1882.

The first official census (1881–93) took 10 years to finish. In 1893, the results were compiled and presented. This census is the first modern, general, and standardized census accomplished not for taxation nor for military purposes, but to acquire demographic data. The population was divided into ethno-religious and gender characteristics. Numbers of both male and female subjects are given in ethno-religious categories including Muslims, Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians, Catholics, Jews, Protestants, Latins, Syriacs and Gypsies.<ref>{{harv|Karpat|1978|pp=237–274}}</ref><ref>{{harv|Shaw|1978|pp=323–338}}</ref>
{{multiple image
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|image1=Prorportions des populations musulmanes grecques et armeniennes en AsieMineure d'apres la statistique du livreJaune.png
|caption1=Ottoman Census of 1893-96
|image2=Armenian population map 1896.jpg
|caption2=1893-96, Armenian distribution
|image3=Map-of-Ottoman-Empire-in-1900-German.svg
|caption3=Map of the Ottoman Empire in 1900, with the names of the Ottoman provinces between 1878 and 1908.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mapsof.net/uploads/static-maps/europe_map_1900.jpg |title=Map of Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the year 1900 |access-date=6 November 2011}}</ref>
}}

==== Armenians, 1890s ====
{{See also|Armenians in the Ottoman Empire}}
Although granted their own [[Armenian National Constitution|constitution]] and [[Armenian National Assembly (Ottoman Empire)|national assembly]] with the Tanzimat reforms, the Armenians attempted to demand implementation of Article 61 from the Ottoman government as agreed upon at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hovannisian | first1 = Richard G. | title = The Armenian Question in the Ottoman Empire, 1876–1914 | journal = The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times | volume = II | page = 218 }}</ref>

===== Autonomists =====
{{See also|Armenian–Kurdish relations}}
During 1880 - 1881, while the Armenian national liberation movement was in its early stage; lack of outside support and inability to maintain a trained, organized Kurdish force diminished Kurdish aspirations. However, two prominent Kurdish families (tribes) mounted opposition to the empire, based more on an ethno-nationalistic standpoint. The Badr Khans were secessionists while the Sayyids of Nihiri were autonomists. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 was followed in 1880 - 1881 by the attempt of Shaykh Ubayd Allah of [[Nihri]] to found an "independent Kurd principality" around the Ottoman-Persian border (including the Van Vilayet) where Armenian population was significant. Shaykh Ubayd Allah of Nihri gathered 20,000 fighters.<ref name=McDowall4247>{{Harv|McDowall|2004|pp=42–47}}</ref> Lacking discipline, his man left the ranks after pillaging and acquiring riches from the villages in the region (indiscriminately, including Armenian villages). Shaykh Ubayd Allah of Nihri was captured by the Ottoman forces in 1882 and this movement ended.<ref name=McDowall4247 />

The [[1889 Bashkale clash|Bashkaleh clash]] was the bloody encounter between the [[Armenakan Party]] and the Ottoman Empire in May 1889. Its name comes from [[Başkale]], a border town of [[Van Eyalet]] of the Ottoman Empire. The event was important, as it was reflected on main Armenian newspapers as the recovered documents on the Armenakans showed an extensive plot for a national movement.<ref>Ter-Minasian, Ruben. ''Hai Heghapokhakani Me Hishataknere'' [Memoirs of an Armenian Revolutionary] (Los Angeles, 1952), II, 268–269.</ref> Ottoman officials believed that the men were members of a large revolutionary apparatus and the discussion was reflected in newspapers, (Eastern Express, Oriental Advertiser, Saadet, and Tarik) and the responses were on the Armenian papers. In some Armenian circles, this event was considered martyrdom and brought other armed conflicts.<ref>Darbinian, op. cit., p. 123; Adjemian, op. cit., p. 7; Varandian, Dashnaktsuthian Patmuthiun, I, 30; Great Britain, Turkey No. 1 (1889), op. cit., Inclosure in no. 95. Extract from the "Eastern Express" of 25 June 1889, pp. 83–84; ibid., no. 102. Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury-(Received 15 July), p. 89; Great Britain, Turkey No. 1 (1890), op. cit., no. 4. Sir W. White to the Marquis of Salisbury-(Received 9 August), p. 4; ibid., Inclosure 1 in no. 4, Colonel Chermside to Sir W. White, p. 4; ibid., Inclosure 2 in no. 4. Vice-Consul Devey to Colonel Chermside, pp. 4–7; ibid., Inclosure 3 in no. 4. M. Patiguian to M. Koulaksizian, pp. 7–9; ibid., Inclosure 4 in no.</ref> The Bashkaleh Resistance was on the Persian border, which the Armenakans were in communication with [[Armenians in the Persian Empire]]. The [[Gugunian Expedition]], which followed within a couple of months, was an attempt by a small group of Armenian nationalists from the [[Russian Armenia]] to launch an armed expedition across the border into the Ottoman Empire in 1890 in support of local Armenians.

The [[Kum Kapu demonstration]] occurred at the Armenian quarter of Kum Kapu, the seat of the Armenian Patriarch, was spared through the prompt action of the commandant, Hassan Aga.<ref name="kum">Creasy, Edward Shepherd. ''Turkey'', pg.500.</ref> On 27 July 1890, [[Harutiun Jangülian]], [[Mihran Damadian]] and [[Hambartsum Boyajian]] interrupted the Armenian mass to read a [[manifesto]] and denounce the indifference of the [[Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople|Armenian patriarch]] and [[Armenian National Assembly (Ottoman Empire)|Armenian National Assembly]]. Harutiun Jangülian (member from [[Van, Turkey|Van]]) tried to assassinate the Patriarch of Istanbul. The goal was to persuade the Armenian clerics to bring their policies into alignment with national politics. They soon forced the patriarch to join the procession heading to the [[Yıldız Palace]] to demand implementation of Article 61 of the [[Treaty of Berlin (1878)|Treaty of Berlin]]. It is significant that this massacre, in which 6000 Armenians are said to have perished, was not the result of a general rising of the Muslim population.<ref name="kum"/> The Softas took no part in it, and many Armenians found refuge in the Muslim sections of the city.<ref name="kum"/>

===== Reform program =====
{{See also|Armenian reform program|Kurdish chiefdoms|Hamidiye (cavalry)}}

The Kurdish (force, rebels, bandits) sacked neighboring towns and villages with impunity.<ref>Astourian, Stepan (2011). "The Silence of the Land: Agrarian Relations, Ethnicity, and Power," in ''A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire'', eds. [[Ronald Grigor Suny]], Fatma Müge Göçek, and [[Norman Naimark]]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 58-61, 63-67.</ref>

The central assumption of the Hamidiye system—Kurdish tribes ([[Kurdish chiefdoms]] cited among Armenian security concerns) could be brought under military discipline—proved to be "Utopian". The [[Persian Cossack Brigade]] later proved that it can function as an independent unit, but the Ottoman example, which was modeled after, never replaced the tribal loyalty to Ottoman Sultan or even to its establishing unit.

In 1892, first time a trained and organized Kurdish force encouraged by the Sultan Abdul Hamid II. There are several reasons advanced as to why the Hamidiye light cavalry was created. The establishment of the Hamidiye was in one part a response to the Russian threat, but scholars believe that the central reason was to suppress [[Armenian national movement|Armenian socialist/nationalist revolutionaries]].<ref name="newperspectivesonturkey.net">[http://www.newperspectivesonturkey.net/Journal/Lecture/13 Summary of] Janet Klein’s ''Power in the Periphery: The Hamidiye Light Cavalry and the Struggle over Ottoman Kurdistan, 1890-1914''.</ref> The Armenian revolutionaries posed a threat because they were seen as disruptive, and they could work with the Russians against the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="newperspectivesonturkey.net"/> The Hamidiye corps or Hamidiye Light Cavalry Regiments were well-armed, irregular, majority [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] cavalry (minor amounts of other nationalities, such as Turcoman) formations that operated in the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire.<ref>[[Stanford Shaw|Shaw, Stanford J.]] and Ezel Kural Shaw, ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977, vol. 2, p. 246.</ref> They were intended to be modeled after the [[Russian Cossack|Caucasian Cossack Regiments]] (example Persian Cossack Brigade) and were firstly tasked to patrol the Russo-Ottoman frontier<ref>{{Harv|McDowall|2004|pp=59}}</ref> and secondly, to reduce the potential of Kurdish-Armenian cooperation.<ref>Safrastian, Arshak. 1948 Kurds and Kurdistan. Harvill Press, pg 66.</ref> The Hamidiye Cavalry was in no way a cross-tribal force, despite their military appearance, organization, and potential.<ref>{{Harv|McDowall|2004|pp=59–60}}</ref> Hamidiye quickly find out that they could only be tried through a military court martial<ref>{{Harv|McDowall|2004|pp=60}}</ref> They became immune to civil administration. Realizing their immunity, they turned their tribes into "legalized robber brigades" as they steal grain, reap fields not of their possession, drive off herds, and openly steal from shopkeepers.<ref>{{Harv|McDowall|2004|pp=61–62}}</ref> Some argue that the creation of the Hamidiye "further antagonized the Armenian population" and it worsened the very conflict they were created to prevent.<ref>Janet Klein, Joost Jongerden, Jelle Verheij, ''Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1975'', 152</ref>

Kurdish chieftains also taxed the population of the region in sustaining these units, which Armenians perceived as exploitation. When Armenian spokesmen confronted the Kurdish chieftain (issue of double taxation), it brought about the enmity between both populations. The Hamidiye cavalry harassed and assaulted Armenians.<ref>Hovannisian, Richard ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume II: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 217. {{ISBN|0-312-10168-6}}.</ref>

In 1908, after the overthrow of the Sultan, the Hamidiye Cavalry was disbanded as an organized force, but as they were "tribal forces" before official recognition, they stayed as "tribal forces" after dismemberment. The Hamidiye Cavalry is described as a military disappointment and a failure because of its contribution to tribal feuds.<ref>{{Harv|McDowall|2004|pp=61}}</ref>

===== Armenians =====
{{See also|Hamidian massacres|Muzuri Kurds}}
[[Image:Db Bank Ottomani kravman masnagtsadz fedayiner Marseille 1.jpg|thumb|Surviving members of the takeover after they arrived in Marseille.]]
A major role in the [[Hamidian massacres]] of 1894-96 has been often ascribed to the ''Hamidiye'' regiments, particularly during the bloody suppression of Sasun (1894). On July 25, 1897 the Khanasor Expedition was against the Kurdish Mazrik tribe ([[Muzuri Kurds]]) who owned a significant portion of this cavalry. The first notable battle in the Armenian resistance movement took place in [[Sason|Sassoun]], where nationalist ideals were proliferated by [[Hunchak]] activists, such as [[Mihran Damadian]], [[Hampartsoum Boyadjian]], and Hrayr. The [[Armenian Revolutionary Federation]] also played a significant role in arming the people of the region. The Armenians of Sassoun confronted the Ottoman army and [[Hamidieh soldier|Kurdish irregulars]] at Sassoun, succumbing to superior numbers.<ref name="Hayots p.42-44">{{cite book |last=Kurdoghlian |first=Mihran |title=Hayots Badmoutioun, Volume III |publisher=Hradaragoutioun Azkayin Ousoumnagan Khorhourti |year=1996 |location=Athens, Greece |pages=42–44|language=hy}}</ref> This was followed by [[Zeitun Rebellion (1895–1896)]], which between the years 1891 and 1895, Hunchak activists toured various regions of [[Cilicia]] and [[Süleymanlı|Zeitun]] to encourage resistance, and established new branches of the [[Social Democrat Hunchakian Party]].

In this area, something resembling a civil war between Armenians and Muslims (involving Hamidiye (cavalry)) raged for months before being brought to an end through mediation by the Great Powers. However, instead of Armenian autonomy in these regions, Kurds (Kurdish tribal chiefs) retained much of their autonomy and power.<ref name="Denise">[[Denise Natali]]. The Kurds and the State. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005)</ref> The Abdulhamid made little attempt to alter the traditional power structure of "segmented, agrarian Kurdish societies" – agha, shayk, and tribal chief.<ref name="Denise" /> Because of their geographical position at the southern and eastern fringe of the empire and mountainous topography, and limited transportation and communication system.<ref name="Denise" /> The state had little access to these provinces and were forced to make informal agreements with tribal chiefs, for instance, the Ottoman qadi and mufti did not have jurisdiction over religious law which bolstered Kurdish authority and autonomy.<ref name="Denise"/>

The [[1896 Ottoman Bank takeover]] was perpetrated by an Armenian group armed with [[pistols]], [[grenades]], [[dynamite]] and hand-held bombs against the [[Ottoman Bank]] in [[Istanbul]]. The seizure of the bank lasted 14 hours, resulting in the deaths of 10 of the Armenian men and Ottoman soldiers. The Ottoman reaction to the takeover saw further massacres and pogroms of the several thousand Armenians living in Constantinople and Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]] threatening to level the entire building itself. However, intervention on part of the European diplomats in the city managed to persuade the men to give, assigning safe passage to the survivors to France. Despite the level of violence, the incident had wrought, the takeover was reported positively in the European press, praising the men for their courage and the objectives they attempted to accomplish.<ref>[[Peter Balakian|Balakian, Peter]]. ''The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response''. New York: Perennial, 2003. pp. 107–108</ref>

==== Economy ====
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2016}}
Economically, the empire had difficulty in repaying the [[Ottoman public debt]] to European banks, which caused the establishment of the [[Ottoman Public Debt Administration|Council of Administration of the Ottoman Public Debt]]. By the end of the 19th century, the main reason the empire was not overrun by Western powers was their attempt to maintain a [[Balance of power in international relations|balance of power]] in the area. Both Austria and Russia wanted to increase their spheres of influence and territory at the expense of the Ottoman Empire but were kept in check mostly by Britain, which feared Russian dominance in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]].

==Image gallery==
<gallery class="center">
File:Mahmud II.jpg|Mahmud II
File:Sultan Abdülmecid - Google Art Project.jpg|Abdülmecid
File:4f3bdb2b3891715176c6580e6ab6cb4b--ottoman-empire-sultan.jpg|Abdülaziz
File:Sultan Murad V of the Ottoman Empire.jpg|Murad V
</gallery>

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite journal |last1=Karpat |first1=Kemal H. |title=Ottoman Population Records and the Census of 1881/82–1893 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=May 1978 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=237–274 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800000088|s2cid=162337621 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kinross | first = Patrick | author-link = Patrick Kinross | title = The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire | publisher = Perennial | location = London | year = 1977 | isbn = 978-0-688-08093-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/ottomancenturies00kinr }}
* {{cite book | last = McDowall | first = David | title = A Modern History of the Kurds | publisher = I.B. Tauris | year = 2004 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Shaw |first1=Standford J. |title=The Ottoman Census System and Population, 1831–1914 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=August 1978 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=325–338 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800033602|s2cid=161326705 }}

==See also==
* {{anl|Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate}}
* {{anl|Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire}}
* [[History of the Ottoman Empire]]
* {{anl|Ottoman decline thesis}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book |last=Finkel |first=Caroline F. |title=Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923 |date=2005 |publisher=[[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] |isbn=978-0-7195-5513-8 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan Warwick |title=The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire |date=1992 |publisher=[[M. Evans]] |isbn=978-0-87131-754-4 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Stoianovich |first=Traian |date=December 1962 |title=Factors in the Decline of Ottoman Society in the Balkans |journal=[[Slavic Review]] |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=623–632 |doi=10.2307/3000577 |issn=0037-6779 |jstor=3000577}}

{{Turkey topics}}
{{Great Power diplomacy}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decline Of The Ottoman Empire}}
[[Category:19th century in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Declinism]]

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Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire