Page 101 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1402 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Holy Russia at 1566 CE
Roman
Empire Vienna
Atlantic France Hungary
Ocean
Italy The Black Sea
Balkans Constantinople
Spain Caspian Sea
WEST ASIA N
Algiers
Tunis
Damascus
Baghdad
M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a
Persia
NORTH
AFRICA Cairo
Egypt Persian Gulf
ARABIAN
DESERT
Ottoman Empire, 1453
Mecca
Added by 1520
Red Sea
Added by Suleiman by 1566
0 500 mi
0 500 km

European states widened.Politically,the Ottomans became government into every sphere of life. In this attempt, the
part of the “Concert of Europe” at the mid-nineteenth cen- Ottoman state enjoyed many successes during the nine-
tury point but remained subordinate to the Great Powers teenth century and was vastly stronger in 1914 than it had
such as Britain, France and the emergent Germany. been around 1800. Despite this impressive record, the
Internationally, on its western and northern fronts, the Ottoman empire was defeated in World War I and par-
state encountered increasingly powerful enemies that titioned by the Great Powers, notably Great Britain and
had been enriched by New World wealth and could bet- France. Ottoman successor states include today’s Alba-
ter bear the mounting costs of outfitting and maintaining nia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Leba-
armies in the field; expansion finally ground to a halt in non, Montenegro, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Syria,
the late seventeenth century. Innovation diminished as Turkey, and other states in the Balkans, the Arab world,
entrenched bureaucrats and statesmen acted to preserve North Africa and the north shore of the Black Sea.
positions for their children and closed entry to innovative
newcomers. A catastrophic military failure at Vienna in Domestic Political
1683 was followed by some victories but mainly defeats Developments
during the subsequent one hundred years. From the perspective of domestic developments, the
During the nineteenth century, there was an important Ottoman state underwent continuous change over the
reversal of fortunes as a series of successful reform pro- centuries. The Ottoman ruler, the sultan, began as one
grams measurably strengthened both the Ottoman state among equals but between the conquest of Constanti-
and its military. The size of the central bureaucracy in- nople in 1453 and the later sixteenth century, the Otto-
creased substantially as the state increasingly sought to man sultans ruled as autocrats. Thereafter, until around
more closely control the lives of its subjects/citizens. Pre- 1800, other members of the imperial household, often
viously, the early modern Ottoman state, like its contem- cooperating with provincial notables, controlled the
poraries across the globe, mainly had collected taxes and state. During the nineteenth century, bureaucrats and sul-
maintained order. In its more modern guise, the Ottoman tans vied for dominance, with the former in charge in the
and other states now took responsibility for the health, middle of the century and the sultan during its first and
education, and welfare of its subjects and sought to bring fourth quarters. Overall, sultans presided over the impe-