An outline, era by era

Ottoman decline and reform (Tanzimat)

Late Modern Era / 19th Century · ~1800 – 1914

In the nineteenth century the Ottoman Empire, which stretched across southeastern Europe, Anatolia, the Middle East and North Africa, faced military defeat, rising debt, nationalist revolts in the Balkans and pressure from stronger European powers. Observers in Europe began to call it the 'sick man of Europe', a phrase that suggested steady decline, although historians now stress that the state also changed and adapted a great deal.

The main answer to these pressures was a series of reforms known as the Tanzimat, meaning 'reorganisation', usually dated from the Edict of Gülhane in 1839 to the first constitution in 1876. Sultans and their officials rebuilt the army, reformed taxation, law and education, and, especially in the Reform Edict of 1856, promised non-Muslims equality with Muslim subjects, though this was applied unevenly. The reforms strengthened the central state but also produced debt, resentment and new political movements, and they shaped the empire until its end after the First World War.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The destruction of the Janissaries

    Event

    What happened

    In June 1826 Sultan Mahmud II orders his new, European-style troops to fire on the rebellious Janissary corps in their barracks in Istanbul. The Janissaries had revolted against plans for a modern army. The corps is formally abolished, and its leaders are executed or exiled.

    The rest is history

    The event is remembered in Turkish as the Auspicious Incident. It removed the main armed body that had blocked change for generations and allowed Mahmud II to build a new army and a stronger central bureaucracy. Many historians see his reign as the groundwork for the Tanzimat. The Janissary abolition came only after earlier reform attempts, such as those of Selim III, had failed.

    Sources

    1. BookShaw, Stanford J. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Volume 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
    2. BookFindley, Carter V. Bureaucratic Reform in the Ottoman Empire: The Sublime Porte, 1789-1922. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980.

  2. The Greek War of Independence

    Event

    What happened

    In 1821 Greek revolts begin in the Danubian principalities and the Morea. Fighting goes on for years, and Egyptian forces under Ibrahim Pasha are sent to help the sultan. In 1827 a British, French and Russian fleet destroys the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet at Navarino. The Treaty of Adrianople in 1829 ends a Russo-Ottoman war, and Greece is recognised as independent in 1832.

    The rest is history

    This was the first successful break-away of a European province from the empire. It showed that the great powers might intervene in Ottoman affairs, and it encouraged nationalist movements in the Balkans. The loss of Greece also added to the sense of crisis that pushed Ottoman rulers towards reform.

    Sources

    1. BookFinkel, Caroline. Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic Books, 2005.
    2. BookQuataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

  3. Muhammad Ali of Egypt challenges the sultan

    Event

    What happened

    Muhammad Ali, appointed governor of Egypt in 1805, builds a powerful modern army and administration. In 1831 his son Ibrahim Pasha invades Syria and defeats Ottoman forces, and on 24 June 1839 he wins again at Nezib. European powers step in, and by the Convention of London of 1840 Muhammad Ali keeps hereditary rule in Egypt but gives up Syria.

    The rest is history

    The crisis showed how weak the sultan's army still was and how much he depended on European diplomacy. Mahmud II died on 1 July 1839, a week after the defeat at Nezib. The new sultan's government issued the Edict of Gülhane within months, partly to win the favour of Britain and other powers.

    Sources

    1. BookFahmy, Khaled. All the Pasha's Men: Mehmed Ali, His Army and the Making of Modern Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
    2. BookHanioğlu, M. Şükrü. A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.

  4. The Edict of Gülhane, 1839

    Event

    What happened

    On 3 November 1839 the foreign minister Mustafa Reşid Pasha reads out a decree in the name of the young sultan Abdulmejid I at the Gülhane garden of Topkapı Palace. It promises guarantees of life, honour and property, fair and regular taxation, and orderly rules for military recruitment. It is the opening act of the Tanzimat.

    The rest is history

    The edict set out a goal of the rule of law over arbitrary power, and it was followed by new tax systems, courts and councils. Military service remained mainly a Muslim obligation, and the status of non-Muslims in the army was addressed more explicitly in 1856. Its promises were applied unevenly, and officials sometimes met resistance from local notables. It is still taken by historians as the start of the Tanzimat era.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryHatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane. Ottoman imperial rescript, 3 November 1839. English translation in J. C. Hurewitz, ed., The Middle East and North Africa in World Politics.The text of the decree.
    2. BookHanioğlu, M. Şükrü. A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.

  5. The Crimean War and the Reform Edict of 1856

    Event

    What happened

    In 1853 the Ottoman Empire goes to war with Russia, and Britain and France join its side in 1854. The war ends with the Treaty of Paris in March 1856, which admits the empire to the 'Concert of Europe' and guarantees its territory. Just before, in February 1856, the sultan issues the Reform Edict (Islahat Fermanı), which restates equality for non-Muslims.

    The rest is history

    The war saved the empire from Russian pressure for a time, but the empire had borrowed abroad for the first time in 1854 to pay for it. The edict's promises of equality also worried some Muslim subjects and gave European powers a reason to claim they were protecting Christians. The Ottoman state defaulted on its debts in 1875.

    Sources

    1. BookFiges, Orlando. Crimea: The Last Crusade. London: Allen Lane, 2010.
    2. BookDavison, Roderic H. Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856-1876. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1963.

  6. The Ottoman public debt and bankruptcy

    Event

    What happened

    From 1854 the Ottoman government borrows heavily from European banks to pay for war, railways, palaces and its modernised army. In October 1875 it announces it can pay only part of the interest. In 1881 the Decree of Muharrem sets up the Ottoman Public Debt Administration, run by European creditors, to collect some state revenues.

    The rest is history

    The administration gave foreign bondholders control over salt, tobacco, stamp and other revenues, a clear limit on Ottoman independence. It also helped restore credit, and in time it employed thousands of staff. Historians still debate how far the debt was caused by waste and how far by the pressure of European finance.

    Sources

    1. BookKıray, Emine. Osmanlı'da Ekonomik Yapı ve Dış Borçlar. Ankara: Çağdaş Yayınları, 1993.
    2. BookQuataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

  7. The first constitution and Abdulhamid II

    Event

    What happened

    In December 1876 the Ottoman Empire proclaims its first constitution, drafted under Midhat Pasha, soon after Abdulhamid II becomes sultan. A parliament meets in 1877. In February 1878, during the Russo-Ottoman war, Abdulhamid dissolves the parliament, and the constitution is in practice set aside.

    The rest is history

    The constitution ended the main phase of the Tanzimat, although many of its institutions stayed in place. For over thirty years Abdulhamid ruled through the palace, with a large network of schools, railways, telegraph lines and informers. In July 1908 the Young Turk revolution, led by the Committee of Union and Progress, forced him to restore the constitution.

    Sources

    1. BookDevereux, Robert. The First Ottoman Constitutional Period: A Study of the Midhat Constitution and Parliament. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1963.
    2. BookHanioğlu, M. Şükrü. A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008.

  8. The Congress of Berlin, 1878

    Event

    What happened

    After Russia defeats the Ottomans in 1877 to 1878 and imposes the Treaty of San Stefano, Britain and Austria-Hungary object. The great powers meet at Berlin in June and July 1878. The new treaty cuts back the large Bulgaria that Russia had planned, recognises Serbia, Montenegro and Romania as independent, and lets Austria-Hungary occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    The rest is history

    The empire lost much of its remaining European territory and a large part of its Muslim population in the Balkans became refugees. Britain took over the administration of Cyprus in the same year. The losses pushed Abdulhamid II to put more weight on Islamic unity and on the Asian and Arab provinces.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTreaty of Berlin. Treaty between Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Turkey, 13 July 1878.
    2. BookFinkel, Caroline. Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic Books, 2005.

  9. The 'sick man of Europe'

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that the Ottoman Empire was simply a dying 'sick man of Europe' through the whole nineteenth century, a state in steady and inevitable decline. Tsar Nicholas I is said to have used the phrase to the British ambassador.

    The rest is history

    Nicholas I did describe the Ottoman state as a sick man in talks with the British ambassador Sir George Hamilton Seymour in January 1853, as Seymour's dispatches record. The phrase was later applied to the empire in general. Modern historians reject the idea of unbroken decline. The empire built railways, telegraphs, schools and a new bureaucracy, and it lasted until 1922.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySeymour, Sir George Hamilton. Dispatches to Lord John Russell, January to February 1853, on conversations with Tsar Nicholas I. British Parliamentary Papers.Record of the conversations with the tsar.
    2. BookQuataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

  10. The empire's 'decline' began after Suleiman

    Popular belief

    The legend

    A common belief is that the Ottoman Empire began a long decline immediately after Suleiman the Magnificent died in 1566, and that the nineteenth century was merely the final stage of that fall.

    The rest is history

    This 'decline thesis' was shaped by Ottoman advice writers of the seventeenth century and by later European writers. Since the 1980s many historians, such as Cemal Kafadar and Donald Quataert, have argued that the empire went through change and adaptation, not simple decline. The empire fought on equal terms with its rivals in many wars and its economy and institutions developed. It faced severe pressure in the nineteenth century, but collapse was not set in advance.

    Sources

    1. BookQuataert, Donald. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

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