OTTOMAN EMPIRE

By Jamison, Dylan, and Chance

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

The Ottoman Empire began as one of many small Turkish States.

The Ottoman Turks absorbed other states.

Muhammad II ended all other Turkish Dynasties.

They expanded under Osman I, Orkham, Murad I, and Beyazid I.

The last great sultan was Suleiman

WHY THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE WAS IMPERIALIZED BY GREAT

BRITAIN

The Balkans with the Straits (buffer between Russia and Austria)

Egypt with the Suez Canal (link between Britain and India; Northern end of the Egypt-Cape axis; supply route from the Indian Ocean)

Caucasus (buffer between Russia and the Indian Ocean; oil reserves)

Persian Gulf (oil reserves; close to Britain's sea route to India)

Afghanistan (buffer between Russia and Britain)

OTTOMAN REFORM

Like the Chinese, the ottoman Turks discovered that history and tradition couldn’t serve as power base in times of industrialization and state-building.

Their military might, a derivative of both, depended on import of Western technology, science, and a new national identity.

The reforms they believed to be necessary outraged Islamic soldiers and intellectuals, the 2 main pillars of their empire.

WESTERN REFORM

The Turks sent students to Europe to study western culture and philosophy, along with government. This resulted in a small group of western oriented bureaucrats and army officers who began the Tanzimat (“reorganization”).

They developed close ties to Britain and other European governments.

GREEK INDEPENDENCE

In the 1820’s the Greek (part of the ottoman empire) insurrectionists achieved national independence in a war in which Europe’s great powers were involved.

This proved that the ottomans were weak.

After this event Britain took a stronger interest in turkey

The Russians also tried very hard to imperialize turkey.

BRITAIN'S INVOLVEMENTS

The strategic goals of Britain often conflicted with its economic interests.

British imperialists wanted the Ottoman empire to preserve its territorial integrity and open it as their market. Imperialism contradicted this, weakening the Ottomans

Free trade was imposed in the Ottoman empire by the British Levant Company

THE EFFECT OF FREE TRADE IN TURKEY

Inexpensive British cotton goods ruined Ottoman spinners an weavers

The local intermediaries or dragomans, made up of mostly Jews and Christians, were more loyal to their foreign employers than to the Muslim population or the state, which then intensified local tensions.

It created state monopolies

Restricting foreign merchants

Imposed import regulations

DESTABILIZATION AND REFORM PROBLEMS

Destabilization- the slave trade in the middle east with some ten thousand slaves a year in the 1840s also le to a greater involvement of the British in the Ottoman affairs

Undermined Reforms- the British government demanded extraterritorial status for its citizens and local allies, undermining the Tanzimat reformers and Ottoman sovereignty.

GROWING DEPENDENCY

The opening of the Suez canal in 1869 ha shifted Britain's strategic focus to the eastern Mediterranean.

In 1878 Britain annexed Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire in order to check a possible Russian advance to the Straits.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain's economic interests in the Eastern Mediterranean decline. Within twenty years from 1880 the share of imports from Britain fell from 45% o under 25% an the Ottoman empire accounted for less than 2% of Britain’s overseas exports.

VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E0Kt67Hlhb0

WORKS CITED

. "Ottoman Empire." Infoplease. Pearson . Web. 20 Feb 2013. <http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/ottoman-empire-history.html>.

. "British Imperialism in the Ottoman Empire and Persia." www.hubertlerch.com. N.p.. Web. 25 Feb 2013. <http://citationmachine.net/index2.php?reqstyleid=1&mode=form&rsid=6&reqsrcid=MLAWebDocument&more=yes&nameCnt=1>.