Chapter 7 - The Decline of Ottoman Empire Flashcards
What happened in 1889?
Origins of the Young Turk movement
What happened in 1897?
The Greco-Turkish War
What happened in August 1903?
Ilinden uprising in Macedonia
What happened in 1907?
Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) of the Ottoman Empire was formed
What happened in July 1908?
Beginning of the Young Turk revolution
What happened on 5th October 1908?
Bulgaria proclaims full independence from Ottoman Empire
What happened on 6th October 1908?
Annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary
What happened in April 1909?
Conservative counter-revolution against the Young Turks
What played a key role in hastening the decline of the Ottoman Empire?
The Great Powers of Europe - they gained influence and control over Ottoman lands and pursued their own economic interests in Turkey
What contributed to the destabilisation of peace in Europe?
The decline of the Ottoman Empire and the consequences of the Young Turk revolution 1908
What ensured that the Ottoman Empire had remained a significant trading partner in the 19th century?
Its geographical location as it was on lucrative routes to India and China, however, there had been little effort made to modernise industry in its territories.
What came from the railway boom of the 1850s?
The Ottoman Empire became a focus of international rivalry as European investors and financiers sought to profit from railway building in the region. In the 1890s, Germany’s increased interest in Turkey led to plans for a railway from Berlin to Baghdad
What highlighted the weak economic state of the Ottoman Empire?
The “opening up” of the Ottoman Empire to foreign investment highlighted its weakened economic state compared to the Great Powers of Europe, and the Ottoman economy was heavily in debt to British and French creditors, partly as a result of the Crimean War
Who was Abdul Hamid II?
Sultan of the Ottoman Empire between 1876 and 1909. The Hamidian regime was increasingly unpopular and Hamid earned the nickname of the “Red Sultan” on account of his repressive policies and severe treatment of rebels. The Young Turk revolution severely undermined Abdul Hamid’s rule, and he reluctantly gave up his absolute power by restoring the 1876 constitution, but the leaders of a counter-coup in 1909 decided to remove him completely
What kind of Empire was the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century?
An autocracy
Give an example of Sultan Abdul Hamid II’s severe treatment of rebels
The Armenian massacres of 1894-1896 - triggered by the Sultan’s suspicion of Christian Armenian nationalists in the region, and though estimates of the death toll vary, it is likely that around 200,000 Armenians were killed under the Hamidian government
What was the result of the Armenian massacres 1894-1896?
The attention of the Great Powers was attracted, and it led to further fears that the Ottoman Empire would be dismantled by foreigners who believed that the Turks were incapable of running their empire fairly and justly
What was another feature of the Sultan’s autocratic rule in relation to education?
It stifled intellectualism - the Empire did not have a university until 1900 which encouraged intellectuals to study in Western European institutions, exposing them to the ideals of parliamentary government and written constitutions
What happened in the future regarding these “students in exile”?
Many of them later joined reformist opposition groups, such as the Young Ottomans, a forerunner of the Young Turks, which emerged in the 1860s. In 1876, their influence bore fruit when Sultan Abdul Hamid granted a constitution, but this was quickly overturned and the Empire returned to autocratic rule
What is intellectualism?
The pursuit of intellectual development and learning; academic, scientific, and cultural study are signs of intellectualism
Describe the First Constitutional Era 1876-1878
The Young Ottomans believed in Western style liberal democracy with a representative parliament. They also advocated “Ottomanism”, the equal treatment of all citizens of the Ottoman Empire, regardless of nationality. Although reformists persuaded the Sultan to grant a constitution in 1876, which allowed an elected parliament and religious freedom and removed many aspects of censorship, he quickly dissolved the first parliament. In 1878 the constitution was suspended, ended the short-lived First Constitutional Era
What was the general feeling in the Ottoman Empire by 1900?
The Turkish intellectuals and liberals were increasingly disaffected, however, there was disunity among those who opposed the Sultan’s rule. Some wanted an emphasis on social reform and insisted that all Ottoman subjects should have equality, while others wanted pan-Turkism.
How did opposition begin growing in the Ottoman Empire?
Damascus and Salonika became centres of opposition to the Hamidian regime, and as opposition grew, the Sultan deployed up to 40,000 agents in Macedonia to limit the spread of such groups. In 1903, events in this region were to highlight the vulnerability of the Sultan’s rule and the potential violence of competing national identities
What is pan-Turkism?
A movement advocating the union of Turkish speaking peoples within and outside the borders of the Ottoman Empire
How did the increasing loss of territory in the Balkan region contribute to the decline of the Ottoman Empire?
Greece was the first Balkan state to gain independence after the war between 1821-1832, though the Serbs had been fighting for release from Turkish control since 1804. In the Treaty of Berlin 1878, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania were recognised as independent states, and Bosnia and Herzegovina were occupied and administered by even though they officially still belonged to the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria was granted internal autonomy but it remained under Ottoman suzerainty
What is suzerainty?
A status under which a country has control over its own domestic affairs, but its foreign policy is under the influence of another state, to which it owes formal allegiance
What were the two problems the Balkan region faced as nationalist feeling within each state grew in the 19th century?
How to push back Turkish control altogether and how to peacefully settle strong tensions and rivalries between the Balkan countries themselves
How did the increasing military strength of the Balkan states begin to pose another threat to the Ottoman Empire?
Greece, Serbia, and Bulgaria were growing in wealth and population and therefore military strength. Bulgarian foreign policy became more aggressive in response to a long time of struggle against Ottoman rule, and its governments were more militaristic in character. The Greeks were developing their navy, but a war against Turkey in 1897 ended in humiliation
What were the results of the Greco-Turkish war 1897?
The European Powers, as influenced by pro-Greek Britain, were unwilling to allow Turkey to profit from the Greek defeat, and so they ensured that Greece lost no territory to its former rulers. Despite the Ottoman Empire militarily having the upper hand in the Greco-Turkish War, this was one of many examples of European leaders intervening to ensure the Empire did not regain its Balkan losses
How did Macedonia give problems for the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th Century?
- It was the only region of the Balkans still under full Ottoman control - It was home to Turks, Jews, Greeks, Albanians, Bulgarians and Serbians, and so there were many states keen to foster nationalism in Macedonia so that they could secure more territory for themselves by encouraging its dismantling - Religious divisions further destabilised the region - in laying claim to Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia could present themselves as co-religionists to the Christian peoples in Macedonia desiring independence from the Ottoman Empire
What was Sultan Abdul Hamid’s response to the problem of Macedonia?
He aimed to maintain the loyalty of the Muslims of the region while seeking to “divide and rule” the Christian population
