Chapter 7 - The Decline of the Ottoman Empire

• 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
• What was the uprising of Macedonians known as?

  The Ilinden Uprising
• When was the Ilinden Uprising?


  August 1903
• What happened to the Ilinden Uprising?

  They were brutally crushed by the Hamidian regime
• What did Russia and AH create in November 1903 in response to the violence in Macedonia?

  The Murzsteg Agreement
• What did the Murzsetg Agreement 1903 do?

  Non-Ottoman officers from foreign countries were dispatched to Macedonia to keep the peace impartially, blurring the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire's political authority in the region as well as highlighting the Sultan's lack of international strength, hastening its decline
• What were the long term reasons for the Young Turk Movement in the opinion of Turk intellectuals and liberals?


  - The range of problems faced by the Ottoman Empire caused increasing disaffection amongst Turk liberals and intellectuals, who were frustrated by the Empire's increasing loss of territory and influence, most severely as a result of the Treaty of Berlin, which dramatically decreased "Turkey in Europe"

  
  

  - The liberals and intellectuals also viewed the increasing foreign involvement in the Empire's finances as a sign of its inherent weaknesses, but rather than blaming the European powers for their role, they saw the repressive policies of the Hamidian regime as the greatest cause of Ottoman decline
• What did the Sultan's opponents believe about nationalism?

  Nationalism was a threat to every European empire at the start of the 20th century, but the Sultan's opponents believed it would pose less danger to the Ottoman Empire if the wide range of nationalities within it were represented in a Western-style parliament.
• What did the Sultan's opponents call for as a result of their view of nationalism and why?

  They advocated the revival of the 1876 constitution which they hoped would lead to a more efficient and representative government, much better placed to maintain the loyalty of its peoples
• What is the Macedonian Question?

  The threats of rebellion against the Ottomans as seen during the Ilinden Uprising