The Decline of the Ottoman Empire

• There was a conservative counter-revolution against the Young Turks in April 1909.
• The Great Powers of Europe - they gained influence and control over Ottoman lands and pursued their own economic interests in Turkey.
• The Armenian massacres of 1894-1896 - triggered by the Sultan's suspicion of Christian Armenian nationalists in the region, it is likely that around 200,000 Armenians were killed under the Hamidian government.
• Crete declared its formal union with Greece in October 1908.
• In response to Bulgaria's independence, the Ottoman Empire realised that they were at risk of a humiliating defeat if they engaged Bulgaria's strong and efficient army and put up little diplomatic resistance.
• Though shrinkage of European Turkey had caused the Young Turk Movement, the instability the revolution had brought Istanbul encouraged Bulgaria to rid itself from Turkish rule.
• 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, he quickly dissolved the first parliament. In 1878 the constitution was suspended, ended the short-lived First Constitutional Era.
• 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.
•  The Macedonian Question led to further loss of Ottoman control and influence in the Balkans, as exemplified by the Murzsteg agreement.
• Additional pressure on the Sultan came from disgruntled army officers stationed in Macdeonia, who often went months without pay.
• Erosion of the Ottoman Empire by 1909:

  • Previously, the revolutionaries had blamed the Sultan for the disloyalty of the millats and the erosion of the Empire's authority by foreign powers, but the Young Turks also proved incapable of preventing nationalism from threatening the Empire's existence.
• After the deposition of Abdul Hamid, the CUP was left in control of government and Ottomanism was advocated.
• The need to gain the loyalty of Ottoman subjects through a representative parliament increased after the Macedonian Crisis.