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Changes in the Early Modern Period

As the world moved into the 17th century, the Ottomans increasingly found themselves in competition with the West in terms of weapons and the materials needed for warfare, as well as other technological advancements. Unfortunately, the Ottomans were ill prepared to keep pace with their western counterparts. In an attempt to raise cash to help pay for the military technology, the Ottomans began to impose taxation on farmers, rather than granting land. The population began to decline as well, possibly due to the lack of medical advancements that were occurring in the West but also due, no doubt, to the decreasing production of agricultural products. While agriculture benefited from the introductions of Western advancements, few other advancements made their way into the Ottoman Empire. The two most obvious areas that the Ottomans fell behind in were shipbuilding and weaponry, and the major reason for this was the lack of interest and central authority on the part of the administration.

Administrative Problems

The decline of Ottoman leadership dated to the end of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, although it had not been overnight. Through the 17th and 18th centuries, the sultans had become more and more removed from the everyday workings of government, turning power over to their advisors. While the tradition of fratricide had been ended, the brothers of the Sultans were kept in relative isolation, so there was no chance of talent rising to the top. In addition, the increasing interference of the Western powers rendered the Sultans virtually impotent by the late 19th century. With the sultans losing power, the gentry and traditional aristocracy stepped into the void, usually at great personal gain but with little interest in doing much other than gaining power and profits. The days of the selfless advisor who worked for the good of the Empire were gone, replaced by a series of capricious men who were interested only in advancing themselves and their families.

Economic Problems

There was little done by the Sultans to maintain or improve means of communication and transportation within the empire, allowing canals and roads to fall into disrepair. In addition, while industrialization was spreading through the Western world in the 18th and 19th centuries (first in Great Britain, then in northern Europe, France, and northern Italy), it largely skipped the Ottoman Empire. The Sultans and their advisors avoided industrialization and actively prevented it from entering their territories. One of the problems for the Ottomans was that while they were still producing raw materials and trading actively with the West, they were not interested in investing the kind of capital necessary to bring in the manufacturing technology which had become increasingly commonplace in the West. This crippled the Ottoman economy, especially in terms of military technologies, and made the Ottomans vulnerable to outside interference and, eventually, internal pressures.

The Crimean War

Religion became more of a divide between the Ottomans and the West as well. Many of the European nations had largely abandoned religion (at least as an official element of political policy), while it remained central to the lives of most of those living in the Ottoman territory. In addition, there was no central religious faith in the Empire; instead, minority populations of Orthodox Christians, Jews, and even Roman Catholics existed within the Empire. Protection of the Holy Land became an excuse among many religious groups to engage the Ottomans in negotiations and, in the case of the Russians, to go to war. The Crimean War, which was fought before 1853-1856, was the result of an agreement between the French and the Ottomans regarding the protection of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. The Russians, who still wanted control of the Black Sea, saw this as an excuse to interfere, and war broke out between the Ottomans and the Russians, with the French and British joining in on the side of the Ottomans. The results of the war were definitely mixed: The Russians did not get control of the Black Sea, and the three years of warfare saw the deaths of nearly a million men. However, the power of the Ottoman Empire was clearly weakening, and the Europeans recognized that the Empire could be manipulated more and more, which occurred for the next 60 years, until the fall of the Empire. By the end of the 1800s, the Ottomans had lost large amounts of their previous empire, including most of their holdings in the Balkans, and were in a position to be defeated by just about anyone that challenged them (including, in the early 20th century, the newly created Italian state and, in a humiliating loss, a coalition of Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, and Greece).

The Rest of the Middle East

Iran, which was farther from the European powers, was not immediately as impacted as the Ottoman Empire was, although that would change by the end of the 19th century. The population of the region stayed stable through the 18th century, but would begin to see significant increases in the 19th century, although there would be little commiserate urbanization or increase in relative per capita income. Iran, like the Ottoman Empire, remained largely agricultural, with little industry and few reasons for the European powers to be interested in investing monies into it. The British, in direct competition with the Russians during the 19th century for control of China and the Far East, were interested in making sure that the region did not fall into Russian hands, but had little concern for investing or doing anything with the infrastructure. Egypt, which had been occupied by the French at the end of the 18th century, remained dominated by European powers through the 19th century, either economically (as in the building of the Suez Canal) or militarily (as in the 1882 occupation of Egypt by Britain). The Ottoman Empire truly had become "The Sick Man of Europe"; the only question that remained was how long it would be propped up by its European allies and enemies.