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Response, Reaction, and New Ideas

One of the major issues for the Ottomans was one that paralleled the Chinese and Japanese governments from the same time period; each believed itself to be the center of the universe, and therefore the most important group that existed. The Ottomans also held to the belief that they were the true bearers of God’s word, and that therefore they were superior to all of their counterparts. As such, they saw little use in adopting western technology or ideas, and they resisted all interference from such devices. A great example of this is the printing press, which the Ottomans did not allow into their territories until 1729, nearly 300 years after its invention by Gutenberg (and even then, it only remained in the Empire until 1742, when it was destroyed on the orders of the Sultan). The influence of the west remained fairly small on the Empire, and when it did intrude (as it did with the construction of the Dolmabahçe Palace in 1853), it was as an element of a predominantly Turkish and/or Muslim idea. Istanbul (as Constantinople had been renamed, and was being called by the Turks, although not by the Europeans) was a vibrant, thriving city that appeared to the outside world to be impenetrable and demonstrated to the world (and the Turks) the power of the Ottoman Empire. Even in this most significant of Ottoman cities, however, the influence of the west remained miniscule, and limited to only a select portion of the population.
The map link below provides a good overview of the changes in the Empire over the course of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/asmin/haxottoman.html

The Rise of Nationalism

While the Ottomans remained in control of the center of the Empire, they were beginning to lose their grip on areas outside of the center; in Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt, the power of the Empire was beginning to slip. As with their European imperial counterparts, the Ottomans were faced with nationalist movements in many of their holdings. Nationalism was a late 18th century phenomenon that grew out of the French Revolution and spread throughout Europe in the early 19th century. The American Heritage Dictionary defines nationalism as “Devotion to the interests or culture of one's nation; the belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals; and aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination.” All of these applied to those states that had large numbers of ethnic minorities within their borders, especially Austria and Russia. The Ottomans were no different; ideas of a nationalist-based