Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Oh, How Time Will Change the Empires...
The main difference between the cultural and political policies of the old Ottoman Empire and the newer Ottoman empire was the role of religion. In the 16th and 17th century, the Ottoman Empire was at the top of the Islamic world. They let other religious groups into their land, but they still maintained power by taxation. The Janissaries not only held a lot of power within the empire, but their ways showed a great deal of Islamic power. The empire used to be huge and independent from other countries. This all changed in the 19th and 20th centuries. The supporters of the Islamic Reform, led for a short time by the Young Turks, called for a secular government and state. This motion sucked the power out of the Islamic leaders and completely changed the places of power in the empire. Even before this, a treaty was proposed to limit the power of the sultan, who had formerly held all power in the empire. This, plus the addition of some western ideas into the empire turned it from being the all powerful Islamic state that it was to a land that was widely accepted by its people as the Turkish State. This was one of the final straws needed to completely disintegrate the former Ottoman empire, which led to its final fall after World War 1.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree that religion was the uniting force that allowed for nationalism within the empire. When it became secular and religious leaders held no power in government, leadership was less successful. Even though the system was more fair, the Sultan or people with similar roles could not demand the same respect and force from the people. So revolutions occurred and the Ottomans lost ground to other more powerful nations. As you nicely put it, the empire disintegrated.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you: when there was no longer a central religion, the empire fell apart. This was a combination of the leaders having less power over their people, and the people having been given more rights.
ReplyDeleteI also think this has to do with nationalism, because, as we studied, nationalism strengthens a country. When the central religion fell apart, the empire lost it's nationalism which contributed to its downfall.
I agree. The role of religion had a great deal to do with how powerful the ottomans were. When there religious credibility left them, they became a very fragile nation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Will's statement of how when there religious credibility left them they became a fragile nation, that is very true in that they become unstable and they broke the Ottoman Empire into pieces and now different cultures and religions that belonged to the Ottoman Empire were now scattered across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
ReplyDelete