Name: Noora Ali Mohammad

ID number: 200881090
Section: COL155-012
Professor: Kristian Alexander

Second short writing assignment

The Ottoman empire was one of the most powerful and greatest states that
appeared in the thirteen century. The Ottoman empire occupied a vast area of the three
continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. It was a Muslim state and unlike other Islamic states, it
was led and ruled by non-Arab rulers. During the first three centuries of the empire, the
Ottoman Empire flourished and developed in all aspects of life including economic,
commercial, art , architectural, social, military and scientific aspects. However, at the end of
the fifteenth century, the empire started suffering from many problems that contributed to
destroying the empire. We can divide the reasons that made the empire decline into two
factors: external and internal (Butler, 2007). In this essay I will focus on both external and
internal factors and for each one I will mention two reasons.

First of all, there were several internal reasons; but I believe that the main
internal factors that made the empire at its peak of weakness were the increase of losses on
the battlefield and the second one is the emergence of the incompetent and weak sultans.
To explain the first factor, the Ottomans controlled vast territories. They reached Vienna,
the capital of Austria, and they conquered Persia and same area in Africa including Egypt
and Tunisia. They reached to these far territories because of their armies, which known as
“janissaries” in the Ottoman Empire. Those armies were well disciplined and organized, and
they were superior in all aspects comparing to the European armies. In the late
seventeenth century, those armies were neglected. That means they did train and practice
well to the invasion. Furthermore, the officers preferred to spend the winter months in
Istanbul. Therefore, the campaigns were limited during these months, thus the janissaries
were not practiced as the previous armies. Therefore, the next generation of the janissaries
were weak and less competent compared to their ancestors. As a result of this, they lost
many battles (Lockord, page 479). Additionally, the technologies that were used were
undeveloped if we compare them to the technologies the European used. Although, the
Ottomans were masterful at using arrows, bows, cannons and mortars; they were not able
to use other weapons such as firearms and artilleries that had been used frequently in the
European military (Guisepi, 1992). Moreover, Ottomans were suffering from economic crisis
that made them unable to buy advanced weapons (Stanford, 1976). So, because of the
reasons I have already mentioned, the ottoman’s navy started going into decline. The
second reason I have chosen was the emergence of the unable rulers. After the death of
sultan Suleiman, the Magnificent, the administration and the government faced problems as
the successors who took the throne were weak, and of course with some important

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Name: Noora Ali Mohammad
ID number: 200881090
Section: COL155-012
Professor: Kristian Alexander

exceptions. Take for example Selim III (1789-1807) and Mahmut II (1808-1839), who were
examples of the sultans that ruled the state without any previous experience in
governmental affairs. According to Ezel Kural Shaw (1976), the author of the book History Of
Ottoman Empire And Modern Turkey, those sultans were addicted to drink, drugs, and also
they spent their time in the harem. In addition to this many of the incompetent sultans were
influenced by the queen mother or by their wives (Lockord, page 480). For instance, the
influences of the Roxelana on Suleiman, made Suleiman assassinate his son Mustafa. Some
sultans were depending upon Grand Vezirs (prime ministers) to govern the empire. The
corruption in the empire was increasing result in declining the empire.

Second of all, there were many external factors but I have chosen only two.
The first one is the imperialism of the Europe; while the second reason is the influence of
some European countries upon Ottoman Empire and also growing the power interests of
these countries during the First World War. At the end of the seventeenth century, the
Ottomans faced the raising power of the west. The power of Europe including economic and
military challenges. Butler in his article wrote that after 1600, the Ottomans lost their
economic and military edge. To explain the economic factor, for many years ago, European
merchants used the Mediterranean Sea and Suez Canal to travel to India, China and other
territories that occupy in the east. However, the situation changed when they discovered
the Cape of Good Hope, which is located at the south of the African continent. As a result of
this discovery, they changed the trade route which affected the Ottoman economics
(Guisepi, 1992). Additionally, the economic challenges participated in deteriorating the
empire militarily. Because of less money, they could not import advanced weapons from
Europeans or use these weapons well. Consequently, the European defeated them in many
battles (Butler, 2007). In fact, the Ottomans were the first nation who faced the European
imperialism. Another example of imperialism is mentioned by Lockord, many companies
from France traded freely in the Ottoman lands while the Ottomans were facing some
restrictions. Thus, the Ottomans became dependent upon European imports and the
Ottoman empire was called “the Sick Man of Europe” (Lockord, page 479). The second
external factor that deteriorated the empire was after the first world war, when Ottoman
Empire participated with the allies. But, unfortunately, it was defeated. At this time, Sayyid
Hussein bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, decided to make a revolution against Ottomans to
liberate Arabs from the Turkish governing. When European countries knew that, they
determined to help Sayyid Hussein by assisting him to have an Arab country, its capital
Mecca. After that, Sayyid Hussein presided over the revolution which they called The Great

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Name: Noora Ali Mohammad
ID number: 200881090
Section: COL155-012
Professor: Kristian Alexander

Arab Revolt. With the help from British he won the battle. As a result of this, the Ottoman
Empire destroyed completely and it was divided to small states that we know currently
(Lawrence, 2009).

In conclusion, the decline of Ottoman Empire was because of the internal and
external factors. Both of them were important. The economic reason was one of the
external and internal factor, as the empire faced financial crisis that emerged from outside
and inside the empire because of the gad administration and governing Ottoman had. The
weakness of the military and the leadership are other factors. Also, the imperialism and the
power of the Europe participated in declining the empire as Ottomans became more
dependant to the European. Finally, I think that these factors were the main significant
factors, but of course, there were other factors such as internal revolutions and commercial
treaties.

Bibliography

Butler, C. (2007). The decline of the Ottoman Empire (1565-1918). Retrieved november 19,
2009, from The Flow of History, A Dynamic and Graphic Approach to Teaching
History.: http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/asia/6/FC49

Guisepi, R. (1992). The Ottomans: From Frontier Warriors To Empire Builders. Retrieved
novermder 20, 2009, from international world history project: http://history-
world.org/ottoman%20empire.htm

Lawrence, C. T. (2009). Arab Revolt. (GNU Operating system ) Retrieved november 20,
2009, from absolute astronomy:
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Arab_Revolt#encyclopedia

The Great Arab Revolt. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/his_ottoman.html

Richard, L. (n.d.). the Ottoman empire. (The University of Chicago) Retrieved november 19,
2009, from turizm. net: http://www.turizm.net/turkey/history/ottoman3.html

stanford, J. (1976). The History of the Ottoman Empir and Modern Turkey (Vol. 1). New
York , USA : the press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge .