PRINCIPLES AND HISTORY OF TURKISH REVOLUTION

The Background of the Ottoman Decline – External Reasons • The conditions in the Empire • The Ottoman Empire expanded its lands and wealth through the war against the fragmented European and Anatolian states at the beginning until the conquest of Istanbul in 1453. • The storm of the Ottoman conquest reached at the doors of the Vienna in the West, Qazvin in the East, Aden in the South and the Don River in the North. • However, this expansion embodied many ethnic and religious groups into the Empire and confronted the Ottomans with strong and centralized states of Austria, Safevids and Russia. • The economy of the Ottoman Empire depended mostly on the taxes on the agricultural production and domestic trade, spoils of the conquests and the tariffs on the international trade through the Spice and Silk Roads. • Furthermore, controlling the Spice and Silk Roads enabled the Empire to tax the traders and merchants who conducted business between the East and the West. • However, from the 15th Century, the Ottoman administration granted economic privileges to Venice, France and England regarding the trade and tax advantages (widely known as Capitulations) to prevent the empire from negative effects of geographical discoveries. • The conditions in Europe • While the Ottoman Empire swept the Balkans and Central Europe; France and England were going through the «Hundred Years War»; Germany and Italy were scattered by the feudal principalities; Russia was struggling to unite the small principalities in the region. • However, from the 15th century onwards, France and England constituted a central government and started to increase their share in the world production and trade. • Italy created a class of merchants and small city states such as Venice, Florence, Milan and Genoa gained power and wealth through their Mediterranean trade with the East, especially with the Muslims. • Germany, despite its being fragmented, formed a mercantilist system and a merchant class. • The emergence of a European merchant/capital class resulted in the Renaissance which enabled the further developments in science. • European scholars and artists created a basis for the Age of Discovery (geographical discoveries) and the Industrial Revolution with their contributions in the navigation, publication and industry. • The Industrial Revolution marked the start of a new era for the world because of the outstanding shift in production, transportation and the warfare. 3 The Effects on the Ottoman Empire • The scientific developments made the geoghraphical explorations possible and changed the trade routes at the expense of the Ottomans. • The shift of trade routes from the traditional Silk and Spice Roads to the Cape of Good Hope inflicted a heavy damage on the Ottoman Treasury. • The warfare and the war techniques were proved to insufficient and oldfashioned during the wars at the end of the 16th Century. • The Ottomans incurred profound damages through these long-lasting wars (more than ten years each) against Austria, Safevids and Russia. • These wars formed a great economical depression in the Empire. • The Capitulations which were granted to the Europeans in the 15th and 16th Century expanded to new chapters-areas and also to the new countries