The decline of the Ottoman empire

Ottoman Empire at its height

Ottoman Youth

Ottoman Maturity

Ottoman Old Age

How did The Ottoman Empire become The Sick Man of Europe?

Weak Leadership The ending of the fratricide of Sultans' sons and brothers lead to a series of weak leaders. Instead of killing the brothers as had been done in the past they were instead imprisoned until they were to become ruler. This meant that those who would come to power would be ill equipped to lead because they had spent a good portion of their life in prison.

Weakening of the Janissaries The Janissary corp became open to all in 1630s and by the early 1700s the divsherme ended. As the membership to the janissary corps became open janissaries lost their allegiance to the sultan and instead worked in their own interests. Janissaries want their sons to inherit their positions so they prevented efforts to restructure the military and/or restart the divsherme. They deposed sultans who made attempts to restructure the corps By the late 1700s as Sultan Selim III tries to make the Ottoman army mirror European military structure he is imprisoned and then killed.

Weak Economy Another economic aspect that affected the empire starting in the 1600s was inflation. In the 1500s and 1600s, Western European nations like Spain, England, and France were exploring and conquering the New World across the Atlantic. Their conquests brought them huge quantities of gold and particularly silver, particularly to the Spanish from Mexico. The Ottoman economy was based on silver. The huge influx of silver coming from America drastically devalued the Ottoman currency. In the 1500s and 1600s in the Ottoman Empire. In 1580, 1 gold coin could be bought for 60 silver ones. 10 years later, in 1590, it would take 120 silver coins to buy one gold. And in 1640, it took 250 silver coins in order to buy one gold one. This inflation caused prices across the empire to rise, hurting average citizens and the empire as a whole.

Failure to Modernize Failure to Modernize: The leaders of the Ottoman Empire did not invest in modern technologies and did not take advantage of the Scientific Revolution as did European nations in order to improve their military. Neighboring powers had grown stronger over the centuries. They had built stronger institutions, introduced modern arms, infrastructure and administration. This allowed success in later Ottoman battles.

Signing of Treaties (Habsburg) The Ottomans lost many battles and signed many treaties but four incidents marked as major milestones in the Empire's decline. The first were the Ottoman-Habsburg wars. In 1683 they were defeated by the better trained and technologically advanced Habsburg army outside Vienna. This was followed by a further defeat in 1687 at the battle of Mohacs which freed Hungary from Ottoman control.[6] In 1697 they were again defeated by the Habsburgs at the Battle of Zenta which was the impetus for the Treaty of Karlowitz[7]. This treaty signified the end of Ottoman power in central and south Eastern Europe and the beginning of the Habsburg dominance.

Treaties Cont’d (Crimea) The second was the Ottoman-Russian wars in 1768-1774.[8] The war which was a decisive Russian victory culminated with the Treaty of Kukuk Kaynarca in 1774. This treaty had devastating effects. Crimea, where the population was mainly Muslim[9], became independent, which meant the Ottoman lost the Crimean Khan's military forces.

Treaties Cont’d (Egypt) The third major turning point was the invasion of Egypt, by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. The ease of this victory destroyed the illusion that the Ottoman Empire was still powerful and this gave Europe more confidence to divide and conquer the territories in the later years.

Treaties Cont’d (Greece) The fourth major turning point was the Greek revolt in 1821-1830. In Romania and Greece they wanted independence and authority to lie with the Greek Orthodox Church rather than the Turkish Muslims. The Ottoman army was defeated and in 1830 with the Treaty of London, Greece was declared an independent state. This was an inspiration for other Christians to gain independence and use the European powers to their advantage.