The Rise And Fall Of The Ottoman Empire

In regards to a powerful empire, the British had one of the most powerful empires in all of history. There was a saying that went along with the British Empire and that was, the sun never sets on the British Empire. The British Empire was so large and powerful that it had colonies all over the world and the sun was always up in at least one colony of theirs. However, even the biggest and best empires in the world eventually encounter a force either internally or externally that causes them to fall. The Ottoman’s also had one of the largest and most powerful empires of their time but like the British, were destine to fail. The greatest problem that the Ottoman Empire faced in its long time as an empire was its lack of governmental control of …show more content…
As stated before, the Ottoman government would suppress its own people with the military. When a government has to forcefully suppress its own people, it is going to upset the people even more than they already were and then they will look for ways to revolt and change the government to better meet their needs. Back to the point made earlier, there was a wave of nationalism sweeping through Europe and it had its eyes set on the Ottoman Empire next. One source discussed what the European nationalism could mean for the people of the Ottoman Empire, especially the minorities within the empire. “European nationalism dictated that the ethnic minorities of the Ottoman Empire should not have a Turkish sultan. Nationalism meant that they had to break free of the Ottoman Empire and be led by their own people”. Once European nationalism came to the people of empire, the start of the downfall of the empire came with it as well. Within the Ottoman Empire was many different minorities of people that all felt their people should rule the empire and not someone who does not understand their way of life or their customs. This idea of nationalism lead to different messages being spread by different groups about how they felt on the Empire and what they would change. This was very problematic to the Ottoman Empire and its government because when you do not have control of the …show more content…
In the book Shadow of the Sultan’s Realm it says, “Had the Turks taken advantage of the breathing space that the eruption of the Great War had offered…. They may have saved the Ottoman Empire”. With the war going on away from them, it could have allowed them to focus internally, rebuild the crumbling empire and get their economy back on the right path. The choice to enter this war was a complete mistake because of their lack of men and the beginning of the Arab revolt. The Ottomans before World War I were physically, mentally, and morally tapped out due to the two Balkan Wars. This left the Ottomans with an army that was in no condition to fight in any situation no matter the size of the enemy. The Ottomans required substantial help from Germany just to be able to enter and this was still not enough to help the Ottoman army stand a chance in this Great War. So on top of having a small military for war, there was also a revolt going on with the Arabs. The Arabs had large numbers because they were excluded from serving in the military and Britain saw this as an opportunity to break up the already weak Ottoman Empire. The British offered the Arabs their own state if they were to help them and revolt against the Ottomans. With the help of this revolt, Britain was able to conquer Syria, Iraq, and Palestine all from the Ottoman Empire. The Arabs also helped in conquering the holy city