topic 7.3 empires in industry 1750 to 1870 the Ottoman Empire now much like China the Ottoman Empire was a successful old civilization that felt little need to adopt Western practices until it collided with Europe's newfound aggression and while neither the Chinese nor the Ottomans fell under direct colonial rule as in the cases we'll talk about soon they did fall victim to a changing balance of global power also much like in China the power of local authorities grew as the central government under the Sultan Istanbul failed to maintain control over the far-flung reaches of the Empire well the 17th and early 18th centuries had been marked by European fear of Ottoman expansion on their eastern borders the second half of the 18th and then into the 19th century saw a marked shrinking of the Ottoman Empire at the hands of Russian British Austrian and French aggression by the 1850s in fact situation was so desperate that Tsar Nicholas the first of Russia famously described the Ottoman Empire as quote the sick man of Europe the once formidable military power of the Ottoman Empire also decreased significantly much like in China the failure to adopt Western military tactics put them at a disadvantage when facing European and western-style armies recognizing their weakening military position and incapacity to wage war ottoman leaders began seeking alliances with European nations like Britain and France but still the ottomans were driven out of North Africa and Egypt after a series of unsuccessful Wars and many other regions like Greece Serbia and Bulgaria achieved independence as well which further damaged Ottoman control over their remaining empire and the resources at their disposal internally the Ottoman Empire was also suffering from a failing economy while historically the Ottomans had been among the world's wealthiest empires the rise of European trade and industrialization contributed to their decline although a significant part of Ottoman wealth had been based on their exports of luxury items like fine silk industrialization soon renders these same commodities far cheaper and more readily available seeking to prop up their declining trade with Europe the Ottomans entered into a series of short-sighted economic agreements which provided European traders with exemptions from some Ottoman laws and taxation in the long run this would do nothing but further damage the Empire's ability to Train on terms of equality with Europe something which eroded Ottoman sovereignty much like in the Chinese case by the 1870s the Ottomans also owed more than two hundred million pounds to European banks and the annual repayments on their loans and interest comprise more than half the national revenue now ottoman leadership did recognize the mounting economic military and political problems facing the empire and they attempted to implement some reforms but oftentimes entrenched interest groups block these attempts meaning that they were only intermittently successful for instance in the late 18th century attempts to modernize and reorganize the Ottoman army led to protests both from conservatives who disliked the idea of Western influence on the Ottoman military as well as the now extraordinarily powerful Janissary Corps who feared they would lose their power with these new reforms the opposition to them was so strong that in 1807 the Sultan responsible for introducing these reforms was overthrown and murdered 20 years would pass before a sultan would I dare confront the Janissaries again in 1826 a new sultan announced to the Janissary Corps that he was forming a new army trained and organized along European lines predictably the Janissaries mutiny they advanced on the Sultan's palace surrounding it and demanding that he withdraw their proposed reforms somehow in the ensuing chaos the Janissary barracks were set in flames by artillery fire resulting in more than 4,000 Janissary fatalities the survivors of this were either exiled or executed and their possessions were confiscated by the Sultan in 1839 a new Sultan launched a sweeping reform plan known as the Tanzimat which means reorganization in Turkish for the next 30 years until 1869 the Ottomans sought to restructure the economic social and legal underpinnings of their state further western-style reforms to the Ottoman military were accompanied by similar changes to public administration legal codes and education public and military officials were even encouraged to adopt western-style clothing the ottomans moved very deliberately away from their Muslim identity repealing most of the restrictions that had existed for centuries on non Muslim residents of the Empire and granting them equal rights under the law the goal became to secularize the Ottoman state giving it an identity which was primarily Turkish rather than Islamic but despite this sweeping reform package many members of the Empire were left feeling dissatisfied with Ottoman progress among the most radical of these were a group of young European educated college students who call themselves the young Ottomans in 1876 the young ottomans launched what proved to be a short-lived revolution which would nevertheless have lasting consequences they overthrew the Sultan and demanded that his replacement adopt a liberal western-style Constitution which would severely limit his powers although the 1876 revolution ultimately failed to produce the reforms its leaders hoped it would much like the Russian Revolution in 1905 this would set the stage for further unrest and upheaval his dissatisfied reformers grew increasingly frustrated with the inability and unwillingness of the Ottoman state to meet their demands