The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire

1985 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 191
Author(s):  
Roderic H. Davison ◽  
Marian Kent
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Great Powers

The End of the Ottoman Empire, 2017. Color, 104 min. In English, French, and German with English and German subtitles. Director: Mathilde Damoise. Distributor: Icarus Films, http://icarusfilms.com/if-otto.

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-177
Author(s):  
Didem Havlioğlu
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Time Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Europe Today ◽  
Republic Of Turkey

Since the 1950s, historiographical trends in scholarship have re-considered the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent nation-state building of the Republic of Turkey. The social and political evolution of the imperial system into a nation-state has been alternatively explained through geopolitical pressures, domestic resistance, the expanding economy and modernism in Europe, and the inability of the Ottoman establishment to cope with the rapid changes of the nineteenth century. Constructing one holistic narrative of a vast time period of upheaval is a difficult endeavor for any scholar. In the case of the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of the Republic of Turkey, ethno-religious networks, two world wars, geopolitical competition between the great powers, regional and pan-regional insurgencies, demographic displacement, nationalist fervor sweeping through the Balkan and Arab provinces and into Anatolia, and finally the Kurdish armed resistance renders succinct historical narratives all but impossible to achieve. Thus, while there are many stories of the end of the Ottoman Empire, an overview of the issues for students and general audiences is a much needed, but audacious, undertaking. Yet for understanding the Middle East and Southeastern Europe today, a critical narrative must be told in all its complexity.

Wars of Balkan Liberation, 1878–1913

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Young Turks ◽  
National Issue

Revolts against Ottoman rule erupted in the Balkans in 1875 and in 1876. Wars in which Montenegro, Romania, Russia, and Serbia fought against the Ottoman Empire broke out soon thereafter. While the Montenegrins and Serbs soon suffered defeat, the Russians overcame Ottoman forces on Bulgarian battlefields. The Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878, imposed by the Russians on the Ottomans, proved to be controversial. In an effort to resolve the national issue of southeastern Europe and to replace the contentious Treaty of San Stefano, the European great powers met at Berlin to forge a new settlement. The Treaty of Berlin of 13 July 1878 established a Bulgarian principality under Ottoman suzerainty. Although the Treaty of Berlin satisfied none of the Balkan countries, rivalries among the Balkan peoples over the disposition of Ottoman territories prevented the formation of a united effort against the Ottomans. After the turn of the 20th century, intra-Balkan rivalries intensified, especially over Macedonia. At the same time, Albanians, Muslim Slavs, and Turks sought to effect reforms within the Ottoman Empire. The seizure of power by the Committee for Union and Progress (Young Turks) in Constantinople and their stated intentions to reform the Ottoman Empire initiated a series of events that led to general conflict. In the immediate aftermath of the Young Turk coup, the Austro-Hungarian government announced the formal annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Concurrently, Bulgaria made a formal declaration of independence. Concerns that Ottoman reform would thwart their nationalist aspirations led many Albanians to revolt in 1910. Two years later, similar apprehensions led the Bulgarians and the Serbs to put aside their rivalries over Macedonia and conclude an anti-Ottoman alliance. The Greeks and Montenegrins subsequently joined this Balkan League. In October 1912, the Balkan League went to war against the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan armies triumphed on all fronts. On 30 May 1913, the Balkan allies signed a preliminary peace with the Ottomans in London. Shortly thereafter, the Balkan alliance collapsed due to disputes over the disposition of Ottoman territory. On 30 June, the Bulgarians attacked their former Greek and Serbian allies in Macedonia. The Ottomans entered the fray against Bulgaria to regain lost Thracian territory, and the Romanians invaded Bulgaria to seize southern Dobrudja (Dobrudzha). Attacked on all sides, the Bulgarians were forced to sue for peace. These wars left Bulgaria with a sense of national frustration and the Balkan allies and Romania with a feeling of inflated national success. Within three years, all the participants in the Balkan Wars would again be at war.

The great powers and the end of the Ottoman Empire

1984 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-695
Author(s):  
Keith A. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Great Powers

Ottoman Empire and Danubian Provinces

2019 ◽  
pp. 263-272
Author(s):  
David Sorkin
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
The World ◽  
Young Turks ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Arabic Speaking

This chapter explores how the Ottoman Empire comprised the fourth region of emancipation. Diverse Jews assembled in the Ottoman Empire as a result of conquest and migration: Romaniots, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Arabic-speaking Jews of the Middle East. Living as a tolerated, inferior religious community, Ottoman Jewry became the largest and most prosperous in the world. After a period of economic decline in the eighteenth century, Ottoman Jews gained rights while retaining their religious community in the nineteenth century. Rights conjoined with the millet system comprised the Ottoman Empire's own version of emancipation. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the multireligious empire grappled with how to transform itself, especially in light of the loss of its European territories and Christian populations. The Young Turks opted for “Turkification” and the erection of a secular nation-state. Romania's approach to the Jews' citizenship was probably closest to Russia's. Indeed, Romania seemed to emulate Russia's policies: after a brief period of inclusion it engaged in a prolonged campaign of exclusion, discrimination, and outright persecution. Romania defied the intervention of the Great Powers and Jewish diplomacy through prevarication and deception.

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