How did the Ottoman Empire fall?
What tumultuous events brought about the fall of the Ottoman Empire, which previously dominated the intersection of Europe, Asia and Africa for centuries?
Image: Painting depicting Ottoman troops attempting to halt the advancing Russians during the Siege of Ochakov in 1788 | Public Domain
At its peak, the Ottoman Empire stretched from the gates of Vienna to the shores of North Africa – one of the largest and most powerful empires the world has ever seen. So how did it all come crashing down?
It did end ignominiously, to put it mildly. The empire backed the losing horse in World War I, coming a cropper as a result – but that single bad bet wasn't the whole story. The Ottoman Empire's authority had been slowly disintegrating for decades, possibly even centuries, before the final collapse came.
Below, Sky HISTORY traces the long, slow unravelling of one of history's most powerful empires.
When did it all start to go wrong?
Firstly, let’s look at how much originally went right. The Ottoman Empire grew out of a small Turkish stronghold ruled by Osman I. Now considered the empire’s first sultan, he reigned from about 1299 to 1323 AD. His successors also held the title of sultan as their territory expanded across Anatolia and further afield.
The Ottoman Empire is often thought to have reached its apogee under Suleiman the Magnificent. During his 46-year reign (the longest of any Ottoman sultan) from 1520 to 1566, the Ottomans swallowed up Belgrade, Rhodes and much of Hungary. However, a concerted effort to take Vienna failed in 1529.
This didn’t stop the Ottomans trying again in 1683 – especially as, by this time, the empire had reached its greatest territorial extent. In the event, the Ottomans were repelled by a Christian alliance at the Battle of Vienna on 12th September 1683. In the Great Turkish War that took hold in the last few years of the 17th century, the empire lost land in Hungary and the Balkans.
The fall of the Ottoman empire’s old order
In the 18th century, Ottoman troops’ methods were starting to look increasingly outdated. This was often the case even when the Ottomans technically won, such as in Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign. On that occasion, the French were pushed out of Ottoman Egypt, but with British help (and after Napoleon himself had returned to France).
Reform was desperately needed, and Ottoman sultans in the 19th century strove (not always successfully) to bring it about. Mahmud II did away with the ‘janissaries’, the soldiers who had served the sultan for centuries but too often acted in their own interests. This paved the way for the ‘Tanzimat’ era of reforms initiated by Mahmud’s son and successor Abdülmecid I in 1839.
The Tanzimat reforms had mixed results. For example, investments in modern infrastructure projects like railways saddled the empire with debt, leaving it dangerously beholden to foreign powers. Meanwhile, though Abdülhamid II served as a constitutional monarch for two years from 1876 to 1878, he later embraced absolutist rule. He was eventually deposed by pro-constitutionalist forces in 1909.
The crushing impact of World War I
Efforts to modernise the Ottoman army were not far-reaching enough to prevent a string of humiliating defeats on the battlefield. In the early 1910s, the Ottomans lost all their North African lands and almost all their European territories. However, it was World War I that precipitated the decisive fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Hoping to make up for its lagging military prowess, the Ottoman Empire had already forged ties with Germany. So, the two powers were natural partners in the ‘Great War’, but unfortunately ended up on the losing side. In the aftermath of the war, the victorious ’Entente’ of Britain and France sought to partition the Ottoman Empire.
As the Entente was putting pen to paper on the Treaty of Sèvres, the empire itself was collapsing into infighting. However, the revolutionary Turkish ‘Ankara Government’ set up to challenge the sultan’s authority bristled at the treaty’s terms. The Turkish War of Independence led to the final fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 and Turkey’s emergence as an independent republic in 1923.
Many countries making up the Middle East today were carved out of former Ottoman lands. Hence, the empire’s demise has been blamed for much of the political instability that continues to plague the region to this day.
For more on the empires, conflicts and turning points that shaped the modern world, sign up to the Sky HISTORY newsletter. Every week, you'll receive the latest articles, episodes and more delivered straight to your inbox.
