The Rise and Fall of the Ottoman Empire — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00The Ottoman Empire was one of the most important events in world history.
2. 0:04No matter who you are, your life has been shaped by its existence.
3. 0:09For example: their control over the spice trade led Europeans to colonize the Americas;
4. 0:15It brought down the Eastern Roman Empire, causing Russia to become the center of Orthodox
5. 0:20Christianity, and under its rule the Balkans became an ethnically diverse region that would
6. 0:26one day result in WW1.
7. 0:28It was a colossal empire that existed for 700 years, controlling large parts of North
8. 0:35Africa, the Middle East, and South-East Europe.
9. 0:38And it’s fall was colossal too… and a long one.
10. 0:42The empire went from being an unstoppable force, to an equal on the world stage, to
11. 0:47becoming the sickman of Europe for other countries to play around with.
12. 0:52But HOW did it collapse?
13. 0:54Well, to look at that, we first need to look at how it was created.
14. 0:59[INTRO] The origins of the Empire are found in nomadic Turkic tribes which migrated to
15. 1:04modern day Turkey, in the 11th century.
16. 1:07The Ottoman-Turkic tribe settled in Western Anatolia, close to where Istanbul is located
17. 1:13today.
18. 1:14By the 13th century they became tributaries of the Mongols.
19. 1:18As the Mongols conquered more territory, they created refugees such as scholars, merchants,
20. 1:24and craftspeople.
21. 1:25Some fled to the Ottomans.
22. 1:28And this provided them with a solid economy from which they could fund their military
23. 1:32campaigns in the 13th century, conquering parts of Western Anatolia and the Balkans.
24. 1:38They turned from a tribe to a principality.
25. 1:42This early Ottoman principality relied on rulers who were actively involved in the governance
26. 1:47of their state: rather than ruling from a throne, they ruled from a saddle.
27. 1:53They would lead military campaigns, move around their lands to personally inspect what was
28. 1:58going on, and people could come to him directly to discuss issues they were having.
29. 2:04But as their territory expanded, it became more difficult to be involved in all aspects
30. 2:10of the government.
31. 2:11And throughout the 13th and 14th centuries the Ottomans would have to find new ways of
32. 2:16governing their territory.
33. 2:18They decided to copy systems of government from those around them, such as Iranian, Islamic
34. 2:24and Greek cultures.
35. 2:26They combined them to form one of the most efficient systems of government of its time.
36. 2:31Turning from a principality, into an empire.
37. 2:34By the 15th century the Ottomans became so successful that they managed to conquer the
38. 2:38city of Constantinople, one of the most important cities at the time, and make THAT their new
39. 2:44capital.
40. 2:45They would welcome Jews and Christians back into the lands they conquered, requiring them
41. 2:50to only pay a special tax for not being muslims.
42. 2:54By the standards of its time, the Ottoman Empire was one of the most tolerant places
43. 2:58to live on Earth.
44. 3:00[EARLY EMPIRE] But around this time the empire also created the first issue that would lead
45. 3:05to its eventual demise.
46. 3:07Because now that the empire had a capital, the sultans began ruling from their palace.
47. 3:12They would no longer be accessible to officials, generals, or other important people.
48. 3:17But rather, they would make use of the Imperial Harem.
49. 3:21This was a political organization consisting of the female members of the sultan’s family,
50. 3:26his eunuchs, slaves, and concubines.
51. 3:29The sultans would stop attending important government meetings and the people in the
52. 3:33harem would control what information he received.
53. 3:37As a result, the influence of the people who surrounded the sultan, particularly their
54. 3:42mothers and wives, increased.
55. 3:44The early sultans would train how to rule by serving as governors or commanders.
56. 3:49But as the harem became more important, this tradition was stopped.
57. 3:54Meaning that, unlike the early rulers, most new sultans had no experience in ruling an
58. 4:00empire, making them highly dependent on other people.
59. 4:03And all this made it rather easy to control the sultan.
60. 4:07And many of their mothers would rule the empire by manipulating their son.
61. 4:12But the palace also offered many advantages.
62. 4:15For example, to keep bureaucrats loyal to the empire, future governors, administrators,
63. 4:21and generals received their training here, close to the sultan and his court.
64. 4:26These bureaucrats were often young Christian boys taken from their home, converted to islam,
65. 4:32and taught adminstrative skills.
66. 4:34When they finished their training they would be sent across Ottoman territory to serve
67. 4:39the sultan and his empire.
68. 4:41As young men, they owed their lives, wealth, and privileges to the sultan himself, keeping
69. 4:47them far more loyal than bureaucrats in most other countries.
70. 4:51For example, most places in the world at the time were feudal societies: the king ruled
71. 4:58a small piece of land directly.
72. 5:00The rest of their territory was ruled over by regional lords who paid tribute to their
73. 5:05king.
74. 5:06These regional lords also only controlled a small piece of land directly, with various
75. 5:11local lords paying tribute to their regional lords, etc.
76. 5:16Under this system the kings couldn’t levy taxes or impose laws directly on the territory
77. 5:21they officially ruled.
78. 5:23If they did try to do this, those lords would likely rebel.
79. 5:27But in the Ottoman Empire, the sultan could send his soldiers to distant parts of their
80. 5:31territory to collect taxes or impose laws directly.
81. 5:35While the Ottoman Empire did have feudal lords in many parts of the empire, for its time
82. 5:41it was a highly centralized government with the sultan able to directly rule over most
83. 5:46parts of his territory.
84. 5:48But how did they achieve this level of centralization?
85. 5:52Well, for this we need to look at the Ottoman army.
86. 5:56Most armies at the time were feudal levies, meaning that if there was a war the lords
87. 6:01would order a portion of their peasants to bring whatever weapons and armor they could
88. 6:05get their hands on, most of whom had never held a weapon before in their life, and march
89. 6:11them into war, alongside a small group of professional warriors.
90. 6:15In the Ottoman Empire, they had the janissaries.
91. 6:20These were Christian boys who were castrated and trained from a young age to be soldiers.
92. 6:26They were given weapons, training, and armor from the Ottoman government.
93. 6:31These were professional soldiers, similar to those of ancient Rome or contemporary China.
94. 6:37These soldiers could be sent all over the empire to impose the sultan’s authority.
95. 6:42And when the Ottomans went to war, the professional army of janissaries, could defeat almost any
96. 6:48army of peasant farmers.
97. 6:50As a result, the janissaries were seen as an unstoppable force in Europe, Asia, and
98. 6:56Africa by the 16h century.
99. 6:59Conquering all of this territory by 1566.
100. 7:02[SLOW DECLINE] And this was an important year, because after this the empire’s conquests
101. 7:07came to a gradual halt.
102. 7:09You see, when they conquered new territory, they assigned new bureaucrats to manage it.
103. 7:15So if you were part of the Ottoman elites, the best chance you had of moving up the social
104. 7:19hierarchy up until this point was to conquer new lands, that you might then govern.
105. 7:27But now that conquests nearly stopped, the elites looked for new ways to increase their
106. 7:33power…
107. 7:34And they did so by trying to gain influence in the sultan’s court.
108. 7:38Afterall, when you are the most powerful country, there is no greater prize than gaining more
109. 7:44influence in your country.
110. 7:47This infighting was encouraged by the sultan and his grand vesir.
111. 7:50The grand vesir who was basically the sultan’s right hand man.
112. 7:54And they reasoned that if the elites were fighting amongst each other, they wouldn’t
113. 7:58be fighting the sultan, thus maintaining stability in the short term.
114. 8:04But this infighting didn’t create stability in the long term.
115. 8:08As the elites began competing against each other, they became less interested in the
116. 8:13stability of the empire, because that stability no longer resulted in further conquests and
117. 8:19so no longer resulted in more power for the elites.
118. 8:23And after 1566 sultans would be more and more controlled by their mothers, wives, and janissary
119. 8:30corps who were all vying for power at court.
120. 8:34The sultan was transformed into a breeding machine, with an unlimited amount of women
121. 8:39to produce children.
122. 8:41These sultans relied almost entirely on the harem and as a result, had no direct contact
123. 8:48with reality.
124. 8:49To give an example of such infighting: Sultan Ibrahim ruled from 1640-1648 and had lived
125. 8:57his entire life in the harem.
126. 8:58He had no experience in ruling and so his mother, tutor, wife, chief eunuch, janissary
127. 9:06commander, and the sultan’s right hand man, the grand vezir, all vied for power and influence.
128. 9:13The grand vezir wanted to improve taxation by reducing corruption in the empire, but
129. 9:20the elites earned a lot of money from being corrupt.
130. 9:23And so the elites rallied around the sultan’s wife to have the grand vezir fired.
131. 9:29Eventually the janissaries, various elites, and his own wife had the sultan executed and
132. 9:35replaced with their son, a 6-year old boy.
133. 9:39Ibrahim received the title ‘Ibrahim the Mad’ for his greed and incompetence.
134. 9:44And this is a cycle the empire went through every couple of decades: someone competent
135. 9:49would rule the empire and try to reduce corruption.
136. 9:53The elites didn’t want to lose their money and power which they got through said corruption.
137. 9:59And so they would remove the competent people and replace them with incompetent people so
138. 10:05that they could keep being corrupt.
139. 10:08And so the empire would try to improve itself for a few years, followed by stagnation for
140. 10:14a few decades.
141. 10:15[EUROPE AND IRAN SURPASS OTTOMANS] But while the Ottomans were confident in their superiority,
142. 10:20Europe was confident in their inferiority.
143. 10:23The Ottomans had defeated them in almost every single war they had fought up until the 17th
144. 10:30century.
145. 10:31Realizing the massive disadvantage of the Europeans, they began to improve their own
146. 10:36countries: they centralized their own governments, created professional armies, created new technologies.
147. 10:44One such technology was improved shipbuilding.
148. 10:47You see, Europeans had a problem: their food was bland.
149. 10:52So for 1000s of years Europeans bought spices from East Asia, with trade routes going through
150. 10:59the middle east.
151. 11:00But by the 15th century all these trade routes were owned by the Ottomans.
152. 11:05And they put very high taxes on the spice trade to make money.
153. 11:10Afterall, European cuisine was so bland they could ask almost any price they wanted.
154. 11:17And hey, what were the Europeans going to do about it?
155. 11:20Sail around Africa?
156. 11:22So anyway, then Europeans sailed around Africa, in order to avoid Ottomans taxes.
157. 11:28Even a small boat filled with spices could easily cover their expenses.
158. 11:34Then Europeans tried crossing the Atlantic Ocean to go to Asia directly, but instead
159. 11:40stumbled upon the americas…
160. 11:42Which some countries immediately began conquering.
161. 11:46European colonies were established across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
162. 11:52And where the Ottomans turned towards infighting, the Europeans had to compete with other European
163. 11:58Empires for their own survival.
164. 12:00They couldn’t afford such infighting.
165. 12:04And so Europe spent 2 centuries slowly advancing until their power became equal to that of
166. 12:11the Ottomans by the 17th century.
167. 12:14On the other side of the empire was Iran.Just like Europe, they too could not stand up against
168. 12:21the mighty Ottoman armies.
169. 12:23For centuries they had relied on the spice trade for income.
170. 12:28But when the Ottomans raised taxes, the spice trade decreased.
171. 12:33Then one day Europeans showed up looking to buy spices.
172. 12:38By the end of the 16th century ports littered the Iranian shoreline, welcoming spice traders
173. 12:44from Europe and Asia in order to earn money again.
174. 12:49With that money Iran could pay for its own professional army based on the Ottoman janissaries,
175. 12:56trained by Europeans officers, and armed with the latest firearms.
176. 13:01By the 1570s and 90s, Iran was able to defeat the Ottoman Empire and conquer some territory
177. 13:08from them, something no other empire was able to do for centuries.
178. 13:14The Ottomans, however, ignored these advances.
179. 13:18They still believed in their own superiority.
180. 13:21Afterall, they had defeated the Europeans and Iranians for centuries.
181. 13:26Why should they adopt the ways of those whom they still considered inferior?
182. 13:31But, this mindset meant that until the 19th century the Ottoman Empire would slowly be
183. 13:37left behind as the rest of the world advanced.
184. 13:41And while some advances were indeed made, they were trapped in the cycle of competent
185. 13:46rulers posing a threat to corrupt elites, who in turn had that ruler replaced with someone
186. 13:52less competent, in order to maintain the corruption that gave those elites their wealth.
187. 13:57[OTTOMAN DEFEATS] So by now it’s the late 17th century: Iran and Europe were caught
188. 14:02up with the Ottoman and even surpassed it in a couple of ways, while the Empire was
189. 14:08busy infighting and stagnating.
190. 14:10But now that Europe had caught up with them, they had to deal with a unique quirk in European
191. 14:16geopolitics: European politics revolves around creating a balance of power, where no one
192. 14:24country is ever too powerful.
193. 14:27As soon as a country threatens to become too powerful, the rest of Europe gangs up on them
194. 14:33out of fear that Europe will be dominated by that one power.
195. 14:37From France to Germany, to the Soviet Union, Europeans tend to form alliances against the
196. 14:43most powerful among them.
197. 14:44And in 1683 the Ottoman Empire decided it wanted to conquer Vienna, a strategically
198. 14:51important city that would allow the Ottomans to conquer central Europe.
199. 14:55But here a coalition of European states managed to beat back the Ottomans and eventually even
200. 15:01conquer territory from them.
201. 15:03The empire faced many defeats in this war and eventually signed a peace treaty in 1699.
202. 15:10This marked a new era for the Ottoman state as it ceased to be the dominant power in Europe.
203. 15:15And because the Ottoman Empire was no longer seen as an unstoppable force, various European
204. 15:20powers would repeatedly gang up on the Ottoman Empire whenever the opportunity would arise.
205. 15:26This would cost the empire a lot of money while gaining very little in the process.
206. 15:33And as the rest of the world advanced, it meant that it became easier and easier to
207. 15:37stand up to the Ottomans and for everybody to try to take a piece of territory from them.
208. 15:43In fact, there were SO MANY wars that eventually the person researching this for me simply
209. 15:50wrote down “a bunch of wars happened around this time”.
210. 15:54This should have been a wakeup call for the Ottomans: they were no longer the superpower
211. 15:58they once were and if they wanted to keep up with the rest of the world, they would
212. 16:03have to modernize as well.
213. 16:05And some attempts were made after the war: they lowered taxes on consumer goods, gathered
214. 16:09information on the latest European technologies, modernized the navy, reduced the size of the
215. 16:16janissaries to reduce its cost, reduced corruption, and became involved in European politics in
216. 16:22order to avoid more wars.
217. 16:24And these efforts might have been successful…
218. 16:28except that the army didn’t want fewer soldiers and the elites didn’t want to end corruption.
219. 16:34And so, as usual, these 2 groups conspired to replace the grand vezir with someone less
220. 16:40competent.
221. 16:41Once again modernizing for a few years and largely stagnating for a few decades.
222. 16:47[EMPIRE CRUMBLES] The next major blow to the Ottoman Empire came in 1774, when it lost
223. 16:53a war against Russia.
224. 16:55The Ottomans were forced to sign yet another humiliating peace treaty in which it paid
225. 17:00a large sum of money to the Russian state, handed over Crimea, and gave all the Orthodox
226. 17:06christians living in the Ottoman Empire Russian protection.
227. 17:10This meant that if an Orthodox Christian living in the empire was being mistreated by the
228. 17:16Ottomans, they could ask Russia for help.
229. 17:19Russia would then be allowed to attack the Ottomans in order to assure their wellbeing.
230. 17:24This defeat was such an important defeat that various provinces within the empire lost faith
231. 17:30in their own government.
232. 17:32And the only way the empire was able to prevent mass rebellion was to give more autonomy to
233. 17:38its outer provinces.
234. 17:40In particular, they would no longer directly tax these regions but instead allowed local
235. 17:46authorities to tax their own provinces and then send a portion of that money to Istanbul.
236. 17:52In essence, the empire was becoming less centralized and more fuedal.
237. 17:57These local authorities would, over time, turn into powerful dynasties of their own.
238. 18:03Such as the Mamluks in Egypt, who would slowly make Egypt more and more independent.
239. 18:08After they became part of the British Empire, the mamluk power came to an end in Egypt in
240. 18:13the early 19th century.
241. 18:15Yet their legacy endured as Egypt would remain semi-independent until declaring independence
242. 18:21in 1922 and kicking out the last of the European troops during the Suez Crisis in 1956.
243. 18:28Becoming one of the least colonized and most successful countries in Africa.
244. 18:33Another major example was the Saud family, which gained more influence under this system
245. 18:38and would eventually create their own country in 1932 called: Saudi Arabia.
246. 18:44This defeat against Russia, however, would be used by the grand vasir as an example why
247. 18:50the empire was in drastic need of reform.
248. 18:54But the janissaries were unwilling to modernize…
249. 18:57so the government simply decided to create a 2nd army, trained by officers from Europe,
250. 19:03with the latest weapons, and modern combat training.
251. 19:07But having 2 armies was very expensive and soon the Ottoman elites joined with the janissaries
252. 19:14to get rid of the sultan and his new army, with a rebellion in 1807.
253. 19:19At the same time, the Ottomans were facing a new problem: nationalism.
254. 19:23You see, the Ottomans had for centuries divided their people up based on religion: muslims,
255. 19:29Christians, Jewish, Non-Abrahamic religions, etc..
256. 19:34But the French revolution created a new type of identity: a national identity.
257. 19:41The idea that a country was united due to a shared national heritage was almost unheard
258. 19:47of before the French Revolution.
259. 19:49But because the Ottomans only looked at religion, they did not notice that large groups of peoples
260. 19:55were creating their own national identities.
261. 19:59And these new identities were in large part based on a common hatred for their Ottoman
262. 20:04overlords: Romanians, Greeks, and Serbs.
263. 20:09As a multi-ethnic state that looked only at religious identity, the Ottomans were completely
264. 20:16unprepared for national revolutions.
265. 20:19The first of these revolutions was in Serbia, resulting in the empire giving the new Serbian
266. 20:24Principality autonomy in exchange for paying tribute and allowed the Ottomans to station
267. 20:30troops in Serbia.
268. 20:32This was followed by Greece in 1815, resulting in the creation of the modern Greek state
269. 20:37with the help of major European powers.
270. 20:41And this caused a problem for the elites of the empire.
271. 20:43You see, all the bureaucrats that used to work in Serbia and Greece were now unemployed.
272. 20:50All of a sudden many of the elites realized that the next part of the empire to break
273. 20:55away might be the region they control.
274. 20:59And they could now point towards the janissaries for losing wars.
275. 21:06And so FINALLY there were enough people in the Ottoman government who wanted to see change.
276. 21:13But there was still one major obstacle: the janissaries.
277. 21:18To placate them the central government decided that instead of creating a whole second army,
278. 21:25they would start by modernizing a small part of the army.
279. 21:28In particular, the artillery corps.
280. 21:31After a few years, the sultan demanded that the janissaries as a whole were to adopt the
281. 21:36modern European style of warfare.
282. 21:39But as usual, the janissaries refused.
283. 21:42But this time, they couldn’t count on the elites to support them.
284. 21:46The sultan realized that if the empire didn’t reform soon, it would slowly be taken over
285. 21:52by European empires, as had happened in the Americas and was happening at the time in
286. 21:59Asia.
287. 22:00And so he made the decision that the janissaries, the largest opposition against reform, had.
288. 22:07To be.
289. 22:08Removed!
290. 22:09Or else they would all lose.
291. 22:12And so, in the middle of the night on 15 June 1826 the sultan ordered his artillery units
292. 22:20to target the janissary barracks, raining down cannon balls while they were asleep.
293. 22:26Soldiers loyal to the sultan moved in to kill every last janissary they encountered.
294. 22:31The victory was complete and in a single day one of the largest obstacles to modernisation
295. 22:37was destroyed.
296. 22:39The next day the janissary corps was officially abolished.
297. 22:44The failure of the janissaries to adopt modern weapons, caused the janissaries to be destroyed
298. 22:50by modern weapons.
299. 22:52[REFORMS BEING] Finally, reforms were implemented in almost every aspect of the government.
300. 22:59But in particular, the empire clamped down on corruption.
301. 23:03For example, when a person was banished or sentenced to death, the local ruler would
302. 23:08inherit all their wealth.
303. 23:11But those local rulers were also the ones who decided who to execute and who to banish.
304. 23:17Meaning that in order to make the most money as a local ruler, you had to kill some of
305. 23:23the richest and most competent people, harming the empire as a whole.
306. 23:28This was made illegal: you now needed a judge to decide on such punishments and the local
307. 23:34rulers could no longer inherit their wealth.
308. 23:37The sultan would no longer seclude himself in the harem, instead taking active part in
309. 23:42their governance of their realm.
310. 23:44People were no longer allowed to be extorted by corrupt officials; the only money they
311. 23:49had to pay the government was a tax to the central government.
312. 23:55Nothing else.
313. 23:57Various offices were closed, salaries for officials were increased so they had enough
314. 24:02money that they wouldn’t have to extort people to keep up their lifestyle, those officials
315. 24:07would no longer be trained in the palace but in specialized institutions, permanent embassies
316. 24:14were set up in European capitals, newspapers were printed, translation offices would publish
317. 24:20the latest advances in technology in their own language, and much more.
318. 24:25When the sultan died in 1839, a new class of bureaucrats were in power.
319. 24:31One who gained experience in European embassies, who read about European ideals, and who valued
320. 24:37the rule of law.
321. 24:39With a new sultan, the bureaucrats wanted to continue the reforms.
322. 24:44The empire now had an elite who wanted to keep modernizing their state.
323. 24:48In particular, the government declared that they would take responsibility for the economic
324. 24:53management of the country, similar to the rest of the European government.
325. 24:57Building railroads, setting up schools, and creating large companies to industrialize.
326. 25:03As a result, the government became more centralized, with the number of bureaucrats growing 5 times
327. 25:10as large.
328. 25:11The government particularly wanted to keep the empire together.
329. 25:15It did so with a telegraph system that could inform Istanbul about a rebellion in just
330. 25:20a few minutes and with a railroad that could send troops to restore control in a few days.
331. 25:25[FOREING DISMANTLING OF THE OTTOMANS] But while the empire was performing some much-needed
332. 25:28selfcare, others would try to take advantage of them: Russia used their title as protector
333. 25:35of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire to take over the Balkans in the Crimean War
334. 25:40in the 1850s.
335. 25:42The Ottomans won this war with the support of Great Britain, France, and Sardinia, however,
336. 25:48cost them a lot of money.
337. 25:50So much money that the Ottomans became deeply indebted to European banks.
338. 25:55They had to spend so much money on repaying their debt that they needed to borrow more
339. 26:00money to cover their government expenses.
340. 26:03In essence, the empire became reliant on European powers.
341. 26:07This, on top of everything else, meant that those European powers could relatively easily
342. 26:13take territory away from the Ottomans.
343. 26:17In 1939 the British took Yemen, in 1860 a rebellion in Lebanon caused European empires
344. 26:24to send troops there to ‘keep the peace’, in essence stationing European troops right
345. 26:30next to the Ottoman heartland.
346. 26:33Nationalist rebellions popped up in the Balkans in the 1870s, supported by various other European
347. 26:38powers, causing Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro to become independent in 1878
348. 26:45with Russia taking a few districts in Eastern Anatolia, Austria-Hungary taking Bosnia-Herzegovina,
349. 26:52and the British taking Cyprus.
350. 26:54Tunisia was taken over by France in 1881 and Egypt was taken over by the British in 1882.
351. 27:01In 1885 East Rumelia had a revolution and joined Bulgaria.
352. 27:05Yet despite the military disasters and territorial losses, the late 19th century was a period
353. 27:12of significant social, economic, and cultural transformation.
354. 27:18It drained a swamp in Cilicia to turn it into a cotton plantation, they produce more olives,
355. 27:23silk, and many other raw materials…
356. 27:26Yet they produced very little manufactured goods.
357. 27:28To become a fully industrialized state, they would need the latest European technology.
358. 27:35But how were they going to get companies to do business in their empire?
359. 27:40Well, they made a deal, in exchange for foreign companies setting up modern industries and
360. 27:45the empire receiving cheap loans, these companies wouldn’t have to pay any taxes.
361. 27:52So instead of earning money from industrialization, they instead got to borrow more money…
362. 27:57Causing a lot of financial problems.
363. 28:00While the economy grew, 13% of government income was spent on replaying loans.
364. 28:08As a result, the empire needed to find new sources of income and they did so by setting
365. 28:14up their own large companies, such as the Régie Company.
366. 28:18It was given a monopoly on the production and trade of tobacco.
367. 28:24As a result, the empire earned a lot of money while small tobacco farmers had to move to
368. 28:29other countries to grow their crop, the price of tobacco rose, which in turn resulted in
369. 28:34riots and protests, and so the company’s private militia killed more than 20 thousands
370. 28:41people in order to keep their monopoly on tobacco.
371. 28:44And while the empire became more and more indebted to European powers, they were still
372. 28:49better off than most other countries at the time.
373. 28:52The high debt in Tunisia and Egypt caused the European powers to simply invade and colonize
374. 28:58these countries.
375. 28:59To see where this eventually leads, see my African Decolonisation video.
376. 29:05It was argued that least the Ottomans weren’t a European colony.
377. 29:09If you’ve ever wondered why so many countries refused to let western companies do business
378. 29:15in their country after they decolonised and turn towards socialism; it’s cases like
379. 29:22the Ottoman Empire that made them afraid that doing business with Western countries.
380. 29:28Afraid it would be the beginning of European control over their country all over again.
381. 29:33[YOUNG TURKS] By the late 19th century the Ottoman government had become repressive.
382. 29:39Afraid that more regions would rebel, they instituted a network of spies and censorship.
383. 29:44As a result, many dissidents moved abroad where they would discuss the issues they had
384. 29:49with the empire, calling themselves the Young Turks.
385. 29:54These were wildly different groups with different ideas, some wanted to abolish the monarchy,
386. 30:00some wanted a different monarch, while others were anarchists.
387. 30:05But they all had one thing in common: they all wanted to get rid of the current sultan.
388. 30:12But none of them had enough power to implement their ideas onto their homeland.
389. 30:17This changed in 1905 with the Russian revolution.
390. 30:21Firstly it was defeated by Japan, a country that 50 years earlier was considered primitive
391. 30:27that could now stand up against the mighty russian Empire.
392. 30:31Then, the Russian emperor was forced to accept a constitution.
393. 30:36At the same time, Iranians also managed to force a constitution upon their government
394. 30:41in 1906 and remove the royal family in 1911.
395. 30:45While countries like Italy and Germany managed to unite their people into powerful nations.
396. 30:52If they could do it… why not the Ottomans as well?
397. 30:56And so in 1908 the Young turk revolution succeeded in taking over the government.
398. 31:02Their goal was to create a new national identity based on islam.
399. 31:06You see, with the loss of most of their european territories the percentage of muslims in the
400. 31:13empire increased.
401. 31:14Many of those muslims blamed Christians for siding with Western powers, declaring independence,
402. 31:20and causing the decline of the empire.
403. 31:23The young turks wanted to use this resentment to create a shared islamic national identity
404. 31:29in opposition to Western Imperialism.
405. 31:31In the same way Irish national identity was created in opposition to the British, or how
406. 31:38Indian national identity started in opposition to the British, or how US national identity
407. 31:44found its roots in opposition to the British.
408. 31:48They hoped that by creating an empire where all people were equally Ottoman that they
409. 31:53could prevent the disintegration of their country.
410. 31:57But the Young Turks couldn’t agree on HOW this should be achieved: should they centralize
411. 32:03power in Istanbul?
412. 32:04Should they become a federation similar to the USA?
413. 32:08Should they ask foreign countries to help them in their goals?
414. 32:11These disagreements resulted in a counter revolution in 1909, resulting in Albania declaring
415. 32:17its independence.
416. 32:19This showed many within the empire that even the Young Turks and their beliefs were unable
417. 32:24to prevent the further disintegration of the empire.
418. 32:27This moment of weakness caused Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro, all of which used
419. 32:33to be part of the empire at one point, declared war against the Ottomans.
420. 32:38By the end of that war, the Ottomans had almost no territory left in Europe anymore.
421. 32:44European powers then used this moment of weakness to discuss how Russia should be given a piece
422. 32:49of Ottoman territory…
423. 32:51The Ottomans, however, were not allowed to participate in these discussions.
424. 32:55[WW1]But then, WW1 happened.
425. 32:59All of a sudden all their major enemies were at war with one another.
426. 33:04It was clear the Ottomans Empire was dying: much of their territory was taken over, many
427. 33:09important industries were owned by foreign companies, and the Europeans were now discussing
428. 33:15the disintegration of the empire without the Ottomans present.
429. 33:20And so the Ottoman Empire was given with a very simple choice: they could either keep
430. 33:25going along their current route and become a western colony like so much of the world
431. 33:30had already become…
432. 33:32Or…
433. 33:33They could take a chance to kick out the foreign invaders at a time when their greatest enemies
434. 33:38were embroiled in a war.
435. 33:41The empire was already lost and this was their only hope to save it.
436. 33:47And so they eventually decided to join the war on the side of Germany at the end of 1914,
437. 33:53when it seemed Germany was set to win the war…
438. 33:57But as we all know… they chose the losing side.
439. 33:59The war was a disaster for the Ottomans, with their only major victory being the defense
440. 34:04of Istanbul at Gallipoli.
441. 34:07It’s estimated 800.000 Ottoman soldiers died, with 400-700.000 wounded.
442. 34:14[POST-WAR] After the war the victorious powers restricted the size of the Ottoman army to
443. 34:19just 50.000 men, important railroads were put in the hands of European investors, and
444. 34:25the empire was split up between various countries: Great Britain and France would take most of
445. 34:31the middle east; Greece received parts of the eastern territories, which is why today
446. 34:36many of the islands off the Turkish coast are Greek; Italy received south-west anatolia;
447. 34:42and Armenia received their most north-eastern territories.
448. 34:46The peace treaty was a complete and total dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire.
449. 34:52The only territory they were allowed to rule was Istanbul and its surrounding areas…
450. 34:57but under international supervision.
451. 35:00The empire had become a series of colonies for Western and Southern European states.
452. 35:08As you can imagine, the people who were told they were now under European occupation were
453. 35:13not very happy about this and almost immediately formed militias to fight off the invaders.
454. 35:21Various Ottoman armies refused to lay down their weapons and instead formed a unified
455. 35:26resistance against foreign occupation, known as the Nationalists.
456. 35:30They achieved various military successes, defeating the Greek and Armenian occupation
457. 35:36forces in the Turkish War of Independence.
458. 35:39They were not interested in restoring the empire, rather, they sought to free what we
459. 35:45today call turkey.
460. 35:47The French and British were not interested in yet another long conflict right after WW1
461. 35:54and so on October 27 1922 the European powers invited the Nationalist and Ottoman governments
462. 36:02to attend a peace conference.
463. 36:03When the treaty was signed in 1923, the sultan and the Ottoman government had been dismissed,
464. 36:10the new Turkish government renounced their claims on lands previously owned by the Ottoman
465. 36:15Empire, and the Republic of Turkey was officially born on October 29, 1923.
466. 36:23And so ended the Ottoman Empire.