TR3.5

The Ottomans' Fall in the 1499s

Houjun Liu 2021-09-27 Mon 12:00

1 The Ottomans' Fall

1.1 Problems with Silver

KBhHIST201ProblemsWithSilver

:CUSTOMID: problems-with-silver-filekbhhist201problemswithsilver.orgkbhhist201problemswithsilver

@KBhHIST201BullietCh19 Bulliet Chapter 19

  • Affected landowners
  • Could not build stronger millitary
  • Caused the weakening of calvalrymen + increase in reliance on POWs

1.2 Overconservatism

@KBhHIST201KennedyCh1 Kenedy, Chapter 1

"Natural consequences of earlier Turkish successes"

  • Got Romanitus — expanded too much to the point of unmanagability => "Strategical Overextension"
  • Switched to an "Iron Fist" management style of crushing dissidents, encouraging the Persians to ally with the Europeans to crush the Ottomans
  • Suffered from being centralized, despotic, and severly orthodox
    • Emperor had to much power
    • Country became over-conservative #why
    • Bureaucracy became too heavy
  • Heavy internal plundering
    • High taxes
    • Seizures of property
    • Depopulated towns
    • Unorderly soldiers
    • Bribery

@KBhHIST201BullietCh19 Bulliet Chapter 19

"Religious laws … constrained the ottomans from reforming the tax system"

  • Levied surtaxes
  • Caused rebellions + banditry
  • POWS took advantage of influence to gain the ability to marry and do business, but overall caused deterioation of the qualitiy of the millitary (less professionals, more POWs)

1.3 Declining government

@KBhHIST201BullietCh19

1.3.1 Sultans kept to themselves

  • Prevented male relatives from leaving the palace
  • Females gained larger rule + chief administrators oversaw the actual government important!: CLAIM — sterotipically, muslim culture had fears of woman in politics

1.3.2 Dismantling original systems

  • Land grants for millitary services disappeared
  • Abolished devshirme system which selected POW officers
  • Tax farming became allowed
    • Tax collectors are allowed to pre-paid tax and collect any amount to recouperate
    • Caused local administration to suffer due to the above
  • Corruption within the government lead them to give power to tax collectors
    • Causing them to control the incomes and expenses of a regions
    • Which turns them into large private landowners

1.3.3 The armies kept deteriorating

  • Resorted to hiring substitutes
  • Also relied partially on trained seasonal recruits

1.3.4 European trade capitulations

  • Europeans took control of Ottomans' overseas trade "Capitulations" — special trade agreements
    • European domination of Ottoman seaborne trade
    • Muslim merchants are trading at a disadvantage due to this domination
  • Few Ottoman statesmen observed the change, but they are generally disregarded
  • "Tulip Craze" => European integration
    • Early sign of destruction shown with the Ottomans' craze on Tulips
    • European cultures integrated into the Ottoman culture — clothing, books, furtinutes
    • At gala soirees, Janissaries revolted, causing the abdication of Sultan Ahmed III
  • Eventually, Janissary commanders became independent rulers, causing a slip of control
  • Rural disorder also caused new economic opportunities
    • CLAIM: ottoman's lack of control brings other European costal regions to resume originally Ottoman controlled trades
    • Local farmers shifted growth to cash crops (tobacco, cotton, oil, etc.)