Decline of Ottoman Empire - Essay Example

One major reason for the decline of the Ottoman Island was the nation’s weakness in the area of the military; their military strategies, weaponry, tactical side, and training were quite weak as compared to Europe’s military defense.  The weak defense of the Empire led to the decline of the nation’s central government and the nation started losing to their own offices in various provinces. The government had firm control over provinces such as Iraq and Anatolia but they lost grip over provinces including Greece, Egypt, and Balkan. Napoleon of the   French military started invading the empire and taking over one province after the other but his efforts failed. Taking advantage of the weak local government, General Muhammad Ali a local was able to seize control of Egypt, Anatolia, and Syria; Egypt was a very loss for the Island.  Later British forces played a major role to save the island as the British expected that the influence of the Russians will elevate if the empire falls.

Ottoman Island even experienced economic competition from the European dominance in the area of textile and finished goods sector as they were able to supply goods from this sector at very inexpensive prices. The local artisans and craftsmen experienced fierce competition from European business individuals. During the 19th century, the empire became dependant on Europe for finances and the economic growth and development became heavily dependent on loans offered by European nations. The empire had to repay heavy amounts in face of interest on the loan and soon it even lost the ability to repay interest and they had to accept the administration of Europe. Another major reason for the fall of the Island was the capitulations (Ágoston, 119). Capitulations refer to agreements between the empire and European influence which exempted visitors from Europe from the rules and regulations made by the empire and this even gave the Europeans to exercise their own rules and regulations over the locals. The Europeans manipulated these capitulations to penetrate the economic side of the empire as they were able to create banks and businesses that did not have to pay any taxes. These capitulations even helped the foreigners earn money through duty levied on goods sold at the empire’s port and these duties went to Europeans instead of being a part of the Empire’s treasure. Later various reforms were made by the local leaders to take control and decrease the relaxations and exemptions that Europeans had gained through capitulations. The produced reforms include reforms made by the leader Sultan Muhammad II and reforms made by the elite locals.