About book The Decline And Fall Of The Ottoman Empire (1993)
The “Fall of the Ottoman Empire” is an interesting book. I was preoccupied with determining the exact steps that led to the Empire’s downfall. But first I had to learn of its beginning.The Empire was created by Osman I in 1307. Osman set up his empire in Asia Minor. His successors expanded the empire. In 1453 Constantinople was conquered by Sultan Mehmed II which brought the end to another great Empire –the Byzantine. Suleiman the Magnificent at the beginning of the 16th Century was its greatest military leader. He conquered Belgrade, Buda (Budapest), & Rhodes ( a Greek island in the Aegean Sea). He ruled over most of southern Russia, Transylvania, the Balkans, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. He created a military institution which he trained and dedicated to conquering non Islamic lands. Major Events which contributed to their deterioration: In 1683 the Ottoman Empire attempted to subdue Vienna. The great Polish King Jan Sobieski orchestrated a devastating flank and routed the (leader of the Ottoman army) Kara Mustafa Pasha’s army. Later in the same year Austrian troops conquered Ottoman controlled city Esztergon (in modern day Hungary) which became the first Muslim city to be converted to Christianity. In 1768 Sultan Mustafa II made the grave mistake of attacking Catherine the Great's Russia. The Russians responded with a naval victory in the Cosmo harbor. They followed with land victories in Moldova (currently between the Ukraine and Romania) and Kagal (in India). This gave Russia control over the Crimea, Moldavia and Wallachia (Romania). Then a final blow by Russian general Alexander Suvorov into Bulgaria convinced the Ottomans to sue for peace. The resulting peace settlement gave Russia an unmolested trade route to the Black Sea, Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. This left them a lucrative avenue to the Mediterranean Sea. Up until WWI the Ottomans had lost 9 wars. WWI would be their last. Prior to the war, European Powers were eyeing up the spoils of overtaking Ottoman provinces. It should be noted however at various times during Ottoman rule Europe was supportive. They viewed the Ottomans as a check against the Ottomans arch rival Russia. However, Oil as a useful resource and information about many Ottoman holdings having large deposits gave Europe a coveting vision. Over the years prior to WWI, the Empire enjoyed a friendly relationship with Germany. Correspondingly they sided with Germany when the Great War starts. With American President Wilson’s support for England, England was able to provide tremendous resources to its attempt to defeat the Ottomans. Of course, WWI ends with an Allied victory.At the Treaty of Versailles, England and France carved up much of Germany’s productive possessions and a lot of the Ottoman Empire. France obtains rule of Syria and Lebanon. England obtains rule of Iraq, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Ottoman Empire was reduced to the single country of Turkey.
I give this book a 2 stars because it focused on the trees rather than the forest. In my reading the book, the author loved details that missed the bigger picture until the last pages of the book.It is interesting how 3 centuries passed from the prediction of the Ottoman Empire before it actually fell after WWI. The problem with the Ottoman empire is that they had a vast multi-ethnic empire with their own cultures and aspiration of statehood without strong communication lines and infrastructure
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