The Ottoman Empire was the longest-lasting dynasty in recorded human history. It was founded by semi-nomadic tribes in the early 14th century, and lasted until the early 20th century. This time period saw great change and transformation in the world from a political, economic, and even social point of view, mainly via the arrival of modernity in the 18th and 19th centuries.

A common trope in the past was that the Ottomans fell behind and became a relic as time went on, entering a period of terminal decline in the second half of their rule. This has fallen out of favor, as new research has shown that the Ottomans underwent great transformation themselves as the world changed. They managed to completely change core institutions in the empire from the military, the bureaucracy, the law and courts, the education system and more.

Another belief was that as the Ottomans changed and modernized, they also secularized. This has also been shown to be false by the evidence, as the Ottomans continued to remain "Islamic" and strove hard to maintain their Islamic character and values even as they transformed and modernized.

=== The Tanzimat ===

Lots of pressure to reform after the loss of Greece, plus Muhammad Ali Pasha's rebellion showing the Ottoman state's weakness.

=== The military ===

Abolishing the Janissaries.

=== The education system ===

Creating a mass public education system.

=== Social reforms ===

Abolishing the jizya, equal rights for religious minorities, trying to reduce slavery.

=== Transportation: connecting the empire ===

Berlin-Baghdad railway, Hejaz railway.

=== See also ===

* [[The modern state]]

=== Further reading ===

* Benjamin Fortna, "Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State, and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire" (2002).
* Caroline Finkel, "Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire" (2007). Covers all of Ottoman history at a high level but the last few chapters cover the later years.
* Carter Findley, "Turkey, Islam, Nationalism, and Modernity" (2010). Discusses the late Ottoman and early Turkish period.
* Christine Isom-Verhaaren (Editor) and Kent F. Schull (Editor), "Living in the Ottoman Realm: Empire and Identity, 13th to 20th Centuries" (2016). Part IV covers the arrival of modernity.
* Edward Erickson, "Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War" (2001)
* Pankaj Mishra, "From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia" (2012). The beginning focuses on Napoleon's invasion of Egypt (nominally an Ottoman province) and how it heralded the arrival of modernity in the Middle East.
* Selim Deringil, "The Well-protected Domains: Ideology and the Legitimation of Power in the Ottoman Empire 1876-1909" (2001)

=== References ===

<references />

Modernization of the Ottoman Empire

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The Ottoman Empire was the longest-lasting dynasty in recorded human history. It was founded by semi-nomadic tribes in the early 14th century, and lasted until the early 20th century. This time period saw great change and transformation in the world from a political, economic, and even social point of view, mainly via the arrival of modernity in the 18th and 19th centuries.

A common trope in the past was that the Ottomans fell behind and became a relic as time went on, entering a period of terminal decline in the second half of their rule. This has fallen out of favor, as new research has shown that the Ottomans underwent great transformation themselves as the world changed. They managed to completely change core institutions in the empire from the military, the bureaucracy, the law and courts, the education system and more.

Another belief was that as the Ottomans changed and modernized, they also secularized. This has also been shown to be false by the evidence, as the Ottomans continued to remain "Islamic" and strove hard to maintain their Islamic character and values even as they transformed and modernized.

=== The Tanzimat ===

Lots of pressure to reform after the loss of Greece, plus Muhammad Ali Pasha's rebellion showing the Ottoman state's weakness.

=== The military ===

Abolishing the Janissaries.

=== The education system ===

Creating a mass public education system.

=== Social reforms ===

Abolishing the jizya, equal rights for religious minorities, trying to reduce slavery.

=== Transportation: connecting the empire ===

Berlin-Baghdad railway, Hejaz railway.

=== See also ===

* [[The modern state]]

=== Further reading ===

* Benjamin Fortna, "Imperial Classroom: Islam, the State, and Education in the Late Ottoman Empire" (2002).
* Caroline Finkel, "Osman's Dream: The History of the Ottoman Empire" (2007). Covers all of Ottoman history at a high level but the last few chapters cover the later years.
* Christine Isom-Verhaaren (Editor) and Kent F. Schull (Editor), "Living in the Ottoman Realm: Empire and Identity, 13th to 20th Centuries" (2016). Part IV covers the arrival of modernity.

=== References ===

<references />

Modernization of the Ottoman Empire

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Main Page

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Slavery

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The modern state dominates the political sphere. This article gives some definitions and concepts of what the modern state is, as derived from academic studies and books.

== Properties ==

As identified by Wael Hallaq, the following are the essential form-properties of the modern state. What this means is that all modern states fulfill all 5 of these properties, and if a polity does not have any one of them, it does not count as a modern state. Of course, this does not mean that states do not change and evolve over time; they do, but within their particular paradigm.

=== The State as a Historical Product ===

The state is a product of history, and must be understood as such. It came about in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, shaped by the social, economic, and political conditions that existed in Europe at the time, as well as Europe's relations to the outside world via colonialism. This is also why Euro-America have the most successful, well-established states and the rest of the world has not followed as successfully.

=== Sovereignty ===

Sovereignty is the idea that the people residing within a state's borders have a "will," and the state is there to embody and enact this will. Despite being largely imaginary, it is one of the hallmarks of the modern state, and the "will of the people" is one of the rallying cries often used in politics today.

Hallaq writes,

<blockquote>The will, popular and collective, does not presuppose actual and active individual participation but claims its collective force precisely because it is a fiction. The concept loses none of its force even when nondemocratic powers come to rule, for even in the absence of traditional democratic practices, any state (read: nation-state) comes to expect its sovereign will to be embodied in the acts and speech of its rulers, even when they happen to be a band of devils.</blockquote>

Sovereignty also has an international dimension. This began to take form after the Peace of Westphalia (1648) which put an end to the 30 Years' War, by giving rulers the exclusive right to choose the official religions of their states, and disallowing any outside power from interfering in this process. Thus, the ruler becomes the representative of the citizens of the state - regardless of how he came to power or how oppressive his rule is.

=== Monopoly On Legitimate Violence ===

Hallaq writes,

<blockquote>If the modern state is constituted by sovereign will, and if sovereign will manifests itself through law, then the enforcement of law becomes the realization of that will. Will without the coercive instrument to back it up is no power at all: it is, in political terms, nothing... The boundaries of violence therefore are set only by the state, and it is its own measure that determines the type and level of violence to be applied against transgressors of its will. Put more clearly, the state is the supreme agent in the sanctioning of violence, for even if it were supposed that some divinely ordained punishment should be implemented or adopted, it would be so adopted as a choice of the state, as an expression of its will. Here, it is the state that ratifies divine will, not the other way round.</blockquote>

More.

=== Bureaucracy ===

On a scale never seen before in human history and civilization.

=== Production of the Citizen ===

Citizenship is a peculiar thing when you think about it.

== Further Reading ==

The Impossible State.