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Visual History of the World
(CONTENTS)
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The Modern Era
1789 - 1914
In Europe, the revolutionary transformation of the ruling systems
and state structures began with a bang: In 1789 the French
Revolution broke out in Paris, and its motto "Liberte, Egalite,
Fraternite"—Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood—took on an irrepressible
force. A fundamental reorganization of society followed the French
Revolution. The ideas behind the revolution were manifest in
Napoleon's Code Civil, which he imposed on many European nations.
The 19th century also experienced a transformation of society from
another source: The Industrial Revolution established within society
a poorer working class that stood in opposition to the merchant and
trading middle class. The nascent United States was shaken by an
embittered civil war. The economic growth that set in following that
war was accompanied by the development of imperialist endeavors and
its rise to the status of a Great Power.
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Liberty Leading the People,
allegory of the 1830 July revolution that deposed the French
monarchy,
with Marianne as the personification of liberty,
contemporary painting by Eugene Delacroix.
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The Ottoman Empire
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CA.
1800-1914
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The Ottoman Empire, which at its height stretched from the
Mediterranean to Persia, experienced political and economic decline
during the 19th century. From the late 1700s, the Ottoman government had
instituted reforms from above, but these were not supported by the old
elite and, later, did not go far enough to please the increasingly
strong and liberal reform-minded younger generation. The period of
reforms was accompanied by a great loss of territory that was the start
of the breakup of the great empire.
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Territorial Losses and Internal Reforms
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The Ottoman Empire suffered territorial losses at the end of the
19th century primarily in the Balkans. Domestically, the sultan prepared
reforms.
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The French Revolution and the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon
also awoke thoughts of freedom and nationalistic feelings in the
European territories dominated by the Turks, 2
Greece revolted and finally gained its independence in 1829, while the
rest of the Balkans was in rebellion during the whole of the 19th
century.

2 Attacking Janissaries engage Greek
fighters during the Greek war of
independence from the Ottomans,
painting by
Eugene Delacroix,
1827
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see also:
Eugene Delacroix
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The European great powers, above all Russia, increasingly intervened,
and they supported the independence of Bulgaria, Romania. Serbia, and
Montenegro at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.
In North Africa, Egypt, too, sought independence from the
1 Ottoman Empire.

1 The palace Dolmabahce
Sarayi near Istanbul,
capital of the Ottoman Empire, completed in 1843
Despite initial support of the Turks by an alliance of Austria, Prussia,
and Great Britain, the Egyptians succeeded in 1841. The Maghreb states
increasingly came under the influence of Europe. In 1830, France
occupied and then colonized Algeria, and in 1881 it made Tunisia a
French protectorate.
Domestically, the Ottoman sultans had to contend with a weakening of
their central power. The first so-called reform sultan was Selim III,
who ascended the throne in 1789 and reorganized the state, its financial
administration, and the army according to Western European models. He
was not able to withstand the resistance of the traditional elite,
however—particularly the military Janissaries, who finally murdered him.
His plans were later carried out by 3
Mahmud II, who destroyed the Janissaries after a
4 revolt in 1826 and replaced them with a conscription
army controlled by the central government.

3 Decree signed by Sultan Mahmud II
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4 Suppression of the Janissary revolt
of 1826
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He also fostered the sciences by establishing state schools in which
he advocated a general secularization. The Tanzimat reform era, a new
phase of reforms, was instituted under Sultan Abdulmecid I.
Along with a new 5 restructuring of
the army, the administration was reorganized in line with the French
model and the legal standardization of all of the empire's subjects was
carried out.
New roads, 6 railroads, and a
telegraph system were constructed.
For this purpose, foreign loans were drawn, but the government was
unable to pay the interest on them after 1875.
This, together with corruption and the enormous luxury in which the
sultans lived—Abdulmecid had just had a huge new
7 palace built on the shores of the Bosporus—finally led
to the financial ruin of the Ottoman Empire.
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5 Memorial to Count von Moltke, military
instructor for the restructuring of the army
of Mahmud II, Istanbul
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6 Railway viaduct at the narrow pass of
Ushak
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7 Stairwell in the Dolmabahce Sarayi
palace
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End of the Reforms and Rise of the Young Turks
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The Young Turks wanted the political and economic modernization of their
country, but failed with their policies.
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After the death of 8 Sultan
Abdulmecid I, his brother Abdulaziz ascended the throne in 1861, but he
was forced to abdicate in 1876 and was replaced by Abdulhamid II.
He put a constitution in force, guaranteed freedom of religion and the
press, and installed a 11 parliament
in 1877—which he then dissolved again when the empire had to defend
itself against the pressure of the Europeans.

8 Sultan Abdulmecid
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11 The first Turkish parliament meets
in the year
1877
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Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire. By the Treaty of San Stefano
of 1878, Turkey surrendered Bessarabia. The Congress of Berlin (1878)
marked a further loss of Ottoman territory. Abdulhamid's reign soon
became a dictatorial and centralized one.
The 10 mass murder of 200,000
Armenians in 1896 occurred during his reign.

10 Massacre of the Armenians in the Turkish part
of Armenia, 1896
Although the sultan was able to improve the economic situation, his
autocratic regime stirred up resistance from liberals, who organized in
the Young Turk movement. A revolt took place in 1909 with the support of
General 9 Enver Pasha.
The Young Turks assumed power, restored the constitution and parliament,
and ruled for ten years under the nominal regency of
12 Mehmed V.
They attempted to modernize the country by curtailing the influence of
religion in schools and the legal system while seeking to kick-start
industrialization. But even this couldn't save the "sick man of Europe."
The two 13 Balkan Wars of 1912-1913
further weakened the declining empire and left it only a small piece of
land—Eastern Thrace—in Europe.
The Turkish government tried to remain neutral during World War I, but
was pulled in on the side of the Central Powers by a promise of German
support and funding and the need for allies against Russia.
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9 Enver Pasha
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12 Prince Reshad is proclaimed Sultan
Mehmed V
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13 The Turks flee from the conquered areas
of the
Balkan states
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The Young Turks
This movement had been formed by Midhat Pasha in 1868, with the aim of
reforming Turkish institutions. Around the 1880s, many officers,
officials, and intellectuals, mostly young, who were not in agreement
with the autocratic running of the Turkish state and sought a
revitalization of the country, began uniting.
The Young Turks advocated
a strategy of liberalization, with the goal of establishing a
constitutional monarchy, but were still forced at first to act from
abroad. Various groups joined together and were able to depose Sultan
Abdulhamid II and install Mehmed Von the throne.
The Young Turks were
not able to put the Ottoman Empire back on its feet, however, and were
forced to hand over the government in October 1918.

Young Turk Revolution Declaration - Armenian, Greek & Muslim
Leaders
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