![]() ![]() Russia had emerged as a major Eurasian power, having swallowed up the Turkoman territories of Central Asia and the Caucasus. The heavy debt burden cast a long shadow on all aspects of the Sultan’s reign, including international relations, education, agriculture and political reform.Ī militarily and economically weak Ottoman Empire was the object of European imperial ambitions. The cost of servicing this enormous debt was more than 1.4 billion kurush, a sum equal to 70% of all revenues. The burden of keeping a large standing army and modernizing it in the face of perpetual foreign threats required continued borrowing, so that by 1878 the public debt stood at more than 13.5 billion kurush. Beginning with the Crimean War (1853-1856), the Ottoman debt mounted steadily. But his methods and the internal tensions built up by the very modernization processes he had fostered, finally did him in.Ībdul Hamid inherited an empire that was in dire financial straits. In this effort, he was partially successful, preserving its Islamic core for forty years and keeping the empire out of a major war for as long. In the face of aggression from without and sabotage from within, hammered by forces of nationalism and weakened by internal sabotage from some of the millets, he waged a valiant battle to preserve what was left of the once mighty empire. He came on the stage of history at a time when the empire was bankrupt and could not defend itself against its many enemies. Summary: Sultan Abdul Hamid II was the last of the great sultans. ![]()
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