Ottoman Base Ideology

Ottoman social issues can greatly credit the fall of their empire and one of the largest reasons why the nation struggled to succeed post 15th century. The Ottomans base ideology and the conflicts that arose from the many different contrasting autonomous groups aided in the fall of the empire. The founding principle behind much of the Ottomans’ action throughout history and the reason they were able to muster up such a large empire was due to their strong religious backbone; Islam. It dictated the creeds and laws of the land and as much as it aided the muslim Turks to revive the Islamic Empire, it slowly became a disadvantage as the Ottomans grew. This was especially true in their vast land size, where different religious groups found home

This can be seen with the annexation of Bosnia. The Ottoman base ideology can also be viewed as a negative when the empire began expanding greatly into the middle east with the capture of Constantinople. As stated “Most Ottomans saw little need for the empire to change, because they benefited financially from the anarchy and the sultan’s lack of control...the weakness of the central government resulted in the loss of control of most of the provinces to the local ruling ” (Ottoman Empire, Jay Shaw) The different autonomous rebel groups that sprung up on all three continents that the Ottomans had claimed territory on became extremely troublesome to manage. Soon it was evident that even an army that had conquered states around the world could not cover such a large region. The rise of Serbian separatists backed by western nations forced the Ottomans to give up land in Europe slowly but surely. As the Ottomans were preoccupied with wars on the European front, the Mamluk Dynasty aided by the French were able to gain back territory in