Setbacks and Destruction of the Turkish Ottoman Empire
Setbacks and Destruction of the Turkish
Ottoman Empire
Islam
has progressed and setbacks, like a wheel that always rotates sometimes above
and sometimes under. Even so with Islam, the progress of Islamic power achieved
in the Abbasid period, and its collapse when attacked by the Mongols. At that
time the political power of Islam experienced a setback. Islamic territories
are fragmented into small kingdoms that are opposed to one another. Do not stop
there, some cultural relics and many Islamic civilizations were destroyed by
the attack of the Mongols, even East Lenk destroyed other centers of Islamic
power.
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In
such an atmosphere of priority, the political consciousness of Muslims emerged
collectively, this collective consciousness progressed marked by the
establishment of three major kingdoms, Ottoman in Turkey, Mughals in India, and
Safavids in Persia. The Ottoman Empire was the first to stand and last the
longest compared to the other two.
But
when the empire of the Ottoman Empire began to advance and develop rapidly. But
sometimes a civilization will experience a setback and may experience
destruction. Likewise with the Ottoman Empire when the leadership held by
Sultan Al-Qununi experienced progress in its time, it will also experience a
setback. So in this paper the whole will discuss how the early decline of the
Ottoman Empire to its destruction.
The
decline of the Ottoman Empire after the reign of Sultan Sulaiman Al-Qununi.
The
kingdom was founded by the Turks of the Oghuz (ughu) tribe who inhabited the
Mongol region and the Northern regions of China, which later pandered to
Turkey, Persia and Iraq. They embraced Islam around the IX or X century, when
they settled in central Asia. This was because they were neighbors with the
Samani dynasty and Ghaznawi dynasty, because of the pressure of the Mongols,
they sought refuge in their sister, the Snowq dynasty. Saljuq when it was under
the control of Sultan Alauddin Kaikobad. Entogrol, who was the leader of the
Ottoman Turks at the time, succeeded in helping the Sultan of snowq in the face
of Byzantium. For this service he received an award from the Sultan, in the
form of a plot of land in small Asia that borders Byzantium. Since then they
have continued to foster their new territory and have Shukud as the city Ibiu.
The
Ottoman Empire began to enter a period of decline in the 17th century AD, which
was marked by its military defeat in the face of the Western Christian world.
In fact, the initial symptoms of the decline began to appear since the end of
the 16th century AD which was marked by the weakness of the sultans in
controlling the country. After the death of Sultan Sulaiman Al-Qanuni, the
Ottoman Empire had fallen into the hands of weak Sultans. Sultan Salim II, who
is a direct replacement of Sultan Sulaiman Al-Qanuni, is a weak figure. He was
the type of sultan of the Ottoman Empire which his people disliked. Because he
was drunk, he handed over all state affairs to the Minister of the Great
Sokoli.
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In
1593 the population of Transylvania and Wallechia revolted. With the help of
the Austrians and Hungarians, they tried to break away from Turkish rule. This
rebellion cannot be quelled. The troops sent were defeated. This is the first
defeat since the time of Sultan Sulaiman Al-Qanuni. At the time the Chief
Minister was held the son-in-law of Sultan Musthofa II (1695-1687 AD),
precisely in 1696 the Usamani Turkish army was destroyed by the Austrian army
led by Prince Eugane of Savoy. A year later, the Ottoman Turks attacked
Hungary, but also suffered a total defeat. Therefore, in 1702 the Carlowitz
agreement was held and under the agreement, the Ottoman Empire had to be
willing to surrender the territory of Hungary, Transilvania, Morea, Albania,
Fedolia and Azzof. This is the second most important victory for the Christian
world over Turkey.
As
a result of this very heavy defeat, the Ottoman Empire is no longer seen as a
feared force in Europe. For Europeans it is a turning point for the balance
between Turkish and Christian Europe. Such was the importance of the event, so
it was considered a sign of the beginning of the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire.
The
cause of the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
From
the description of the process of the decline of the Ottoman Turks above, it is
clear that the reasons for the dominance of the decline of this kingdom were
the defeat of the military field of the Turkish empire from Western countries.
The cause of the powerlessness of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century AD,
especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries AD can be traced to the
progress of western science, technology and economics on one side of the fiber
of the technological, economic and economic freeze of the world Islam on the
other side. This can be seen as an indirect cause behind the understanding of
the decline of the Ottoman Empire.
The
other causes in the decline experienced by the Ottoman Turks are as follows:
The
factor causing the decline of the Ottoman Turks was after Sulaiman al-Qonuni's
death. This was caused by the many chaos that occurred after Sultan Sulaiman
died of the struggle for power between his sons, besides that the weakening of
the struggle spirit of the Ottoman soldiers which resulted in defeat in the
face of several wars and in their economic system deteriorated and the system
of government was not running properly. The factors above caused the decline of
the Ottoman Empire, there were also several other factors including: internal
factors and external factors.
Internal
factors
The
causes that occur inside are:
a)
The extent of the territory
The
rapid expansion of the region that occurred in the Ottoman Empire caused the
government to feel overwhelmed in carrying out government administration,
especially after the government of Sultan Sulaiman. In this government the
entire administration becomes irregular and this new government prioritizes
expanding again compared to managing its system of governance so that it causes
areas far from the center to be attacked and captured by the enemy, so that
some regions try to escape.
b)
Explosion of population
The
fundamental change that occurred in the Ottoman Empire was the swelling of the
population, the number of people in the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century
increased two-fold from before. The problem of the multiplication of the
population in the Ottoman Empire is due to the high level of population and the
increasing number of deaths caused by peacetime and safety that created the
kingdom and decreased the frequency of conquest.
c)
Heterogeneity of the population
Of
the many and varied populations, the required administration must also be
adequate and can meet the needs of their lives. However, the post-Sulaiman
Ottoman Empire was incompetent in government administration coupled with the
ruling leader who was very weak and had bad temperament.
d)
Weaknesses of rulers and democratic systems
After
Sulaiman's departure there was a change of leadership, but after being
abandoned by Sulaiman in the new government, he was not good at managing his
governance system and also did not understand the military, causing chaos and
difficult to overcome.
e)
Culture of extortion
The
culture of extortion has been rampant, resulting in moral decadence, especially
among officials who are fighting over power.
f)
Jenissari Army Rebellion
The
Jenni Rebellion occurred four times, namely in 1525 AD, 1632 AD, 1727 AD, and
1826 AD. The Jenissari Party no longer applied the principles of selection and
achievement. Its existence is dominated by descendants and certain classes
which result in disagreement and rebellion.
g)
Economic decline
As
a result of continuous warfare, the costs are increasingly swollen plus huge
state spending so that the economy of the Turkish empire has declined.
h)
Low quality of Islam
The
low quality of Islam is due to the absence of true Islamic awareness in them
and the lack of understanding that Islam is a perfect living system and the
majority there that what he knows about Islam is only limited to Worship.
i)
Mutual officials
In
the days after Solomon in this kingdom often overtook leaders feared that the
region would free itself. This has led to a lack of understanding of new
officials in the areas he leads.
2)
External Factors
The
causal factors that occur from the outside are as follows:
a.
The emergence of a nationalism movement
The
nations that submitted to the Ottoman Empire for many years while in power but
countries that had been controlled by the Ottomans began to realize their
weaknesses, so they rose to escape the Ottoman Empire even though the kingdom
had done good to them for years.
b.
The occurrence of technological progress in the West, especially in the field
of weapons
At
that time in Turkey there was a stagnation of science so that when there was
gunfire between Turkish power and European powers, Turkey always suffered
defeat because at that time Turkey was still using traditional weapons while in
Europe it had used modern weapons.
The
destruction of the Ottoman Empire
The
destruction of the Ottoman Empire was the end point of the decline and setbacks
that modernization and repair efforts could not withstand. Another event that
accelerated the destruction was the involvement of the Ottoman Turks in World
War I and this kingdom was on the losing side. In 1918, Istanbul was occupied
by Britain and France. Kemal Pasya, which was assigned by Istanbul to disarm
the Turkish army against allies in Anatolia, rebelled.
He, who along with
Turkish nationalists, tried to compose power for the allies. In his travels in
Turkey there were indications of the emergence of two forms of government,
namely the government with different Republican and Sultanate or Kingdom.
Musthapa Kemal proposed a bill to abolish the sultanate to the national
assembly. On November 1, 1922 the law on the elimination of the Sultanate was
accepted. In October 1923 the title of Sultan was officially abolished while
the title of Caliph remained recognized but without power at all. Finally
Turkey became a Republican state with Mustapa Kemal as its president. The
concept of the Caliph in the history of Islam contains the understanding of the
head of state, therefore Mustapa Kemal proposed that the position of Caliph be
abolished.