The Decline of the Ottoman Empire Summary: A short Discussion of how the Ottoman Empire fell into decline and what the Empire tried to do to stop the decline in the 18th century. Details the transition of the Ottoman empire into the European states. Many things caused the Ottoman decline. The first thing that showed the weakness of the Ottoman Empire was the fact that they needed communication, they sent ambassadors over to Europe and Europe sent ambassadors to the empire. Also military defeats caused the rulers to go into new war styles and hire new people to modernize the military.
Russia also prospered from a long awaited growth in industry. CZARS/ AUTOCRACIES During the 19th century, Russia was ruled by autocrats, or czars, who ruled with absolute power. Their individual philosophies affected the history and culture of the vast empire. Alexander I was the first czar of the 19th century. He came into power during the Napoleonic Wars, and is most remembered for his involvement in these wars and his sudden change from an active liberal ruler to a more moderate czar.
The crushing of Russian’s military added movement to the 1905 Revolution, as it made the people of Russia aware of the weakness of their military, making many people become un-patriotic. They were losing to a nation very few had heard of and it was humiliating. However, many of the defeats to the Russian military occurred after the Revolution had started, not causing its outbreak, but merely adding to the opposition to autocratic rule by the Tsar and prolonging the Revolution. The Russo-Japanese War also brought about economic problems for Russia, and this therefore meant there was a significant lack of money to solve any other problems present Russia, hence partly being responsible for
By the time it came to 1918 food shortages had caused riots and discontent and the government was finding it difficult to keep the army supplied. Industrialists became independent on war time business and they severely struggled when the war came to an abrupt end in 1918. Due to the opposition from many neutralists the government operated through the use of emergency powers, where parliament played the role of simply rubber stamping legislation. The Italian socialists openly condemned the conflict as a capitalist or ‘bosses’ war. Italian politics was largely divided during war years.
Before the PG came into power, the already dire economic, agrarian and social problems were getting worse and worse as the war continued and as a result, the majority of Russians opposed the war effort. This meant that from the beginning of their reign, the PGs decision to carry on with the war made them unpopular as food shortages and the economy got worse and worse. For example, by 1917, the price of bread had doubled while the rations halved from their original figures in 1914. This discontent was proven as early as April the 20th as a riot broke onto the streets demanding that Milyukov, the head of Russian foreign affairs and key war minister, was sacked. This was significant as it meant that in the times of potential danger for the PG, they couldn’t rely on the people to support them.
Alexander III re-implements Tsarist form, through the use of repression and terror. At the end of the Crimean War, Alexander II realised that Russia was no longer a great military power. His advisers argued that a backwards economy which is reliant on the serfs could not compete with modernized powers such as Britain and France. He also became increasingly unpopular at this time, meaning he needed to do something
The war was caused by grudges countries had held against each other from previous wars. Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were the Triple Alliance. Britain, France and Russia were the Triple Entente (friendly agreement). These agreements meant that if ever war broke out you would help the country you are in agreements with. Germany was 30-40 years old and wanted to have a bigger empire and navy than Britain, which had the biggest empire and biggest navy out of all of the countries.
This was all thanks to Russia’s finance minister Sergei Witte. He tried to bring Russia’s economy up to the standards with the rest of Europe as they were seen as backwards compared to other countries. The best way he saw this was through industrialization. This is because the market was heavily controlled by the state and the development of heavy industry allowed for a fast catch-up, rapidly covering the 'gap' that existed in the country's economy. Besides all this such industrialization improved the overall military capability of Russia.
This meant that the government had back up from the army if anything were to up rise. But this came at a cost, Ebert promised to stop the spread of revolutionary socialism (which the army hated) and too preserve the authority of the current army officers, this basically meant the army were controlling Ebert. This was a significant change that could have led to a revolution because Ebert would NOT have been able to hold onto power without the support of the army. Ebert hoped to maintain Stability throughout Germany by introducing an Act called ‘Stinner-Leigien Act’ which represented real progress and reform. Both Ebert and the Army simply wanted to ensure that there would be no Left Wing Revolution.
This effectively weakened the success of a revolution because of the lack of organization and co-operation. Every group had their own agenda, so each group revolted individually. The growth of resentment in the Russian population had been harboring for many years. Due to the centuries of repression the people had decided that the autocratic system in Russia was old fashioned. The redemption payments that were to be payed for 49 years were an example of the unfair taxation's that were put on the peasants.