The Ottoman Crisis

Of the many things that caused a crisis for the 18th century Ottomans, the first is the state the military was in. The Janissaries were not keeping their training up and had made drastic changes in their living arrangements, such as living outside of the barracks, marrying, or even finding outside jobs. What is worse is the Empire only held one army instead of splitting up their forces, and were also only commanded by either the Sultan or his Vizier; only having one army was a large weakness because it meant they could only handle one war front and were open to two opposing empires squeezing them from two sides.

Connected to this is the strength given to the Janissaries through using firearms. The horseback soldiers did not use guns, so the Janissaries resolved to rise up and demand new privileges. This led to breakdowns and the closing of Janissary training schools.

Other issues come from the Sultan's decision to make the succession of Viziers come solely from the devshirme, a tax system that took Christian boys instead of money and trained them for military and administrative service. This threw off the balance between them and the class of ulamas (scholars who knew and interpreted Shari'a) and landowners. Coupled with the military issues, a single ruling class arose and it was able to utilize nepotism.

Other economic issues such as Europe's re-routing of trade routes around Africa and the influx of silver from America were also issues to consider. New merchants and artisans expanding from Europe proved to be harsh competition for the Ottoman businesspeople. Overpopulation was also a drag on the economy, as were overly conservative ulamas that banned printing presses and were constantly on the watch for anything that could usurp their power. Of course, this merely added to the issues discussed earlier.