Europe and a Weakening Ottoman Empire

The decline of the Ottoman Empire is a matter of two causes, one of which eventually helped keep it protected. The first cause was the madness and poor judgment of some of the later Sultans. One Sultan drowned his 280 concubines, another insisted on leading his troops into battle against the Prince of Savoy which took from the Ottoman military prestige, and others were given to addiction to carnal desires and alcohol. The upside is that other Sultans came in and made reforms, as did Viziers, but the aforementioned issues did still aid in their decline.

The second cause, and also a solution to the Ottoman decline, were the powers in Europe. Austria was the constant nemesis to the Ottomans and wore them down frequently in battles over neighboring territories. Many nations like Spain and Britain found sailing routes around Africa, so they no longer needed to move through the Ottoman Empire, which also took from their economic resiliency. Russia was also pounding at their door with talk of pan-Slavic unity; Russia is why Europe decided to help the Ottomans.

Russia wanted Istanbul in a bad way, and their control would give their warships access to the Mediterranean, which would spell trouble for the rest of Europe. While Austria maintained their thorn-in-side status, Britain decided to work with the Ottomans to use steamships in the Fertile Crescent to make travels to India faster; this meant they needed the protection the Ottomans could provide. The French took it upon themselves to become protectors of the Middle East as they had the common rivalry against the Austrians; they were also almost as big on doing business with the Ottoman Empire as the British were.