The nineteenth century of the Ottoman Empire was marked by European wars and expansion. The Europeans indulged in twisted tactics for the purpose of acquiring new territories throughout the 19th as well as the initial few years of the 20th century. Though some of this was already a part of the European territory, in spite of being far away yet the bulk of the territory that Europeans desired was primarily non-European.

Human history has never ever witnessed such hasty and frantic annexation of territories like the one which occurred in the 19th and the early 20th centuries. The end consequence for the Ottomans was the loss of their Empire, and, finally, the loss of the Ottoman dynasty itself.

Some of the highlights of the 19th century Ottoman Empire involved the following landmark events. The first major Ottoman war was the Crimean War which occurred against Russia occurred from 1854 to 1856. As opposed to many of the subsequent conflicts with Europe which were initiated by the Ottomans, this war was started by the Europeans.

Russia was primarily interested in territory. Throughout the 17th and the 18th centuries, Russia had already gradually started annexing Muslim states in Central Asia. By 1854, Russia arrived near the banks of the Black Sea. Anxious to annex territories in Eastern Europe, particularly the Ottoman provinces of Moldavia and Walachia which are parts of present day Romania, the Russians found flimsy grounds in order to initiate war with the Ottomans.

The war soon took the shape of an European war when Britain and France allied with the Ottomans in order to protect their rewarding trade interests in that region. The war ended badly for the Russians with final conclusion of Paris peace of 1856 which was unfavorable to them.

The expansionist Russians, further, desired several key territories from the Ottomans. However, only thing which really prevented them from aggressively annexing them was the balance of power in Europe particularly Austria and Germany which Russia feared. The real trophy for the Russians was the city of Istanbul, which the Russian referred as Constantinople.

Seizure of that city meant that they would be in control the entire trade between Europe and Asia that took place via Black Sea. The Ottomans had lost complete morale. The old military state which was confident in its ability to protect the Islamic world from European predation, crumbled in its confidence because of a series of defeats and draws in wars with Russia.

In 1875, the Slavic people living in the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina led an uprising against the Ottomans in order to gain their freedom. The overall weakness of the Ottomans led two independent, neighbor Slavic states, Montenegro and Serbia, to assist the rebellion.

Within a year, the rebellion spread to the Ottoman province of Bulgaria. The rebellion was part of a larger political movement called the Pan-Slavic movement, which had as its goal the unification of all Slavic peoples. This Balkan rebellion ended on an extremely bad note for the Ottomans, and by 1878 they had to sue for peace.

The history of Europe in the latter half of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th experienced somewhat distasteful history of land capture and conflict among European states. The Ottoman Empire, at this time which was nearing its death, was dragged into these conflicts and beaten into its own grave.

This site covers all areas Ottoman Empire History Facts. Besides the popular Ottoman topics like rise and fall, leaders, society, economy, Inventions, Religion, it also covers several other areas like comparison with other empires.

Armenians In The Ottoman Empire	Crimean War Ottoman Empire	British Ottoman Empire
End Of The Ottoman Empire	Decline Of Ottoman Empire Part2	Napoleon Ottoman Empire
Osman of Ottoman Empire	Ottoman and Byzantine Empires	Ottoman Empire 1300 Part 2
Rise And Fall Of Ottoman Empire	Rise of The Ottoman Empire	Rise of The Ottoman Empire Part2
Ottoman Empire in 1566	Ottoman Empire in 16th Century	Ottoman After WW I
Ottoman Empire Allies	Ottoman Empire And Palestine	Ottoman Empire Arabs
Ottoman Empire in 1500	Ottoman Empire Armenian Genocide	Ottoman Empire Based Movies
Reasons For The Collapse Of The Ottoman Empire	Ottoman Empire Economics	Ottoman Empire Countries
Slavery In Ottoman Empire	Partitioning Of The Ottoman Empire	Ottoman Empire The War Machine
Ottoman Empire In Africa Part 1	Ottoman Empire In Africa Part 2	Ottoman Empire In The Balkans Part 1
Ottoman Empire In The Balkans Part 2	Ottoman Empire WW I	Ottoman Empire Janissaries
Ottoman Empire Jews	Ottoman Empire Vs Roman Empire Comparison	Ottoman Empire Nineteenth Century Part 1
Ottoman Empire Nineteenth Century Part 2	Ottoman Empire Primary Sources for History Study	Ottoman Empire Nationalism
Ottoman Empire Social Life And Society	Ottoman Empire Suleyman	Ottoman Empire Summary Part 1
Ottoman Empire Summary Part 2	Ottoman Empire Tanzimat

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