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2 Fratricide in the harem 3 Corruption of Janissaries 4 Failure of Outside Assistance 5 Sources |
Unstable leadership was also a problem the second most powerful man in the Empire was the Grand Vizier, the advisor in chief to the Sultan. This position was also considerably weakened by the fact that to prevent a fetva or coup the Sultan would often sacrifice his Grand Vizier. In turbulent times Sultans would thus frequently go through dozens of Grand Viziers in only a few years. This prevented a stable government, the thing most required in turbulent times.
Other practices weakened the Empire's leadership. One of the most problematic was the method of ensuring that an uncle or brother of the Sultan did not try to seize power. For the duration of the Sultan's reign they would be locked away in a small apartment, known as a kafe and never see the outside world. Whenever a Sultan died or was deposed with no male heir, his brother or uncle would be taken out of the kafe and be made ruler of the Empire.
The women in the harem also jostled for power, and the mother of the sultan became a powerful force. Each mother in the harem would try to promote her own son to become sultan, as they knew that the alternative would be that their sons would be killed.
The Ottoman Empire was always at a cross-roads, should it be true to its Asian heritage, or embrace European ideas and customs. The Sultans, seeing the advantages a modern army and new technologies could bring, were often in favour of westernization.
Weak Leadership
In any effort to modernize or reform the empire the Sultan was always opposed by the powerful military and religious elite who did not want to lose their traditional powers. One of the most powerful of these elites, was the powerful religious body known as the ulema. If the ulema was displeased with a Sultan a decree known as a fetva would be issued and the Sultan would be removed from power. The threat of a fetva was a powerful weapon used many times by the ulema to force the Sultan to back down from reforms. Fratricide in the harem
It must be remembered that sultans could take several wives and many concubines. The sultan had a harem, and there could be between 200 and 600 women there. It was thus possible for a sultan to have many children, and in particular, many sons. A practice of fratricide grew up, in which on the death of a sultan, one of the sons would become the new sultan, and would then order the execution of all his brothers. Although this did not always happen, many were executed. The thought behind this practice was that it was considered important to remove any possibility of having different focal points for power, and a rationalisation was that the death of a few would be a small price to pay for political stability. The fear of civil war, in which many could die, was a strong driving force for this practice.Corruption of Janissaries
To create a modern state out of the Ottoman Empire the area that most needed redevelopment was the military. Most Sultans realised this, but their efforts were repeatedly repelled. The most powerful group in the empire, and the one most averse to change, were the members of the Sultan's personal army. These were known as the Janissaries. They were first created from a tax, known as the devsirme. The devsirme was imposed on all Christians living in Ottoman controlled territory. Every five years one in five Christian sons were given to the Sultan. Some entered the civil service, some went into politics, and a few managed to rise to the position of Grand Vizier. The majority of the boys, however, entered the army. They were trained to be master warriors supremely loyal to the Sultan, and became known as the Janissaries. They were strictly lead by an ancient code of honour and were ready to sacrifice themselves for their Sultan at any time. Overtime, however, the Janissaries, with their great strength and close attachment with the Sultan, gained a great deal of power in the empire. With power comes corruption, and during the 18th century the Janissary code of honour gradually disappeared. The Janissaries became rich through bribes and theft. They used their power to control the government, and to do all that was possible to prevent changes to their traditional powers. By the 1820s the Janissaries were no more than a group of heavily armed thugs rebelling at even minor military changes. The situation was desperate, the Ottoman army had fallen so far behind the rest of Europe that any aggressive power could take the capital. In 1826 the Janissaries revolted against the Sultan's decree that forced them to wear western military uniforms. Rather than back down to the Janissary threat as all previous Sultans had, Mahmud II used his new artillery regiments against the Janissary barracks in Constantinople. The barracks was destroyed and all the Janissaries trying to flee were killed. Outside the capital most of the Janissaries peacefully disbanded, but many of them were still executed on charges of treason. With the removal of the Janissaries the path to military reform was now open, but after centuries of Janissary interference the Ottoman army could never fully recover. Failure of Outside Assistance
To modernise the army, and bring it up to European standards, outsiders had to brought in. Unfortunately these outsiders were regarded as suspicious and inferior by the empire's elite. These senior members of the army and government still thought they were back to the 17th century when the Ottoman army was more powerful than any other on Earth; however, the signs of decline had were already evident. Catherine the Great had annexed the Crimea and Georgia at the end of the 18th century, and the Sultan had no way to intervene. Bessarabia was lost in 1812 after the Ottomans attempted to take advantage of Russia's war with Napoleon. These first losses to Russia, an enemy of the empire for centuries, were a great embarrassment, but they were not enough to motivate reform. In the early part of the 19th century the Ottoman Empire was allied with France, and thus it was to them that the Sultan turned for aid in rebuilding his military might. When they had requested French help a few of years before from the Directory a young artillery officer by the name of Napoleon Buonaparte was to be sent to Constantinople. He did not go, for just days before he was to embark for the near east he proved himself useful to the directory by putting down a Parisian mob and was kept in France. It is interesting to think of what a man of Napoleon's skill might have done with the Ottoman army. In his place a parade of French officers were brought in, and none of them could do a great deal. One example of an advisor who achieved limited success was the Baron de Tott a French officer. He did succeed in having a new foundry built to make artillery. As well he directed the construction of a new naval base. Unfortunately it was almost impossible for him to divert soldiers from the regular army into the new units. The new ships and guns that made it into service were too few to have much of an influence on the Ottoman army and de Tott returned home.Sources
Sources relevant to this article are listed in the main Ottoman Empire article.