dexter
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For 600 years, the Ottoman Empire was a superpower. This two-part documentary tells the story of how this vast empire vanished in less than a century.
The Ottoman Empire extended across three continents and the seven seas. Over the hundred years from Greek independence in 1830 to the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, the Ottoman Empire withdrew from Europe for good after a presence in the Balkans lasting almost 500 years. The shared past is often downplayed by national historians, but the Balkan states are strongly influenced by the complexities of Christian, Muslim and Jewish peoples living together, says Mark Mazower from Columbia University. It was more of a ‘side by side’ existence based on the Ottoman Empire’s "millet” system, where non-Muslims enjoyed the protection of the sultan but had to pay special taxes in return. Over the course of the 19th century, the region’s religious identities slowly became clear national ones; people now saw themselves as Serbs, Greeks, Armenians and Bulgarians. This rising nationalism, along with attempts by the major European powers to get their hands on the region’s resources and the inability of the Ottoman Empire to implement reforms, brought about the end of Ottoman rule in Europe. Using rare picture and film footage and with contributions by international historians, this two-part documentary analyses the last century of the Ottoman Empire and tries to understand its demise.
For six centuries, the Ottoman Empire was a superpower that stretched across three continents - and was home to the three major monotheistic religions. But the empire was brought to its knees in less than a century.
The Ottoman Empire was already comparatively weak when it entered the war on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914. In 1915, Ottoman authorities started deporting or killing ethnic Armenians who lived in Anatolia - in what would become known as the first example of genocide in the 20th century. It was a demonstration of domestic power by a state that was falling apart. During the war, there was fighting in all corners of the empire, including Anatolia itself and the Arab majority provinces to the south. The empire’s attempts to maintain influence in its remaining Arab provinces must be viewed in this context. But Arab peoples were fed up with being governed by Ottoman administrators - and demanded national sovereignty. Britain and France took advantage of this discontent, and promised the Arab rulers independence. But the promise was hollow. The remaining territories of the Ottoman Empire were transformed into a collection of artificial nation-states. The creation of these states - including Syria,Transjordan, and Iraq - can be traced to the expansionist policies of Britain and France. As the victorious allies moved ahead with plans to partition Anatolia, Mustafa Kemal - a successful commander during the war - organized a national resistance movement. In 1922, the new Turkish parliament abolished the Ottoman sultanate, and proclaimed the creation of the Republic of Turkey. In 1923, Turkey and Greece agreed to a compulsory population exchange - which involved the deportation of more than one-million Greeks from Turkey, and about 400,000 Muslims from Greece.
........the Muslim world has been suffering since you've been gone......
