Background Information

World War I is easily among the most destructive things to ever happen in human history. Without even looking at the death toll, its effect can be seen by examining maps from before and after the period. Many of Europe's old powers vanish while dozens appear (or reappear: check out Poland!) in their places.

We focus on The Ottoman Empire because its decline and ultimate fall make a strong connection to the events of European history covered in the class thus far. Also, our friend Shikder Afasr, who had to leave the class for personal reasons, made a very strong suggestion to do this topic and both Sunny and I decided to pursue it.

The Decline and Fall of The Ottoman Empire

A rule in history is that empires fall. From the Persians, Romans, and even the mighty Mongol empires, they were all subject to the same fate. When empires crumble, there is no single cause for it either. The Ottoman Empire was no exception to this rule.

1.) Economic Decline

When the Ottoman Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire in 1453, access to Asia was now cut off. As a result, Europeans tried to find new ways eastward which lead to the events covered in class from the discovery of the Americas and eastward trading routes via Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Over time, The Ottoman Empire is cut off from all the new products and trade routes that Europe had acquired and it became quite the detriment. As a land based empire, it gained taxes from newly gained lands. After extending its borders to central as far west as Central Europe and as far east as Iran, it could no longer expand. Coupling the loss of new trade and no longer acquiring new lands, The Ottoman Empire began crumbling very gradually. In the mid-1800s right before the Crimean War, Tsar Nicholas I was interviewed about The Ottoman Empire and he referred to it as, "The sick man of Europe." After hundreds of years, The Ottoman Empire was merely a shell of its former self and with the glory days of Suleiman the Magnificent far in the rear-view mirror, the fall was only a matter of time.

2.) Nationalism (internally and externally) 

Nationalism as a driving political force really takes off int he 19th and 20th centuries. The concept of people sharing a common language and ancestry within long established borders began to take hold of European citizens and ultimately paved the way for the formation of modern Germany and Italy. For The Ottoman Empire, Nationalism marked the beginning of the end. From territories it ruled just outside of its borders, Greece and the Balkan States began a number of revolts that would ultimate lead to their departure from The Ottoman Empire and become their own independent nations.

Within the empire itself, Nationalism began to take hold of Turkish citizens who felt that moniker of "empire" was archaic and needed to be done away with. Led by the Young Turks, Nationalism became a very popular ideal within the empire and became a new source of inspiration for the future. From being a popular political movement, they eventually become the ruling party of the Ottoman Empire leading into World War I. There will be more on the Young Turks and the cost of Nationalism, but that'll be explored more at greater depth in the Armenian Genocide section.

3.) They picked the losing side in World War I

As easy as that. The Ottoman Empire had done surprisingly well against the British Navy in the Mediterranean during the early days of the war. Despite being quite behind in industrialization, their knowledge of the Mediterranean and history as a naval power truly came to good use against the British. However, because of their longstanding rivalry and alignment against Russia, the Ottomans sided with Germany. Regardless of how well they did, concessions for losing the war involved abandoning the form of government that lead them into war and becoming one more favorable to the other western nations (democratic). This is often cited as the primary cause of The Ottoman Empire dissolving, but there are a number of factors that contribute quite heavily other than simply losing the war.

4.) Weak leadership caused by banning fratricide (?)

This reasoning is a bit controversial but still arguably a reason for the decline. In The Ottoman Empire, the selection process for the Sultan was done by fratricide; literally killing your brothers. Sultans were always male and they also had a harem of women that would father many of their children. This concept came to a head when Mehmet III, a decedent of Suleiman the Magnificent murdered nineteen of his brothers to gain the Sultanate. After such an incredible spree of murders for the Sultanate, fratricide was banned. This is arguably a cause for the reason behind such weak leadership leading to their fall because the selection process truly weeded out who was unfit to rule.

Sources:

“BBC Documentary Ottoman Empire,” Youtube Video, 1:30:51. Posted by BBCDocumentaryHD, Publushed on December 13, 2014, link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt-WDBHJVWo

Robert Johnson, “The Decline of the Ottoman Empire, c. 1798-1913: Robert Johnson Puts the Decline of a Once-Great Empire in tan International Context.” History Review 52 (2005): 3+. World History in Context. Web. November 2, 2015.

Virginia Aksan, “The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire.” The Historian 57.2 (1994( 372+. World History in Context. Web. November 2 2015. 

The Armenian Genocide

Any discussion about the end of the The Ottoman Empire is incomplete without mentioning the Armenian Genocide. Carried out in 1915, the Armenian Genocide was one of the first uses of the word genocide to describe an event of this scale. How does something like this happen?

One of the ways to understand the Armenian Genocide or any government sponsored mass killings of people is to see it as sort of the dark side of Nationalism. Nationalism itself is not inherently bad as evident in the fact that the world is comprised of nations, we live and represent nations and all of that, however, it can be taken too far. In the case of the Armenian Genocide, it most certainly is brought to a dark place.

This happens as a result of World War I and the kind of paranoia and fear the war struck within people. For hundreds of years, Armenians had lived within the Ottoman Empire and at this point were many generations removed from their homeland in Armenia. However, with reports of Armenians enlisting for service in the Russian army, the Turkish people called for something to be done about Armenians living within Turkish borders. What the Turks wanted done was to eliminate them.

Lead by the Young Turks, this was carried out in two phases. The first of which was a mass incarceration and murder of able bodied Armenians. In doing this, the Armenian people could never fully rally any kind of revolt seen in both Greece and the Balkan States. The second phase was a forced removal of Armenians from their homes in Turkey and sending them on death marches into the Syrian deserts with the army behind them. If you're familiar with the Trail of Tears in American History carried out by Andrew Jackson for native tribes like the Seminole, then the Armenian Genocide is a very similar event.

The death tolls for this genocide vary. They range from as little as 80,000 to 600,000 however, more modern counts estimate the death tolls to be from 1 million to 1.5 million. Every year April 24th, Armenians commemorate the genocide with gatherings and rallies. Today, only 28 countries recognize this event as a genocide and currently, the Turkish government refuse to acknowledge the event as a genocide and bare no responsibilities for it ever occurring.

Scenes of the Armenian Genocide:





Example of mass grave of Armenians found in Turkey



Sources:

Max Bergoholz, “Against Massacre: Humanitarian Interventions in the Ottoman Empire, 1815-1914.” The Historian 75.2 (2013): 410+. World History in Context. Web. November 2, 2015. 

Stephen Ryan “Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genoicde, 1915-1918.” The Historian 72.4 (2010): 965+. World History in Context. Web. November 2, 2015.Stephen, Ryan, “’The Young Turks’, Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire.” The Historian 76.1 (2014): 160+. World History in Context. Web. November 2, 2015. 

Dadaism

Between World War I, the end of the Ottoman Empire and the Armenian Genocide, these are a lot of really heavy events happening at the world within a decade. How does one gauge how people at this time felt?

Prior to the war, there had been no warfare within European borders since Napoleon. In addition, the Romanticist movement brought a wave of optimism as well this nostalgic longing for warfare. The war they got was World War I and its impact sucked the wave of optimism out of everyone. It left countless people in a daze of confusion, total loss, and with just a void that the modern world was just so terrible.

This is where Dadaism comes. Also known as Dada, this art style was a mash up of words and pictures of the time compiled to convey this sense of loss and confusion in response to world events. Dada artists would compile collages with various pictures of notable people of the time, words, and other symbols and juxtapose them in such an attempt to express all these mixed feelings. On the outset, these pieces just look like a mess of things just jumbled up together, but frankly that's how people felt. They couldn't cope with with the way the world was turning was beyond what anyone could expect and the feelings it conjured was beyond what words or classical art forms could adequately express.

Examples of Dada art:





Sources:

Donna M. Kristiansen, “What is Dada?” Educational Theater Journal Vol. 20, no. 3. October, 1968, pg. 457-462

“The Nonsensical Art of Dada |Dadaism|” Little Art Talks, Youtube Video, 5:44. Posted by Little Art Talks, Published December 21, 2014, link; http://youtu.be/ob2e9CNsld4

“Tzara, Tristan (1896-1963)” Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Afe of War & Reconstruction. 
Ed. John Merriman & Jay Winter. Vol. 5. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006. 2579 – 2581. World History in Context. Web. November 2, 2015.