The Early Reform Era, 1789-1839

It meant returning to the age of Sultan Süleyman I (1520-66), which marked the golden age of the Ottoman Empire.

the Balkans (modern day Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria and greater parts of Romania), Anatolia (modern day Turkey) and most of the Arab world (modern day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Iraq, Kuwait, parts of the Arabian Peninsula) and Northern Africa (modern day Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria). The empire had also the control of the Black Sea and its northern shores controlled through the
Crimean Khans as well as the Aegean Islands.

Selim III was known as a poet and a musician, composer of Turkish classical music. He was also a member of the Mawlawi order following Celaleddin Rumi’s teaching

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed between the Imperial Russia and
the Ottoman Empire.

In order to take new measures and increase tax revenues, Nizâm-ı Cedîd had earlier been used by Grand vizier Köprülüzade Fazıl Mustafa Pasha (1689-1691).

  In 1802.  

In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself the emperor and the next year, Selim under the influence of Britain and Austria broke up his relation with France.

Because The French victory at Jena in 1806 opened the way for Russian invasion in the Balkans. Britain entered the war with the pretext of protecting the sultan against France.

The timar system in Ottoman Empire meant granting lands to feudal cavalrymen (sipâhî) who in return rendered military services and provided soldiers to the Ottoman center.

Sultan Mahmud II came to the Ottoman throne on July 28, 1808. He was the only male member of the Ottoman dynasty left.

Even though it was not implemented Sened-iİttifâk has been called the Ottoman Magna Carta because it limited the power of the Sultan. It was also seen as a step towards constitutionalism.

Kapıkulus (slave-servants) were widely known as the sultan’s loyal servants.

At the end of the eighteenth century, with the French Revolution in 1789, nationalism prevailed around the world. As a result, the Ottomans as a multi-religious and multiethnic empire were challenged by the nationalist waves initiated by Ottoman Serbs and Greeks.

Tepedelenli Ali Pasha was a brigand and later became an Ottoman pasha in 1788. After getting rich, he formed good relations with the Ottoman household and expanded his rule over some parts of Albania, Macedonia, Epirus, Thessaly and the Morea (the Peloponnese).

The Eastern Question arose with the decline of the Ottoman power in different regions. It meant that great powers competed and contemplated either for preserving the territorial integrity of the Ottomans or dividing the lands without upsetting the
balance of power in Europe.

The Janissary corps and their symbols were abolished. This event that marked
their end was widely known as the Auspicious Event (Vak’a-yı Hayriyye), indeed a victory.

Bektaşi was a Sufi order founded by Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli from Horasan. The order spread to Anatolia and Balkans in the sixteenth century but gained a political importance in the fifteenth century with the Janissaries. Due to their close ties with the Bektaşis the Janissary corps came to be known as the Ocak-ı Bektaşiyan, meaning the Bektaşi corps.

It was the post-1826 era that Mahmud started his reform program. He abandoned the eşkinci unit and created a new army, called Muallem Asâkir-i Mansûre-i Muhammediye (The Trained Victorious Soldiers of Mohammed).

A Prussian lieutenant and later field-marshal, Helmuth von Moltke, came to Istanbul in 1835 to advise Mahmud II on the modernization of his army. He even served under the Ottoman flag for some time. He wrote books on his travels. He later became the Chief of the Prussian Staff. He was also instrumental in changing the European map with Otto von Bismarck, who unified Germany in 1871 and became the chancellor and prime minister.

Ahmet Vefik Pasha was a political figure but more importantly he was a very  significant literary man. He established the first European style theatre and theatre plays in Bursa. He translated major works of Moliere and staged them.

Secularism is an ethical system independent of revealed religions and superstitions. It is some kind of separation of state and church. Thus, it came to mean that religion should not play a role in government, education, or other public functions of society.

In 1831, the first issue of an official newspaper was published under the name of Moniteur Ottoman, which was in French. The Turkish version of the official newspaper was called Takvim-i Vekâyi (Calendar of Events) published in the same year.

During the post Mahmud period, modern communication and transportation systems were introduced. As such, the first telegraph was used in 1855 and the first railways
was opened in 1866.

Levant, historically meant the countries along the eastern Mediterranean shores. It
was used for the coastlands of Asia Minor and Syria and sometimes the term Levant
included the areas from Greece to Egypt.