THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

The Russian Empire turned its attention to the west under the late 17th and early 18th century rule of Peter the Great. His moves to build Russia into a great western empire were reinforced by tsar Catherine the Great in the late 18th century. Although the tension between Slavic traditions and the new western orientation remained, Russia retained its growing reputation as a world power, especially after resisting Napoleon's invasion in 1812. However, Russia in the mid-19th century was a huge, diverse realm that was very difficult to rule from a central location, even with the power granted to an absolute tsar. Its economy remained agriculturally based, with most people as serfs bound to the land that they cultivated.

Russia got into trouble with powerful England and France, when its formidable army attacked the Ottoman Empire to seize access to warm water ports around the Black Sea. Fearful of an upset in European balance of power, England and France supported the Ottomans in defeating Russian troops in the Crimean War (1853-1856). This defeat clearly showed Russian weakness, and it led Tsar Alexander II to attempt reform by emphasizing industrialization, creating elected district assemblies called zemstvos, and emancipating the serfs.

Russia's instability became apparent when Alexander II was assassinated by one of the many revolutionary groups that were growing rapidly within the country. Some of these revolutionary groups were Marxist, and their influence would eventually take over the country in 1917. However, Russia continued on under absolute rule until then, with an intense state-run industrialization program that did modernize Russia by the end of the 19th century.

THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE - "THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE"

The Ottoman Empire reached its peak during the 16th and 17th centuries when they won many of their encounters with European kingdoms, although their attack of Europe was stopped with their unsuccessful siege of Vienna. By the early 1800s the Ottoman Empire had many internal problems, including these:

• Economic problems - Military officers owned most of the land, a fact that created a great deal of resentment from others. Since military were exempt from taxes, the government had problems getting enough revenue to keep the army and government functioning. "Tax farming"; or relying on middlemen to collect taxes; became corrupt, and their demands created resentment from the taxpayers.
• Problems with the Janissaries - The Janissaries originally were Christian boys from the Balkans that had been recruited by the Ottomans to fight in their armies. By the early 1800s, the Janissaries were well established as military and political leaders. They often operated separately from the weakening sultan's court and gained a reputation form brutality and corruption.
• Revolts in the Balkans and Greece - At their heart, these revolts were evidence of nationalism &endash; Balkan and Greek people who had loyalties to their ethnic identities, not the Ottoman Empire. Many people in these Christian areas resented Ottoman control, and they were inspired to revolt when janissary governors treated them brutally. The Balkans appealed to Russia for help, which eventually led Russia to invade the Ottoman Empire, sparking the Crimean War. Greece gained its independence, supported in large part by western European nations. Most famously, the English poet Lord Byron, who fought and died in the Greek Revolution, saw the battle as one between western civilization (with roots in Ancient Greece) and the Islamic Ottomans.

When the Russians attack started the Crimean War, the Ottomans were aided by England and France. Even though Russia was defeated, an important result of the war was that the Ottomans found themselves increasingly dependent on western Europe. Even before the war, weak Ottoman rulers tried to restore their power by imposing western reforms, such as trials, rules of law, separation of church and state, and a Magna Carta type document. Young people were sent to France to learn modern military techniques and medicine. Education reforms featured textbooks written in French, and the army adopted French-style uniforms. The nickname that western nations bestowed on the Ottomans reflected their attitudes about the empire: "the sick man of Europe."

The decline of Ottoman power and prosperity had a strong impact on a group of urban and well-educated young men who protested European domination of the empire's political, economic, and cultural life. Inspired by the European nationalist movements, they began to call themselves the Young Turks, and they pushed for a Turkish national state. A constitution was granted in 1876, but was later rescinded under a new sultan. However the Young Turk movement continued on through the era.