page_title: Imperialism
section_title: Ottoman Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Imperialism / Imperialism by country / Ottoman Empire
caption_attribution_description: Photograph by Tropical Press Agency "WELL EQUIPPED AND TRAINED TURKISH INFANTRY MARCHING THROUGH ALEPPO". The photo was taken at the break of WW1, and titled: "THE KAISER RESERVE OF MAN POWER". The Ottoman Empire joined Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Central Power) during WW1.
context_page_description: Imperialism is a policy or ideology of extending the rule or authority of a country over other countries and people, often by military force or by gaining political and economic control. While related to the concepts of colonialism and empire, imperialism is a distinct concept that can apply to other forms of expansion and many forms of government.
  The concept of imperialism arose in the modern age, associated chiefly with the European colonial powers of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and New Imperialism. However, expansionism and centralisation have been pursued throughout recorded history, with the earliest examples dating back to the mid-third millennium BC. Following the retrenchment of European colonization, the concept has further evolved and has been broadly used to identify as well as criticise a range of policies and a number of states, including even supposedly anti-imperialist states.
context_section_description: The Ottoman Empire was an imperial state that lasted from 1299 to 1922. In 1453, Mehmed the Conqueror besieged the capital of the Byzantine Empire, resulting in the Fall of Constantinople after 1,500 years of Roman rule, thereafter making it the capital of the empire. During the 16th and 17th centuries, in particular at the height of its power under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire was a powerful multinational, multilingual empire, which invaded and colonized much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, the Caucasus, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa. Its repeated invasions, and brutal treatment of Slavs led to the Great Migrations of the Serbs to escape persecution. At the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries.
  With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries. Following a long period of military setbacks against European powers, the Ottoman Empire gradually declined in its ability to remain sovereign against competing powers in the late 19th century.
  The Rise of nationalism in the Ottoman Empire eventually caused the breakdown of the Ottoman millet concept. An understanding of the concept of the nationhood prevalent in the Ottoman Empire, which was different from the current one as it was centered on religion, was a key factor in the decline of the Ottoman Empire. In 1821-1829 the Greeks in the Greek War of Independence were assisted by the Russian Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of France. 
  Later in fact, the Ottoman Empire could exist only in the conditions of acute rivalry of the great powers. Russia's attempt to negotiate with Britain on the partition of the Ottoman Empire failed. Britain after the conclusion of Treaty of Balta Liman in 1838 was interested in preserving the Ottoman Empire and in Crimean war 1853–1856,  the great powers of Britain and France opposed Russia, as a result of the Ottoman Empire existed until 1922. As result of the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878), Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro gained independence in the European part of the Empire, at the same time Britain achieved colonial possession of Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied and annexed by Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1908.
  The empire allied with Germany in the early 20th century, with the imperial ambition of recovering its lost territories, but it dissolved in the aftermath of its defeat in the First World War. The partition of the Ottoman Empire was finalized under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres. The Treaty of Sèvres was never ratified. The Kemalist national movement, supported by Soviet Russia, achieved victory in the course of the  Turkish War of Independence, and the parties signed and ratified the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 and 1924. The Republic of Turkey was established. The residue was the new state of Turkey in the Ottoman Anatolian heartland, as well as the creation of modern Balkan and Middle Eastern states, thus ending Turkish colonial ambitions.
caption: Ottoman troops marching in Aleppo
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