Ancient Meets Modern Where the East Meets West

The year is 1839. The Ottoman Empire is dying. Mahmud II, Ottoman Emperor at the time, realized this harsh reality, and recognized that the Ottomans needed a reformation to survive. Multiple crises were erupting across the Empire, both domestic emergencies and threats from outside the borders, something had to be done, and it had to be both drastic and rapid. Enter, the 'Tanzimat'. Turkish for "reorganization", the Tanzimat was the building blocks for the modernization of the Ottoman empire. But was it effective? Or merely too little, too late?

First implemented in November of 1839, the Tanzimat was the first real attempt by a Muslim world power to change into something more civilized and Western. The reformist sultan Mahmud II first started the changes, which were applied gradually until 1876, and were the brainchild of the Great Mustafa Rashid Pasha. The reforms were directed at taking the Ottoman Empire in a more secular direction, and bringing the Empire alongside other European nations in both mindset and technology. Some changes were purely cosmetic, almost symbolic in their casting off of the old way of life: military uniforms and the formal dress of the ruling class were two of these. However, most of the reforms issued in the Hatt-al Serif of Gulhane, or "Noble Edict of the Rose Chamber", established institutions that were previously unheard of in the Muslim world, institutions that would assure a security of life, property, honor and more, to every person living in within their borders, Muslim or not.

Some discounted the reforms as merely attempting to garner European approval and support, pointing to the Armenian Genocide – which the Ottoman government claimed was due to World War I – and reports that taxes to allow non-Muslims into the Turkish army were simply rebranded and kept, but for the most part, the reforms were as they seemed to be. The army was recreated into a modern day force – albeit influenced heavily by the French, bureaucracies were centralized, justice and education systems were rejuvenated and secularized. Copious public work projects sought to the infrastructure and physical appearance of the Empire, while new cities, rail lines, roads and telegraph lines were constructed in a European fashion.

Overall, the Tanzimat was paramount for the Ottoman Empire, but not enough to save it. It was not in vain, however, because it laid the groundwork for modern-day Turkey, who remains one of the West's staunchest allies in the entire Middle East to this day.

References

Akgun, S. (n.d.). The Emergence of Tanzimat in the Ottman Empire. Ankara Üniversitesi Dergiler Veritabanı. Retrieved February 3, 2013, from http://dergiler.ankara.edu.tr/dergiler/19/834/10541.pdf

Era of Modern Reform: The Tanzimat. (n.d.). Countries Quest. Retrieved February 3, 2013, from http://www.countriesquest.com/middle_east/turkey/history/era_of_modern_reform/the_tanzimat.htm

Tanzimat (Ottoman reform movement). (2013). Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved February 1, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/582884/Tanzimat