The Decline and Fall of the Ottoman Empire

The Decline & Fall of the Ottoman Empire offers a provocative view of the Empire’s decline from the failure to take Vienna in 1683 to the abolition of the Sultanate by Mustafa Kemal (Attaturk) in 1922 during a revolutionary upsurge in Turkish national pride. The narrative contains instances of violent revolt and bloody reprisals, such as the massacres of Armenians in 1896, and other ethnic episodes in Crete and Macedonia. More generally, the narrative emphasizes recurring problems: competition between religious and secular authority; the acceptance or rejection of Western ideas; and the strength or weakness of successive Sultans. The book also highlights the special challenges of the early twentieth century, when railways and oilfields gave new importance to Ottoman lands in the Middle East–Publisher’s description