Sample Essay on Comparison of Late Ottoman Empire and Modern Middle East

Example of Compare Contrast essay, Sample Paper

The Ottoman Empire was one of the greatest and most powerful estates that have ever existed on the planet. The name “Ottoman Empire” had frightened and conquered a lot of lands before its powers went to its decline. The Ottoman Empire started its existance in 1281 as a dynastic state and its glorious life lasted all the way until its decay in 1918. The “heart” of the Ottoman Empire was Anatolia, which is the territory of contemporary Turkey.

Late Ottoman Empire Essay

The Empire possessed and controlled a vast territory, especially in the “bloom” of its ruling. Its lands stretched all over southwest Asia, North Africa and southeastern Europe. The European territories “trembled” simply from hearing the name of Suleiman I, the Magnificent who brought the Empire to its blossom in 1580. This became the breaking point for the Empire and gradually it started to lose its power. This gradual loss of power and control was primarily due to the fear of European nations, which tired to take the Balkans from the Empire and therefore “cut down” its influence. During the late Ottoman Empire period in the XIX-XX centuries a lot of changes happened in its remaining estates. The late Ottoman Empire was the field of the “investigation of the truth” for different countries, including France, Spain, Russia, Britain, Italy and the USA. All these countries wanted to get superiority, control and influence on the territory of the Empire. The Empire was also influenced by the Napoleon invasion. The whole situation was complicated by the internal conflicts, which the Ottoman Empire experienced back then: not enough military forces, insufficient amount financial resources due to the “specific” taxation system and many others. The Empire’s disintegration was obvious and it caused the catalyzation of the activity of other countries against the Ottoman Empire.

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The Ottoman Empire was a plural society as it included different estates. The ruling system did not persist on the integration and creation of one single nation. Such giants as Russia, Britain and France tore the late Ottoman Empire in pieces. Its lands weakened leaving not chance of the survival of the Imperial unity. It included the next territories, the majority of which were under the influence of some country: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. Therefore this huge territory may not be completely considered to be the Ottoman Empire but mainly resembled its former possessions. The late Empire had several specific characteristics concerning its aspects of organization and societies. The majority of the population was not educated and could not read and write. Women started to become more active and started playing a great role in the Ottoman societies. At the end of its existance The Empire was rather tolerant to non-Muslims. The Land Law of 1858 made it easier to maintain the registration of individual landholdings creating a more organized estate. Young men were not forced to become Janissaries anymore but nevertheless the military forces extremely lacked progressive technologies and could not compete with European troops. As in the past the late Ottoman Empire mainly specialized in agriculture and even started to raise the prices and increased its export to Europe. It was the time of not just economical but also political decline because dictatorship and dynastic ruling started to outlive themselves in those days demanding democracy in order to survive. The late empire stopped its existance in 1923 with the creation on the first of November 1922 with the creation of the Republic of Turkey. The modern Middle East is situated on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. It does not have sticks borders and crates the so-called Muslim world or Islamic world. In comparison to the Ottoman Empire nowadays the Middle East possesses one of the most powerful and equipped armies in the world. This is primarily due to the necessity to defend the territories from the troops of other countries and also due to the Gulf conflict. The oil, which the Middle East is so rich with, has become a very important issue in the contemporary political relations, making the Middle East an arena of the struggle for domination over it. Women, in spite of the European stereotypes, are very active and have won a large number of Court cases against men. Women are also actively participating in the land acquisition. Nowadays the Middle East is a social and ethnic concentration of different nationalities. Thought the Middle East nowadays is considered to be also the concentration of terrorist movements, it is necessary to say that this fact has a lot to do with its relations with the USA. The contemporary Middle East is very disorganized but the main reason for this disorganization is the interference of other countries that should not be there. This causes artificial “bloating” of the conflicts, which aggravates them. The difference between the Ottoman Empire and the modern Middle East is huge and this is the consequence of the disembodied territory, which once used to be one powerful empire.