The Ottoman Empire on the Brink: Financial Collapse and Rising Nationalism

By the 1870s, the once-mighty Ottoman Empire faced existential threats. A century after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774), which had already weakened Ottoman dominance, the empire teetered on the edge of financial ruin. In 1875, the Ottoman state declared bankruptcy, worsening relations with British and French creditors. Despite repeated interest payments, the empire failed to address its crushing debt principal. Desperate measures, including tax hikes, sparked Christian revolts—first in Crete, where Greek nationalists sought union with Greece, then in Herzegovina and Bulgaria.

Bulgaria’s case was particularly complex. Once a medieval Balkan empire, its identity had been suppressed under Ottoman rule, with Greek clergy dominating the Orthodox Church. American missionaries later standardized the Bulgarian language, reviving national consciousness. Meanwhile, the empire struggled to integrate Tatar and Circassian refugees from earlier Russo-Turkish wars, whose tensions with local Bulgarians mirrored conflicts between Armenians and Kurds in eastern Anatolia. Reports of Circassian massacres against Christians reached Britain, igniting outrage.

The “Bulgarian Horrors” and European Intervention

The 1876 Bulgarian uprising and subsequent Ottoman reprisals became a European scandal. British liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone seized the moment, condemning Ottoman rule in fiery speeches. His famous pamphlet, The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East, demanded Ottoman withdrawal from Christian-majority regions. Yet Gladstone’s moral crusade ignored nuances: British diplomats, including Ambassador Austen Henry Layard, disputed his claims, noting Bulgarian insurgents had also committed atrocities.

Russia saw an opportunity to overturn the post-Crimean War order. In 1877, it invaded the Balkans and the Caucasus, seizing the fortress of Kars. Despite fierce Ottoman resistance at Plevna under Osman Pasha, Russian forces advanced to San Stefano (modern Yeşilköy), near Istanbul. The 1878 Treaty of San Stefano created a vast Bulgarian state under Russian influence, but the other Great Powers—led by Britain—forced a revision at the Congress of Berlin. The resulting treaty shrank Bulgaria, granted Austria-Hungary Bosnia, and gave Britain Cyprus.

Abdülhamid II’s Reign: Reform and Repression

Amid this turmoil, Abdülhamid II ascended the throne in 1876. Initially embracing reform, he suspended the short-lived constitution by 1878, ruling autocratically for the next three decades. His reign was paradoxical:

– Islamic Modernization: Abdülhamid promoted pan-Islamism, positioning himself as caliph. He built the Hejaz Railway to strengthen ties with Arabia and invested in education, including girls’ schools.
– Economic Control: The Ottoman Public Debt Administration (1881), controlled by European creditors, stabilized finances but eroded sovereignty. Foreign investment spurred infrastructure projects like the Galata Bridge.
– Repression: A vast spy network targeted dissent. Armenian revolutionary groups, inspired by Balkan nationalism, faced brutal suppression, notably in the 1894–96 massacres, which killed tens of thousands.

The Young Turk Revolution and the Empire’s Final Act

By 1908, discontent brewed among military officers and intellectuals. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), a secret society of “Young Turks,” launched a revolution in Macedonia. Forcing Abdülhamid to restore the constitution, they promised equality and reform. Yet crises followed: Austria annexed Bosnia, Bulgaria declared independence, and a counter-revolution briefly unseated the CUP.

The Young Turks’ secular nationalism alienated minorities. Their power struggle paved the way for World War I—and the empire’s collapse.

Legacy: From Empire to Republic

The Ottoman Empire’s final decades revealed the impossibility of reconciling modernization with imperial survival. Abdülhamid’s mix of reform and repression, followed by the Young Turks’ turbulent reign, set the stage for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s secular republic. Yet the ethnic tensions of the 19th century—Armenian grievances, Balkan nationalism, and Arab discontent—echo into modern conflicts, reminding us how empires unravel.

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Note: This article synthesizes the original Chinese text’s key events while adding historical context, analysis, and narrative flow for an international audience.