In the late 18th century, the Ottoman Empire faced threats on numerous frontiers from multiple industrialised European powers. In response, the empire initiated a period of internal reform, attempting to bring itself into competition with the expanding West. The period of these reforms is known as the Tanzimat, and led to the end of the Old Regime period. Despite the Ottoman empire's precarious international position, the central state was significantly strengthened. The process of reforming and modernization in the empire began with the declaration of the Nizam-I Cedid during the reign of Sultan Selim III and was punctuated by several reform decrees, such as the Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane in 1839 and the Hatt-ı Hümayun in 1856. Over the course of the 19th century, the Ottoman state became increasingly powerful and rationalized, exercising a greater degree of influence over its population than in any previous era.
The decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries
Mustafa Reşid Pasha, the principal architect of the Edict of Gülhane
The green color marks the territories that were ceded to Russia following the wars with Turkey from the 17th century to the first half of the 19th century.
The Armenian national movement
Crimean War
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The Crimean War was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between the Russian Empire and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom, and Sardinia-Piedmont.
Attack on the Malakoff, by William Simpson
The naval Battle of Navarino (1827), as depicted by Ambroise Louis Garneray.
Russian siege of Varna in Ottoman-ruled Bulgaria, July–September 1828
Russian siege of Kars, Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829