Tanzimat

The Tanzimat^[a] (Ottoman Turkish: تنظيمات, Turkish: Tanzimât, lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Edict of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Mehmed Emin Âlî Pasha, and Fuad Pasha, under Sultans Abdülmecid I and Abdülaziz, the Tanzimat sought to reverse the empire's decline by modernizing legal, military, and administrative systems while promoting Ottomanism (equality for all subjects). Though it introduced secular courts, modern education, and infrastructure like railways,^[2] the reforms faced resistance from conservative clerics, exacerbated ethnic tensions in the Balkans, and saddled the empire with crippling foreign debt. The Tanzimat’s legacy remains contested: some historians credit it with establishing a powerful national government, while others argue it accelerated imperial fragmentation.^[3]^[4]

Different functions of government received reform, were completely reorganized, or started from scratch. Among institutions that received significant attention throughout this period included legislative functions, secularization and codification of the legal system, crackdowns on the slave trade, education, property law, law enforcement, and the military. Ottoman statesmen also worked with reformers of the many confessional communities of the empire, millets, to codify — and in some cases democratize — their confessional governments.

The Tanzimat built on previous reform efforts of Sultan Mahmud II. During its height, the Porte's bureaucracy overshadowed the sultans. After a period of chaos following Âlî Pasha's death in 1871, the spirit of reorganization turned towards the imperial social contract, in the form of the 1876 Ottoman Constitution, written by Midhat Pasha. The Tanzimat Period is considered to have ended with the accession of Abdul Hamid II during the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–1878).^[5] However, reform efforts continued into the Hamidian, Young Turk, and One-Party period.

^ Strauss, Johann (1999). The First Ottoman Experiment in Democracy. Würzburg University Press. pp. 21–51.
^ Özyüksel, Murat (2014). "The Ottoman Railways: Networks and Discourse". Middle Eastern Studies. 50 (6): 906–927. doi:10.1080/00263206.2014.933422.
^ Cleveland, William L. (2016). A History of the Modern Middle East. Routledge. pp. 71–83. ISBN 978-0429495502.
^ Faroqhi, Suraiya (1994). The Decline of the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 110–115. ISBN 978-0195091682. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
^ Cleveland & Bunton 2012, p. 82.

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[1] Strauss, Johann (1999). The First Ottoman Experiment in Democracy. Würzburg University Press. pp. 21–51.

[3] Özyüksel, Murat (2014). "The Ottoman Railways: Networks and Discourse". Middle Eastern Studies. 50 (6): 906–927. doi:10.1080/00263206.2014.933422.

[Cleveland2016-4] Cleveland, William L. (2016). A History of the Modern Middle East. Routledge. pp. 71–83. ISBN 978-0429495502.

[Faroqhi1994-5] Faroqhi, Suraiya (1994). The Decline of the Ottoman Empire. Oxford University Press. pp. 110–115. ISBN 978-0195091682. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)

[FOOTNOTEClevelandBunton201282-6] Cleveland & Bunton 2012, p. 82.

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Part of a series on the
History of the Ottoman Empire

Timeline (Territorial evolution)
Rise (1299–1453) Beylik of Osman Interregnum (1402–1413) Fall of Constantinople
Classical Age (1453–1566) Sultanate of Women (1533–1656)
Transformation (1566–1703) Köprülü Era (1656–1703)
Old Regime (1703–1789) Tulip Era (1718–1730)
Decline & Modernization (1789–1908) Nizam-i Djedid (late 18th and early 19th) Tanzimat Era (1839–1876) 1st Constitutional Era (1876–1878)
Dissolution (1908–1922) 2nd Constitutional Era (1908–1920) World War I (1914–1918) Partitioning (1918–1922) Abolition of the Sultanate (1922) Abolition of the Caliphate (1924)
Historiography (Ghaza, Decline)
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