2. explain how the ottoman empire approached constitutionalism
The young turk era
- In 1876 a group of Radical descendants from the Ottoman bureaucracy seized power in a coup, formed a cabinet that included partisans of reform , and installed Abd al-Hamid II as sultan
- The checked the Sultan’s power
- Persuaded Abd al-Hamid to accept a constitution that limited its authority and established a representative government
- within a year the sultan suspended the constitution
- he dissolved the parliament
- exiled liberals
- continued to develop army and administration according to Tanzimat principles
- oversaw the formation of a police force,educational reforms, economis development, and the construction of railroads
- His rule generated many liberal opposition groups but im the end that undermined his position
- Bureaucrats and and army officers received an education
- they learned about modern science, technology, european political, social, and cultural traditions
- Educated subjects began to believe that the biggest problem in the empire was the political structure that didn’t check the power of the sultan
- Ottoman society needed political reform and a constitution that limited the Sultan’s power
Ottoman society For Union
- better known as the Young Turk Party even though many of the members weren’t young or Turkish
- Founded in 1889 by exiled Ottoman subjects that lived in Paris
- vigorously promoted reform
- utilized newspapers
- they called for universal suffrage, equality before the law, freedom of religion,free public education, secularization of the state, and the emancipation of Women
- inspired an army coup that forced Abd al-Hamid to restore parliament and and the constitution 1876
- in 1909 they dethroned him
- established Mehmed V Rashid as a puppet sultan
- during the Young Turk Era, Sultans reigned but didn’t rule