Have the Ottoman Empire collapse as early as possible retaining modern day Turkey's borders at most. What would happen if it happened?
Actually, the ulema had relatively little role when it came to preventing the modernization of the Ottoman Army, which was much more the responsibility of the Janissaries. And indeed, in various reformist eras, such as the Hamidian era, Islamic thinkers such as al-Afghani actually played a fairly significant role in advocating modernization. Ataturk's opposition to Islam was more an attempt to "Europeanize" the Turks, similar to his adoption of the European alphabet.I suspect one way you could have a more rapid decline with the OE collapsing in the 19th century, its complete expulsion from Europe (Including Adrianople and Constantinople) would be a combination of the Sultan failing to eliminate the Jannisary corp and for its ulemma (This is the main reason why Attaturk prohibited the involvement of islam in any way int the government) to successfully prevent the adoption of new western technologies such as improved artillery and the associated tactics and the printing-press (The OE didn't get its first printing-press till 1727).
The Ottoman Empire never really collapsed, it was more smashed by outside powers.
That being said, there was a very good opportunity for the Empire to collapse in the early 19th century. By this stage in Ottoman history, the Central State was extremely weak and regional pashas were defacto independent rulers. The most famous of these being Ali Pasha in Yanya and Mehmet Ali in Egypt. Combined with the first stirrings of nationalism in places like Serbia and Greece, you could actually have the Ottoman Empire collapse into several polities. It certainly wouldn't be pretty though.
Certainly. The Safavids were able to contest Iraq with the Ottomans, and were able to seize Bahrain from the Portuguese. Provided you get an Iranian state which is strong enough to hold the Russians in check, they could potentially seize Iraq. Indeed, they were still able to hold off the Ottomans in the early 19th century in OTL.Nassirisimo, I have a question if an Iranian state was relatively strong could they sweep in to take southern Iraq and the Shia bits of the Saudi eastern coast?
How about the Greek Plan succeeds?
Problem is, the Crimean War was one of their better performances. While Sinope was a pretty shocking defeat for the Ottomans (though not an unsurprising one, when looking at the disparity in forces), the land battles of the war that happened before the British and Russian invasions indicated that the Ottomans would actually have a chance at holding the Russians off. The Ottomans came off better in the initial battles in Wallachia and Silistria, something that is often overshadowed in historiography by Sinope.What about a Crimean war PoD? I was reading about it like yesterday and apparently one of the reasons for the war was that the Western Powers didn't want Russia to treat the Ottomans too badly because they feared an imminent collapse that would create chaos in the region.
This is the best POD. Do it before he is able to put down Ali Pasha and there is very little to hold the Empire together and much to tear it apart.Kill Mahmut II before he gets a heir. At one point in history, he was the only surviving male member of the royal family. Without him, the empire will collapse on its own.
Kill Mahmut II before he gets a heir. At one point in history, he was the only surviving male member of the royal family. Without him, the empire will collapse on its own.
I mean, in the 19th century, you could have the European powers let Muhammad Ali destroy it in 1839.