Tanzimat

The Tanzimat (Ottoman Turkish: تنظيمات, Turkish: Tanzimât, lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Mehmed Emin Âli Pasha, and Fuad Pasha, under Sultans Abdul Mejid and Abdul Aziz, the reforms sought to reverse the empire's decline by modernizing legal, military, and administrative systems while promoting Ottomanism (equality for all subjects). Though secular courts, modern education, and infrastructure like railways, were introduced, 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.

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, trade policy, 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 reforms of the Tanzimat built on previous reform efforts of Sultan Mahmud II. In 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 chaos of the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–1878). However, reform efforts continued into the Hamidian, Young Turk, and One-Party period.

Over the course of the 1700s, structural issues in Ottoman governance resulted in defeats in the Russo-Turkish Wars and the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830) and exposed the empire’s inability to compete with European armies. Provincial governors (ayans) and local leaders (e.g., Muhammad Ali of Egypt) increasingly defied central authority. A period of cautious reform under Selim III (r. 1789–1807) resulted in the Nizam-i Cedid, or the New Order Movement, but conservatives and Janissaries revolted and installed Sultan Mahmud II after a series of coups. Mahmud II was a reform minded Sultan, but followed the lead of the conservatives until he could make his move in the Auspicious Incident in 1826, destroying the Janissaries. Mahmud II's reign from then on was a period of western reform and centralization.

By 1838 the Sublime Porte signed the Treaty of Balta Liman, with Britain, dismantling Ottoman trade monopolies and flooded markets^{[clarification needed]} with European goods.

In 1 July 1839, Mahmud II suddenly died and was succeeded by his son Abdul Mejid I. Reformists like Mustafa Reşid Pasha, who served as ambassador to London and Paris, argued that adopting European-style institutions could restore imperial power. Their ideas crystallized in the Gülhane Edict (1839) which was signed by the new Sultan, which promised: security of life, property, and honor for all subjects; fair taxation and conscription; public trials; and abolition of iltizam (tax farming).

The ambitious project was launched to combat the slow decline of the empire that had seen its borders shrink and its strength wane in comparison to the European powers. There were both internal and external reasons for the reforms.

The Edict of Gülhane was based on the principles of traditional court philosophy, with Butrus Abu-Manneh arguing that there was no Western influence in the edict; however, historian Stanford Jay Shaw suggests that the Gulhane Edict was directly influenced by the ideals codified by the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen.