Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire

The history of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century has classically been described as one of stagnation and reform. In analogy with 18th-century France, it is also known as the Ancien Régime or "Old Regime", contrasting with the "New Regime" of the Nizam-i Cedid and Tanzimat in the 19th century.

The period characterized as one of decentralization in the Ottoman political system. Political and economic reforms enacted during the preceding War of the Holy League (1683-1699), particularly the sale of life-term tax farms (Ottoman Turkish: malikāne‎) instituted in 1695, enabled provincial figures to achieve an unprecedented degree of influence in Ottoman politics. This decentralization had once led historians to believe that the Ottoman Empire was in decline during this period, part of the larger and now-debunked Ottoman Decline Thesis, but it is now recognized that the Ottomans were successfully able to tie emerging provincial elites politically and financially to the central government. The empire likewise experienced significant economic growth during much of the eighteenth century and was, until the disastrous war with Russia in 1768-74, also able to match its rivals in military strength. In light of this, the empire's history during this period is now generally viewed in more neutral terms, eschewing concepts such as 'decline' and 'stagnation'. The Old Regime was brought to an end not by a single dramatic event, but by the gradual process of reform begun by Sultan Selim III (r. 1789-1807), known as the Nizam-ı Cedid (New Order). Although Selim himself was deposed, his reforms were continued by his successors into the nineteenth century and utterly transformed the nature of the Ottoman Empire.

Of crucial importance for this period in Ottoman history was the institution of malikāne, or life-term tax farm. Tax farming had been used as a method of revenue-raising throughout the seventeenth century, but contracts only began to be sold on a life-term basis in 1695, as part of the empire's wartime fiscal reforms. According to the malikāne contract, individuals could compete in auction for the right of taxation over a given revenue source, the winner of which would agree to submit his promised amount to the government each year, as well as providing a lump sum up front equal to two to three times the annual amount. This system provided the Ottoman government with a much more stable source of revenue, and they enjoyed significant budget surpluses throughout much of the eighteenth century.

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