Sample Comparative Free Response Answer
Sample Comparative Free Response Answer Prompt: Compare & Contrast the effects of nationalism on the Ottoman Empire and Europe from 1750 through 1914 While the rest of the world was modernizing, and industrializing, the Ottoman Empire's progress was hindered by a stagnant economy, lack of capital, and weak rule. The adamant decision to institute reform and the budding nationalism of the Orthodox Christians would lead to violent rebellion in the decades after 1750. Napoleon's army spread liberalism in Western and Central Europe and nationalism in Easter and Central Europe. In the Ottoman Empire, elites discovered liberalism and nationalism because of the improvements in printing technology which allowed for the dispersion of ideas. In 1750, tensions grew against the Ottoman sultan and the rising taxes, as a result of European influence on the Ottoman Empire, a revolt broke out in Sarajevo, Kosovo. The Austrian-Ottoman war (1788-91) further weakened the empire which lost parts in Serbia, Bosnia, Dalmatia, the Peloponnesus, and the Danube River. By the 20th century, the Young Turks emerged as a response to the overbearing European control. In 1909, they supplanted the Sultan with his brother. In order to limit European influence, they facilitated the reforms of the bureaucracy, education, and law. With the spreading of nationalism, the Ottoman Empire's identity shifted from multi-ethnic to ethnic Turks. Officials, spurred by the nationalistic group, began to repress ethnic minorities such as the Armenians and the Greeks. Within the Ottoman Empire there were dozens of ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups which eventually adopted their own national identity.
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