Tanzimat

The Tanzimat The Ottoman Empire in the early 19th Century was in a very weak state. Internal and external affairs threatened the very existence of the empire, from the military movements of Mohammad Ali in Egypt, to the slow European invasion of the Ottoman territories. So it was only obvious that there were many changes that needed to be done in order to fix these obstacles. In 1839, Sultan Abdulmajid rose to the throne, succeeding his father, Mahmud II. Abdulmajid saw the condition that the empire was in and sought a reform plan to place the empire in a better situation. So he followed a series of Tanzimat, or Royal Decrees, the first of which was promulgated on the 3rd of November, 1839. The decree was issued mainly as a result of the sincere desire on the part of its architect, Mustafa Pasha, to preserve the Empire and to improve the conditions of its inhabitants. The program for the Tanzimat was organized and defined in a document called Hatt-i Serif. The Tanzimat contained new regulations in several fields including New Administration, New Conscript System, and Rights of the Individual. The Ottoman system of Administration prior to the Tanzimat Era was very corrupt and pretty ineffective; at least that is what Sultan Abdulmajid thought. One of his aims and goals for the Empire was to introduce Western influence and culture and integrate into the Ottoman system. So he created new positions in the government and appointed to these positions three Pashas, or ministers. The ministers were Rashid, Ali, and Fuad. He appointed them to the positions of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Great Britain, and the position of Grand Vizier. The nature of these positions put the Pashas in great contact with the Western world and thus created a connection between the Ottoman Empire and Western Culture. As a result of their contact with the West, they started to get new ideas for the Empire and pressed the sultan to implement new laws