Tanzimat reforms reconsidered : The Case study of Tuna province (1856-1868)

Abstract

After signing of the Treaty of Paris (1856), Westernization and other reforms were adopted by the Ottoman government as a strategy to protect the state in existence. The Christian Question in the Empire as well as the pressures of the Great Powers emerged to become the most important reasons to impel the Ottoman Government to carry out reforms. The Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Empire were the countries that attempted to find a way out of the political difficulties and challenges arising from the legacy of an ancient regime, emerging nationalist movements and imperialist aspirations of Western powers and Russia. Focusing on the period from 1856 to 1868, the aim of this study is to re-visit the reform question by devoting a special place to the Tuna (Danube) Province (Tuna Vilâyeti), which was governed by Midhat Pasha between the years 1864 and 1868. This is simply because during that time period, the Tuna Province was designed as a governmental project to spread the reforms across the country, in other words, it served as a model for other provinces. This thesis is divided into two parts: 1) The World Encircling the Ottoman Empire (1856-1870) and The Reform Question (1856-1865), and 2) The Vilâyet of Tuna (1864-1868).