After the Break: Making of the Modern World

The Ottoman state is forced to default on its foreign debt, with effects that will bring the Empire to the brink: economic crises, revolts, coups, and invasions will all fundamentally change the direction of the Ottoman Empire, as the Tanzimat goes up in smoke.

The ascension of Abdülmecid in 1839 marks a dramatic change in the direction for the Ottoman Empire, as he and his ministers begin an ambitious to remake the institutions of the state. However, even as the Sultanate embraces modern philosophies of governance it will continue to be beset by internal strife and foreign influence.

Sultan Mahmud II faces the janissaries and attempts to assert centralized rule over his realm, as the Empire is rocked by some of its greatest crises yet: Balkan separatists, Russian invasion, and the ambitious governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali.

A showdown between the progressive Sultan Selim III and reactionary elements of his court sets the stage for the next decades of Ottoman tension between top-down modernizers and the competing needs and aspirations of a complex and diverse Empire.

The sprawling Empire of Suleiman the Magnificent faces the challenges and realities of a rapidly modernizing world, internal revolts, and the growing strength of the European Great Powers.

We begin our journey to the creation of modern Turkey in the distant past, as a steppe people move from Central Asia to establish what will become the Ottoman Empire-- the most dominant power in Eastern Europe and the Middle East for centuries.