It is to be noted that the administration of the Ottoman Empire after sulymans death became insufficient, although some rulers after him like Salim, Mehmed II and Murad III have the ability to expand the Ottoman land but none of them had any military experiences or to become a ruler. But among them Murad IV was exception , he ruled Ottoman empire between 1623 and 1640 showed military experience but he was forced to spent his much time in suppressing the rebellion and not in the administration. After the death of Murad IV the Ottoman Empire had suffered many internal problems. Some historians pointed out that the period after the death of Suleymen was consider as stagnation era, one of the reasons is that Ottoman naval defeat at Lepanto in 1571 and another reason is failure of the second siege of Vienna in 1683 which marked the decline of the Ottoman Empire. The other reason for its decline is population pressure, fiscal crisis, Europe’s new military technology and also the Asiatic culture of Ottoman Empire failed the competing with the modernized Europe. As the result the Ottoman Empire decline with the outcome of western modern economic system which contributed in European military technology. The major reason for the decline is the lack of military power which made then to lost their land and decline.
The decline of the Ottoman empire was not only caused by the lack of military power the other reason for its decline according to Bernard Lewis, decline of the Ottoman empire also has a connection with the economic ,social life, moral and culture in these the change style of Ottoman government caused a direct impact on its people. As the result people life in term of social, economic, politics and culture had changed drastically and it’s old ethnicity. To solve this problem the government decided to signed a series of commercial treaties with Europe countries which is known as capitulation. The first agreement was negotiate with France in 1536. Although it was an economic treaty it created many disadvantages to the Ottoman economy because it required then long-term political implications. It is interesting to note that external problems from European penetration was added by the internal problems of the Ottoman empire because the ruler became insufficient to control his army or government, and the central government started to lose the control over the provinces. The provinces like Tripoli, Tunis, Allergies which became independent. Indeed the domestic problems of the Ottoman Empire showed the rule of incompetent sultans. The struggle over the troun and the rise of political conflicts within the palace showed the effectiveness of the central government.
According to Bernard Lewis stated that the fall in professional and moral standards in the religions and judicial hierarchy become the basic reason for the decline of the Ottoman Empire. during the 16th and 17th centuries the Ottoman could not defend most of the terrorise during 16th centuries the Ottoman empire reached the limits of its expansion and had to made many barriers which could not pass by the European countries furthermore the decline of the Ottoman armed forces has strong correlation with the loss of dominance on the battle field. The continues defeat of Ottoman in the war between the Ottoman and Austria and Russia resulted in the signing the treaty of Karlowitz which obliged the cede most of Hungary to Hupsburgs; this was the marked as the first major surrender to European territory. The Ottoman-Russian war in 1768 also resulted in the loss of Ottoman’s territory and the treaty of Kuchuk Kaynarja was signed which was one of the most humiliating agreements which were signed by the Ottoman’s empire. It can be argued that surrender of Ottoman terror revelled the declined of armed forces
It is clear that the decline of the Ottoman administration, with the demise of all empires created dangerous instabilities and fostered new ambitions among on the religious power. This because the sultan do not have the significant role to control and reform the system of the empire. According to Robert Johnson, the factors which were declined of the Ottoman empire where the moribund nature of the Ottoman government and its relative decline economically, the spread of nationalism in the Balkans; the attempts to revive Turkey by the New Ottomans and young Turk, the Germans attempts to generate of influence in the middle east, the impact of the Balkan wars.
