The Ottoman Turkish Empire was also brilliant, and at its peak its power spanned three continents in Asia, Africa and Europe, and did not pay attention to Europe at all, even more powerful than the Ming and Qing dynasties in the same period.
However, after the decline of the Ottomans, it was not as good as the Qing Dynasty, and after the beginning of the colonial expansion in Europe, the Ottomans declined more and more, and even became the sick man of West Asia, who could be bullied.
Although the Ottomans and the Qing Dynasty were both feudal societies, the Ottomans had an advantage over the Qing Dynasty, that is, they began to deal with European countries very early. It is said that The Ottomans should have accepted the influence of advanced Western culture and advanced technology very early, but they did not expect that The Ottoman learning ability was so far inferior to that of Tsarist Russia.
In fact, Ottomans did not fail to study, and the country also carried out scientific and educational reforms, including the establishment of higher education institutions, such as Istanbul University of Science and Technology. However, it was still resisted by the conservative faction and interrupted many times.
But after all, the Ottomans often fought with Europe, accepted some advanced weapons and equipment, and even hired foreign experts and sent officers to Western Europe to study.
Therefore, the weapons and equipment of the Ottoman Empire were not bad, but why could they not defeat the Western powers?
In fact, the opening of the new route, The Ottoman still has to bear a certain responsibility, it is precisely because the Ottomans control the main road of traffic on the road, so the East and the West do business, the country always has to charge some tolls, the result is forced to Europe can not do, only to open up a new route.
It was also because of the opening of new shipping routes that the Ottomans lost a large amount of financial revenue. Originally, the Ottomans did not attach importance to commercial trade, so they lost this piece of fat, making the Ottomans live worse than before.
Moreover, the Ottoman navy was not vulnerable, and its size was once the largest after Britain and France. The Ottomans also bought their first submarine in Britain, but the collapsing economy failed to support his navy.
In fact, in the final analysis, it is the decay of the Ottoman government and the strength of the conservative faction. This is actually the same as the government of the late Qing Dynasty, and Cixi also repeatedly blocked the process of learning from the West in the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, strictly speaking, the decline and eventual disintegration of the Ottomans actually had little to do with weapons and equipment. The main reason is that the country is too big and there are many peoples, and its ruling power is not stable. Coupled with the frequent uprisings that broke out in various places, the Ottomans lost sight of each other, and there were more wars, and the people were not satisfied, so the Ottomans became more and more unpopular.
Of course, even if the Ottoman weapons were advanced and the political system was not reformed, it would be sooner or later.
In the process of Russia's rise, the Western powers did not care about these cold places at all. But the Ottomans were different, controlling a large number of strategic places, so the West was greatly dissatisfied, and from time to time it wanted to bite it, especially Tsarist Russia, and fought for hundreds of years.
This once-prosperous empire eventually disintegrated due to the wrong side in World War I.