Ten Minute History - The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Birth of the Balkans (Short Documentary)

This episode of Ten Minute History (like a documentary, only shorter) covers the decline and fall of the Ottoman Empire from the turn of the nineteenth century to its end in 1923. The first half covers the empire's struggles up until the Crimean War and the second sees the empire catastrophic fall including the Balkan Wars and of course the First World War.

Ten Minute History is a series of short, ten minute animated narrative documentaries that are designed as revision refreshers or simple introductions to a topic. Please note that these are not meant to be comprehensive and there's a lot of stuff I couldn't fit into the episodes that I would have liked to. Thank you for watching, though, it's always appreciated.

Recommended books:

Douglas A Howard - A History of the Ottoman Empire (2017) - Genuinely a phenomenal introduction which covers the entire empire. There are a few things he tends to gloss over, most notably Balkan independence movements.

Caroline Finkel - Osman's Dream: A History of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1923 (2006). Another great overview book, more detailed than the above but harder to get into, is particularly good at covering the Sultans and their ministers.

Donald Quataert - The Ottoman Empire 1700-1922 (2005). A really good overview, it's shorter than the other two and does a great job covering Egypt. Has very good insights into the legacy of the Ottoman Empire as well which many books tend to lack.

[LOLERXP]

The sultans truly honored their title Kayser-i-Rum by keeping alive the Roman emperors' tradition of being overthrown every 5 seconds.

[Isildun]

Fun Fact: The Ottomans were the only member the Central Powers from World War 1 that actually managed to overthrow the treaty they had signed at the end of the war and renegotiated for a better deal.

[StuartLynx]

Imagine how crazy it must have been for someone born in the Balkans in the 1860s to live long enough to see the 1960s

[nhmikey]

So did Muhammed Ali rule Egypt before or after he was a boxer?

[POCLEE]

The whole WW1 part of Ottoman deserves its own episode.

[izzybrizzie]

1:55
To dissolve them is an understatement, the mad lad literally fired artillery shells on the jannisery barracks as well as starting a men hunt.

[danmarkfordanskerne]

Nobody:
Balkans 1800-2004:
War war war war war war war war war war

[Dave_Sisson]

It's interesting that he avoided saying "the sick man of Europe"which is the standard cliche about the decline of the Ottomans in the Balkans.

[OliveOilFan]

Oh cant wait for the comment section to have a respectful and engaging discussion about the ottomans

[puchy]

My Turkish friend call me her little brother. I thought well of it until I remembered what Ottoman Sultans did to their brothers...

[buddy]

Take a drink every time a Sultan is overthrown

[talamahmoud]

Sultan: *Attempts to modernize the country*
Janissaries: Can u don't

[universenerdd]

“The Russians invaded Crimea” oh boy this sounds familiar

[Bluehawk]

The Crimean War was not the first war to see the use of rifled muskets, but rather the first to see armies equipped predominantly or exclusively with rifles.

[petarswift]

My professor of history in Serbia kept saying that Belgrade and Baghdad were in the same country. I was fascinated by that fact.

[jasonlovins]

Having published in Academic Journals on this topic, you covered quite a bit of the expansive history here, & didn't shy away from the fact that the Europeans had a very vested interest in keeping the Ottomans militarily & economically weakened for their own trade goals. Kudos!

[marcnassif]

So basically




The Balkans are a headache

[jeiku]

I finally know what terms are which. Now to play some Kaiserreich...

[SuleimanTheMagnificent]

Facts about Mohammad Ali....
1) He was the ruler of Egypt at Ottoman era at 19th
2)He was the famous boxer in US history
3)He's the founder of Modern country Pakistan....
4)He is the second grand Vizier of Ottoman empire at 1360s...
5)He is a time traveller and Co-founder of NASA
6)His power level was over 9000
7)He ruled from Persia to the wastelands of Maghreb for more than 8 centuries...
8)He is medically proven as an 'Immortal'
9)He conquered Jerusalem from the crusaders in the name of Salah Al Din...
10)He won some championship titles at the end of the 20th century at WWE
11) He was the mentor of Cristiano Ronaldo who goes by the name 'Sir Alex Ferguson'.

[Sienn]

I've been always intrigued by the history of the Ottoman Empire, both its rise and fall throughout studying history in grade school. I really enjoyed the documentaries.