Why Do Empires Fall?

BY JACOB THORPE
Opening Statement

 There are many reasons why empires fall, and, in many areas, I will try to cover this as well
as I can. What I will be covering is the Ottoman Empire the Qing Dynasty as well I have
remarks from interviews I had with Mr. Maclean, Mr. Boulter and Mr. Costopoulos.
Qing
Dynasty
Background info

 The Qing dynasty was the last dynasty in

the imperial history of China.
 It was established in 1636 in Manchuria
 It fell in 1911
 The Qing dynasty was succeeded by the Republic
of China.
 The multiethnic Qing empire lasted for almost
three centuries and assembled the territorial base
for modern China.
 It was the largest Chinese dynasty and in 1790 the
fourth largest empire in world history in terms of
territorial size.
A Quick Video As Well…
Ottoman Empire
Background Info

 The Ottoman’s controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and Northern

Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries.
 It was founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Antolia (modern day
Turkey).
 It fell in 1922
  The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the Conquest of Constantinople
 in 1453 by Mehmed the Conquerer.
 At the beginning of the 17th century, the empire contained 32 provinces and
numerous vassal states.
Last Video…
Leading factors to their
fall
Relating To The Qing
Dynasty
The Hairstyle Massacre of
1645

Emperor Shunzhi (ruled 1644–1661) was

a 6-year-old when he was named emperor.
So, Dorgon the regent ruled on behalf of
the child emperor from 1643 to 1650.

1644–1661 1645

In 1645, Dorgon decreed that Ming men

must shave away their hair apart from
Manchu-style pigtails. The hairstyle has
been made famous by movies and tv about
the Qing Empire.
 
 At the beginning of Emperor Shunzhi’s reign, the Qing Dynasty Restricted
only allowed foreign shipping to enter and trade in Macau.
 Emperor Kangxi and his successors relaxed restrictions on foreign Foreign
trade, but the Qing court still carefully controlled limits on foreign


trade.
Due to restrictions on foreign exchanges, the Qing government
Trade
missed the opportunities of the industrial revolution and gradually
became divorced from the world, foreshadowing its subsequent
decline. 
 China began to become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.
The Opium Wars also opened a new chapter in the Chinese
people’s long history of resistance to (and in this case again
succumbing to) foreign aggression.
The Opium Wars (China
Began to be Colonized)
  The Opium Wars began when China attempted to suppress the opium trade.
Foreign traders (mainly British) were illegally exporting opium the main trade
route was from India to China since roughly the 18th century.
 The reason why the Chinese government wanted to close the trade was the
widespread addiction in China. The Chinese government confiscated and
destroyed more than 20,000 chests, 1,400 tons of opium that were warehoused
at Canton.
 Hostilities broke out later that year when British warships destroyed a Chinese
blockade of the Pearl River estuary at Hong Kong. 
 The British launched the First Opium War in 1839–1842 by sending an
expeditionary army of unknown size. During the reign of Emperor Daoguang
(1821–1851).
 Anglo-French Allied Forces launched a Second Opium War in 1856–1860
during the reign of Emperor Xianfeng (1851–1861).
The Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864)

 Leader: Hong Xiuquan

 This was a revolt fought with religious convictions. This quasi-
Christian movement had some forward-thinking ideals, which the
Qing Dynasty disagreed with (he banned slavery, men using
concubines, arranged marriages, opium use, foot binding, torture,
and the worship of idols, and he wanted women to have more
equality in society).
 Happened in the reign of Emperor Xianfeng (ruled 1851–1861)
and Emperor Tongzhi (ruled 1862–1874)
 He made Nanjing his capital, and his army seemed ready to attack
Beijing. However, Britain and France sent troops to aid the Qing
army. In 13 years, about 25 million citizens and soldiers died. It is
thought to be the second bloodiest war in history after WWII.
 On June 1, 1864, Hong, despairing after a lingering
illness, committed suicide. When the city (Nanjing) finally fell on
July 19th, 1864.
The Fall of The Qing Dynasty

 In the face of foreign invasion and the backwardness of feudalism, many youths
sought a new path to save China — revolution (overthrow the feudal monarchy
and establish a republic).
Relating To The
Ottoman Empire
Other Countries Were Intentionally
Weaking It.
The ambition of European powers also helped to hasten the
Ottoman Empire’s demise, Russia and Austria both supported
rebellious nationalists in the Balkans to further their own
influence.

The British and the French were eager to carve away territory
controlled by the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and North
Africa. 
World War 1

 the Ottoman Empire had the potential to evolve into a modern multi-ethnic, multi-
lingual federal state. Instead, Author Eugene Rogan argues, World War I triggered
the empire’s disintegration. “The Ottoman Empire joined the losing side,” he says.
As a result, when the war ended, “The division of territories of the Ottoman
Empire was decided by the victors.”
  A huge issue that was bringing the demise of the
Ottoman’s was the increasing lack of ability and power
of the Sultans themselves. An example would be the
reign of Süleyman 1 the magnificent, tired of
campaigning and his constant duties of administration he
began withdrawing from public affairs and he began
indulging in more dubious pleasures such as his Harem.

Internal Issues In his stead the office of the Grand Vizier was built up to

become second to the sultan.
 What is The Grand Vizier?
They had the power only second to the sultan; they were
able to convene the Viziers to deal with the affairs of the
state this was called the “kubbealti viziers” (for reference
Viziers were just high-ranking nobles)
Military Issues

 At the end of the 18th century, the problem the Ottoman Empire manifested was a
crisis of its military system. The Ottoman army, (its organization and equipment) still
was far behind the armies of the major European powers.
 In addition, the uncertainty of the local lords had severe economic and social
consequences.
 The country was gradually engulfed in chaos, and state finances became thinner. It was
clear to the smartest and most sober heads of the Empire that comprehensive and
thorough reforms were needed.
 However, any attempt at reform wouldn’t work due to the amount of vested interests
and could potentially damage many acquired rights and privileges.
Individual Conclusions
Qing

 If it’s not obvious these different events show how the seeds of dissent in power of the
Qing began to fall.
 Beginning with only allowing men to have certain hairstyles is a prime example of
what government can do to oppress citizens. The next thing is having outside rule
shows weakness through no fault to the Qing’s, but European rule does not show
Chinese dominancy.
 Another show of weakness are the rebellions that happened, showing the bigger flaws
that not only are foreign invaders are trying to take over your government but now
your own countrymen are pointing out flaws in your government.
 To conclude the Qing Dynasty had many flaws like so many before it, however no one
incident can be considered the be all end all of this empire it was a slow crawl to its
demise. Between the puppet rulers and everyone else trying to tear down what was left
of a once great empire it ended “not with a bang but a whimper”
Ottoman

Overall, in the Ottoman empire the main incident that led to its collapse was WW1
and a leading factor to that would be the constant internal problems that mainly
include their lack of military prowess.

However similar to the Qing’s the Ottoman’s had a problem with other powers
fueling their demise. In the case of the Ottoman’s, they had other powers funding
their rebel groups inside their country then later in WW1 it led to an actual invasion
of their territory.

Lastly going back to WW1, a problem that Ottoman’s had was that they chose the
losing side of a war of attrition, and the terms of surrender were decided by the
victors.
Final Conclusion and
Comparison
Main Themes
THE FOLLOWING ARE WHAT I FOUND AS THE MAIN THEMES TO HOW THESE
EMPIRES FELL WITH QUOTES FROM PEOPLE THAT I HAD INTERVIEWED FOR THIS.
  “A war is always a part of building empires from 20 century
back so it’s hard to ask if it’s worth the risk if it’s a symptom
of being an empire. As long as you are on the “righteous”
side you should have no problem, but I don’t believe it is
worth the risk.” – K. Boulter
 “As we develop into more technological diplomacy its
easier to avoid war and for ancient empires or even 20th
War (more the century empires land was more important and if that Is your
mindset then engaging in war is entirely worth the risk.”- J.
Maclean
Loss of it)  “I think all of these empires has been successful at war to
become great all of the empires that you mentioned and
many more lost the ability to recover from war and by proxy
lost the ability to wage it in the end the empires became
stagnant at were just waiting for the.”- K. Costopoulos
 “Stagnation, whenever these big empires were created, they
were at the time had modern ideas and they from constantly
improving and growing to defending and holding. Which
Rebellions,
seeds the way for corruption and the hierarchy stops looking
at the empire at a whole and had started looking for personal
Revolts and
gain. The Ottoman’s and Qing’s had the problem with being
restrictive and stop from being an innovated and modern idea Revolution
and become more enveloped with holding on to what they
had. They are staying the same while other nations are now
innovating and becoming new and inclusive like the old
empires used to be.”- K. Costopolous
 “Rebellions and revolutions show a healthy society because it
shows you have freedom so depending on what nation your
from it could be good or bad like for example if you compare a
dictatorship and a democratic state.” – K. Boulter
  “Government becoming too restrictive because they held
Governments on to old ideals they had, innovation is very important.
All these empires were very accepting at the beginning
overstepping in until they started holding on to a past idea that they truly
don’t understand… The idea of having a common
its citizens lives enemy is very important and without it your citizens start
looking back and blame each other for problems which
will just end in collapse.” – K. Costopoulos
 “Whenever these countries tried to avoid war and try to
pay other countries off, they help build up other nations Becoming
and show that the empires are weak, and the empire will
start to crumble piece by piece… Being too big
too large
becomes a problem if you're just trying to maintain. A
great way to be able to maintain and grow is to keep
and spread
your neighbors close until you take them out… Making too thin
an example is important as it keeps others in check,
having to be on the defensive as well shows how weak (militarily
a nation truly is.” – K. Costopolous
speaking)
Closing Remarks
Why I chose this?

 You may be wondering why I chose this; it is mainly due to my growing interest
in history and the characters in it. Truly, I find it more interesting than any other
topic in school or otherwise which is why I chose this for my capstone.
What I learned

 To best describe what I learned is the true inner workings of man and how self
interest will always be the downfall of anything great if its from a company,
nation, kingdom or empire. As much as other factors are present the key one that I
found was that self interest will always break a nation before anything else.
Why should you care?

 There are many personal reasons to why in my opinion you should care. But to
briefly put it you should care about why these empires did fall due to the simple
fact that ”Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” A
fact that is shown throughout the years, a prime example being the current Russo-
Ukrainian War due to how very similar scenarios have played out before with
none of them good for those involved.
Bibliography
Pt 1

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_history_of_China
 https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/china-history/the-qing-dynasty.htm
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Opium-Wars
 https://www.britannica.com/event/Taiping-Rebellion
 The Hollow Men by T.S Elliot
 https://www.history.com/news/ottoman-empire-fall
 The Fall of the Ottomans
 The Great War in the Middle East
 by Eugene Rogan
Pt 2

 https://www.thecollector.com/decline-of-the-ottoman-empire/
 Tekdal, Danyal (2017). 
"1907 BİTLİS DEPREMİ VE İSYANINDA BİR VALİ:FERİD PAŞA". Archived
 from the original on 2019-11-11.
  Quataert, Donald (2005). The Ottoman Empire, 1700–1922 (2 ed.). Cambridge
University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-521-83910-5.