THE EFFECTS OF THE FIREARM PURCHASINGS ON THE OTTOMAN FINANCIAL STRUCTURE DURING THE MILITARY MODERNIZATION (1853-1908) / OSMANLI ASKERÎ MODERNİZASYON ÇALIŞMALARI ÇERÇEVESİNDE YAPILAN SİLAH ALIMLARININ MALÎ YAPIYA ETKİLERİ (1853-1908)

Öz

Reforms to the Ottoman army began to be institutionalized in the middle of the 19th century. The basic idea was to restore the former power of the army. Since the changing conditions of war had shown that reform was possible only with the application of modern methods to every field, studies made after the Crimean War gained momentum. The effort to establish an army in-line with the requirements of modern warfare was the Ottoman administration’s primary aim of during the Reorganization and Constitutional periods. The provision of resources required to sustain military modernization led to different measures in the Ottoman economy such as domestic and foreign borrowing, interest postponement, transfer of revenues, and ultimately the allocation of revenues to creditors. In this process, while the Ottoman economy became integrated into the international economy, it also became dependent on international resources. The economic measures taken did not reduce dependency on international resources and the Ottoman administration continued military reforms in spite of the financial burden.