An alternative approach to total economy of the late Ottoman Empire

Abstract

The Ottoman Empire until the eve of the First World War gave the impression of an agrarian society with modest manufacturing activities, mainly based on craft-based production. A major difficulty was to supply food for the army for a long time in total war conditions. This was an important indicator for the new leaders of Ottoman bureaucracy to develop a nationalist economic view. With an intention to enhance further argument, this study implies that the Ottoman officials with their strong ties to Young Turk Movement would have pursued a nationalist economy regardless of the total war status. So, this study proposes that the war and rising nationalism were not the sole reasons for creating a national economy, but merely footsteps along the way.