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What would the world look like if the Ottoman Caliphate had never been dismantled?

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Most countries defeated after WW1 were never divided (eg Russia, Germany etc.) however they had a major impact on world events since.
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In a Nutshell:
If the Ottoman Caliphate wasn't abolished, the Middle East would comprise a global power today, without borders and divisions, economically prosperous, under one powerful unified leadership. The vast majority of the conflict, wars and strife we have seen across the Muslim world over the past century would not have happened nor the impoverishment, famines and oppression.

The Ottoman caliphate would probably have by now:

  • The largest population in the world at around 1.6 billion
  • The largest land mass
  • The largest army in the world and nuclear weapons
  • Control of half of the world's oil and many other natural resources
  • Control of key strategic naval straits and airspace​​​​


Introduction

The Ottoman Caliphate was trans-continental, comprising of the Balkans in Europe, Egypt and Libya in Africa, half of the Iraq and Levant and most importantly, the Hejaz in Arabia. One of the most multi-cultural, multi-traditional, multi-religious empire of its time.

The Caliphate, comprising three continents, would have had a significant impact on the world in the modern era.



Ottoman Caliphate Politics

The Ottomans would be a global power influencing Middle Eastern, African, European and Asian geopolitics.

As sole representative of Islam in the world, it would have been able to with time unify the Muslim world, especially with the exhaustion of Europe following two global conflicts.

The Cold War dynamics could have been dramatically different, with the US marginalised and excluded from the region and struggling to defeat Russia, with the Ottomans playing one off against the other.

The world would now see a bi-polar world rather than one dominated by the US. With the decline of Russia, the lands she had taken prior to WW1 could all be taken back.

Current borders between Muslim polities would be non-existent along with national elites and their oversized military and security apparatus across the Muslim world.

Conflicts, unrest and wars would have been avoided:

  • Wars of independence across the Muslim world
  • Israeli-Palestinian conflict (as Israel would not exist)
  • Kashmir conflict
  • Chechen conflict
  • Xinjiang conflict
  • Iran-Iraq war
  • Lebanese civil war
  • Iraq-Kuwait war
  • Algerian civil war
  • Bosnia
  • Second Gulf war
  • Afghanistan war
  • Arab Spring
  • Libyan Conflict
  • Syrian civil war
  • Yemen war

and so on.

Likewise foreign power influenced and ineffectual organisations like the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), Gulf Cooperation Council, PLO, al-Qaida, ISIS etc would not exist.



Ottoman Economy

The Ottoman Caliphate would control resources from across the Muslim world, along with strategic trade routes including the Suez canal and air-routes splitting the globe in two.

Oil reserves of current Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and Oman would be within Ottoman lands along with deposits of minerals, gold, gas and a host of other resources. If the Muslim world unified behind the Ottomans, they would control 75% of global oil resources.

Along with a large well-educated population, especially if it managed to unify Iran and Pakistan, and large-population centres in Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and the Levant, the Ottomans would control over 20% of the world's labour resources.

Coupled with its natural resources it would have been transformative of Ottoman society especially as local companies would be extracting the resources and not the British, French or Americans.

With borderless trade it would have kept out Western corporations enriching the regions it ruled - internal trade comparative to global trade before its demise. The economic advantages would also be significant arising from having three seas with port-based access, control of strategic straits like the Bosphorus and Hormuz along with the Suez Canal.

Economically, the Ottoman state would be wealthy, populous and industrialised.



Otoman Social Life

The millet basis of social organisation would allow autonomous faith based communities to live in accordance with their faiths, solving the problem of different ethnicities and religions which nationalism exacerbates.



Ottoman Security

The Ottoman Caliphate with military resources and personnel drawn from across three continents would provide a formidable fighting force.

The leading twelve militaries in the Muslim world would produce the largest funded military fighting force on the planet:

United Arab Emirates

Active personnel: 64,000

2017 budget: $14.37 billion

Bangladesh

Active personnel: 160,000

2017 budget: $1.59 billion

Morocco

Active personnel: 198,000

2017 budget: $3.46 billion

Malaysia

Active personnel: 110,000

2017 budget: $4.7 billion

Algeria

Active personnel: 520,000

2017 budget: $10.6 billion

Saudi Arabia

Active personnel: 231,000

2017 budget: $69.41 billion

Pakistan

Active personnel: 637,000

2017 budget $7 billion

Indonesia

Active personnel: 975,750

2017 budget $6.9 billion

Iran

Active personnel: 534,000

2017 budget: $14 billion

Egypt

Active personnel: 438,500

2017 budget: $2.7 billion

Turkey

Active personnel: 355,800

2017 budget: $10.2 billion

------------------------------------------------------

Total Active Personnel: 4+ million

Total 2017 Budget: $145 billion



Conclusion

The Muslim world under the Ottomans would potentially be prosperous, politically unified, technologically advanced and secure.

Were it able to unify the Muslim world, it would have:

  • The largest population in the world at around 1.6 billion
  • The largest land mass
  • The largest army in the world and nuclear weapons
  • Control of most of the world's oil and many other natural resources
  • Control of key strategic naval straits and airspace

The world would be following a different trajectory.



References

Muhammad Iqbal Majoka, Habib Elahi Sahibzada, Muhammad Saeed Khan, (2012) Resources of the Muslim World: A Reflection on the Muslim World's Resources, their Development and Utilization


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