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The Tanzimat reforms were carried out between 1830 and 1870 in the Ottoman Empire. They were a wide ranging series of educational, political and economic reforms. They were an attempt at modernisation to stop the decline of Ottoman power. The process of modernisation involved adopting models and practices of western countries and societies and it primarily motivated to compete western powers and preserve their Empire. The modernization process in the Ottoman Empire was a way of ensuring that they did not become the subjects of the western powers.<ref>Inalcık, H. and Quataert, D. ''An Economic and Social History of The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 189.</ref> During the nineteenth century much of the world became subject to the western powers, especially Britain and France. The Tanzimat reforms were only partially successful and did not halt the Ottoman decline.

==Decline of Ottoman Empire==

Until the 18th century the Ottoman Turks were at least as powerful as the great European powers. However, from the mid-1750s, Ottomans power declined and they could no compete militarily with Russian and the Hapsburg Empire.<ref>Qetvket Pamuk "Institutional Change and the Longevity of the Ottoman Empire, 1500–1800". ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'', vol xxxv:2, Autumn, 2004, p.247.</ref> In successive conflicts the armies of the Sultan, once invincible, were consistently defeated and the Empire lost territory. Their Christian adversaries slowly dismembered the Empire and that survival of the empire was threatened.<ref>Parmuk, p. 235.</ref> Just as the Ottoman military power was marginalized, their archaic economic system was becoming less viable. The economic system that prevailed in the Empire in 1800 had transformed little since the fifteenth century. The antiquated economy could not compete with the European nations that were being transformed by the industrial revolution. <ref>Inalcık, H. and Quataert, D. ''An Economic and Social History of The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914''. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 189.</ref> The leaders of the Ottoman recognized that there needed to be economic revolution accompanied by extensive political and legal reforms. The Sultan and his advisors accepted that the Ottoman Empire had to modernize in order to survive.