Fiscal Centralisation and the Rise of the Modern State in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

This article reviews the evolution of Ottoman fiscal institutions and analyses long-term trends in the revenues of the Ottoman central administration from the sixteenth century until World War I. It also compares long-term trends in Ottoman revenues with those of European, and to a lesser extent, Asian states. The Ottomans were often involved in wars with their European neighbours but much less so with their neighbours in Asia where interstate rivalry was less intense. Wars put enormous pressure on the states and their survival depended closely on their ability raise revenue. As a result, wars, centralisation of finances and emergence of centralised states were interrelated processes. Revenues of the Ottoman central administration lagged well behind its European neighbours until the end of the eighteenth century because local elites retained large part of the revenues. However, the centralising reforms of the nineteenth century enabled the Ottomans to raise their central revenues significantly and survive until World War I.