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| 1853 |
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| The first Judeo-Spanish paper in the empire, La Luz de Israel, began publication in Istanbul. | 1 |
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| 1853–56 |
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| The Crimean War (See 1853–56). The Ottoman involvement in this bloody conflict, which was essentially a European affair, had its roots in a dispute between France and Russia over their respective patronage of Catholics and Orthodox in the holy places in Palestine, and the attempts of Russia to extract from the Ottomans further concessions on Russian claims to protect the Orthodox Christian subjects of the sultan. Backed by Britain and France, the Ottomans resisted the Russian demands (May–June 1853). Russia responded by occupying Moldavia and Wallachia (July 1853), and the war began. The Ottomans engaged the Russians in the Principalities and Caucasus, and suffered some setbacks, including the destruction of a naval squadron anchored at Sinop (Nov. 1853). When Russia refused a British ultimatum to withdraw from the Principalities, Britain and France signed a treaty with the Ottomans pledging military aid to maintain the integrity of the empire (March 12, 1854) and declared war on Russia (March 28, 1854). The main scene of battle moved to the Crimea, where French and British forces along with some Ottoman troops fought bloody battles with the Russians (Sept. 1854–Sept. 1855). Diplomatic negotiations finally led to Russian acceptance of allied demands (Feb. 1856) and the subsequent meeting of a peace conference in Paris. | 2 |
| THE TREATY OF PARIS (March 30, 1856) (See 1853–56) included a number of important provisions regarding the status and possessions of the Ottoman Empire. All sides agreed to evacuate territory taken during the war. The European powers guaranteed the independence and integrity of the empire, and in return the sultan promised reforms and better treatment for his Christian subjects (as proclaimed in his decree of Feb. 18, 1856). The Straits were to remain closed to the warships of foreign powers, and the Black Sea was neutralized, open only to merchant ships. The Principalities and Serbia were left under Ottoman suzerainty, with their autonomy to be guaranteed by the powers. | 3 |
| For the Ottomans the terms of the treaty meant a welcome containment of Russia, but at the cost of substituting the involvement of the powers in concert in the empire's affairs. Inasmuch as the victorious coalition failed to hold together for long or to prevent the Russians from repudiating the Black Sea clauses, what was hailed as a permanent overall solution to the Eastern Question proved temporary and precarious. | 4 |
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| 1854 |
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| A municipality was established in Istanbul, with a mayor (shehir emini) and a council composed of 12 members. It was the first major step toward the introduction of modern municipal government in the capital and later in the provincial towns. | 5 |
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| 1855–56 |
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| Anti-Ottoman revolt in the Hijaz. The sharif of Mecca, Abd al-Muttalib, used an Ottoman order prohibiting the slave trade in the Hijaz to stir up a rebellion against Ottoman rule and to declare his independence. Hostilities broke out, and the Ottomans suppressed the insurrection by June 1856 and tightened their hold on the province. | 6 |
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| 1855 |
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| Introduction of the telegraph. The network spread rapidly throughout the empire; by 1914 about 5.5 million telegrams were being sent annually. The new mode of communication expedited the diffusion of news and helped the Ottoman government centralize its control. | 7 |
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| 1856, Feb. 18 |
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| THE IMPERIAL RESCRIPT (HATT-I HUMAYUN). Worked out by the ambassadors of England, France, and Austria, the sultan's allies against Russia in the Crimean War, the proclamation reiterated and expanded the promised reforms of the 1839 imperial rescript. It stressed in particular the principle of equality of Muslims and non-Muslims—in military service, the administration of justice, taxation, admission to state schools, public employment, and social respect. The traditional poll tax (jizya), which had symbolized the inferior status of non-Muslims since the early days of Islam, was rescinded. The confessional autonomy of the Jews and Christians was maintained and codified by the recognition of the millets (religious communities) as fundamental corporate entities in society. The decree called for the constitutional reorganization of the millets, with greater representation for the lay leaders in the management of their temporal affairs. | 8 |
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| 1856 |
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| Introduction of gas lighting in selected streets of Istanbul. The use of gas lamps spread subsequently in the capital and other cities in the region. | 9 |
| Completion of the Dolmabahche Palace, to which the imperial residence was transferred from the Topkapi Palace. The new palace along the Bosphorus was built and furnished extravagantly in a European style. | 10 |
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| 1857 |
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| The Refugee Law provided poor immigrant families with plots of state land along with exemptions from taxes and military service for a period of 6 to 12 years, depending on their area of settlement. The law, and the Refugee Commission established in 1860, were intended to deal with the influx of refugees, especially from Russian territories after the Crimean War. Between 1854 and 1876 some 300,000 Tatars from the Crimea moved into the empire, along with several hundred thousand Tatars from the Nogay and Kuban, and about 500,000 refugees from the Caucasus. | 11 |
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| 1857–62 |
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| Revolts in Montenegro (See 1852–53). Prince-Bishop Danilo, the ruler of the predominantly Christian principality, revolted in 1857 and declared his independence from the Ottomans. The Ottomans moved to suppress the revolt, and with the mediation of the European powers a deal establishing Montenegran autonomy was made (Nov. 8, 1858). In 1860 Montenegro resumed its agitation and supported a Slav uprising in Herzegovina. The Ottomans again acted to suppress the rebels, but the powers intervened to force a settlement restoring Montenegro's previous boundaries and autonomy (Aug. 31, 1862). | 12 |
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| 1858, April 21 |
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| THE OTTOMAN LAND LAW. The code, and its amendment in 1867, had the dual intention of reasserting the state's legal right of ownership in the face of widespread usurpation of its lands and providing each cultivator with secure title that would encourage investment. It made provisions for cultivators and others with limited rights over state (miri) land to acquire full private ownership confirmed by official titles. Much state land was subsequently converted into private property (mulk) by legal and illegal means. But because of the increasing value of agricultural land, the power relations in the countryside, and peasant suspicion of the authorities, the bulk of the land ended up in the hands of wealthy notable families that by the 20th century had accumulated large landed estates and a new source of power. | 13 |
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| June |
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| A massacre of Christians in Jidda, in which the British and French consuls were killed along with many others. The Ottomans used the incident to curb further the power of the sharifs and to strengthen their control in the Hijaz, which remained paramount until the reassertion of power by the sharifs beginning in the 1890s. | 14 |
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