The legacy of the Ottoman Empire can be found in a modern secular Turkish nation today, which is poised to join the European
Union as an equal partner in the international community. The causes for the downfall of the Ottoman Empire seem fairly concrete to some who believe that the economy was in a horrid state and that most people were near starvation, while others think that the
internal economy was doing just fine, and it was only the external
economic trade that was failing. This paper provides an overview of the events leading up to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1922, followed by an analysis of the events surrounding the internal and external economic conditions of the empire as it was declining through its ultimate collapse. A summary of the research is provided in the conclusion.