A. The reason that the Ottoman Empire was known as the “Sick man of Europe” is because the Ottoman Empire had been a major Islamic power in central Asia and ruled part of the land in Europe, but the internal disorder, as well as the decline of the central power, made it powerless while facing hte wester mordernized economic and military power. More specifically, Sultan claimed the role of caliph and led the Ottoman Empire under Islamic rule. However, those old, outdated Islamic cultures significantly slowed down the development process of the Ottoman Empire and made it worse when confronting Western power.
B. One cause of the decline of the Ottoman Empire might be the military and political pressure confronted against the European powers. For example, the Napoleaon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt accelerated the exposure of the internal weakness of the Ottoman Empire’s administrative control. This external oppression played a role together with the internal weakening regulation structure and caused the ultimate decline of the Ottoman Empire.
C. In general, Tanzimat reform largely promoted centralization and modernization in the Ottoman Empire. Specifically, this reform contributed to the foundation of a modernized army, new legal courts, and expanded education. These reforms all promoted westernization but increased the conflict inside the state against nationalism.
D. Both the Ottoman Empire and China experienced economic penetration and losses of sovereignty under the Western aggressive modernization and industrialization. For example, both of them implemented defensive modernization but failed to build strong enough industrial states because of the continued oppression exerted by the western power. These attempts indeed promoted some sort of modernization and caught up with some of the European steps, but also raised more intense internal nationalism and caused rebellion in the long run.