The Montenegrin frontier of the Ottoman Empire: loyalties and frontier defense (1863-1870)

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the period from 1863-1870 and analyzes the implemen-tation of Tanzimat reforms in the Montenegrin frontier region of the Ottoman Empire with respect to military defense practices. e thesis revolves around the state’s efforts in the frontier region to implement Tanzimat reforms while organizing a border defense and sustaining the loyalty of people living on the frontier. e thesis draws on archival documents as well as contemporary studies and demonstrates the Tanzimat state’s policies on the Montenegrin frontier within the context of the administrative and military modernization of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. It also examines the rela-tionships between frontier people, Montenegro, and the Ottoman administra-tion. In addition, the thesis investigates how frontier people’s own policies af-fected the efforts of the Sublime Porte and Montenegro to penetrate the area. At the same time, the study contains a general overview of the central state’s attempts to directly control other frontier regions of the empire. ese at-tempts by the Tanzimat state to control the frontiers were designated to in-crease treasury revenues and military manpower resources. e lack of sus-tainable sources restrained the limits of the Ottoman central administration in frontiers.