[markbnj]

Thanks so much for the insights.

> Ottoman Empire didn't dissolved because they chose the wrong side, instead it was huge empire consisting of many nation and spans over an enourmous area (East Europe, Anatolia, Syria-Iraq, Egypt, Arabia, North Africa), while the army and many government offices couldn't keep up with the developments of the time.

Not an uncommon pattern.

[jcranmer]

Multicultural empires couldn't survive the onslaught of nationalism that came in the 19th century. The modernization attempts of the Ottoman Empire (unlike Austria-Hungary or Russia, the other two major multicultural empires of Europe) rested very heavily on a very narrow Turkish nationalism movement that alienated the Armenian, Arab, and Balkan peoples in the country. But Austria-Hungary, which was somewhat successfully trying to force an inclusive, multicultural modernization process still imploded, as did Russia, which was somewhat in the middle between Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans.

Even the multicultural aspects of the British Empire would come flying apart in the 20th century--Irish nationalism was successful in splitting from Britain in the inter-war period, and Indian nationalism would end the British Raj shortly after WW2. And Britain was consistently the most modern, liberal, and inclusive country in this period. The only countries that could successfully survive multiculturally were those that received multiple countries from the sheer immigration of the period and channeled them into a melting pot of immigrant cultures (most notably the US, but many of the large American countries went through similar experiences).