Irrespective of the debate over the origins and inspiration of the Tanzimat edict, it is clear that this event marked a decisive turning point in the way the Ottoman Empire envisaged its future and its relations with an increasingly powerful Europe. The Egyptian question was settled in the course of the following year, when pressure from England, supported by Austria and Prussia, forced Mehmed Ali Pasha to accept hereditary possession of Egypt in return for the surrender of the territories he had conquered up to that point. France and Russia aligned themselves with this policy, and European equilibrium was restored, along with the safeguarding of the empire and its territorial integrity. Freed from this hindrance, the Ottoman Empire was able to embark on the reforms and transformations that were to follow on from the principles set out in the Edict of 1839.
A long list of innovations was introduced in the hope of bringing the empire up to date : Western-inspired penal code, monetary reform, creation of the first unofficial Turkish-language newspaper, population census, educational reform, regularization of conscription, Commercial Code, to name but a few. The results, however, were meagre and, to say the least, uneven. The Turkish-language newspaper was unable to compete with the French-language press ; monetary reform was cancelled out by the abusive use of paper money ; modern education had great difficulty in spreading and remained limited to a few model establishments ; leasing, banned in 1839, came back into vogue in the face of the difficulty of organizing taxation by régie ; conscription failed to establish itself properly. Generally speaking, it seemed difficult, if not impossible, to apply the good words and principles of the Edict, especially in certain provinces, where rebellions often broke out as a result of resistance to change.
