Ottoman fragmentation and the Janissary vacuum

The Ottoman Empire had been built around conquest and external enemies, but by 1827 it was divided among central forces and powerful vassals. Britain and France helped keep it intact for strategic reasons. The Janissaries had evolved from a continually renewed military institution loyal to the sultan into a hereditary political power, prompting their destruction just before the crisis. Their removal erased officers and commanders embedded at every level of the army before a replacement force was ready. The sultan therefore faced three intervening powers while his army was critically weak and his navy could not match any one of their fleets. Even an order to withdraw might not have solved the crisis, because Ibrahim Pasha proved difficult for either the sultan or his own father to control.