A persistent siege mentality distorted Ottoman judgment

In this interpretation, the Ottoman Empire was unusually unable to escape a sense of permanent siege. Its leaders faced real pressure from several directions, but constant threat perception could become an organizing assumption rather than a fresh assessment. That mindset encouraged defensive rigidity and made outside demands easier to interpret as another assault on sovereignty. The result was a strategic culture capable of feeling besieged while still badly overestimating the fleet available to resist intervention.