There are virtually no multinational states left today, and it would be difficult to find a government that has remained in place since the pre-World War I era. In this sense, it is highly unlikely that the Ottoman Empire could have survived the tumultuous 20th century. However, he may have had a chance. If not for European intervention, the Ottoman reforms might have succeeded. However, even with these reforms, they had to compete with the rise of nationalism, which would have been difficult. The Ottomans attempted to reform on several occasions. The entire Tanzimat period, from 1839 to 1876, was characterized by extensive efforts to modernize and Westernize the Ottoman government. Even before then, however, there had been serious attempts to change society. Around the time of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria in 1798, Sultan Selim III sought to modernize the Ottoman army on the model of the highly successful French army. The Nizam-i-Cedid would have been a modern military force capable of resisting European armies, unlike the hopelessly outmoded and ragtag Janissaries. Despite his best efforts, however, the Janissaries overthrew him in 1807. His successor, Mahmud II, managed to revive the Nizam-i-Cedid after massacring the Janissaries in 1826 (Gelvin 80). At the same time, Mehmet Ali implemented similar, if more successful, reforms in Egypt, then under at least *de jure* rule by the Sultan. Mehmet Ali's army was perhaps the strongest in the Middle East, and his forces intervened on behalf of the Ottoman Empire to quell the uprising in Greece. Despite that strength, however, the European armies were more powerful and at the Battle of Navarino, a joint defeat of the Anglo-French-Russian navy... mid-paper... forces (then still under the Sultan) were almost able to defeat the Greek rebels until the English, French and Russians united to help the Greeks. Without the Treaty of Balta Liman and the forced concessions to the Ottoman Empire, they could have developed a modern economy, instead of going into debt to Europe. This would allow them to pay for a modern army capable of resisting European aggression. If it were not for the Western powers that would have short-circuited the defensive development plans of the Ottoman Empire. However, it is unrealistic to assume that Europe would allow the Ottomans to develop into a modern power: all over the world, the major European powers acted to prevent all other countries from becoming their equals. If they had not intervened when they did, they almost certainly would have done so at some other time to ensure their dominance.