Ottomanism was a form of nationalism, likely inspired and created as a reaction to European ideas of nationalism and the growing Western involvement in the Ottoman Empire. Following the Tanzimat reforms, Ottomanism developed from a need to bring the Empire together.[2] The Ottomans feared the growing threat the Europeans posed, especially after events like the Treaty of Balta Liman, which allowed for British merchants in the Empire to be taxed equally to the locals, and the growing concern of the great powers over the treatment of Christians and Jews within the Empire. The Ottomans thought that if they could unite the Empire fully under one state entity, then they would be stronger and the Europeans would have a harder time encroaching on Ottoman territory, as well as Ottoman people.