Civilizations in Crisis: Ottoman
Empire, Islamic Heartlands, Qing
China
Decline of the Ottomans
Weak rulers
 Decrease in artisans because of European
imports
 Outside threats: Europeans and Russians
 Inside threats: nationalism (Balkans
breaking up)
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Attempted Ottoman Reform
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Selim III- (r.1789-1807) tried to reform but
angered factions in bureaucracy and Janissary
Corps toppled him in 1807
Mahmud II succeeded
 Got European support in building an army to
topple the Janissaries
 Patterned reform on the west, which increased
western European involvement
 Tanzimat reforms 1839-1876
Revolt in the Ottoman Empire
Sultan Abdul Hamid (1878-1908) returned
to despotic absolutism
 1908 bloodless coup
 Exiled intellectuals and political activists
formed a society (Society for Reform and
Progress, a.k.a.-Young Turks) and
demanded return to 1876 constitution
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Crisis in the Arab Islamic
Heartlands

Islamic heartlands open to invasion by
western Europe with Ottoman decline
Muhammad Ali
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1798 Napoleon invaded Egypt
His threat is discounted and they win early battles
British defeat French and 1801 French withdraw
Muhammad Ali built up European-style military
Khedives- Ali’s successors who ruled until 1952
Foreigners in Egypt
1869 Suez Canal made Egypt extremely
strategic because it linked Europe with its
colonial holdings
 Need for Muslim unity to ward off invaders
 Ahmad Orabi challenged foreign interests
but the British crushed his rebellion

Jihad
British drawn to the South (Sudan) where
everyone wanted control of the Nile
 Egyptian authority greatly resented there
 Mahdi (Muhammed Achmad came to be the
promised deliverer) rebelled to purge Islam
and gained control of Sudan
 1896 British General Kitchener defeated
them at the battle of Omdurman
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Rise of the Qing Dynasty
Manchu conquest of China (Nurhaci united
the tribes and became Manchu leader)
 Weakness of the Ming gave the Manchus
the opportunity to seize China, where they
took the dynastic name Qing

Rule under the Qing
Retained much of the political system of the
Ming
 Examination system continued, patrons of
the arts, social system maintained
 Attempt at alleviating rural distress
 Population increased
 Favorable balance of trade until 18th century
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Rise of Internal Problems
Exam system corrupt
 Revenue loss decrease military
 Deterioration of the dikes led to flooding
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The British and Opium
Europeans creep in on trade but British have
unfavorable balance of trade
 Only desirable product to reverse this is
opium
 Opium imports increase from 200- 40,000
chests a year from 1700-1840
 Opium war reversed the balance and forced
China to open up trading ports
 Hong Kong became the center of British
commerce
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Rebellion Begins
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Taiping Rebellion 1850s-1860s- led by Hong
Xiuquan offered alternative to Qing and
Confucian civilizations by drastic reform
Attack on scholar-gentry led to bloody
suppression of the rebellion- 20 million deaths!
Self-strengthening movement- movement to
westernize (some people felt it was necessary)
Dowager Empress Cixi further crushed serious
reform effort in 1898
1898-1901 Boxer Rebellion (crushed by foreign
troops)
The Fall of the Qing
Rise of secret societies
 Revolutionaries hostile to European
involvement
 1899- U.S. forces China to establish Open
Door policy to open up trade
 1911 opposition and rebellion force out the
last Manchu leader in 1912 and marked the
end of Confucian values as basis for society
and the era of the scholar-gentry
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