Civilizations in Crisis
The Ottoman Empire
Islamic Heartlands
The Ottoman Empire
• Created by Turkish
tribes in Anatolia
(Asia Minor) that
grew to be one of the
most powerful states
in the world during
the 15th and 16th
centuries
• Ottoman period
spans more than 600
years
What Contributed to the
Ottoman Crisis?
• Leadership Issues
• Economic Issues
• Military & Territorial Issues
How did the Empire survive?
Divisions between European
Powers
• Each European power
feared that the others
would gain more from
total dismemberment of
the Ottoman Empire
Reforms from Within
• Reforms initiated at the
top of the imperial
system and carried out in
stages
• Created increased
tensions within the
ruling elite
Sultan Mahmud II
• Establishes
diplomatic corps and
exchanges
ambassadors with
the West
• Expands
Westernization of his
army
Tanzimat Reforms (18391876)
• University education
• State-run postal and telegraph
systems
• Newspapers
• Legal reforms
• Constitution
Sultan Abdul Hamid’s
Repression
• Sultanate was seen
as a barrier to
transformation
• Return to despotic
absolutism
• But still pushed for
westernization
Revolt
• Ottoman Society for Union and Progress
• Young Turks
• Determined to restore the 1876 constitution and
resume reforms
• 1908 coup is successful
• Restores constitution
• Promises reforms
• Sultan is retained as a political figurehead and
highest religious authority in Islam
Mixed Results for Young Turks
• Officers embroiled in factional fights
• Loss during wars in the Balkans
• Conflict with Italy over Libya (last possession in
North Africa)
• Resistance in Arab portions of empire
• Avoided collapse of the empire by achieving lastgasp military victories and playing hostile
European powers against each other
• Outbreak of WWI cuts short the work of the
Young Turks
Islamic Heartlands
• Fertile Crescent, Egypt, costal Arabia, and
north Africa
• Resented Turkish domination but could
identify with the Ottomans as fellow
defenders of the faith and patrons of
Islamic culture
• Islamic world displaced by West as leading
civilization
• Crisis of confidence
Napoleon’s Invasion of Egypt
• Mamluk regime led
by Murad dismissed
Napoleon
• Suffered crushing
defeat
• Evidence of
ignorance of events
in Europe and
vulnerability in war
Muhammad Ali
Not this one
THIS one
Muhammad Ali
• Put together the most effective fighting force
in the Middle East
• Fell short of a fundamental transformation of
Egyptian society
• Limited scope of reforms left Egypt open to
inroads by European powers
• Successors lacked his ambition
• Descendants (known as khedives) would be
overthrown by a military coup that brought
Gamel Abdul Nasser to power in 1952
Bankruptcy
• Successors unable to continue reform
and revitalization
• Revenues were wasted on
extravagances
• Growing indebtedness to European
financiers
Suez Canal
• Completed in 1869
• Connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas
• Transformed Egypt into one of the most strategic
places on earth
How to ward off the growing
European menace?
• Religious Focus
• Prominent Islamic scholars called for a jihad
• Muslim world can only be saved by a return to
patterns of religious observance and social
interaction of the golden age of Muhammad
• Scientific/Knowledge Focus
• Others (led by al-Afghani and Muhammad
Abduh) stressed need for scientific learning and
technology
• Argued for tradition of rational inquiry in Islamic
history
Both groups agreed on the need for Muslim
unity in the face of the growing European
threat but could not reconcile their very
different approaches to Islamic renewal
Their differences and the
uncertainties they interjected into
Islamic efforts to cope with the
challenges of the West remain
central problems in the Muslim
world today
Direct European control over
the Islamic heartlands begins
Muhammad Achmad
• Leader of
Islamic rebellion
• Became known
as the Mahdi
(promised
deliverer)
Jihad
The Mahdi jihad against Egyptian
heretics and British infidels
represented the most extreme and
violent Islamic response to the
perceived dilution of Islam in Africa
and the growing threat of Europe
Khalifa Abdallahi
• The Mhadi’s successor
• Built a strong, expansive state
• Sought to build a closely
controlled society
End of the Mahdist State
• Mahdist forces
were no match for
British
expedititionary
force led by
General Kitchener
• Spears vs.
Machine Guns
Islamic civilization at the end
of the 19th century
• A time of reverses for the people of the
Islamic world
• Islamic community grew increasingly
anxious over the dangers that lay ahead
• Islamic civilization is not defeated but is
threatened