CHAPTER 26
THE OTTOMANS AND QING CHINA
From Empire to Nation
• Ottomans weakened by internal strife
-Weak rulers (sultans)
-Power struggles
-Corrupt provincial officials
-Position of artisans declines (Western goods
flood market)
-Wide scale urban riots
-Armies lack important resources
-Foreign empires make grabs at outlying territory
Reform and Survival
• The “Sick Man of Europe
-Stave off total decline through reforms
-Move into 20th century under own regime
• European nations concerned
-Potential collapse of Ottomans could
impact the balance of power in Europe.
-Great Britain props up Ottomans to keep Russia
from controlling Istanbul
Reform And Survival
• Stage 1: Modest Reform (18 th century)
-Sultan Selim III: Introduces printing press & seeks
greater bureaucratic efficiency
-Result: Angers Janissaries & factions within the
bureaucracy
• Stage 2: Reforms Continue (1826)
-Sultan Mahmud II: Creates rival army to break
Janissary and ayan power
-Farther-reaching reforms are based on western
precedents
• Stage 3: The Tanzimat Reforms (1839-1876)
-Reorganizes large sections of society on along
western lines
Repression and Revolt
• New reforms don’t appease
westerners and also upset
conservative ulamas and ayans.
• Sultan Abdul Hamid (1878-1908)
Create order through absolute rule
• Rule ends in bloodless coup
-Supported by Ottoman Society
for Union & Progress (Young
Turks) who wanted to restore the
1876 constitution
The “Sick Man” Dies
• 1908 coup: Supported by military, who introduce many
reforms (Restore constitution, education, status of women)
• Immediate problems:
-Factional fighting
-Outbreak of WWI
-Continued subjugation of Arab portions of the
empire
• Ottoman Empire ends in 1914
• Crisis in Arab portions of empire same: Reject or adopt
western ways?
• Arabs resented Ottoman Turkish rule, but prefer rule by
Muslims to control by Western powers.
Do Now: In Your Notebooks…
Please answer the following questions and be prepared to share with
the class.
1). What might the results (Social, Political, and/or Economic) be for a
country that attempts industrialization but fails?
2). If a country is less industrialized than another, are they always
subject to imperialism? Why or why not?
Crisis in the Arab Islamic Heartlands
• Arabs resented Ottoman control
-Accepted because of common faith
• As Ottomans declined, Arabs decreasingly able to be
protected from Europeans
• Failed Westernization in Egypt
-Napoleon invaded Egypt (1798)
-Mamluks tried to defend Egypt with
antiquated weaponry
-Mamluks: Slaves that had risen to military
commanders and rulers in their own name
Continued
• Napoleon was defeated by British instead of Egypt’s
military
• Arabs concerned with how far they had fallen behind
Europe
Muhammad Ali-Failure to Westernize
• Muhammad Ali: 1801-Ruler of Egypt who introduced
Western-style reforms
• Political: Developed effective fighting force in the
Middle East
-Challenged authority of Ottomans by invading
Syria
•
Economic: Peasantry increase production of cotton,
hemp, and indigo (Plantation and cash crop
economy)
-Improve harbors and extend irrigation works
-Attempts at industrialization thwarted by
competition from Europe
Continued
•
•
•
Possessions beyond Egypt were crumbling;
Muhammad Ali died in 1848
Successors lack ambition and ability
-Intermarried with Turkish families
-Given title of khedives after 1867
Ruled Egypt until overthrown by a military coup in
1952 which brought Gamel Abdul Nasser to power
Bankruptcy, European Intervention, and Resistance
• Egypt dependent on export of cotton
-Muhammad Ali developed dependence on
cotton economy
-Susceptible to fluctuations in the world
price of cotton
• Khedives wasted revenue on the elite and fruitless
military campaigns in Sudan
Continued
• Europeans lent money to ensure access to Egypt’s
supply of cotton
-Build Suez Canal (1869)
-Europeans wanted control over canal
-Britain and France fought for control until the
British gained control in 1888.
• Push to return to traditional times of Muhammad
Continued
• Khedive disbanded Egyptian military units
-Ahmad Orabi began a revolt
• Khedive sought British assistance
-British sent its navy and troops - crushed
Orabi’s rebellion
-Resulted in British domination of Egypt
-Not formally colonized; used consuls and
officials to control political and economic affairs
-Due to instability, Sudan tries to revolt
against Egypt and British
Mahdist Revolt
• Muhammad Achmad began the revolt
-People believed he was the promised deliverer, or
Mahdi
-Wanted to purge Islam
-Violent rebellion against Egyptians and
Europeans using guerrilla tactics
• Khalifa Abdallahi built a strong, expansive state
-Religious practices were enforced, and immoral
activities punished.
-Foreigners imprisoned or expelled – slavery
allowed
-1898: Mahdist state defeated at hands of British
Do Now: Multiple Choice
1). Why did the British attempt to prop up the Ottoman Empire in the face of other
European nations' desire to destroy it?
A). Britain had interests in seizing land in the Crimea.
B). Britain held a successful monopoly of the supply of opium to the
Ottoman Empire.
C). Britain wished to support the independence of Egypt under Muhammad
Ali.
D). Britain feared that the Russians would successfully establish a port on
the Mediterranean.
2). Which of the following reforms undertaken by Muhammad Ali failed?
A). Production of raw materials in demand in Europe (cotton, hemp, indigo)
B). Build-up of an Egyptian industrial sector
C). Improvements of Egyptian harbors and irrigation works
D). Modernization of the army
The Last Dynasty: Qing
• Qing Dynasty:
Manchu-nomadic
group who seized
control after Ming
declined
-Adopted Chinese ways
-Maintained same
system once in power
-Differed from previous
foreign rulers by
including native
Chinese in bureaucracy
Economy & Society
• Conservative approach to both economy and society
-Social:
-Stressed hierarchy
-Extended family remained central social unit
-Women confined to the household
• Economy:
-Lowered taxes, labor demands and improved
public works
-Attempted to control the landlord class to
alleviate peasant burdens
-Rise of merchant class (compradors) who
specialized in import-export trade
Rot From Within
• False assumption that the following problems were
part of another dynastic cycle
• Political
-Cheating and bribery on state exams
-Sons of high officials ensured bureaucratic jobs
• Economic
-Diversion of revenue from state projects
-Food shortages, famine & disease
-Widespread banditry
Continued
• Tea-Opium Connection
-China traded little with West (Favorable trade
balance)
-Influx of silver into China for centuries
-Late 18th century: British merchants smuggle
opium into China for nonmedical use
-Takes decades for smoking opium to catch on
-By 1835: 12 million addicted
-Used to escape breakdown of Chinese society
The Opium War & After
• To Chinese, Europeans were
barbarians, animals, nomads
-Failed to recognize
equally advanced society
• British reverse favorable
trade balance
-Continued supply of
opium
-Opium dens spread
-Qing emperors issued
decrees forbidding opium trade
Continued
• Lin Zexu-Sent to stamp out trade
-Blockaded warehouses and
destroyed opium
• Opium War (1839-1842)
-Mostly sea battles over British
failure to stop trading opium
-China suffered defeat
• Treaty of Nanjing
-Britain received Hong Kong
-Foreign citizens gain
extraterritorial rights-Foreigners not
subject to Chinese law at port cities
Rebellion & Failed Reforms
• 1850s & 1860s—wave of rebellions
• Taiping rebellion (Hong Xiuquan)
-Create kingdom where wealth was shared and
no poverty
-Organize peasant army
-1853: Captures Nanjing and declares capital
-Internal feuding and attacked by British and
French
-Taiping government brought down in 1864
Continued
• Self-Strengthening Movement
-Dynamic provincial leaders
-Encouraged Western investment in railways and
factories
-Update educational system and military
-Help suppress Taiping Rebellion
• Manchu rulers resisted reforms
-Determined to preserve old order
-Willing to make only minor changes
Continued
• Empress Cixi
-Empress dowager
-Committed to traditional
values
-Crush serious move towards
reform
• External Influence
-Foreign nations sign treaties
-Sphere of influence: Foreign
nation controls trade and investment
• Open-Door Policy-China’s doors
opened to merchants of all nations
Chinese Nationalism
• Emperor Guangxu
-Wants to modernize country (Hundred Days
Reform)
-Qing officials view as threat to power; call back
Cixi; Guangxu imprisoned
-Peasants and workers formed secret society
(Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists or
“Boxers”)
-Campaign against Cixi known as Boxer Rebellion
-1900: Multinational force puts down rebellion
Failed Reform & Fall of the Qing
• 1905-Cixi sends Chinese officials
on tour to study world
government systems
-Eliminate exam system
-Restructure government
• Resistance continues until 1911
-Secret societies, sons of
scholar-gentry or compradors
-Fiercely anti-Western
• 1912—last Manchu emperor
(Puyi) abdicates
Global Connection
• Islam survives; China does not—WHY?
• Challenge to China was more sudden
• Muslims share cultural aspects while Chinese
regarded western culture as ‘barbaric’
• Muslims has many centers to defend whereas fall of
China meant the whole empire
• Muslims could fall back on Islam, Chinese did not
have a religious tradition to stabilize them.