I.
The Ottoman Empire and the West in
the Nineteenth Century
a. Both
China and the Ottoman Empire
i. felt
that they did not need to learn from the West
ii. avoided
direct colonial rule, but were diminished
iii. attempted
“defensive modernization”
iv. suffered
a split in society between modernists and those holding traditional values
II. “The
Sick Man of Europe”
a. 1750:Ottoman
Empire was still strong, at center of the Islamic world; by 1900, was known as
“the sick man of Europe”
b. region
by region, Islamic world fell under Christian rule, and the Ottomans couldn’t
prevent it
i. Ottomans
lost territory to Russia, Britain, Austria, and France
ii. Napoleon’s
1798 invasion of Egypt was especially devastating
iii. Greece,
Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania attained independence
c. central
Ottoman state had weakened
i. provincial
authorities and local warlords gained more power, limited the
government’s ability to raise money
ii. the Janissaries had become militarily
ineffective
a. the
economy was hit hard by Western developments
i. Europeans
achieved direct access to Asia
ii. cheap
European manufactured goods harmed Ottoman artisans
iii. foreign
merchants won immunity from Ottoman laws and taxes
iv. government
came to rely on foreign loans to finance economic development efforts
b. had
reached a state of dependency on Europe
III.
Reform and Its Opponents
a. Ottomans
attempted ambitious reforms, going considerably further than the Chinese
i. didn’t
have an internal crisis on the scale of China
ii. no
internal upheaval at core of empire
iii. did
not have to deal with explosive population growth
iv. rulers
were Turkic and Muslim, not like foreign Qing
b. late
eighteenth century: Selim III tried to establish new military and
administrative structures
i. sent
ambassadors to study European methods
ii. imported
European advisers
iii. established
technical schools
c. after
1839: more far-reaching measures (Tanzimat, or “reorganization”) emerged
i. beginning
of an extensive process of industrialization and modernization
ii. acceptance
of the principle that all citizens are equal before the law
iii. tide
of secular legislation and secular schools
iv. created
modest educational openings for women, mostly in Istanbul
d. supporters
of reform saw the Ottoman Empire as a secular state
i. reform
created a new class of writers, etc.—the “Young Ottomans”
ii. urged
creation of a constitutional regime
iii. Islamic
modernism: accepted Western technology and science but not its materialism
e. Sultan
Abd al-Hamid II (r. 1876–1909) accepted a new constitution in 1876 that limited
the sultan’s authority
i. almost
immediately suspended it
ii. turned
to older style of despotism in the face of a Russian invasion
f. opposition
coalesced around the “Young Turks” (military and civilian elites)
i. advocated
a militantly secular public life
ii. shift
to thinking in terms of a Turkish national state
g. military
coup (1908) gave the Young Turks real power
i. antagonized
non-Turkic peoples in the Ottoman Empire
ii. stimulated
Arab and other nationalisms
iii. the
Ottoman Empire completely disintegrated after World War I
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