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Lecture 2: European Imperialism and the
Ottoman Empire
Lecture Plan:• Background: Ottoman governance• Ottoman Decline & ‘defensive modernisation’• ‘Westernisation’ & impact on post-independence politics• Conclusion: politico-economic transition and contemporary problems
Ottoman Empire in 1856
Ottoman Empire in 1914
Ottoman Governance
1350-1918: Multi-national, -linguistic, -religious empire:o Majorities: Christians in Balkans, Turks in Anatolia, Arabic-speakers
in Fertile Crescent, Egypt & N. Africa Mosaic society: autonomous religious millets; family/tribal
fragmentation; regional decentralisation Unifying ideology: Islam (Caliphate) & Empire Sultan-Caliph: Islamic legitimation; absolute ruler; central
function: guarantor of justice (’adala); consultatitve Diwan; Grand-Vizier; firman (edicts); tax-farming; mamluk army
Elites' int’l origins: Greeks/bureaucracy, Christian-origin Mamluks (slave soldiers); Turkish landed elite
Ottoman Decline
• European pressure + internal tension re-orientation of political/economic structures
• Declining economic base of empire:– Western economic penetration: loss of trade routes, decline
of traditional industries, growing debt to Western capital markets ( states)
• European military pressure (Rus, Aus, UK, Fra)• Internal disintegrative pressures (e.g. Egypt): • Nationalism among Christian minorities in Balkans
(cf. European trends)
European Imperialism:
Creeping Conquest and Occupation• piecemeal dismemberment of Arabic-speaking realms
by British & French over 100 years: – Algeria (1830) and Egypt (1882), to the post-WWI
establishment of Mandates in the Fertile Crescent
• Settler Colonialism: Palestine & Algeria– European settlement uproots & peripherizes native
populations, subordinates & transforms remnants of traditional indigenous societies
• Indirect control: – Egypt, Suez Canal, bankruptcy & Dual Control
Ottoman Decline & Defensive Modernisation
Reforms (Tanzimat): strengthen without disrupting traditional order: mil.-bur. modernisation/centralisation, defend borders, ensure tax collection
o Consitutionalism: limit Sultan's power; create politically aware population with rights, giving a stake in society & its defence
o secular law: Islam seen as divisive & obstacle to modernisationo military: conscription, taxation & standing armyo nationalism: empire weak for lack of shared sense of nationhood
Consequences:o Rise of new middle class: reform requires Western-style education/professions,
Western ideas of modernisation, nationalist, democracy among new middle class.o Split in Ottoman elite: reformists (modern military, bureaucrats) struggle with
traditionalists (military, religious, warlords)o military: early moderniser/nationalists: first Western-educated, mission of border
defence à nationalists wanting a strong empire o Problem of Identity: which 'national' identity could unite the empire?
• Ottomanism (Muslim elite, not masses/minorities), Islamic revival (antagonises secular middle class & Christians linked to West), Linguistic nationalism (e.g. pan-Turkism alienates Arabs)
Ataturk and Mehmet AliTurkey:• WWI Collapse of Ottoman Empire
– Ataturk a military hero, member of CUP/‘Young Turks’• Nationalism: mobilises Turks against W designs on Anatolia
– External threat + half a century of nationalism 'arouses sleeping Turkish nation’
• Secular Turkish republic based on – i. ethnicity & language, and ii. territory (Anatolia)
• Economic independence through statist modernisation• Political dilemmas:
– 'democrats' vs. authoritarian-nationalists: ‘democracy’ would empower traditional leaders (since 'the people' remain too traditional)
– Turkification alienates Arabs reinforces early Arabism
Egypt: Mehmet Ali / Muhammad Ali:– Standing army conscription economic reform bur. centralisation– Nationalist ‘gel’ Egyptian nationalism
Imposition of a Western-Style State System
• WWI: fragmentation into many small states– Hussein-MacMahon (1915-16), Sykes-Picot (1916), Balfour
Declaration (1917), Treaty of Sevres (1920)• Artificiality:
– some have traditional roots consolidated by ‘state system’: Egypt, Yemen, but …
– others are artificial, e.g. protectorate over Kuwait & dismemberment of Syria (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan)
• Consequences: instability– Division: military-political weakness of small feuding states– Irredentism: discontent w/ 'artificial' boundaries Arab
nationalism aims to unite: one nation, one state (cf. European nationalism)
Economics & ‘Modernisation’
• Incorporation of local economy into global capital as periphery – export raw materials, import manufactured goods:– Capital accumulation difficult
• commercial agriculture for export (e.g. Egypt's cotton)– Financial vulnerability & revenue fluctuations hard to plan
• Modernisation: spread of urbanisation, infrastructure, education, limited industrialisation– traditional artisan industries undermined by W mass production– Decline of traditional middle classes, income polarisation
• (later) exploitation of local oil reserves, owned by W MNCs• Conclusion
– Econ: Difficulties of ‘development’– Pol: territorialisation ‘internal’ tensions (Plaestine, Kurds)
ConclusionEuropean modernity: economic & technological (industrial revolution) +
cultural-political (nationalism, centralisation)• Economics: Industrial Revolution economic initiative with
Europe Ottoman decline & European penetration• Ideology: strong impact of European ideologies: nationalism
perceived as source of unity and therefore strength increasingly popular; Islam (at times perceived as obstacle) later radicalises under continued Western dominance
• Strategic: Industrial Revolution European military technology & production capabilities > Ottoman shifting power balance
• Postcoloniality: imperialism (divide et impera strategy) + economics (new economic system & classes) creates internal divisions which cause post-independence instability ('weak' or 'unfinished' states, artificial liable to collapse)
(Cf. Ottoman Empire: hybrid, parallel governance)
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