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Europe Moves into the Middle East

Modern Middle East

Fall 2002

General Observations

� By the 18^th Century the Europeans had surpassed the Middle East.

� Now the Europeans held the upper hand.

� But the peoples in the Muslim world wanted for this to happen.

� However, what could the Islamic world do to reverse European power?

� Earlier, the Middle East commanded the Eastern trade routes.

� But now that had changed.

� Now Europeans lived in specified quarters in the Muslim world, often free of paying taxes.

Declining Military Formations.

� Once the Ottomans could make war where and when they choose.

� Now the world had passed them by.

� The Ottomans could no longer make war with the West when they wanted to.

� No matter what the Sultans agents attempted they could not reverse their declining fortunes.

Clear Signs of Decline

� The first major example was the inability to take Vienna in 1683.

� The Treaty of Karlowitz only reinforced those feelings when the Ottoman had to acknowledged the loss of Hungary.

� Likewise the Sultan had to cede the Aegean coasts to the Venetians.

� In 1774, the Turks lost the Crimea to the Russians and allowed the Russians to defend the interests of their co-religionists in the Ottoman Empire.

Here Comes Napoleon

� The greatest shock came when Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798.

� The Turks could not effectively respond.

� But that was not the only problem.

� Napoleon then moved into Palestine.

� The Ottomans were in trouble.

Interesting Theories

� One theory involved the lack of interest on the part of the sultans because of

Other Interpretations

� Bureaucrats bought and sold their offices.

� Officials gouged themselves on taxes stiff armed from the peasants.

� The janissaries who should have been the backbone of the state now became a hereditary caste.

� The janissaries had become a class of merchants who no longer trained and did not keep up with modern weaponry.

� When the janissaries did not get their way, they often revolted.

The Breakdown of Law and Order

� The Ulama turned into a bunch of ignoramuses.

� The public was steeped in superstition.

� Landowners and merchants were robbed by brigands.

� There was little or no protection from criminals in the countryside.

� Likewise the peasants were exploited by the landlords.

� Who to blame?

� The Turks often said �the fish stinks from the head.�

Sultan Problems

� Sultan Ibrahim (1640-48) was insane and had his 280 concubines tied in sacks and drowned in the Bosporus.

� Sultan Mustafa II (1695-1703) was mistaken to take the field against Prince Eugene.

� As a result he lost much of Hungary and his army.

� Drinking and harem intrigues only further weakened the sultanate.

� Some sultans attempted to correct those problems, but challenged existing authority.

The Reforming Sultans

� Osman II (1618-22) attempted to reform the military by forming a new militia organization, which threatened the Janissaries.

� Instead the Janissaries killed him.

� Murad IV (1623-40) killed nearly 25,000 rebels.

� Mahmud I (1730-54) was the first to bring Europeans to train Turks on the new military system in Europe.

� Additional reforms were introduced by Selim II (1789-1807).

The Koprulu Family

� The Koprulu family produced six grand vizirs.

� **The first, Mehmet (d. 1661), was taken from his Christian family in Albania during the devshirme.**

� He had begun his career working in the Imperial Kitchen.

� He worked for Mehmet IV (1648-87) and helped crush revolts in Transylvania and Anatolia.

� His son, Ahmet checked the Habsburgs and seized Crete.

� His brother led the siege of Vienna in 1683.

� A nephew lowered taxes and set up factories for Mustafa II.

Assessing the Reforming Impulse

� Dama Ibrahim, another vizir, best known for diverting Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730) into building palaces and tulip gardens.

� Sultan Ahmed brought in European artists and commissioned Turkish translation of Western scientific studies.

� He also introduced the first printing press.

� Overall, even during the low point of Ottoman history, Sultans attempted to modernize.

� This trend would continued into the nineteenth century.

Traditional Ottoman Foes

� Before 1750 the traditional enemies of the Ottomans included:

� Vienna

� Spain

� Poland

The Correlation of Forces Against The Turks

� Austria had become the prime defender of Christendom.

� But a new power emerges on the scene that was a far greater threat than previously thought.

� This was Russia.

The Goals of the Tsars

� Unlike other European powers, the Russians had experience Muslim rule under the Mongol �Golden Horde.�

� Russia emerged around the city of Moscow in the fifteenth century.

� By controlling the river networks, Moscow continued to expand, looking for a warm water outlet.

� One target for the Russians was the Black Sea coast.

� This was the dream of Peter the Great.

The Need for the Straits

� The Russians controlled much of the Black Sea.

� To such an extent that the Black Sea was a Russian Lake.

� The Russians realized that the Turks could close the straits anytime.

� Likewise, Russian control of the straits would protect Russian ports on the Black Sea.

Other Russian Goals

� To restore the Byzantine Empire.

� Since Moscow was the �Third Rome.�

� With the fall of Constantinople, Russia became the protector of all of the Ottoman subjects in the Ottoman Empire.

� The Russian Tsars wanted to control �Tsargrad� and restore the power and glory of the Byzantine state.

� The Russians saw themselves better able to protect the peoples of the Balkans than the Austrians.

Russian Links to the Sultan�s Balkan Subjects

� Besides religion.

� There was another link.

� That link was �Pan Slavism.�

� The goal of linking all Slavic peoples.

� This lead to an aggressive Middle Eastern policy.

Russia�s Aggressive Intentions in the Nineteenth Century

� Russian Troops entered the Balkans in 1806-12.

� Greek War of Independence in the 1820s.

� The Rumanian Uprising in 1848.

� The Crimean War (1854-56)

� The Russo-Turkish War (1877-78).

� Help create the climate for the Balkan Wars (1912-13).

The Heart of the Eastern Question

� The central issue was whether Russian would grab the Ottoman Empire for themselves.

� The only way they could be stopped is by an alliance of the other European powers.

� The Russian goals and aspirations went against the foreign policy objectives of the many of the other European nations.

� Could the �Balance of Power� save the Ottomans?

� Or would war change that?

The Habsburg�s Ambitions

� The Habsburg Lands border the Ottoman Empire in Southeastern Europe.

� The Habsburgs wanted to follow the course of the Danube to the Black Sea.

� Plus the Habsburgs wanted to gain control of Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia.

� The Habsburgs masked commercial interests in a crusade against the Turks.

� As a result of the Treaty of Berlin (1878) Austria gained Bosnia-Herzegovina.

� The Turks were slowly being driven out.

The British and the Middle East

� The British were concerned with maintaining of their links to India.

� The Ottoman Empire was no concern to them before the Suez Canal and advent of the steamship.

� The British were concerned with the French moving into the Fertile Crescent.

� By 1830, London decided that the Ottomans were necessary to guard the land routes to India.

� By 1850, the Turks had become one of Britain�s key purchasers of British goods.

Britain: Ottoman Protector

� The British were involved in the largest European conflict since the Napoleon Wars in order to protect the Ottoman Empire.

� This was the Crimean War.

The Crimean War

� One theory for the war was the struggle over the keys to the Holy sites in Jerusalem between Orthodox and Catholic priests.

� In reality , the war was involved the fear of the Russians.

� The British moved to the aid of the Turks, not only here, but also in 1878.

� But this was done at a price.

British Gains in the Middle East

� To protect shipping routes to India.

� Britain gained:

The French: Protecting their Interests

� Traditionally the French were the allies of the Ottomans.

� They were the enemies of the Habsburgs.

� France held the first Capitulatory Treaty with the Ottomans.

� The French also were the largest investors in the Ottoman Empire too.

� Turks often went to France to be educated.

� France protected Catholic interests in the region.

French Links With Syria

� The link to the French in Syria were the Maronites.

� The Maronites were found in Northern Lebanon.

� The Maronites took a middle position between the Orthodox and the Catholics.

� They managed to keep their married priests and their Syriac language.

� But they acknowledged the primacy of Rome.

Egypt or Syria

� Egypt was in serious situation.

� Due to Ottoman neglect.

� The Mamluks misruled Egypt too.

� Even after Napoleon left and Egypt was on its own, French advisers helped Mehmet Ali.

� Mehmet Ali took Syria from the Ottomans in 1831.

� France was the only power to help Mehmet Ali.

� The British ultimately forced Mehmet Ali to withdraw from Syria.

� But he and his heirs ruled Egypt until 1952.

The Suez Canal

� Mehmet�s son, Sa�id granted a concession to build a canal linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

� The British sought to block it.

� Why?

� Because it could challenge the British lines of communication with India.

� Once the canal opened in 1869, the British became the prime user.

� Soon the British gained the Egypt governments shares of the Canal Company.

The British Solidify Their Position

� Soon the British move troops in to control the Canal and quell civil unrest in 1882.

� The British then, in time, gain control of not only the Canal, but also the whole Nile.

� The French on the other hand, moved into Algeria earlier in the nineteenth century.

� By the start of the twentieth century, the French sought control of Morocco.

� Following World War I, the French gained a foothold in Syria.

Europe Moves into the Middle East

Modern Middle East

Fall 2002

General Observations

� By the 18th Century the Europeans had surpassed the Middle East.

� Now the Europeans held the upper hand.

� But the peoples in the Muslim world wanted for this to happen.

� However, what could the Islamic world do to reverse European power?

� Earlier, the Middle East commanded the Eastern trade routes.

� But now that had changed.

� Now Europeans lived in specified quarters in the Muslim world, often free of paying taxes.

Declining Military Formations.

� Once the Ottomans could make war where and when they choose.

� Now the world had passed them by.

� The Ottomans could no longer make war with the West when they wanted to.

� No matter what the Sultans agents attempted they could not reverse their declining fortunes.

Clear Signs of Decline

� The first major example was the inability to take Vienna in 1683.

� The Treaty of Karlowitz only reinforced those feelings when the Ottoman had to acknowledged the loss of Hungary.

� Likewise the Sultan had to cede the Aegean coasts to the Venetians.

� In 1774, the Turks lost the Crimea to the Russians and allowed the Russians to defend the interests of their co-religionists in the Ottoman Empire.

Here Comes Napoleon

� The greatest shock came when Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798.

� The Turks could not effectively respond.

� But that was not the only problem.

� Napoleon then moved into Palestine.

� The Ottomans were in trouble.

Interesting Theories

� One theory involved the lack of interest on the part of the sultans because of

Other Interpretations

� Bureaucrats bought and sold their offices.

� Officials gouged themselves on taxes stiff armed from the peasants.

� The janissaries who should have been the backbone of the state now became a hereditary caste.

� The janissaries had become a class of merchants who no longer trained and did not keep up with modern weaponry.

� When the janissaries did not get their way, they often revolted.

� The Ulama turned into a bunch of ignoramuses.

� The public was steeped in superstition.

� Landowners and merchants were robbed by brigands.

� There was little or no protection from criminals in the countryside.

� Likewise the peasants were exploited by the landlords.

� Who to blame?

� The Turks often said �the fish stinks from the head.�

Sultan Problems

� Sultan Ibrahim (1640-48) was insane and had his 280 concubines tied in sacks and drowned in the Bosporus.

� Sultan Mustafa II (1695-1703) was mistaken to take the field against Prince Eugene.

� As a result he lost much of Hungary and his army.

� Drinking and harem intrigues only further weakened the sultanate.

� Some sultans attempted to correct those problems, but challenged existing authority.

The Reforming Sultans

� Osman II (1618-22) attempted to reform the military by forming a new militia organization, which threatened the Janissaries.

� Instead the Janissaries killed him.

� Murad IV (1623-40) killed nearly 25,000 rebels.

� Mahmud I (1730-54) was the first to bring Europeans to train Turks on the new military system in Europe.

� Additional reforms were introduced by Selim II (1789-1807).

The Koprulu Family

� The Koprulu family produced six grand vizirs.

� The first, Mehmet (d. 1661), was taken from his Christian family in Albania during the devshirme.

� He had begun his career working in the Imperial Kitchen.

� He worked for Mehmet IV (1648-87) and helped crush revolts in Transylvania and Anatolia.

� His son, Ahmet checked the Habsburgs and seized Crete.

� His brother led the siege of Vienna in 1683.

� A nephew lowered taxes and set up factories for Mustafa II.

Assessing the Reforming Impulse

� Dama Ibrahim, another vizir, best known for diverting Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730) into building palaces and tulip gardens.

� Sultan Ahmed brought in European artists and commissioned Turkish translation of Western scientific studies.

� He also introduced the first printing press.

� Overall, even during the low point of Ottoman history, Sultans attempted to modernize.

� This trend would continued into the nineteenth century.

Traditional Ottoman Foes

� Before 1750 the traditional enemies of the Ottomans included:

� Vienna

� Spain

� Poland

The Correlation of Forces Against The Turks

� Austria had become the prime defender of Christendom.

� But a new power emerges on the scene that was a far greater threat than previously thought.

� This was Russia.

The Goals of the Tsars

� Unlike other European powers, the Russians had experience Muslim rule under the Mongol �Golden Horde.�

� Russia emerged around the city of Moscow in the fifteenth century.

� By the 18^th Century the Europeans had surpassed the Middle East.

� **The first, Mehmet (d. 1661), was taken from his Christian family in Albania during the devshirme.**