AP World History POD #17 – Sick Old Man of Europe Empire In Crisis

Class Discussion Notes Bulliet – “The Ottoman Empire”, pp

Setting the Scene … “During the eighteenth century the central government of the Ottoman Empire lost much of its power to provincial governors, military commanders, ethnic leaders, and bandit chiefs. In several parts of the empire local officials and large landholders tried to increase their independence and divert imperial funds into their own coffers.” (Bulliet, p. 662)

Fragmentation of Power - House of Saud A kingdom located in the Arabian peninsula Followed the fundamentalist and puritanical principles taught by the 18 th century scholar Muhamad ibn Abd al-Wahhab They took control of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and deprived the Ottoman sultan of the honor of organizing the annual pilgrimage

Fragmentation of Power - Egypt Factions of mamluk slave-soldiers purchased as boys in Georgia and nearby parts of the Caucasus and educated for war reasserted their influence These soldiers had ruled Egypt between until they were defeated by the Ottomans With the growing weakness of the Ottomans these mamluks revived the slave –soldier tradition to reemerge as local military forces

Muhammad Ali After the Napoleonic Army of France withdrew from Egypt, there was a power vacuum Commander of a contingent of Albanian soldiers sent to restore imperial Ottoman control 1805 – he assumed the place of the official Ottoman governor dispossessed the mamluks of their land and privilege Established schools and military training in the French style as well as the first newspaper in the Islamic world Built modern factories to outfit his new modern army

Ibrahim Son of Muhammad Ali The improved quality of the new Egyptian army had proven itself on the battlefields during the Greek War of Independence Ibrahim led the troops into Syria where he was confronted by the by the sultan’s army when they marched into Anatolia in 1839 The road to Istanbul appeared to be open until the European powers intervened and forced a withdrawal to the present-day border between Egypt and Israel Muhammad Ali remained Egyptian emperor until his death in 1849 but he was under the control of the sultan (his family continued to rule until 1952)

Janissary Resistance Despite being an inefficient force, the Janissaries used their remaining political power in Istanbul to prevent Sultan Selim III to abandon efforts to train a modern European-style army

A time for change and reform… By the dawn of the early 19 th century it had become extremely apparent that the Ottoman Empire was in dire need of reform…this would come during the Tanzimat Era