1. The Age of Imperialism Chapter Eleven
Europeans Claim Muslim Lands
Section Three

2. Ottoman Empire Loses Power: Reform Fails
When the last great sultan, Suleyman I died in 1566, he was followed by a succession of weak sultans.
The Ottoman Empire was suffered corruption and began to lose its hold on power.
In 1789, Selim III tried to modernize the army, but failed.
In 1830, Greece gained independence and Serbia gained self-rule.
The Ottomans’ weakness was becoming apparent to European powers.
They began to look for ways to take the lands away from the Ottomans.

3. Europeans Grab Territory
World powers were attracted to the Ottoman Empires’ strategic location.
Russia desperately wanted passage for its grain exports through the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean Sea.
Discovery of oil in Persia in 1900 and in the Arabian Peninsula after World War I focused even more attention on the area.
Geopolitics- an interest in or taking of land for strategic location or products.

4. Russia and the Crimean War
In 1853, war broke out between the Russians and the Ottomans.
The Crimean War was fought for control of warm water ports along the Black Sea.
Britain and France wanted to prevent Russia from gaining these ports and so entered the war on the side of the Ottomans.
The combined armies defeated the Russians.
This was the first war covered by newspaper correspondents and established women as army nurses led by Florence Nightingale.
The Ottomans had been weakened and soon lost control of Slavic lands in southeastern Europe.
The Russians helped Romania, Montenegro, Cyprus, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria gain their freedom from Ottoman rule.

5. The Great Game
In the 1800’s Russia and Great Britain engaged in a struggle to control Muslim lands in Central Asia.
Known as the Great Game, this war was waged over India and access to its riches.
Britain defended India, as its colony and spread British control beyond India’s borders.
In the 1800’s Afghanistan was an independent Muslim kingdom.
The British tried to conquer it and in 1881, after decades of fighting they withdrew.
The newly formed Soviet Union, formerly Russia, signed a nonaggression pact with Afghanistan.
That agreement was honored until 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

6. Egypt Initiates Reforms: Military and Economic
Egypt initiated political and social reforms in order to block European domination of its land.
After Napoleon failed to win Egypt, Muhammad Ali emerged as a new type of leader.
He initiated a reform of the military and beginning in 1831, successfully gained control of Syria and Arabia.
He also reformed the economy by created plantations to produce the cash crop of cotton.

7. The Suez Canal
Muhammad Ali’s grandson Isma’il supported the construction of the Suez Canal.
Suez Canal- a man-made waterway that cut through the Isthmus of Suez.
It connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
The canal opened in 1869, but left Egypt with a $450 million debt.
In 1882 Britain occupied Egypt and took physical and financial control of the canal.

8. Persia Pressured to Change
Russia and Britain competed over control of Persia.
Russia wanted access to the Persian Gulf and Britain wanted control of Afghanistan as a buffer between India and Russia.
Britain’s interest in Persia increased after the discovery of oil there in 1908.
By the early 1900’s British companies were doing business in the Persian oil fields.
Persia needed British capital to develop it’s resources.

9. Battle Over Tobacco
In 1890 the Persian ruler allowed a British company to sell Persian tobacco.
This action outraged leaders of the effort to modernize Persia.
A tobacco boycott was begun which forced the cancellation of British involvement in the trade of tobacco.
This incident destabilized the nation and in 1907 allowed the British and Russians to create spheres of influence in Persia.