1. European Challenges to the Muslim World Rachel Cornish

2. Ferment in the Muslim World  By the 1500s, there were three huge Muslim empires that ruled a majority oh the world. * The Ottomans in the Middle East, * The Mughals in India, and * The Safavids in Iran.  Then 200 years later, the empires were in a decline.  The declining empires caused central government to lose control, corruption was widespread, and Muslim scholars and religious leaders allied with the state.  Reform movements started in the 1700s and the 1800s.

3. Challenges to the Ottoman Empire  Ottomans empire stretched across the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Europe.  By the 1800s, provincial rulers had increased their power.  Economic problems and corruption also contributed to Ottoman’s decay.  Ideas of nationalism spread from Western Europe.  The idea made many threaten to break away from the Ottoman empire, including the Middle East, and North Africa.  Some like the Greeks and Romanians gained their independence.

4. Effort to Reform  Since the 1700s, the Ottoman rulers wanted reform. They improved education, built railroads, and made a modern military.  The reforms improved medical care, farming, and living conditions.  A group of liberals formed a movement in the 1890s called the Young Turks.  The Young Turks believed the only way to save the empire was to reform.  The Young Turks overthrew the sultan in 1908.

6. Massacre of Armenians  The Ottomans had let the minority nationalities live in their own communities and practice their own religions.  In the 1890s, nationalism started a new tension between the Turks and the minority peoples who wanted their own states.  The tension between the two caused a brutal genocide of the Armenians.  Genocide is a deliberate attempt to destroy an entire religious or ethnic group.  The Christen Armenians were distrusted by the Muslim Turks and the Turks accused them of supporting Russian plans against the Ottoman empire.  The sultan had thousands of Armenians killed because the Armenians protested repressive Ottoman polices. Some fled to the United States.

8. The Suez Canal  100-mile canal that links the Mediterranean and the Red seas.  Opened in 1869.  Greatly shortened the sea route from Europe to South and East Asia.  In 1875, the ruler of Egypt was put in debt because he was unable to pay off the loans from the canal and other modernization projects.  He was forced to sell his shares of the canal to pay the debts.  British prime minister Disraeli bought the parts of canals, giving them a controlling interest in the canal.

9. Iran and the Western Powers  Iran’s government improved finances and railroads, and even tried a liberal constitution.  Reforms did not save Iran from western imperialism.  Russia want Iran to expand and protect their frontier.  Britain was concerned about protecting its interest in India.  The discovery of oil upset the balance in the early 1900s.  Russia toke the north, while Britain had the south.  Russia ended up in control by sending troops in to the southern parts.