Pages Primary Sources: Sultan Abdul Mejid pgs

 Create 3 Sections  What Europe is doing  What Islamic Heartland Leaders are doing  What “the people” are doing Where ever you see cause and effect, use an arrow with key words written on the line of the arrow to show connections.

 Arab people of Fertile Crescent, Egypt, coastal Arabia, and N. Africa have long lived under Ottoman-Turkish rule.  Most resented Turkish domination, but could relate as Muslim and protectors and defenders of the faith.  Decline of the Ottomans leaves them at risk for conquest by European powers  Capture of Indonesian areas, India, Algeria causes the panic/crisis  Muslims now feeling displaced by Europe as a leading civilization

 1798: Napoleon invades Egypt, sending shock waves through Islamic world  Napoleon didn’t want Egypt for his empire, but was using it to destroy British power in India  July 1798: slips past British blockade, puts armies ashore  Napoleon’s armies are met by tens of thousands of cavalry bent on defending the Mamluk regime (ruled as vassal of Ottoman sultans)  Murad (head of coalition of Mamluck households) dismisses the invader as a donkey boy he could drive out  Murad’s contempt for Napoleon is an example of the ignorance of events in Europe  Crushing defeats (armor and spears vs. artillery)  Shows vulnerability of Muslim areas to European aggression  Victory in Egypt does little to help the French  British catch up to French fleet and sink most of it at Battle of Aboukir (1798), Napoleon must abandon army and sneak back to Paris  Spares Egypt of European conquest for a brief period of time

 Emerges as an effective ruler of Egypt  Impressed by weapons and discipline of the French, spends time and resources attempting to build a western style army  Conscription of peasantry  Hires French officials to train troops  Imports western arms  Adopts tactics, modes of organization and supply  Creates best fighting force in the Middle East  Invades Syria, war fleet threatens Istanbul  Other reforms fail to fundamentally transform Egyptian society  To build economic base orders peasants to increase production of cotton, hemp, indigo, other high demand crops from Europe  Efforts to improve harbors and irrigation  Ambitious attempts to reform education, but little accomplished  Failure to build industrial sector (Opposition and competition from Europe)  Dies 1848, successors content to confine claims to Egypt and Sudanic lands  Khedives : descendents of Ali who rule after 1867, remain formal rulers of Egypt until military coup of 1952 brings Gamel Abdul Nasser to power

 Problems:  Landlord class gets rich, peasant class go hungry  Long Term: Egypt is dependant on a single export (cotton)  Revenue collected wasted on extravagance of the palace or wasted on military campaigns  Debt to European financiers  European nations allow debt because they want access to cheap cotton and to share in a possible canal across the Isthmus of Suez

 Completed in 1869  Transforms Egypt into a very strategic location  Link between European powers and colonial empires in Asia and East Africa  Control of it is key

 Discussions begin among Muslim intellectuals and political activists to determine how to ward off the growing European menace  Egypt, Muslim University of al-Azhar become key meeting places  Ideas  Jihad to rid Muslim lands of infidels  Return to patterns of religious observance and social interaction from the golden age of Muhammad  Borrow scientific learning and knowledge from the west (al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh) = innovation  All agree Muslim unity, but had different ideas on how to renew Islam  Britain and France have interest in stability and accessibility of Egypt because of the debts and canal.  Bankers buy shares of the canal, ask government to intervene when khedives are unable to meet loan payments  Ahmad Orabi leads revolt in 1882 after kehdive tries to save money by disbanding Egyptian regiments and dismissing Egyptian officers  Riots in city of Alexandria, mutinies within army cause khedive to seek British assistance  British bomb coastal batteries, send troops ashore to crush Orabi’s rebellion, secures power of the khedive  Leads to decades of dominance by British, who try to rule through puppet khedives, British advisors to Egyptian administrators, British officials control Egypt’s finances and foreign affairs  Begins European control over Islamic heartlands

 British are drawn into the conflict with the Sudanic region south of Egypt.  Egyptian began efforts to control Sudan in 1820, met with great resistance  Opposition: Camel and cattle herding nomads  Areas along Nile were easier to control, so towns such as Khartoum were where you would find Egyptian authority (still resented though)  Reasons for resentment: corruption, taxes, show favoritism to some Sudanic tribes, attempts in 1870’s to end profitable slave trade  By 1870’s Egyptian oppression and British intervention has caused deep resentment and hostility

 Educated by local Sufi brotherhood, family claims descent from Muhammad  Mahdi- promised deliverer  Breaks with Sufi master, has own following, has visions that show remarkable future, escapes from Egyptian effort to capture him, now seen as divinely appointed leader of revolt against foreigners  Leads Jihad against Egyptians and British  There are several movements in Sub-Saharan Africa during the 18 th century  Represents Islamic response to dilution of Islam in Africa and threat of Europe  Promises to purge Islam of superstitious beliefs and degrading practices that had built up over centuries  Win several victories against the Egyptians (aided by guerrilla tactics and confidence of followers), come to control most of the area of modern day Sudan  Dies of typhus at height of power, a capable successor was found

 One of Mahdi’s (Achmad) most skillful military commanders  Under Abdallahi, the Mahdists build a strong, expansive state  Want to control society (no smoking, drinking, severe punishment for theft, prostitution, adultery)  Religious and ritual practices are heavily enforced  Ban on slavery lifted  Most foreigners imprisoned or expelled  Mahdist armies attack or threaten neighboring states for a decade  1896: British General Kitchener sent to end the threat  Spears and magical garments of the Mahdists are no match for the machine guns and artillery  Battle of Omdurman: thousands of Mahdists cavalry are slaughtered  Within a year, the Mahdist state collapses, British power advances into interior of Africa

 In what ways do you see a “western” influence over Sultan Abdul Majid in his Imperial Rescript?  How does this proclamation impact Majid’s subjects?