Transcript Slide 1

Land Empires in the
Age of Imperialism (1800-1870)
I. Late Ottoman Empire (1800-1870)
1. Ottomans started losing control
of provinces in 1700s
2. Muhammad Ali used French
military practices to push
Ottomans out of Egypt
3. Egypt opens Suez Canal (1869)
A. Ottoman Reform
1. Ottomans implemented European-style political,
economic, & military reforms
2. Janissaries & ulama (religious elites )opposed reforms…
- fear of losing economic privileges
- ulama opposed secularization
- Christian Serbian independence (1805)
- Greek independence (1829)
3. Sultan Selim III executed
B. Tanzimat Reforms (1839)
1. Sultan Mahmud II instituted reforms:
- creation of new army corps
- elimination of Janissaries
- reduction of political power of
religious elite
2. 16-yr. old son Abdul Mejid announces
Tanzimat (“reorganization”) in 1839
Tanizmat Reforms:
1. Secularized: law, government, education
- only for men; women still subjected to Sharia
2. Muslims, Christians, & Jews granted equal
protection
3. military trained in France
- French preferred language
- beards cut
- turbans banned…
but European hats interfered with prayer…
THE FEZ!
C. The Crimean War
1. Russia’s southward expansion into Ottoman
territory led to Crimean War
2. alliance of Britain, France & Ottomans
defeated Russians
3. war fought in Romania, Black Sea & Crimean
peninsula
Crimean War
D. After the Crimean War
1. transition to modern warfare: “breech” loading
rifles
2. extensive propaganda campaigns
3. due to Ottoman debt, forced to grant European
extraterritoriality in Instanbul
4. Ottomans crippled by: debt & inflation
The Young Ottomans
1. Young Ottomans: political movement of
educated urban men inspired nationalism &
modernist views
- constitutionalism
- liberal reform
- creation of a Turkish national state
II. The Russian Empire
A. Early 1800s Russia
1. Russia dominated by nobles &
serfs… NO middle class
2. 1700: agricultural society; only
3% urban; lack of transportation
3. Csar Alexander I: antiEuropean backlash after
Napoleon’s failed attack in 1812
5.
brother Csar Nicholas I: despotic, conservative dictator
- promoted serfdom
- called Ottomans “the sick man of Europe”
- crushed rebellions
- some railroads & canals, but late to industrialize…
6.
Modernization occurs under Czar Alexander II after loss in
Crimean War (1856)…exemplified by writers Leo Tolstoy &
Feodor Dostoyevsky
B. Russian Expansion
1. by 18th-c. Russian Empire reached Pacific Ocean &
borders of China
2. 19th-c.:
- conquered central Asia
- conflict w/ China, Japan, Safavids, Ottomans
III. Late Qing Dynasty
A. Population
1.
doubling Chinese population between 1650-1800
2.
White Lotus Rebellion (1794–1804): minority peoples
driven off land & predictions of Buddha being reborn…
3.
Qing considered Europeans remote & not important..
- early Qing exported silk, cotton, porcelain
4.
merchants along coast tie China to outside
“Our dynasty's majestic virtue has penetrated unto every
country under Heaven, and Kings of all nations have offered
their costly tribute by land and sea. As your Ambassador can see
for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects
strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country's
manufactures.”
- 1793, Qianlong to King George III
QUESTIONS:
1. According to this quote, what was the reaction of the Chinese
to possible increased trade with Britain?
2. What was the attitude of the Chinese towards foreigners in the
early 1800s?
B. Roots of Opium Wars
1.
1700s: British import opium
- Qing banned opium in 1729
- Britain saw this as a threat
2.
Lord MaCartney travels as trade
envoy to China (1793)
3.
British import Indian opium to sell
in China
- Lin Zexu blockades trade
w/ Europe (1839)
A shocked mandarin in
Manchu robe in the
back, with Queen
Victoria (UK), Wilhelm II
(Germany), Nicholas II
(Russia), Marianne
(France), and a samurai
(Japan) stabbing into a
plate with Chine
("China" in French)
written on it.
Letter to English King
“Opium has a harm. Opium is a poison, undermining our good customs
& morality. Its use is prohibited by law.
Now the commoner, Yang, dares to bring it into the Forbidden City.
Indeed, he flouts the law! However, recently the purchasers, eaters, &
consumers of opium have become numerous. Deceitful merchants buy
& sell it to gain profit.
If we confine our search for opium to the seaports, we fear the search
will not be sufficiently thorough. We should also order the general
commandant of the police and police- censors at the five gates to
prohibit opium & to search for it at all gates.
…we order viceroys, governors, & superintendents of the maritime
customs to conduct a thorough search for opium, & cut off its supply.
They should in no ways consider this order a dead letter & allow opium
to be smuggled out!”
C. Opium Wars
1.
Opium Wars (1839-42 & 1856-60):
- easily won by British due to navy
- Qing bannermen (swordsmen)
failed miserably…
2. Treaty of Nanking (1842) to end 1st Opium War:
- gave Western powers extraterritoriality
- ended Canton System…
Hong Kong to British
The Treaty of Nanjing, August 1842
Article I: There shall henceforth be Peace and Friendship between ...England and China and
between their respective Subjects.
Article II: His Majesty the Emperor of China agrees that British Subjects,…, shall be allowed to
reside, for the purpose of carrying on their commercial pursuits, without molestation or
restraint at the Cities and Towns of Canton, Amoy, Foochow-fu, Ningpo, and Shanghai, and
Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain, etc., will appoint Superintendents…to reside at each
of the above-named Cities.
Article III: It being obviously necessary and desirable, that British Subjects should have some
Port whereat they may careen and refit their Ships, when required, and keep Stores for that
purpose, His Majesty the Emperor of China cedes to Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain,
etc., the Island of Hong-Kong, to be possessed in perpetuity by her Britannic Majesty, Her
Heirs and Successors, and to be governed by such Laws and Regulations as Her Majesty the
Queen of Great Britain, etc., shall see fit to direct.
Article V: The Government of China having compelled the British Merchants trading at Canton
to deal exclusively with certain Chinese Merchants called Hong merchants (or Cohong)…, the
Emperor of China agrees to abolish that practice in future at all Ports where British Merchants
may reside, and to permit them to carry on their mercantile transactions with whatever
persons they please...His Imperial Majesty further agrees to pay to the British Government
the sum of 3 Millions of Dollars.
QUESTIONS:
1. In what article do you find the transfer of the island
of Hong Kong?
Why do the British claim this is necessary?
2. Compare the Treaty of Nanjing with the Chinese
emperor's reply to Lord Macartney.
What sort of rights did the Chinese give to the
British that they previously would have refused to
give?