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Muhammad Ali's Reign Over Egypt Begins
In 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt and defeated the Mamluk forces he encountered there. Fifteen months later, after a serires of military defeats, Napoleon returned to France, seized power, and made himself emperor. His generals had little hope of holding on to power, and, in 1801, agreed to withdraw. Muhammad Ali emerged as the victor in the ensuing power struggle. -
Decembrist Revolt
The reforms of Alexander I promised more on paper than they delivered in practice. Opposition to reform came from wealthy families that feared reform would bring about imperial despotism, a fear that was realized during the reign of Nicholas I. The Decemberist revolt was carried out by a group of reform-minded military officers upon the death of Alexander I. Their defeat amounted to the defeat of reform for the next three decades. -
Janissary Corps Dissolved
At the end of the eighteenth century, Sultan Selim III introduced reforms to strengthen the military and the central government and to standardize taxation and land tenure. These reforms aroused the opposition of Janissaries. Tension between the Sultanate and the Janissaries sparked a Janissary revolt in Serbia in 1805. Serbian peasants helped to defeat the Janissary uprising by 1826. -
Greek Independence Gained
The Greeks gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829. Britain, France, and Russia assisted the Greeks in their struggle for independence and regarded the Greek victory as a triumph of European civilization. -
Abdul Mejid Begins Tanzimat Reforms
Sultan Mahmud II believed that the loss of Greece indicated a profound weakness in Ottoman military and financial organization. Mahmud used popular outrage over the loss of Greece to justify a series of reforms that included the creation of a new army corps, elimination of the Janissaries, and reduction of the political power of the religious elite. Mahmud’s secularizing reform program was further articulated in the Tanzimat (restructuring) reforms initiated by his successor Abdul Mejid in 1839. -
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Opium War
In 1939, when the Qing government realized the harm being done by the opium trade, they decided to ban the use and import of opium and sent Lin Zexu to Canton to deal with the matter. The attempt to ban the opium trade led to the Opium War, in which the better-armed British naval and ground forces defeated the Qing and forced them to sign the Treaty of Nanking. The Treaty of Nanking and subsequent treaties gave Westerners special privileges and resulted in the colonization of small Qing land. -
Muhammad Ali's Reign Over Egypt Ends
Muhammad Ali used many French practices in effort to build up the new Egyptian state. He established schools to train modern military officers and built factories to supply his new army. In the 1830's his son, Ibrahim, invaded Syria and started a similar set of reforms there. European military pressure forced Muhammad Ali to withdraw in 1841 to the present day borders of Egypt and Israel. Muhammad Ali remained Egypt's ruler until 1849 and his family held onto power until 1952. -
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Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion broke out in Guangxi province, where poor farmland, endemic poverty, and economic distress were complicated by ethnic divisions that relegated the minority Hakka people to the lowliest trades. The founder of the Taiping movement was Hong Xiuquan. The Qing were finally able to defeat the Taiping with help from military forces organized by provincial governors like Zeng Guofan and with the assistance of British and French forces. -
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Crimean War
Russia’s southward expansion at the expense of the Ottoman Empire led to the Crimean War. An alliance of Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire defeated Russia, thus blocking Russian expansion into Eastern Europe and the Middle East. The Crimean War marked the transition from traditional to modern warfare. The percussion caps and breech-loading rifles that were used in the Crimean War were the beginning of a series of subsequent changes in military technology including machine guns. -
First Constitution by an Islamic Government
The decline of Ottoman power and wealth inspired a group of educated urban men known as the Young Ottomans to band together to work for constitutionalism, liberal reform, and the creation of a Turkish national state in place of the Ottoman Empire. A constitution was granted in 1876.
