Declines

Artisan position deteriorated as imports from Europe increased. Merchants from minorities depended on commercial dealings with Europe. Ottomans lacked the resources to match Europe’s great advances in weaponry: were pushed out of Hungary and the Balkans. Russia’s westernization threatened the Ottomans: Istanbul threatened by Russian armies. European rivalries and divisions caused the survival of the Ottomans into the 20th century. Reforms= Selim III= bolded initiatives were needed. Aimed to improve administrative efficiency and building a new army and navy. Mahmud II launched a program of much more far-reaching reforms than Selim III. His reform was patterned on Western precedents. Western bureaucrats believed that the sultanate was a major barrier to more radical reforms and the full transformation of the society. Abdul Hamid attempted a despotic absolutism. Nullified the constitution and restricted civil liberties. Young Turks were determined to restore the constitution and resume the reforms within the empire. The group of officers that exercised power was taken when they lost Libya to Italy. || Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt in 1798. The ignorance of events in Europe led to a series of crushing defeats. The disciplined firepower of the French devastated the ranks of Mamluk cavalry. The Muslims had fallen behind the Europeans in the capacity to wage war. Muhamad Ali= effective ruler of Egypt. To build an up-to-date European style military force. Little success in reforming areas such as economy, society and industry. Modest increases in the revenues were achieved, but were devoted to the modernization of the military. Egyptian industrial sector did not prosper because of the competition from Western-manufactured goods. Ali’s successors were content to confine their claims to Egypt and the lands that stretched from the banks of the upper Nile to the south. Khedives= formal rulers of Egypt. Product of the intermarriage with Turkish families. They governed until they were overthrown in 1952. Khedives growing indebtedness allowed European financier access to Egypt’s cheap cotton. And they were mainly interested in the construction of the Suez Canal, that would connect the Mediterranean and Red seas. British and French intervention in the canal when the Khedives were unable to pay their debts. Egypt was not a formal colony, Britain controlled Egypt’s finances and foreign affairs, using the khedives as their puppets. ||
 * Ottoman Retreat and the Birth of Turkey || Western intrusions and crisis: Egypt ||
 * Inept sultans opened the way for power struggles: weakened its control over the population.

THE LAST DYNASTY: RISE AND FALL OF THE QIN EMPIRE Nurhaci unified the Manchu tribes. Organized fighting units called banned armies. Manchu bureaucracy was organized along Chinese ways. The declining nature of the Ming allowed the Manchus to take control in China. For most of the first century of the Qin, Chinese and Manchu officials paired up well, allowing some Chinese to keep their local government’s positions and bureaucracy. The Manchu retained the examination system.

Economy and society Respect for order and rank -following Confucian style- male over female, old over young. Extended family remained the core unit of the social order. Ban of guilds and secret societies. Women’s status remained centered to the household. Male control was emphasized by choosing brides from lower classes. Practice of female infanticide rose. Women continued to work in the fields. Taxes and state labor demands were lowered to ameliorate social unrest left by the Ming. Focus on reparation of dikes, canals, roadways, and irrigation systems. There was not a control over the land-lord classes. The gap between the rural gentry and ordinary peasantry and laborers increased. Regional diversification in crops such as tea matched the development of new ways to finance agricultural and artisan production. Profits from overseas trade gave rise to compradors (wealthy new merchants) that were the link to the outside world.

Bureaucratic breakdown and social disintegration By the 18th century, the Qin were in decline. The exam system started to fail, as the cheating and favoritism increased. Diversion of revenue from state projects to enrich families devastated Chinese history. As the condition of the peasantry deteriorated, with food shortages, banditry, vagabonds presence increase, the decline was certainly coming. China desperately needed innovation in technology and organization to increase its productivity.

Barbarians at the southern gates: Opium war Manchu treated the Europeans like the nomads they saw as barbarians. British had exported silks, porcelains and tea from the Chinese for centuries. Unfavorable trade terms in China for Britain. The solution for the British was the traffic of opium. The opium trade was a major threat to Chinese economy and social order. Agricultural productivity declined, unemployment spread. Government efforts to stop opium traffic enraged the European merchants. Britain ordered China to stop their anti-opium campaign. British gunboats beat Chinese junks during the battles of the Opium war. Hong Kong was established as an additional center of British commerce.

Civilization at risk: Rebellion and Failed reforms Several rebellions swept through much of China. The greatest: Taping rebellion. Led by Hong Xiuquan. The Taipings got to control a wide territory, establishing a capital at Nanjing. They attacked traditional Confucian elite and the learning on which its claims to authority rested. Self-strengthening movement. Encouragements of Western investment and modernization or armies. Manchu rulers occasionally supported officials who pushed for extensive political and social reforms. Manchu relied on divisions among the provincial officers and among European nations to maintain their positions. The fall of the Qin: The end of a civilization? Underground organizations inspired local uprisings against the dynasty. Scholar-gentry and merchants became more involved in secret society operations to overthrow the regime. In late 1911, opposition to government’s reliance on western powers led to secret society uprisings. In February 1912, the last emperor of China, Puyi, was deposed and a republican government was established. In 1905, the exams were given for the last time. The mix of philosophies that came to be known as Confucianism, the bureaucracy and even the artistic accomplishments of one of the greatest civilization of the world, was being strongly criticized by the late 20th century.