Civilizations+in+Decline

rulers, that focused on a system of having sultans at the top of political power and social order. - The Ottomans suffered a great deal of defeats on the battle field, but were able to survive until the 20th century. They were also gradually losing territory. - Ottoman survival depended on reforms from within the empire, where the sultans and their advisors remained at the top of the imperial system in which they continued to rule until most of the 19th century. - Sultan **Selim III** attempted to direct his reform efforts to "improving administrative efficiency and building a new army and navy" (594). - This reform angered many of the factions within the bureaucracy. - The bureaucracy was a direct threat to the Janissary corps. - He was taken over by a Janissary revolt in 1807 that cost him his life and his throne. - **Mahmud II**, was able to create a professional army that would eventually slaughter the Janissaries, their families, and their religious allies. - He also attempted at westernizing his secret force, which eventually led to the whole military establishment. - During the period of the **Tanzimat reforms**, western influences were a strong force at the upper levels of their society. - Westernization did improve conditions of the Ottoman empire, but not for long. Women did not receive any benefits from westernization neither did other social groups. - Western officials began to see the sultan as the major barrier for a full transformation of the Ottoman society. - Sultan **Abdul Hamid** attempted "return to a despotic absolutism during his long reign from 1878 to 1908. He nullified the constitution and restricted civil liberties" (595). - Due to Abdul Hamid's efforts, Turkish intelletuals founded the aimed at getting rid of Abdul Hamid. Sultans still remained as the number one highest religious authority in Islam, but now the group of officers became involved in many factional fights. || - Napoleon and his army had managed to make their way on to the soil of Egypt and cause chaos to **Murad**, who thought of Napoleon as a donkey boy. Murad's ignorance led to a series of battles that resulted in losses. - The defeat of the Mamluks was seen as devastating, however it revealed how far the Muslims had fallen behind. - Unfortunately, the invasion of Egypt brought little success to Napoleon. - After Britain sank Napoleon's ships in the battle of Aboukir, Napoleon was forced to retreat. The British were responsible for the French retreat, not the Egyptian Muslims. - **Muhammad Ali** emerged as the effective ruler of Egypt in 1801. He introduced Western-style conscription among the Egyptian peasantry, hired French officers to train his troops, imported Western arms, and adopted Western tactics. - Thus, he created one of the most powerful fighting force of the Middle East in only one year. - Ali ordered the Egyptian society to increase production of goods. - After the death of Ali in 1848, his successors were known as **khedives**. - Cotton production saw an increase, but peasants were hungry. Most of the revenue collected by the khedives was used on luxurious pastimes. - Increasing debt. - The completion of the **Suez Canal**, allowed Egypt to become on eof the most strategic places on earth. became a vital commerical and military link to European powers. - the Muslim university of al-Azhar became a key meeting place. - **al-Afghani** and his disciple **Muhammad Abduh** stressed the need for Muslims to borrow scientific learning and technology from the West and to revive their earlier capacity to innovate. - Leaders could not reconcile their very different approaches to Islamic renewal. - After British took control, Egyptian efforts to conquer and rule the Sudan were resisted fiercely - **Khartoum** was the center of Egyptian administration in the Sudan. - Egyptian rule was greatly resented. - **Muhammad Achmad** was able to unite the diverse and divided people of the region and to provide an ideology that would give focus and meaning to rebellion. People associated him with the promised deliverer, **Mahdi**, which advanced his reputation. - He promised to purge Islam. || ^^^^^^^^^Ottoman Empire and Egypt^^^^^^^^^
 * Ottoman Retreat and the Birth of Turkey || Western Intrusions and Crisis: Egypt ||
 * - The Ottoman Empire decline was triggered be a succession of weak
 * Ottoman Society for Union and Progress** in Paris in 1889. They

The Qing Empire Notes
Main Idea: The Manchu resided to the north of the Great Wall and were let into the kingdom when the Ming emperor was seeking aid. Thus opening a grand opportunity for the Manchu to dominate. Details: - Manchu conquest of China was sudden and unexpected. - 8 **banner armies** (named after flags) were organized by a local leader, **Nurhaci**. His forces continously harassed the Chinese who lived north of the Great Wall. - Manchu began to take in Chinese ways, such as the bureaucracy and court ceremonies. - Lack of power in Ming regime allowed an opportunity for Manchus to seize power. Capture Beijing within a year. - Manchu regime took the dynastic name **Qing**. They retained political system of previous dynastic eras, wanted to retain lots of old things, like the examination system. - **Kangxi** was a generous ruler of the Chinese patron arts.
 * The Last Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Qing Empire in China **

Main Ideas: After the Manchu took control over the Ming Empire, they kept many of the same traditions and values pertaining to their economy and social order (male superior to females) of previous dynastic eras. Details: - Kept traditional values, such as old over young, male over female, scholar-bureaucrat over commoner, etc. - Women's social lives were confined to the household. Men would chose brides usually of a lower status of their own. World basically in the hands of men. - Taxes and state labor were lowered. A great portion of government budget was used for repairing dikes, canals, and roadways and extending irrigation work. - Landlords realized they could buy peasants out. Larger gap between rural gentry and peasants increased. - A wealthy group of merchants, the **compradors**, emerged who specialized in import-export trade of China's South Coast.
 * Economy and Society in the Early Centuries of Qing Rule **

Main Ideas: Under the terrible rule of the Manchus, China was seeing a rapid decline in their economy due to lack of funds, and due to lack of funds, peasants were losing homes, livestock, and their lives. Details: - The bureaucratic foundations of the Chinese Empire were rotting from within. - Cheating and favoritism was common during the examination system. - Sons of high officials were given higher ranks due to their family connection rather than their skills. Money also aided families in giving their sons some of the highest available positions. - Economy was in turmoil when families spent state revenue on themselves. The Great River posed a serious threat to northern China due to the raging waters, since it lacked the money to repair it. - Due to the Shandong peninsula, tens of thousands of peansants were left without land to cultivate and live stock and many of them died due to famine and disease. Increase in theft in the cities. - Manchu tribe blocked the way for much needed changes in technology and organization in China.
 * Rot from Within: Bureaucratic Breakdown and Social Disintegration **

Main Ideas: After the Europeans (or as the Chinese called them: barbarians) set up a huge opium trade in China, which was destroying their economy due to the large amounts of silver that was now being exported more than imported, thus giving way to the Opium War that resulted in another British victory. Details: - The Europeans were challenging the Manchu power, but the Manchu administrators ignorantly viewed them as barbarians. - The Chinese forced the British merchants to trade growing amounts of silver bullion. Instead they used large amounts of opium, which was a major threat to their economy and social order. - By 1838, 1% of the Chinese population was addicted to the drug, opium. - In attempts to stop the opium trade, the emperor sent **Lin Zexu** to wipe out the trade.He destroyed British warehouses of opium in Canton, enraging the British. - The British threatened the Chinese, if they don't stop with the anti-opium campaign they will use military force. - Thus giving way to the **Opium War**, starting in 1839 to protect the British opium trade in China. - The Opium War enabled the British to set up a trading post in Hong Kong and five other ports.
 * Barbarians at the Southern Gates: The Opium War and After **

Main Ideas: A series of rebellions further weakened the Qing empire such as the Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion. Details: - Several rebellions spurred shortly after their defeat of the Opium War, sometimes threatening to overthrow Qing dynasty, one of these was the **Taiping Rebellion** led by **Hong Xiuquan.** - After first successful, Hong established a decently large army, won a series of battles, and set up a capital at Nanjing. However, they lost they momentum and it imploded over the next 5 years. - The Taiping Rebellion not only threatened the Qing empire, but also Confucian civilization as a whole, because they attacked the traditional Confucian elite and the learning on which their authority lied. - When the Taipings attacked the scholar-gentry, it led to their defeat. - Due to the help of Zeng Guofan, the Chinese economy was fixed and much needed reforms were carried out to stop corruption in the bureaucracy. Leaders such as Guofan were most responsible for China's **self-strengthening movement**, which was aimed at countering the challenge from the West. - The Manchu rulers resisted reforms that could have helped save the empire. - Empress **Cixi** was the last emperor to rule the dynasty. Members of the Qing household also secretly back popular outbursts aimed at expelling the foreigners from China, such as the **Boxer Rebellion**.
 * A Civilization at Risk: Rebellion and Failed Reforms **

Main Idea: A republican government was finally established in China after the last emperor Puyi. Details: - Rival secret societies such as the Triads and the Society of Elders and Brothers were the center of the Qing empire.Some of these became a new sort of resistance to the Manchus. - Sons of the scholar-gentry and especially the merchants became involved with secret society operations aiming to overthrow the regime. - Societies wanted westernization. For some, like **Sun Yat-sen**, seizing power was also seen as a way to enact desperately needed social programs to relieve the misery of the peasants and urban workers. - Rebels cut off their queues (braided ponytails) in hopes that all ethnic Chinese to wear their hair this way. - **Puyi** was the last emperor of China, he was deposed and a provincial lord established a republican government. - "Many of these hallmarks of the most enduring civilization that has ever existed were violently destroyed" such as the examination system.
 * The Fall of the Qing: The End of a Civilization? **