Fall of the Qing Dynasty and Ottoman

Empire
1750-1900s
 Review of Early Qing
Came to power after the
Ming fell in 1644
Manchu rule
Time of expansion and
growth
Strictly controlled and
limited activities of
foreign merchants and
mercenaries
External Threats: Opium Wars

Late 1700s: British began using opium grown in India to

cover trade imbalance with China
Huge amounts of opium being sold by 1830s
Huge problems for China
Smuggled illegally
Reversed silver flows
Millions of addicts
1836: China passes law to crack down on opium trade
3 million pounds of opium seized and destroyed
Opium Wars

British respond by sending naval force

British win
Treaty of Nanjing ends war on British terms
First of the “unequal treaties”
Second Opium War (1856-58) resulted in even more concessions
More ports opened
Foreigners allowed to travel freely, buy land, preach Christianity
“foreign enclaves” were areas within cities controlled by foreigners
Origins of Crisis
Massive population growth due to robust
economy and American food crops
1685: 100 million; 1853: 430 million
No industrial revolution to feed growing #s
China’s bureaucracy can’t keep up
Local officials begin to abuse peasantry
Growing numbers of bandit gangs roaming
countryside; peasant rebellions
Internal Threats: Taiping Rebellion

1850-1864 (overlaps
American Civil War!)
Leader= Hong Xiuquan
proclaimed himself the
younger brother of Jesus
Sent to cleanse world of
demons and establish
“Kingdom of Heavenly
Peace”
Taiping Rebellion
Goals
Called for revolutionary change
Abolition of private property
Radical redistribution of land
Equality of men and women
End prostitution, foot binding,
opium smoking
Denounced Qing dynasty as
foreigners who had poisoned
China
 Taiping Rebellion
Taiping forces established
capital in Nanjing in 1853
Divisions within Taiping
rebels allowed Qing loyalists
to crush rebellion by 1864
Not imperial troops, but land-
owning gentry who feared
Taiping radicalism
 Taiping Rebellion Outcomes

Qing Dynasty saved, but weakened

Delayed real social and economic change
Disrupted Chinese economy
20-30 million dead
By comparison, 625,000 total dead in U.S. Civil War
(deadliest in USA history)
32x loss of life in Taiping Rebellion, deadliest in 19th
century
 Western Imperialism

Defeated by
French in 1885
Defeated by
Japanese in 1895
Western powers
carved out
“spheres of
influence” in
China
 China’s Response– “Self-Strengthening
Movement

1860s and 1870s

Tried to reinvigorate China and borrow from West
Modest attempts at reforms in education, infrastructure,
industry
Strong resistance by conservative leaders, especially
landlord class
Ultimately fails
 China’s Response– Boxer Rebellion
1898-1901
Anti-foreign movement
Led by “Society of Righteous
and Harmonious Fists,” AKA
the Boxers
Killed many Europeans and
Chinese Christians and laid
siege to foreign embassies
Western powers occupied
Beijing to crush rebellion,
solidifying their control
 Results
Chinese nationalists
begin to organize
Blame foreign
imperialism and foreign
Qing rulers for 19th
century disasters
Qing response is too little
too late
1911: entire dynastic
system collapses to
revolution
 Ottoman Empire Review

Islam as unifying
force
Controlled parts of
SE Europe
(Balkans), North
Africa, Middle East
(SW Asia)
Challenged Europe
militarily, especially
in 1500s
 “The Sick Man of Europe”
Lost territory to Russia,
Austria, Britain, France
Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria,
and Romania achieved
independence as a result
of nationalist movements
Core of empire remained
largely because
Europeans couldn’t agree
how to divide
Sources of Decline
Central government declines as local authorities and
warlords gain power
Janissaries became conservative force resistant to
change
Lost technological and military edge to Europeans
Economic problems
Lost out on new maritime trade routes
European manufactured goods hurt artisands
Trading capitulations
Growing foreign debts
 Case Study: Egypt
1798: invaded by French force led
by Napoleon
1801: French expelled by Ottomans
with British help
1805: Mohammad Ali, an Albanian
general, essentially won
independence for Egypt from
Ottomans
Military ambition in region
Modernized Egypt’s industries and
infrastructure
 Case Study: Egypt
Ali’s successors took on
foreign debts, especially
over building of Suez
Canal
Forced to sell shares of
Canal to British, who
later made Egypt a
British protectorate
Egypt did not regain
independence from
British until 1953
Suez Canal
 Ottoman Reforms
Earlier and more sustained than in
China
Selim III tries to reform military
overthrown and murdered
Tanzimat reforms began in 1839
Tanzimat= “reorganization”
Factories, mining, railroads,
telegraphs, steamships
Western-style law code, education
Non-Muslims given equal status
under law
 Reaction to Reform
Young Ottomans
Supported reforms
Wanted European-style
democratic state
Islamic modernism: embrace
new knowledge w/o materialism
Young Turks
Wanted complete modernization,
militantly secular
Military coup in 1908– enacted
policies
However, Turkish nationalism
Arab nationalism
Exit Pass
Write a thesis.
Compare the responses of the Ottoman Empire
and the Qing Dynasty to European
industrialization and imperialism from 1775 to
1925.
 Assignment
Choose either the Ottoman Empire or the Qing
Dynasty to memorialize in a creative way.
Your project should include reasons for their
decline and ultimate “death.”
You can celebrate their accomplishments and
also refer euphemistically to their faults.
Possible formats:
Autopsy
Obituary
Eulogy
Gravestone
Poem
Grading based on accurate, relevant
information and creativity and effort.
Due next class.