European colonialism in the Middle East

1. European colonialism in the Middle East Intervention, Transformation, Independence A romanticized painting of Napoleon inspecting a mummy at the Pyramids.

2. Imperialism Policy of extending control over foreign entities either thru direct or indirect political or economic intervention Colonialism System in which a state claims sovereignty over territory & resources beyond its borders, displacing or ruling its local population Definitions Cecil Rhodes, “From Cape to Cairo”, as depicted in a 19th c. Punch magazine.

3. Why did Europe become so strong? New state types • emergence of the national state around 1500 • well-defined territory • relatively centralized • Professional armies • New accumulation of wealth New economies • Exploration of the “New World,” 1450-1700. • Industrial capitalism

4. W. European Transformation • New ideas • Science and Enlightenment • Development of a new scientific discourses • New identities • “Us” and “Them,” “Civilized world and “uncivilized” world, Orient & Occident • emergence of nationalism

5. Responses:Transformations in Ottoman rule • Ottoman reform: The Tanzimat, 1830s-1870s • New centralization • New technologies (railroad) • New education • New institutions • Autonomous reforms (Egypt) • Erosion of Ottoman economic and political independence • Capitulations • European protection of non-Muslim minorities • 1881 Public Debt Administration • Nationalism • loss of Ottoman territories in Europe • Turkish and Arab nationalism • Communal violence

6. The Age of Empire, 1875-1914 • Growing global division between the very powerful and the less powerful • Rise of colonial empires • Between 1876 & 1914 about 25% of the world’s land surface distributed as colonies among about 6 states (E. Hobsbawm) • Reasons: economics (new markets & new resources), strategic reasons, political symbolism, nationalism In the late 19th c. around 60% of Britain’s cotton exports went to India & further east…

7. Imperialism in Africa, late 19th-early 20th century

8. 1798-1801 French invasion of Egypt British outposts on the Arabian Peninsula, 1799 French annexation of Algeria, 1834 (settler colonialism) British administrative occupation of Egypt, 1882 Russian and British imperialism in Iran European colonialism in the Middle East, late 18th-late 19th c. Gerome’s Napoleon in Egypt (1863)

9. European colonialism in the Middle East, 20th century • WWI and Competing promises: • Husayn-McMahon Correspondence, Sykes-Picot agreement; Balfour Declaration • Post WWI: League of Nations-sanctioned Mandate System gives Britain and France administrative control of Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria, & Lebanon • Many other areas remain under direct or indirect colonialism

10. Sykes-Picot Agreement

11. The Mandate System • certain parts of the world put under “trusteeship” of various victorious European powers • British mandates in the MidEast: Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan • French mandates in the MidEast: Syria, Lebanon • Mandates both sanctify western colonialism but also circumscribe it

12. ARTICLE 22 OF THE COVENANT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONSJune 28, 1919 • To those colonies and territories which as a consequence of the late war have ceased to be under the sovereignty of the States which formerly governed them and which are inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world, there should be applied the principle that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilization and that securities for the performance of this trust should be embodied in this Covenant. • 2. The best method of giving practical effect to this principle is that the tutelage of such peoples should be entrusted to advanced nations who by reason of their resources, their experience or their geographical position can best undertake this responsibility, and who are willing to accept it, and that this tutelage should be exercised by them as Mandatories on behalf of the League. • 3. The character of the mandate must differ according to the stage of the development of the people, the geographic situation of the territory, its economic conditions and other similar circumstances.

13. Outside the Mandate • True independence: Turkey • Mostly independent: Yemen, S. Arabia • Direct colonial rule: Libya (Italy); Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia (French) • External control & influence: Iran (Britain, Russia, U.S.), Egypt (Britain) • British treaties of protection: Kuwait, Oman, U.A.E.

14. Map Correction: Iran and Egypt were not fully independent until much later than indicated here. Both continued to have extensive external involvement in their economic and political affairs.

15. Full Independence: How and When • Military Coup: Egypt (1952), Iraq (1958) • Revolution: Iran (1979) • War: Turkey (1920-1923), Algeria (1954-1962), Israel (1948) • Uprising and Int. Agreement: Libya, Syria, Lebanon (after WWII) • Treaty: Jordan (1946/8), Tunisia (1956), Morocco (1956) • Communities promised states/autonomy that did not receive them: Palestinians, Kurds, Armenians

16. Colonialism: Overarching effects • Creation of new, national states in place of the Ottoman Empire (Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, etc.) • Implanting of western-supported regimes (especially monarchies) that use violence to maintain authority. In many cases, these would later be violently overthrown. • Centralization of political power. Loss of rural autonomy. • Reorganization of social relationships among different groups. Privileging of some religious and social groups over others, leading to future conflict. • Massive economic disruption. New economic relationships, with arrangements particularly benefiting western powers • New models: nationalism, “modernity vs traditional”

17. Colonialism & Imperialism,summed up (a perspective)