Imperialism in the Near East to 1914

1798-1801 - Napoleon in Egypt

1805-1849 - Mehmet Ali ruled in Egypt. Attempts to reform.

1808-1839 - Sultan Mahmud II introduced limited reforms. (Ex.- destruction of the Janissaries)

1838 - Anglo-Turkish Commerce Agreement. English gained extensive commercial concessions.

1821-1829 - Greece gained its independence.

1840’s - Early attempts at industrialization in Egypt and Anatolia failed.

1850’s - Crimean War

1856-1876 - Ottoman government attempted ambitious reform program on western models.

1860 - France granted the right to intervene in Syria

1869 - Joint French-Egyptian effort built the Suez Canal.

1877-78 - Russia supported Slavs in Balkans. Serbia and Romania became independent.

1877 - Sultan Abdul Hamid II rejected political reform. Carried out virulent anti-reform policies

for the next thirty years.

1879 - Nationalist Arabi revolt in Egypt

1880 - Revolt of the Mahdi in the Sudan

1881 - European debt administration imposed on Ottomans

1882 - English seized Egypt.

1904 - Parliament established in Persia

1905 - Nationalist revolt in Persia.

1907 - England and Russia agreed to divide Persia into “spheres of influence”.

1908 - Young Turks overthrew Sultan Abdul Hamid.

1911-1912 - Italy seized Libya. Turks driven out of the Balkans altogether.