33.2 The near east: a.d. 1801 to 1900  (Page 2/2)

Of political impact in this century were the three tribes of the Bakhtiyarl living in the central Zagros mountains and the adjacent northeast Khuzistan plain, in an area of approximately 20,000 square miles. This was and is a highly organized group, with leaders arranged in pyramidal f ashion through the khans and finally at the top, the Ilkhani. Nasir al-Din Shah of the central Persian government conferred the title of Ilkhani by imperial decree. The holder of that title benef ited greatly in wealth and prestige and in return saw that his people paid taxes and homage to the central government. But at the end of the century there was considerable squabbling and interchange of the position of Ilkhani between two families of the Bakhtiyarl. Finally it was agreedj with support of Nasir al-Din Shah and the British that both families should be honored, one with the Ilkhani and one with an assistant Ilkhani to be called the "ilbigi". After the turn of the century, in the Persian revolution, the Bakhtiyarl used force against the shah, himself, although they still also quarreled among themselves

Asia minor

Turkey

The Turkish Empire was kept alive artificially during this century by Great Britain, France, Germany and Hungary as a bulwark against Russian advances to the straits. A series of weak sultans were kept on the throne, the last being Abdul Hamid II (1,876- 1,909). Russia gained more Turkish territory between 1,806 and 1,812. In 1,818 the Turks had to put down temporarily the Wahabi Empire in Arabia by an expedition from, and with the help of, Egypt and then fight a similar revolt in Syria. Greece declared its independence in 1,821 and won it; the Phanariots were overthrown and the Turks doubted the loyalty of all Greeks, thereafter. The Janissaries were abolished in 1,826 because they were beginning to control even the viziers and the sultans. Nicholas I of Russia gained Georgia and the principal mouth of the Danube in still another Turkish war, terminated in 1,829 by the Treaty of Adrianople. Related to this, at a second conference in London, Greece was formally given its independence. Reforms in government were initiated by Mahmud II and in 1,839 even Christians and Jews were granted formal equality with Muslims.

The Crimean War (1,854-56) was still another one fought by Turkey against Russia, but that time Turkey had western allies and Russia lost. Even so, in the Battle of Sinope in the Black Sea, new types of shells fired by the Russians completely destroyed the wooden fleet of the Turks, bringing two results - the realization by western powers that new armor was needed for warships and the bringing of Britain into the war to protect Constantinople. (Ref. 279 ) The campaign was a tragic one for the British, who lost ten times as many soldiers from dysentery as from Russian arms. It also showed up the deficiencies of traditional methods of supply, leading to a modernization of methods of management of armed forces. The Russians could not supply their forces adequately overland across the steppe, even though they had the largest land army in Europe. (Ref. 279 ) The Russians came back again in 1,877-78 in the Russo-Turkish War and this time the Turks were about to lose their entire empire. Actually the sultan had never really recovered from the Crimean War, because of the large public debt owed the Europeans for railroad construction, etc., and the formal guarantees of liberties forced by those allies. After that second war, the western allies met at the Congress of Berlin and forced Russia to give up much of its gains, but even then Turkey was left with only a portion of its former territory on the European side of the straits and much of that was still disputed by Russia. The bankruptcy of Turkey focused the need for revision of archaic and decadent institutions and led eventually to the revolution of the Young Turks in 1,908.

In this century Akif Pasha reformulated the Turkish language, developing a simpler vocabulary and style for Turkish prose and since then literary Turkish has been based on this work. (Ref. 131 , 140 , 8 )

Armenia

Most of Armenia was still included as part of the Turkish Empire, but eastern Armenia, as we have seen, had been constantly disputed between Turkey and Persia for centuries. In 1,828 Russia acquired the region of present day Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, from Persia. After the year 1,894, in the remainder of old Armenia, the Turk Abdul-Hamid II started a systematic plan for the extermination of the Armenian people.

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