Some Afterthoughts • 183to 1879, was as ambitious a reformer as his illustrious ancestor. During his
reign, parts of Alexandria and Cairo were modeled on Paris, railroads
crisscrossed the Nile Valley and Delta, and Egypt took on such modern
attributes as law codes, schools, factories, and even an African empire.
Isma'il also set up a representative assembly and a newspaper press, both
of which started out tame, yet turned later into noisy critics of his regime.
He may have fostered a nationalist party in his army, but let us save that
story for Chapter 12.
The Ottoman reaction to the reforms was more complex. Some officials
and ulama resisted them. They were encouraged to do so by Sultan Abdu-
laziz (r. 1861-1876), who patronized pan-Islam—an ideology that called
on all Muslims, no matter where they lived, to unite behind Ottoman lead¬
ership and to uphold their traditional institutions and culture against
Western influences. There were also bureaucrats, army officers, and intel¬
lectuals who reacted against the Tanzimat in the opposite direction, de¬
manding more individual freedom, local autonomy, and decentralization
of power. They called themselves New Ottomans, not to be confused with
the Young Turks of the next generation.
Great Power policies, briefly discussed in Chapter 10, often hindered
reforms more than they helped. Britain and France stepped up their com¬
petition for control of Egypt after the Suez Canal became a major water¬
way. When Khedive Isma'il ran up a debt of nearly 100 million pounds,
Britain and France first set up a financial commission in 1876 and made
him appoint foreigners to key cabinet posts, then ordered the sultan to de¬
pose him, and finally threatened to suppress the Egyptian nationalist
movement, all to guard their financial and strategic interests.
Russia's zeal for protecting Orthodox Christians, gaining control of the
Straits, and promoting pan-Slavism led in 1875 to revolts against Ottoman
rule in several parts of the Balkans. In that same year, the Ottoman govern¬
ment admitted that it could no longer repay its debts, and the Europeans set
up a financial commission to make sure their creditors got whatever Istan¬
bul owed them. The next year the New Ottomans seized control of the gov¬
ernment, drew up a liberal constitution for the empire, and asked the powers
to let them settle their internal affairs in peace. Some countries agreed, but
Russia distrusted the Ottoman promises, invaded the Balkans, and set off the
Russo-Turkish War. Turkey's humiliating defeat put an end to the Tanzimat,
the New Ottomans, and their constitution.
Persia also suffered from foreign imperialism. Its northern part, espe¬
cially the key province of Azerbaijan, was occupied by Russian troops much
of the time. European entrepreneurs (usually backed by their governments)
went about gaining concessions—for which they paid Nasiruddin Shah