456 • Chronology
1878 San Stefano treaty sets up large Bulgaria; Ottoman constitution
suspended; Berlin treaty reduces Bulgaria's size and curtails
Russian power in Balkans; European cabinet in Egypt
1879 Egyptian officers' uprising undermines Dual Control;
Europeans press sultan to replace Isma'il with Tawfiq
1881 Europeans take control of Ottoman public debt; Egyptian
Nationalist officers take over government; France occupies Tunis
1881-1885 Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi, leads revolt in Sudan
1882 British occupy Egypt and suppress nationalist movement
1883-1907 British consul in Cairo, Lord Cromer, reforms finances and
irrigation, strengthening Britain's control over Egypt
1885 Mahdist rebels take complete control of the Sudan
1888 Constantinople Convention opens Suez Canal to all ships
1890 Persian shah sells tobacco concession to British company
1892 Nationwide tobacco boycott obliges shah to buy back concession
1896 Nasiruddin Shah assassinated; abortive Young Turk coup against
Abdulhamid; Herzl publishes Der Judenstaat
1897 First Zionist congress in Basel; Ottomans defeat Greeks
1898 Anglo-Egyptian army recaptures the Sudan
1899-1956 Sudan condominium under Britain and Egypt
1901 British firm (later called the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company) given
concession to explore southwest Persia for oil deposits
1901-1953 Reign of Ibn Sa'ud, initially in Najd, later in all Saudi Arabia
1902 Ottoman Empire engages German firm to build Baghdad
railway
1904 Anglo-French entente ends rivalry over Egypt
1906 Persian revolution forces shah to grant constitution
1907 Anglo-Russian agreement creates spheres of influence in Persia;
new shah tries to revoke constitution
1908 Committee of Union and Progress leads revolution to restore
Ottoman constitution; Austria annexes Bosnia; Bulgaria declares
its independence; first major oil strike in Persia
1909 Ottoman counterrevolt quashed; Abdulhamid is deposed;
Russian troops occupy Tabriz and Tehran, but Persian
constitution prevails