Meredith Antell
Stolz
History 139
12/10/18
Themes of Middle Eastern History: Defensive Developmentalism
Throughout the 19th century, the British and Russian Empires found themselves in a political and diplomatic confrontation over territories in the Ottoman Empire. This area in Central and Southern Asia is today considered the Middle East. This conflict, earning the name the “Great Game,” was a concern for many Ottoman rulers. Ottoman sultans, Persian shahs, Egyptian dynasts, and rulers in Tunisia all worried that their power would crumble at the hands of their western rivals. At the turn of the century, they all recognized that global power had shifted to the West. In order to maintain control over their regions, Ottoman rulers began taking measures to reverse the process of fragmentation that was underway. Their goal was to centralize and expand their authority in order to strengthen their states against both internal and external threats. This process came to be known as defensive developmentalism and was a major theme in Middle Eastern history.
Some of the most striking examples of defensive developmentalism occured in Egypt under the rule of Mehmet Ali. Ali recognized that he had to consolidate his control in order to protect Egypt’s autonomy in the Ottoman Empire and his dynasty. One way he did this was by implementing a process of educational reform. The image below depicts the Kitchener Medical School in Khartoum, Sudan. Founded in 1924, it emulates schools set up earlier by Ali in Egypt as it was opened by Sir Lee Stack, Governor General of Sudan and General of the Egyptian army. Starting in the 1820s, Ali founded state technical academies that included education in engineering, medicine, naval sciences, translation, and more. Additionally, preparatory schools were formed to train young men for the military. These schools utilized a form of scholastic conscription along with volunteers in order to enroll their classes. Institutions like these were all a part of Ali’s plan to build up the military under his program of defensive developmentalism. Many of the schools founded in Egypt were established by European advisors. For example, Antoine-Barthelemy Clot was a French doctor who came to be known as “Clot Bey” while teaching at a medical school in Egypt. Along with bringing Europeans to Egypt to teach, Ali also sent Egyptian students to Europe, particularly Paris. These trips came to be known as the “missions.” One pioneering figure in this Arab intellectual awakening was Rifa’a a Rafi al-Tahtawi. Tahtawi was born in 1801 to a rural family in Tahta, Egypt. Although he came from a family with a modest income, he had a line of descent from the Prophet Muhammed. After studying for seven years at the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Tahtawi’s mentor nominated him to serve as a religious leader for one of Ali’s student missions to Paris. While living in France from 1826 to 1831, Tahtawi learned the language, became the mission’s main translator, and read the writings of major French thinkers. Upon his return to Egypt, he became the director of the Medical School, translated at an Artillery School, ran the School of Foreign Languages, assumed directorship of the Military School, and took part in many educational reform commissions. Tahtawi serves as a prime example for Ali’s goals of defensive developmentalism. His hopes that Egyptians would be able to enhance their education abroad in order to contribute to the development of their country are exemplified here. Tahtawi’s contributions, along with many other educators and scholars provided Egyptians with a more global education and modernized their state.
The globalization of the Ottoman Empire was also made possible largely due to the construction of railroads. Pictured below are a group of Ottoman military academy students and rail workers standing on the Istanbul-Ankara railway in Turkey, 1892. This railroad, along with many others, facilitated the transport of people and goods traveling as far as Europe. Quataert’s “Working on the Anatolian Railway” goes into detail about the operation of the Berlin to Baghdad Railroad which serves as an example for life surrounding the railroad during the Middle East’s period of defensive developmentalism. In order to acquire the funds needed to construct railroad lines, Ottoman rulers were forced to grant concessions to European investors. In the case of the Berlin to Baghdad Railroad, finances were primarily provided by the German Anatolian Railway Company. The trade worked in favor of both regions because the Germans wanted influence in the Ottoman Empire and the Ottoman government believed railroads would facilitate control of distant nations and help move military troops around quickly. However, concessions quickly caused problems in the empire. Although this seemed like a beneficial transaction for both parties involved, concessions brought many foreign workers into the Ottoman empire. This led to ethnic stratification of the workforce, creating tensions in the Ottoman community. German financing of the Baghdad Railroad resulted in foreign domination of top management positions while Turks, Armenians, and Greeks held lower ranking positions. Furthermore, European employees were often young, poorly instructed, and lacking in experience. As one Ottoman described, they were being replaced by “‘newly-arrived Germans and Jews having no experience of the work, the country or the language.’” Although they were no less qualified than the Germans for performing the same functions, Ottoman employees still suffered from unequal pay, nepotism, poor living conditions, and brutality. Instead of building up infrastructure that would protect the political independence of Ottoman states (a goal of defensive developmentalism), Middle Eastern rulers essentially mortgaged their future economic independence to their European investors.
Because Ottomans knew they may need help from Western powers in the future, they were forced to implement the Debt Administration as a tax collection agent. In this case defensive developmentalism failed to promote Middle Eastern independence from other countries. However, it did promote the development of the Ottoman economy. The railroad also led to a variety of other achievements that served to modernize the region as a whole. For example, new networks were established allowing Ottomans to distribute agricultural goods including cash crops to other countries. The railroad also strengthened the military by facilitating the movement of troops.
Historians often divide the attempts at defensive developmentalism into different periods. One being the tanzimat period, or a period of liberal reform in the Ottoman Empire. The tanzimat culminated with the declaration of the Ottoman Constitution of 1876. During this time, bureaucrats and intellectuals made an effort to imitate European institutions and ideas. Particularly, the economic and political ideals associated with Liberalism which included free market economics and respect for private property. During this time period the Ottoman government released the Hatti-i Sharif of Gulhane (1839) and the Islahat Fermani (1856). These documents made promises to Ottoman subjects for “perfect security for life, honor, and property.” Additionally, they offered ideas of religious liberty and equality for non-Muslim citizens in an attempt to promote osmanlilik (a sense of Ottoman identity). The hope was that both documents would promote a common set of rights and responsibilities shared by all citizens regardless of their religious allegiances. Many Ottomans quickly latched on to these ideas and began petitioning the sultan whenever they felt like their rights had been betrayed. This reality hardly served the cause of harmony within different communities. The policy left few Muslims or Christians satisfied. Muslim elites rejected that the documents so obviously stemmed from European inspiration and felt like their predominance in the region was threatened. Pictured above is a Christian family in Cairo, 1923. The young girl wears a cross around her neck. Muslims did not hesitate to point out that both the Hatti-i Sharif of Gulhane and the Islahat Fermani seemed to give special consideration to Christian families like the one depicted. These special considerations included both economic and political privileges. However, despite their privileges, Christians were not pleased either. Notions of equality presented in both documents applied to military conscription, a factor of citizenship most religions would have easily forgone. Fortunately, Christians were able to pay fees in order to avoid service to the Ottoman military. Unfortunately, Muslims were not. This only led to more resentment from the Muslim community. Looking to develop into the Balkans, many Christians would have preferred nationalist separation rather than equality in the predominantly Muslim empire. Despite the intentions of the Hatti-i Sharif of Gulhane and the Islahat Fermani, neither document served to promote osmanlilik. Instead, boundaries were reinforced by intercommunal violence. These ideas contributed to the sectarianism of the modern Middle East.
Military and educational reform, the construction of railroads, and new political ideologies are only a few examples of the improvements made during the period of defensive developmentalism in the Middle East. Ottoman rulers worked to strengthen all aspects of their state in defense of threats from their own empire and others. Methods of farming and tax collection were revised, agriculture turned to focus on the growth of cash crops, and canals were built along with railroads to facilitate in the transportation of goods. All of this work was focused around modernization and globalization in the face of a rapidly developing world. Defensive developmentalism proved to be a very prominent theme in Middle Eastern history as Ottoman rulers tried to keep up with the rest of the world.