FREE ESSAY ON EUROPEAN CHALLENGES TO THE MUSLIM WORLD

EUROPEAN CHALLENGES TO THE MUSLIM WORLD

"European Challenges to the Muslim World"
Religion has always played an important role in European society; Islam has usually been
the major religion. It was no different in the 1700's and 1800's. During this time,
reforms were formed to revolt against the government. These reforms most often stressed
religious piety and obedience to strict rules of behavior. During these reforms, the
government used their education against the people, by making treaties that gave them
favorable rights to trade.
Other than religion, nationalism has always been an importance and usually a negative.
Nationalism has caused much uproar and there was no exception in the Ottoman Empire.
During the same time as the religious conflict in Europe, the Ottoman Empire was struck
with these uproars. Although the empire was able to suppress these revolts, Britain,
France, and Russia soon saw a chance to gain more power and land, by attacking the old,
weakened empire. France obtained Algeria in the 1830's and now wanted more land. Britain
obtained Egypt during the revolts and soon placed Egypt under a protectorate.
With Egypt being a protectorate, it helped modernize Egypt. With the help of Muhammad
Ali, often called the "father of modern Egypt", Egypt soon had improved taxes, a
reorganized landholding, and he increased the farm output. Now that the farms were
outputting, Ferdinand de Lesseps made it much easier to trade by building the Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal was a very tiring and strenuous job, that took quite a long time. It was a
Canal that shortened the journey from Europe to South and East Asia. This greatly
improved trading and brought in more money at the same time.
This shows how much the world powers have changed since they were created a long time
ago. Few have had the opportunity to be extremely powerful, while many others have felt
defeat. The Ottoman Empire has felt both; they were powerful and started feeling the pain
of loss, and the heartbreak of theives.