AN OTTOMAN LEGACY OF STATEHOOD

AN OTTOMAN LEGACY OF STATEHOOD

·         morroco –the oldest formal arab state became French proctorate in 1912.

·         Tunisia had been under French rule and Egypt under English rule since 1880s

·         Algeria the first arab territory to come under eurppean rcolonial rule in 1830 was assimilated to metropolitan france and never had the chance to develop autonomous instruments to rule to the same extent as other north African states.

·         Arab lands formally under ottoman rule in 1914 were yemen, the red sea province of hijaz, greater Syria(comprised of the modern states of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel), and Iraq.

·         Tenous ottoman claims to the najd region of central Arabia, and the Persian gulf shaikdoms stretching to Qatar has lapsed by 1913.

·         Britain and france wanting to add these territories to their colonial possesions as spoils of war claimed the arab lands were not ready for independence but would first require a period of tutelage in statecraft.

·         Ottoman reforms known as the Tanzimat(1839-76) were designed to preclude European pretexts to intervene in ottoman affairs. Arguable, the chief aim of the reforms was to make the ottoman state more viable and to consolidate istanbuls hold over its Asian provinces as nationalist movements led to the secession of the Balkan provinces.

·         Residents of the arab provinces begain to become literate and a growing number of locals entered the civil serice, in the arab provinces and in Turkish Anatolia.

·         European powers shaped arab state system in the image of ottoman provincial government.  After 1864 provincial reform law, ottoman provincial capitals were the ffocus of extensive investment and construction.

·         Provincial capitals like Jerusalem, Beirut, Damascus, and Baghdad were easily adapted to make national capitals in the mandates of Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. This legacy of stateness had prepared the arab people for self rule by 1919. These capitals were designated as type A mandates or proto states in preparation for statehood.