European DominationJoin now to read essay European DominationThe Europeanization of Asia, Africa, India and the Middle East was a result of the industrial revolution in Europe that led to mass migrations of Europeans to new parts of the world. “The thin ribbons of European settlement that existed in 1763 had stretched by 1914 to cover entire continents.” (p.509) Despite European success in conquering much of the known world, there were some challenges to colonial domination that faced the Europeans in Russia, Asia, Africa, India and the Middle East.
The Europeanization of Russia, on the surface, did not face many challenges. Leaders such as Peter the Great and later Catherine the great welcomed European ideals and principals and mimicked them in order to build a stronger Russia. The problem was, however, that this Europeanization of Russia was limited to the upper class causing a rift within Russian society that ultimately led to the Decembrist Revolt. The Decembrist Revolt, although a futile attempt to abolish serfdom and the autocracy, brought to light the stark differences between Russian society and that of Western Europe. The culmination of the struggle between Western European ideals and Russian society was the Crimean War (1854-56) when the ways of the West prevailed, leaving serfdom in the past and paving the way for further Europeanization.
In Russia the Europeanization of Russia, on the surface, did not face many challenges. Leaders such as Venetian Emperor Tsar Nicholas II encouraged the reintegration of the Crimean Tatars into his country and promoted the rule of the Tsar, though the Tsar was forced to be overthrown before his second term in office. This process led to the Crimean War (now rebranded “Korazov”) which was the main fighting point in the Russian battle over Crimea.
Today, however, not only do many Russians accept that the West has ruined their great country, the majority are not willing to put up with the Westernization of Russia. For example, Â in late 2011, after many years of negotiations on the issues of sovereignty, the Ukrainian government in Kiev accepted the West’s demands to join them and continue to give Ukraine the right to join the EU. The only question that remains: as the EU has always believed, is Moscow willing to change the direction of power in a nation with a history of corruption and a democratic regime, which is Russia’s real enemy? The Ukrainian government’s main argument is that Ukraine is not an independent state. The Ukrainian opposition party, the VTSNUA, is a member of Ukraine’s Social Democratic Party and was recently elected as the party’s vice-president. However, Ukraine’s constitutional and parliamentarian representatives, who include Vice-President Viktor Yanukovych and Ukraine’s National Assembly, voted in favor of a draft constitutional amendment that gives Yanukovych the power to decide how Russia should proceed with Ukraine joining the EU. Â Even the U.S. embassy in Kiev and the U.K. embassy in London have been shut down by opposition protesters and security forces while the Ukrainian government continues to fight the protests. Finally, there is the issue of migration. The U.S. embassy from Washington’s New York State Department offices is reportedly in crisis and the U.S. government has begun the deportation of all foreign visitors to Ukraine.
Today, however, not only do many Russians accept that the West has ruined their great country, the majority are not willing to put up with the Westernization of Russia. For example, Â in late 2011, after many years of negotiations on the issues of sovereignty, the Ukrainian government in Kiev accepted the West’s demands to join them and continue to give Ukraine the right to join the EU. The only question that remains: as the EU has always believed, is Moscow willing to changes the direction of power in a nation with a history of corruption and a democratic regime, which is Russia’s real enemy? The Ukrainian government’s main argument is that Ukraine is not an independent state.
The Ukrainian Parliament has rejected EU-Russia relations and has continued to support Viktor Yanukovych, despite protests from the population that he is corrupt, violent, undemocratic, and corrupt (as well as some Western media). These people also believe that they do not get fair elections as the Kiev government and its supporters maintain. The Ukrainian parliament has also approved legislation that would make Ukrainian citizens eligible for a country-specific visa, allowing them to live and work anywhere
The major challenge to Europeanization in the Middle East was the non-uniformity of the Ottoman Empire, which encompassed much of the Middle East at the time. “The Ottoman Empire remained a hodgepodge of peoples, religions and conflicting loyalties” (p.468) which posed many distinct challenges to Europeanization. “The significance of this loose imperial organization is that Western ideas and pressures encountered a variety of cultures and conditions. Consequently, the West did not have a uniform impact on the Ottoman lands.” (p.468) The Balkan Christians were the first people affected by the West. These people, dissatisfied with Ottoman rule, harnessed Western industry and in turn an economic revolution that created a prosperous middle class who wanted to expel the Turkish rule. This Western influence in both commerce and politics eventually sparked several uprisings that lead to the expulsion of the Turks out of the Balkan Peninsula by 1912.
[…]
And this is where the story of Balkan Islam comes from; the Ottoman Empire emerged as the driving force behind the creation of the modern Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. And while the “Arab” origins of the Muslim Brotherhood do not match the “Muslim Brotherhood origin,” the origins of the Turkish Muslim Brotherhood are quite different. The Muslim Brotherhood began as a separate social movement led by the radical Hakim-l-Islam. And then, in 2001, many of those Muslim Brotherhood elements (including Hizmet Islam) turned against President Mikadzola, who had fled to the United States. And while many in the Muslim Brotherhood were sympathetic to President Mikadzola, some of those Muslim Brotherhood members, being anti-immigrant, took to supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
[…]
What is needed to address a serious problem is understanding and understanding of Turkey’s history and how the “alleging” and “wrong” attitude of its leaders to the Ottoman Empire, which was the root cause of the Balkan situation, has continued to drive the rise of radical Islamist groups in Turkey through the years into recent years.
“Islamists” (p.475) are known by their radicalized name, “Ulhymen.” These groups have sought to overthrow the secular Turkish state through violence and terror. And they seek to re-establish their own power and territory in Turkey. The main cause of the Turkish revolt was a failure among the Turks to end the Ottoman Empire, and the Turks sought to seize power to the European Union.
“The Turks are now using force. And they are using other mechanisms to push others further down the road. And so the situation isn’t good. But the situation is improving. No major military operation in Europe is going to stop the Turks from building back up and moving across the Continent. It’s already happening.
“Turkey has been on the losing end with the failure of the previous and current operations. Â We’re making a huge mistake in trying to keep ourselves in check by using armed force against opponents of Turkish hegemony. We should be worried about the future: we’re trying to get an example like in Syria, where we have seen the fall of a military regime. In Syria, they’ve been trying to bring down the government in Homs, and now they’re trying to come under attack in Malay in the United Arab Emirates and in the Middle East at large.
“If they have not been stopped they’ve been used against us. We’ve been using armed power to push out opponents. Â We know what’s happening and if we don’t change positions it will end well. We must be prepared.”
[…]
The Turks have tried to consolidate power and territory so that they can take over the European Union. But in short just look at today’s Western policies. Â In January 2015, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said:
“Our priority should be on defeating all of the terrorists and destroying their bases and bases of activity, which were founded in order to topple [the Muslim-dominated State of] Syria.
“I had a meeting with Erdogan, and they said that some 10,000 [civilians] had taken refuge in Turkey.
“They said those 10,000 Syrians that have come out of Syria should be given money or killed. No one is saying that they are terrorists, but a lot of them are extremists. It’s an attack on our national sovereignty.
“They said what else is necessary? They were saying they should fight the terrorists and we shouldn’t fight ISIS, all of that. But they’re totally hypocritical of that.”
To many Westerners,
When Napoleon landed in Egypt in 1798, Europeanization of the Arab world began. With the help of Mehmet Ali, Egypt became an industrialized keystone of the Arab empire as well as a formidable military power. Western Europe itself posed as the challenge to the further expansion of Egypt since the European powers were against Egyptian expansion and industrialization.
India posed virtually no challenges to the British imperialists in the eighteenth century. “India was in an anarchical state” and “The British were able to play one Indian prince against another until they became masters of the entire peninsula.” (p.478)
The far eastern countries of Asia, China and Japan,