Sea of Troubles - The European Conquest of the Islamic Mediterranean c1750-1918

. Written by Arabist and economist, this is an authoritative account of the earlier history of Western colonialism in the Middle East and North Africa

. The first book to cover three centuries of imperial rivalry (between the British, French, Italians, Russians and their Christian and Muslim neighbours in the Mediterranean) from all they key players' perspectives; and the first to look at this event from the perspective of the Mediterranean Sea which separated the Christian and Muslim worlds

. Author shows the role of both key personalities and the colonised indigenes in shaping the destiny of politics in the region.

. Many of the themes raised echo geopolitical developments in the region today: looking at how the West arrived in the Middle East, this book helps us form a picture of why relations between Europe and the US and the Middle East are so often fraught today

. Includes charming illustrations and useful maps

. A crossover trade/academic title, accessible and highly readable to the curious reader, but also including references and bibliography

Epigraph

Preface



PART ONE c.1750 - 1830

Chapter 1: Islam, Christian Europe and the Mediterranean:
Social Structures, Incomes, Living Standards and the Role of Religion

Chapter 2: Islam, Christian Europe and the Mediterranean: the Ottoman 'Economic Mind', Industry and Trade

Chapter 3: At the Gateway to the Mediterranean: Britain and the 'Empire' of Morocco

Chapter 4: State, land and taxation: the fiscal crisis of the Ottoman system

Chapter 5: The Ottoman Regencies and the Barbary Corsairs

Chapter 6: The Russians in the Mediterranean

Chapter 7: Ottoman Egypt: the Empire Fraying at the Edges

Chapter 8: A Spanish Disaster

Chapter 9: 'Liberating the Egyptians': the Origins of French Republican Imperialism

Chapter 10: The French in Egypt: from Military Victory to Colonial failure

Chapter 11: The Troubled beginnings of Britain's 'Blue-Water Empire'

Chapter 12: The Beginning of the end for the Ottoman Regencies



PART TWO 1830 - c1870

Chapter 13: The Multiple Crises of Mahmud II

Chapter 14: The French Invasion of the Regency of Algiers and the growth of the Resistance 1830-36.

Chapter 15: Saving the Sultans

Chapter 16: Algérie Francaise, Morocco, Britain and the defeat of the Resistance

Chapter 17: Syria, Suez and the France's Second Imperial Venture in the Eastern Mediterranean

Chapter 18: The Industrialised and the Non-Industrialised



PART THREE c.1870 - c.1900

Chapter 19: The Age of the Rentiers

Chapter 20: The Bailiffs arrive

Chapter 21: The slow death of the 'Empire' of Morocco



PART FOUR c.1900 - 1918

Chapter 22: Imperialist Realignment and the French Intervention in Morocco

Chapter 23: Imperialism on the Northern Shore: Austria-Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina

Chapter 24: From Mediterranean Imperialism to World War: Morocco, Libya and the Southern Balkans



Postscript

Notes

Bibliography

Index