and forced him to abandon his resolve. Then there was the Ottoman state, which extended over a large area in the three continents, encompassing North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Asia Minor, and the Balkans. Although all this area was nominally subject to Ottoman authority, several parts of it knew de facto independence. Among these parts was Egypt, which was ruled by Muhammad Ali, and Algeria, which was ruled by the Beys with the help of the Janissary corps. Tripoli of the West knew this de facto independence under the Qaramanli dynasty, which lasted until the first third of the century. Then Tripoli returned once again under direct Caliphate rule, and Iraq also returned after the power of the local rulers who governed it diminished.

The State of the Ottomans

The Ottoman state knew its first period of progress and prosperity, then came a turning point in its history in the eighteenth century. Before this century, the state witnessed strength, with powerful sultans aided by capable viziers. Its history recorded its economic prosperity and its great expansion through conquests, while the eighteenth century recorded its stagnation, economic decline, and the cessation of conquests and expansion. This was under weak sultans who indulged in palace intrigues and left state affairs to viziers and governors who were no better. Thus, the years of the century passed with the state stagnant, unable to move to eliminate the disease it suffered from, until the matter of the disease spread and its effects became apparent to everyone.

The Sick Man

The European powers called the Ottoman state "the Sick Man." This name meant two things: first, it referred to the reality of the state's condition of weakness, disintegration, and the spread of disease; and second, it referred to what lay beyond this reality, that this