We have already seen how this patriotic movement was crushed by the
forcible intervention of European imperialism.[158] By 1912 Russia and
England were in full control of the situation, the patriots were
proscribed and persecuted, and Persia sank into despairing silence. As a
British writer then remarked: "For such broken spirit and shattered
hopes, as for the 'anarchy' now existing in Persia, Russia and Great
Britain are directly responsible, and if there be a Reckoning, will one
day be held to account. It is idle to talk of any improvement in the
situation, when the only Government in Persia consists of a Cabinet
which does not command the confidence of the people, terrorized by
Russia, financially starved by both Russia and England, allowed only
miserable doles of money on usurious terms, and forbidden to employ
honest and efficient foreign experts like Mr. Shuster; when the King is
a boy, the Regent an absentee, the Parliament permanently suspended, and
the best, bravest, and most honest patriots either killed or driven
into exile, while the wolf-pack of financiers, concession-hunters and
land-grabbers presses ever harder on the exhausted victim, whose
struggles grow fainter and fainter. Little less than a miracle can now
save Persia."[159]
So ends our survey of the main "first-stage" nationalist movements in
the Moslem world. We should of course remember that a nationalist
movement was developing concurrently in India, albeit following an
eccentric orbit of its own. We should also remember that, in addition to
the main movements just discussed, there were minor nationalist
stirrings among other Moslem peoples such as the Russian Tartars, the
Chinese Mohammedans, and even the Javanese of the Dutch Indies. Lastly,
we should remember that these nationalist movements were more or less
interwoven with the non-national movement of Pan-Islamism, and with
those "second-stage," "racial" nationalist movements which we shall now
consider.
II
Earlier in this chapter we have already remarked that the opening years
of the twentieth century witnessed the appearance in Asia of
nationalism's second or racial stage, especially among the Turkish and
Arab peoples. This wider stage of nationalism has attained its highest
development among the Turks; where, indeed, it has gone through two
distinct phases, describable respectively by the terms "Pan-Turkism" and
"Pan-Turanism." We have described the primary phase of Turkish
nationalism in its restricted "Ottoman" sense down to the close of the
Balkan wars of 1912-13. It is at that time that the secondary or
"racial" aspects of Turkish nationalism first come prominently to the
fore.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account