First Contact
This article will not examine France’s formation or the historical events involved. In the briefest terms, however, Gaul, which encompassed present-day France, remained under Roman occupation for the first five centuries of the Common Era. It came under Frankish rule in the fifth century. France was established in 843 and ruled as a monarchy by successive dynasties until the Revolution of 1789. (Dışişleri Bakanlığı, 1988)
France’s relationship with the Middle East can be traced back 1,300 years. The first major encounter occurred during the Umayyad conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. After completing that conquest, the Umayyads, led by Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, invaded southern France, including Bordeaux and Lyon. France was then divided into duchies and lacked political unity. Charles Martel, supported by Germanic tribes, confronted the Muslim army advancing toward the capital at a point between Tours and Poitiers in October 732. The Muslim army was defeated, halting its advance into Europe. The victory also strengthened Martel’s authority over the other duchies and Germanic peoples, setting France on the path toward political unity. (Nureddin Âl-i Ali, 2010) In other words, France both became the “protector of Christianity and Europe” and began unifying its fragmented polity.
Europe was undoubtedly unprepared for Muslim armies to emerge from the Arabian deserts and reach such distant frontiers exactly a century after Muhammad’s death. European curiosity about Islamic civilization can be said to have grown after this encounter. The leading educational institutions, scholarly activity, libraries, and thousands of translations from various languages in al-Andalus profoundly affected Europeans. (Özdemir, 2012) Another consequence was the deep influence on France’s domestic and foreign policies of neighboring Muslim lands. The sudden invasion of French territory by armies from the Middle East contributed to the formation and development of nationalist sentiments enduring to this day. One can speak of a religiously mobilized nationalism, containing dynamics that would also help prepare the ground for 1789 and its aftermath.
The Crusades and Their Influence on French Identity
France’s emergence as a unified force from its struggles with Muslims also produced significant cultural advances. In “Fransız Medeniyeti,” Ernst R. Curtius identifies 1050–1150 as the first important period of French culture. (Curtius, 1938) This immediately followed the Andalusian period. Another example from the same work illustrates the religious nationalism developing in France and the cultural growth it nourished. Curtius notes that the monk Guibert of Nogent headed his “İlk Ehli Salip Tarihi” with the words “Gesta Dei per Francos”—“the Franks’ war in God’s name.” (Curtius, 1938) These factors also illuminate the historical roots of French pride, sometimes regarded as difficult to understand today.[1]
All these developments helped motivate the Crusades. A French monk, Peter the Hermit, organized the first contingent, and approximately 50,000 people set out from France. For French–Middle Eastern relations, their most important consequence was France’s first actual presence in the region.
French nobles gained control of many territories through the Crusades. They ruled the Principality of Antioch, the County of Edessa, and the Kingdom of Cyprus; from 1341, the Lusignan dynasty ruled the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. Interestingly, these territories parallel the area of direct French control under Sykes–Picot. As Turkish power weakened in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, French governments revived a claim of inheritance over the region, asserting a right to shared French and local Armenian rule from Lebanon through Hatay, Çukurova, Urfa, and Gaziantep. (MEB, 1968) Whether this was historical coincidence or the product of a powerful national memory warrants investigation. The subject is lengthy and detailed, but the consequences of France’s presence can be summarized as follows: centuries of contact and subsequent events enabled France, and Europe more broadly, to become closely acquainted with the Islamic world. The Crusades also laid the foundations for relationships France would later cultivate for imperial purposes. Knowledge and experience gained then undoubtedly formed the seeds of later developments.[2]
Another notable episode was King Louis IX’s interest in Egypt and his invasion on June 5, 1249. He tried to ally with the Mongols to achieve his aim, but with little success. The invasion began successfully, but France was defeated at Mansurah, and the king was captured in the ensuing events. (Maalouf, 2011) This and the invasion plans discussed later show how far back French interest in Egypt extends.
A Brief Look at Franco-Ottoman Relations
After the Crusades, relations between France and the Middle East remained vibrant, particularly in trade, and continued to grow. Yet France also opposed rising Ottoman power through diplomacy and armed attacks. The most notable encounter occurred at Nicopolis on September 25, 1396. Twenty-seven prominent French nobles were among those captured in the Crusader army’s crushing defeat, prompting diplomatic contacts over their ransom. (MEB, 1968) France’s hostile stance continued through the fifteenth century, with various discussions proposing ways to clear the Ottomans from Istanbul.
The Cem Sultan affair revived diplomatic relations. Bringing Cem to France after his refuge in Rhodes necessarily renewed Franco-Ottoman contacts. King Charles VIII, who acted as Cem’s protector, ended his eastern expedition in Naples. After his ambition to liberate Istanbul stalled there, he joined the Ottoman–Venetian War at sea. In 1501, a French fleet under Admiral Ravenstein, reinforced by 10,000 infantry, besieged Mytilene Castle. The arrival of Prince Korkut, governor of Manisa, at Ayvalık and the Ottoman fleet’s entry into the Aegean alarmed the French, who hastily withdrew. On their return, they encountered a storm off Cerigo, or Kythera, and the entire fleet sank. French warships subsequently remained absent from Turkish waters for many years. (MEB, 1968)
In the sixteenth century, France changed course. Caught between Spain and Germany, it began to see the Ottomans as natural allies. The most important diplomatic turning point came after Francis I’s capture by Charles V. The French king appealed to Charles’s eastern rival, Suleiman the Magnificent. (Kocabaş, 1990) Relations then became an alliance against Spain, whose maritime activity had intensified and which had almost completed the Reconquista, restoring Christianity across Iberia. The partnership bore fruit in the capitulations granted in 1535. Franco-Ottoman commercial, diplomatic, and cultural relations consequently deepened and intensified continuously. These capitulations would also become one of the chief foundations of French influence in the region.
The optimism beginning in the sixteenth century dissipated with the seventeenth-century accession of Louis XIV, France’s “Sun King.” Our reading suggests, in fact, that speaking of a genuine Franco-Ottoman alliance is difficult. From France’s perspective, it resembled a forced marriage. Two points explain this. First, the religious nationalism discussed above prevented the alliance from becoming a friendship.
Shortly before his capture, Francis I had promised that, if a Crusader army were immediately assembled, he would take Istanbul within three years. Once captured, however, he naturally appealed to the Ottomans, the greatest rivals of Charles V. (Kocabaş, 1990) Second, the Ottoman Empire did not regard France as an equal. Beyond this, an intriguing book illustrates the French interest in Egypt and Istanbul dating from the Crusades. The famous German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz presented Louis XIV in 1672 with “Mémoire de Leibnitz á Louis
XIV sur la conquête de l’Égypte,” further evidence that French interest in Egypt had never died. Its content is remarkably audacious. As that is a subject for another article, it will not be examined here. Leibniz’s treatment of the Ottomans, then approaching decline, and his observations are striking. Despite his prejudices, many assessments are sound. The book matters for understanding how Louis XIV and Europe began contemplating the occupation of Egypt and Istanbul. Whether the Ottoman government knew Europe was producing such reports and books about it is doubtful. Relations with France nevertheless deteriorated during this period because of Catholic proselytizing across the empire. Missionary work, particularly by Jesuits and Franciscans, was unwelcome to the Ottomans. According to Uzunçarşılı, French ambassador Savary de Brèves sought to prepare another Crusade by writing against the Ottoman state and advocating its destruction. (Uzunçarşılı, 1977) As noted, Western thought increasingly focused on dismantling the empire. Without examining the issue in detail, two developments marked the beginnings of France’s later claimed sphere of domination. The first was expanding influence by protecting local communities, particularly the Maronites, now concentrated in Lebanon. Instructions sent from Paris to ambassador Jean de La Haye in 1639 called for French protection to extend beyond foreign Catholics to Ottoman Catholic subjects. (Spagnolo, 1977) In a letter of April 28, 1649, Louis XIV and the queen regent promised protection to the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch. (Mange, 1940) Jesuit education in Syria and the French Foreign Ministry sought an “Oriental Empire” through local Christians. Should the Ottoman Empire disintegrate, Lebanon, the eastern Mediterranean, Syria, and the territory as far as the Taurus Mountains were intended to come under French rule. Implementation would accelerate in the nineteenth century. (Spangolo, 1977) Our sources indicate that Europeans understood Ottoman weaknesses by the second half of the seventeenth century. The wind had begun to turn against the Ottoman and Islamic worlds, while Europe grew more confident. Voyages of discovery had redirected trade routes, now controlled entirely by European merchants. Growing wealth brought greater confidence. For the Ottomans, the treasury was emptying and the loss of trade routes worsened conditions. The capitulations also created major economic vulnerabilities.
Under Louis XIV, France tested the Ottomans on numerous fronts, pursuing what might be called a two-steps-forward, one-step-back policy. This will be discussed elsewhere rather than detailed here. The second siege of Vienna and its aftermath produced such remarkable events that they can be seen as containing the seeds of much that shaped modern France. During this period, France attacked Algeria, its future colony. Faced with Louis XIV’s hostility early in his reign, the Ottomans gave Algerian corsairs free rein against France. (MEB, 1968) A Turkish fleet raided Lyon, Marseille, and the Côte d’Azur in 1650, returning in 1662 and 1669. (MEB, 1968) The French, under Admiral Duc de Beaufort, attacked Algeria in 1664. Their assault on Jijel was repelled by Şaban Ağa, commander of the Algerian Janissaries. In response, French ambassador La Haye faced Grand Vizier Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha’s wrath and public insults before the Imperial Council. Relations were already poor because of Catholic proselytizing, and France’s capitulations were canceled. (MEB, 1968) French merchants suffered, prompting Louis XIV to seek another agreement. He instructed his ambassador to arrange a Turkish envoy’s visit to France. To humiliate the proud king, the Imperial Council sent Süleyman Ağa, a lower-ranking müteferrika, rather than one of its çavuş officers. Arriving in Toulon on August 4, 1669, he received an extraordinary welcome. Acting on his instructions, he insisted on being received with great formality. His mission encouraged the spread of Turquerie, the Turkish fashion, in Paris; popularized coffee, of which the French are now so fond; inspired Jean-Baptiste Lully to compose using Turkish melodies; and ultimately led Molière to mock French fascination with the envoy in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. (Kocabaş, 1990) It is reasonable to call the Turquerie that marked France between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries the dawn of Orientalism. European travelers’ and merchants’ works aroused intellectual interest in the East’s riches and beauty. The presence of a Turk in France further stimulated that curiosity and enabled direct encounters with someone from the region. Architecture, painting, music, and other arts of the period show strong Turkish influences. Travelers and ambassadors returned with memoirs and accounts. In a Europe transformed by the Westphalian order, where colonization and conflict had taken new forms, this curiosity would acquire another identity as imperialism emerged, leading to Orientalist studies in the modern sense. In brief, as institutions in the modern sense began forming in France, long interested in the Middle East since the Crusades, the Ottomans still looked down on Europe.
Explaining France’s approach to the Levant and Middle East solely through religion would be incomplete. French citizens had lived in the Levant for centuries and contributed substantially to the French economy. French society was also, above all, agricultural. Even today, agriculture has a large economic share. (Bardin, 1960) Its interest in valuable farmland in Çukurova, Urfa, Hatay, Lebanon, and Syria, where it had maintained some presence since the Crusades, is therefore understandable. Communities it regarded as natural allies, such as Armenians and Maronites, were also concentrated there, making control more attractive. From this perspective, its ambitions and policies are not difficult to understand. French interest in Egypt, too, persisted for various reasons from the Crusades onward, shaping policy around that territory’s status. Treatises advocating invasion and subsequent developments suggest two enduring motivations: religious and cultural impulses, and, most importantly, access to trade routes. We will return to Egypt later.
Franco–Middle Eastern Relations Under Napoleon and in the Nineteenth Century
As noted, France changed regional policy after several failed attempts to revive the Eastern Roman Empire following Istanbul’s conquest. It adopted a more diplomatic approach, testing its counterparts and missing no opportunity. Long struggles against Britain, Spain, and the Netherlands also prevented it from concentrating fully on the Ottoman world. As the nineteenth century approached, however, a new era dawned, and France entered it through revolutions. A Corsican general, Napoleon Bonaparte, skillfully exploited the resulting vacuum to seize power.
Napoleon’s particular interest in the Middle East connects him most directly to our subject. He recognized its strategic importance and believed domination of the region essential to defeating Britain, his enduring rival. His first move was against Egypt, to cut the route to India, Britain’s lifeline.
Another distinctive aspect of Napoleon was his promise of a Jewish state. In a proclamation addressed to Asian and African Jews on April 20, 1799, he offered protection and invited them to settle in Palestine. It had no effect on them, however. (Friedman, 1917) In a notice published in Monituer Universal on May 22, 1799, he also called on all European, Asian, and African Jews to volunteer for the French army, promising a Jewish state in Palestine in return. (Mason, 1970)
In keeping with traditional French policy, he also wrote to the Maronites seeking their support, saying he had taken up and revived the Crusades. Few responded. (Tibawi, 1969) Even after leaving Egypt, Napoleon would plan the Ottoman Empire’s partition with the Russian tsar. (Kocabaş, 1990) Entering the nineteenth century, the empire dominating the Middle East was asking, “What is happening to us?” and seeking answers in France.
It requested and used ambassadors’ reports, (Altuniş, 2006) recruited French commanders and engineers to teach in Istanbul, and, particularly in the century’s second half, sent students to study European learning. It broke out of its shell far enough to establish a “Mekteb-i Osmani” in Paris, (Ay, 2007) developing curiosity about the outside world. Muhammad Ali Pasha, acting independently of the Ottomans, made similar efforts: launching initiatives, sending students, and, like Istanbul, looking to Paris for modernization.[3]
Turkish intellectuals emerging particularly after the Tanzimat were deeply influenced by French art and ways of life, which also shaped their thought. The same applied in Cairo and therefore the Arab world. Iran likewise developed various relations with France and absorbed intellectual influences. Many French words in Turkish and Persian today are legacies of that period. Books, poems, and almost all other works departed from older forms and adopted a French-inflected character. A new lifestyle began entering the Middle East under the banner of Westernization. The resulting old–new conflict still appears everywhere, from political parties to coffeehouses in the remotest towns of these countries. Another point is the West’s determination to use knowledge once it recognized its power. Combined with imperialism, this produced a structure that visited the East’s remotest villages, recorded and learned their languages, and used this knowledge for imperial purposes. Rather than relying on letters to regional Christians, the West now sought to dismantle the East through science and intimate knowledge of societies, achieving a complete victory.
Before closing this part, one further point deserves recording. France’s greatest disappointment concerning its Middle Eastern interests in this century was undoubtedly Egypt’s passage into British control in 1882. This would help tip the long-standing Anglo-French rivalry in Britain’s favor.
NOTES
[1] Ernst R. Curitus’s book is an important resource for understanding the early French nationalism discussed above. For another source, see: PRICE, Roger; Fransa’nın Kısa Tarihi, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yayınevi, İstanbul 2012.
[2] For a firsthand account, particularly of the later Crusades and the French position, see: Jean de Joinville; Bir Haçlının Hatıraları (trans. Cüneyt Kanat), Vadi Yay. İstanbul, 2002.
[3] Muhammad Ali Pasha of Kavala also sent students to France during this period. For one of the most extensive studies of students sent abroad in this era, see: ŞİŞMAN, Adnan; Tanzimat Döneminde Fransa’ya Gönderilen Osmanlı Öğrencileri, TTK Yay., Ankara, 1965.
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This article was written in 2013 and first published by KAF.