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Basically during the 19th century most of the countries of Middle East (Which for the sake of discussion includes North Africa) tried to modernize their countries by reforming their militaries along Western lines and making investments in infrastructure in order to avoid European expansion. However this was an incredibly expense process and in order to finance it Middle Eastern governments took out massive loans. When they were inevitably unable to repay their loans, European powers used it as justification to force concessions on their countries that turned them into de facto colonies. The most notable example of this was in Egypt when Khedive Ismail bankrupted his country building the Suez Canal and waging a pointless war against Ethiopia which enable the British and French to depose him and eventually turn Egypt into a British protectorate.

My question is how can Middle Eastern countries modernize without bankrupting themselves and opening the door for European imperialism?
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