The Eastern Question

Topic 12: The Ottoman Empire (c1800-1923)

  • This section focuses on the decline and collapse of Ottoman power, examining both internal and external developments.
  • It also explores the extent of change within the Ottoman Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • Key areas include challenges to Ottoman power, the Eastern Question, internal reforms, the Young Turks, and the Empire's role in World War I.

Challenges to Ottoman Power in the Early 19th Century

  • Focus: Greek War of Independence (1821-1832) and the challenge posed by Muhammad Ali in Egypt (1805-1848).
  • Guiding Questions:
    • What was the nature of the Ottoman Empire in the 1800s?
    • Which events led to the growth of nationalism in the Ottoman territories?
    • What was the significance of the Greek War of Independence?
    • How did the reform policies of Muhammad Ali of Egypt challenge the Ottomans?
Overview
  • In the early 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was still vast, including the Balkans, Asia Minor, Persia, Syria, Palestine, parts of Arabia, Egypt, and the North African coast.
  • Governing such a diverse empire was difficult and relied on strong leadership from Constantinople. However, Sultans were weak and struggled to address political tensions.
  • Nationalism increased across the empire's multi-ethnic territories.
  • Sultans faced obstacles such as Janissaries and local derebys (valley lords) vying for autonomy.
  • The Industrial Revolution strengthened European dominance in global trade, threatening Ottoman economic independence and leading to dependence on European powers.
  • Sultans Selim III (1789-1806) and Mahmud II (1808-1839) initiated state-sponsored military reforms to centralize government, but overall, Sultans were unable to stem the decline of Ottoman influence.
Greek War of Independence (1821-1832)

  • Called the first major war of liberation and the first successful war for independence from the Ottoman Empire as well as the first explicitly nationalist revolution.

    Causes:

    • Nationalism:
      • The Enlightenment inspired intellectuals across Europe, influencing the Greek War of Independence and fostering a collective identity based on shared language, history, and culture.
      • The formation of the "Filiki Eteria" (Society of Friends) in 1814 aimed to liberate Greece from Ottoman rule and promote Greek nationalism. Alexander Ypsilantis led initial uprisings in 1821.
      • Greek folklore and literature, such as the works of Rigas Feraios, fostered a sense of national identity among the Greek people.
    • Cultural Revival/Hellenism:
      • The Greek Enlightenment emphasized the importance of Greek history and heritage, inspiring the independence movement.
      • Schools and educational institutions, like the Princely Academy of Bucharest, taught Greek language and history, breeding revolutionary ideas.
      • Adamantios Korais advocated for a return to Greek cultural roots.
      • The Greek Orthodox Church played a vital role in cultural revival and fostering unity against Ottoman oppression.
      • Clergy educated the populace about their heritage.
    • Religious Factors:
      • The Greek Orthodox Church was a cultural and national symbol, mobilizing support for independence. The millet system reinforced the divide between Orthodox Christians in Greece and the Muslim Ottoman government.
      • Patriarch Gregory V's execution in 1821 galvanized public sentiment, framing the struggle in religious terms.
      • The Church provided resources and support for rebels, with clergy members actively participating in the revolution.
    • Economic Grievances:
      • Economic dissatisfaction among Greek merchants and peasantry was a significant catalyst.
      • Ottoman Empire's heavy taxation policies disproportionately burdened Greek populations, leading to widespread resentment.
      • The introduction of the "harac" (land tax) and "cizye" (poll tax on non-Muslims) fueled discontent and economic burden on farmers.
      • A wealthy merchant class in coastal cities such as Hydra and Spetses funded arms purchases and supported revolutionary activities.
    • Impact:
      • Inspired independence movements in the Balkans.
      • Weakened Ottoman power was weakened.
      • The Treaty of London occurred in 1827.
      • Introduced the Eastern Question.
      • Treaty of Adrianople, 1832.
      • Led to westernisation of Ottoman military and bureaucracy.
      • It resulted in start of loans from the West and the start of Ottoman debt to the Great Powers.
Muhammad Ali in Egypt (1805-1848)

  • Muhammad Ali ruled Egypt from 1805 to 1849, establishing an independent hereditary dynasty separate from the Ottoman Empire.

  • His reform policies focused on centralizing the Egyptian government, reforming the military, transforming and Europeanizing the education system, and reinventing the Egyptian economy.

  • He ended the control of the Mamluk leaders, who had kept control for nearly 600 years.

  • Muhammad Ali's work to industrialize Egypt and control their cotton exports led to Egyptian independence away from the Ottoman Sultan’s control and leaned towards European influences.

  • His military challenged the Sultan’s power through multiple expansionist wars in territories such as Greece, Syria, and Sudan, demonstrating the Egyptian military might, all while highlighting the weaknesses of the Ottoman system.

  • A result of Muhammad Ali’s increased interaction with the Great Powers was also the growing involvement of Western Powers in the Middle East.

  • Past Paper 3 Questions:

    • Evaluate the impact of Muhammad Ali’s challenge to Ottoman power.

    • Examine the impact on the Ottoman Empire of the rise of Muhammad Ali.

    • Evaluate the reasons for, and the results of, Muhammad Ali’s challenge to Ottoman power.

    • Reasons for Challenges to Ottoman Power:

      • Military Campaigns
        • Ali's military campaigns began in the service of the Ottoman sultan but concluded with the near conquest of Istanbul.
        • His first overseas campaign was against the Wahhabi movement in western Arabia, capturing Mecca and Medina.
        • The conquest of the Sudan began in 1820.
      • Events in Ottoman Europe
        • In 1821, a nationalist revolt against Ottoman rule broke out in Greece. The Egyptian forces, commanded by Ibrahim, subdued the Greek rebels but European intervention forced Ibrahim to evacuate his troops.

  • Effects of Muhammad Ali’s Challenges to Ottoman Power

    • As Ibrahim's forces pushed the Ottoman armies out of Syria, Mahmud II desperately sought a Great Power ally. Only Russia responded to his appeals, and in 1833, the two states signed a defensive alliance, the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi.
    • British and French diplomats pressured the sultan and Muhammad Ali to end their hostilities and sign a treaty recognizing Ibrahim as governor of the Anatolian district of Adana and all of Greater Syria.
    • Treaty of London of 1841 compelled Muhammad Ali to withdraw from all the territories he had occupied except the Sudan and limited the Egyptian army's size to 18,000 men. The treaty stated that Egypt's governorship was to be a hereditary office held by his family
    • Treaty of Balta Liman provided for the abolition of all monopolies within the Ottoman Empire and granted foreign goods entry at the favorable tariff rate of 33 percent.

  • Reforms of Muhammad Ali

    • Muhammad Ali recaptured Arabian territories under an expedition led by his son Tusun in 1811 and in 1812 recaptured the Hejaz from the House of Saud.
    • In 1832 created a school of medicine for women doctors or hakimas.
    • Muhammad Ali is promised the Island of Crete if he puts down the Greek Revolt in 1821. As a result, he sends 16,000 soldiers, 100 transports, 63 escort vessels with his son Ibrahim Pasha. The fleet gets destroyed at the Battle of Navarino.
    • 1830 created a new law for the state favouring the safety of Christians within Egypt, gaining Western favour.
    • Ibrahim Pasha, under Muhammad Ali’s insistence, pushes the army into Syria, temporarily capturing Syria for the Egyptians. The Syrians rebel however with the support of the British and the French and several years later, in 1840, Ibrahim is forced to leave the territory.
    • Muhammad Ali becomes the first Ottoman ruler to secure hereditary rule for his family over Egypt (and Egyptian conquered Sudan).
    • Muhammad Ali forced monopolisation of the Cotton industry, buying up all of the cotton produced and selling it to the European market at a higher price
    • Reorganised the central administration through a new group of officials and technical and administrative positions appointed by qualification
    • Divided Egypt into 1010 provinces, each controlled by an appointed governor responsible for the administration of the land (including collecting tax).
    • Muhammad Ali appointed his sons to key positions within the government.
    • Muhammad Ali worked to create a European style army, unable to reform the Mamluks, he destroyed them and instead introduced a new officer corps and education system based on the European model
    • In 1811, 74 of the leading Mamluks were massacred as they felt a banquet by invitation of Muhammad Ali in Cairo
    • He created an officers training school in Aswan with European instructors
    • Sent many Egyptian students to France to learn European languages and systems
    • From the 1820’s he established schools of medicine, veterinary medicine, engineering, and chemistry
    • Eliminated smallpox in Egypt and brought cholera under control
    • Ordered a national census for conscription and to increase tax revenue
    • Created the first Arabic-language newspaper, al-Waqai al-Misriyyah in 1828
    • Muhammad Ali’s government introduced Jumel cotton, becoming Egypt’s most cost- effective cash crop
    • Rebuilt the Egyptian irrigation system
    • Introduced a program of industrialisation to compete with the European textiles
    • In the 1830’s at least 30,000-40,000 Egyptians were employed in war-related industries such as guns and warships

  • Impact on Ottoman Empire (from Britannica)

    • Muḥammad ʿAlī initially supported the Ottoman sultan in suppressing rebellion both in Arabia and in Greece, and he also invaded the Nilotic Sudan in search of recruits for his army and gold for his treasury.
    • Victorious in all three campaigns, until European intervention in Greece caused the destruction of his fleet at the Battle of Navarino in 1827, Muḥammad ʿAlī felt that he was strong enough to challenge the sultan.
    • His first war against the sultan (1831–33) gained him control of Syria as far north as Adana. In the second war (1838–41) the decisive defeat of Ottoman troops at the Battle of Nizip (1839) and the desertion of the Ottoman fleet to Muḥammad ʿAlī led to intervention by the European powers.
    • In July 1840, Great Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia agreed to end Egyptian rule in Syria, shattering Muḥammad ʿAlī’s hopes for greater independence from the Ottoman Empire.
    • In 1841 he and his family were granted the hereditary right to rule Egypt and the Sudan, but his power was still subjected to restraints, and the sultan’s suzerain rights remained intact.

European Challenges and Ottoman Responses (~1828-1913)

  • This section examines European challenges to the Ottoman Empire and the related growth of Great Power intervention. It explains the Eastern Question and its threat to the power balance established at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. It also looks at the ways in which Balkan independence movements and external powers destabilized the Ottoman Empire.

  • Guiding questions:

    • What was the Eastern Question?
    • What was the significance of the Crimean war (1853- 1856)?
    • What were the results of the Treaty of Paris?
    • Why did the Balkans become a flashpoint for tension in the 1870s?
    • What was the significance of the Congress of Berlin?

  • External Influences

    • Industrialisation led to the growth of Western European powers, all who were anxious to maintain the balance of power in Europe, as established by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
    • The Ottoman empire fell into great amounts of economic debt to foreign powers such as Britain and France as they continued to take out loans while interest rates went up. The loans were taken to rebuild the military and industrialise. However, the increased amount of money due to the French and the British meant that Ottoman empire found itself beholden to French and British demands in the region.
    • Historians such as Huri İslamoğlu-İnan and Çağlar Keyder, focused on the “Dependency Theory” argued that the Ottoman empire was adapting to the external influences in order to integrate into the new European-centered economic system. The Ottoman Empire was undergoing its own capitalist transformation independent of European economic influences which in turn facilitated the empire's integration into the world economy

  • What was the Eastern Question?

    • The Eastern Question refers to the political and economic instability in the Ottoman Empire from the late 18th to early 20th centuries, and the impact that this had on the actions of the European great powers as they sought to keep stability in the region and ensure that their own interests were not challenged. Basically the question was - what would take the place of the Ottoman Empire if it disintegrated?
    • The Turks were struggling to hold onto their vast Empire in the early 19th Century. Despite the efforts to reform their military and government, the tumultuous reigns of the sultans during the 1800’s - Sultan Selim III, Mahmud II, and Abdulmejid, and eventually Abdul Hamid II - led to the weakening of control over their various territories.
    • By 1832 Greece had declared independence, and it became clear the European powers had their own interests in the area.
Perspectives of Great Powers
*   Russia:
    *   Russia was the most directly involved great power. Military success against Turkey in the late 18th Century had brought Russian gains around the Black Sea and in the northern Caucasus.
    *   Freedoms: freedom of navigation for Russian merchant shipping in the Black Sea; the right of passage for merchants through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, which give access from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean; and the right to protect the Orthodox Church in the Ottoman Empire.
    *   Russia remained worried about the vulnerability of Russian ports in the Black Sea.
    *   They could see that if other Balkan nations went the same way as Greece, the Ottoman Empire might be broken up into a number of independent nations - each free to form alliances with the Great Powers of Europe instead of with Russia. It was preferable to have a weak Ottoman Empire than to have a stronger state bordering on Russia.
*   Austria:
    *   Austria regarded the Ottoman Empire as a useful bulwark against Russian expansion and thus sought to preserve, not weaken it.
    *   It was also anxious about the nationalist movements in the Balkans as this could cause instability and calls for independence among its own Slav peoples.
    *   Austria-Hungary set its sights on also expanding South-East into the Balkans.
*   Britain:
    *   Britain's main fear was that Russia planned to dismantle the Ottoman Empire and control Constantinople which would increase Russian power in the area and possibly threaten Britain's position in India and trade investments in Turkey.
    *   Britain regarded the Mediterranean as one of its spheres of influence and in general sought stability in the area and the maintenance of the existing balance of power.
    *   Britain wished to maintain Turkey as a buffer state to avoid the further formation of potential Russian “satellite” states.
*   France:
    *   France also had a fleet in the Mediterranean and had ambitions of acquiring a north African Empire.
    *   Despite Napoleon's withdrawal from Egypt, French experts remained in Egypt and were recruited by Mahammud Ali to help him reform the country.
    *   France's commercial interests in this region often clashed with those of Britain.

Crimean War (1853-1856)

  • Causes of the Crimean War

    • During the 1840s, Britain and Russia, remained on reasonably friendly terms and the Eastern Question played only a minor role during this period.
    • The Eastern Question became a flashpoint again in 1853, soon after Napoleon III became Emperor of France.
    • In 1740 French Catholics had been granted the right to look after the holy places in Palestine. In the early 19th Century, however, Greek orthodox monks had taken over control of these places.
    • In the winter of 1853, Russia began to stir up trouble among the Balkan Christians demanding assurances from the Ottomans that Balkan Christians should be protected, not subdued. In July he backed up these demands by ordering Russian troops to occupy the Danubian Principalities.
    • On 30th November 1853, the Turkish fleet was destroyed off Sinop, on the southern coast of the Black Sea .
Positive Effects of the Crimean War on the Ottoman Empire
*   The Treaty of Paris (1856) established the following:
    *   An agreement was established between the Tsar and the Sultan who maintained that the Black Sea coastline would be demilitarized.
        *   This meant Russia could no longer challenge the OE with its navy.
        *   The Black Sea was reopened to international trade and commerce- VERY BIG DEAL.
    *   The inclusion of the Ottoman Empire into the Concert of Europe, which was essentially a representation of the balance of power on the continent, instigated back in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna.
        *   As part of this, the European powers promised to comply with its independence and not compromise any Ottoman territory.
*   Russia was forced to return the city of Kars and all other Ottoman territory which it had taken into its possession. The principalities of Wallachia and Moldovia were thus returned as Ottoman territory, later granted independence and eventually turned into modern-day Romania.
*   Russia was forced by the treaty to abandon its claim of a protectorate for Christians living in the Ottoman Empire, thus discarding the very premise which engaged Russia in war in the first place. In exchange, the alliance of powers agreed to restore the towns of Sevastpol, Balaklava, Kerch, Kinburn and many other areas back to Russia which had been occupied by the Allied troops during the war.
Negative Effects of the Crimean War on the Ottoman Empire
*   Turkish historian Candan Badem wrote, \"Victory in this war did not bring any significant material gain, not even a war indemnity. On the other hand, the Ottoman treasury was nearly bankrupted due to war expenses\".
*   The Ottomans achieved no significant territorial gains, lost the right to a navy in the Black Sea, and failed to gain status as a great power. Further, the war gave impetus to the union of the Danubian principalities and ultimately to their independence.
*   The Treaty's guarantees to preserve Ottoman territories were broken 21 years later when Russia, exploiting nationalist unrest in the Balkans and seeking to regain lost prestige, once again declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 24 April 1877.
*   The states of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro gained international recognition of their independence and Bulgaria achieved its autonomy from direct Ottoman rule. Russia took over Southern Bessarabia, lost in 1856. The regions of Batum and Kars, as well as those inhabited by Adjarians (Muslim Georgians) and Armenians, were also annexed to Russia in the Caucasus.
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