Lesson 1 - To bring down, weaken or preserve the Ottoman Empire

Question 1

Did the Great powers generally want to preserve the Ottoman Empire?

Answer 1

Yes, to keep the balance of Power following the Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the congress of Berlin in 1878.

Question 2

And yet, at same time, all Great Powers took, collectively or individually, actions that undermined the status quo agreed at Vienna and Berlin: Name some of these actions

Answer 2

1) A series of Russo-Turkish Wars (1768-74, 1787-92, 1806-12, 1828-29, 1853-56, 1878), which allowed Russia to progress in the Balkans and Caucasus, and facilitated the emergence in Balkans of new autonomous Ottoman provinces, which later became
independent states;

2) The intervention of Britain, France and Russia, whose warships destroyed the Ottoman fleet at Navarino in 1827, and therefore, helped to seal Greek independence;

3) The conquest of Algeria by France from 1830, and, later, French protectorate over Tunisia (1881);

4) The occupation of Cyprus in 1878 and Egypt in 1882 by Britain;

5) The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in 1908;

6) conquest of Tripolitania and of Dodecanese islands by Italy during Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912;

7) The backing given by Great Powers to national movements and new states in Balkans.

The powers also tried to modernise /bring about reforms in the Ottoman empire which actually weakened it.