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THE EASTERN QUESTION
QUESTIONAIRE 1
THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
1. What was nickname given to the Ottoman Empire by yhe middle of the 19th century?
The sick man of Europe.
2. Why did it receive this nickname?
Because its empire, in particular Turkey, seemed to be weakening and falling to pieces.
3. Why was it falling to pieces?
Because it was badly governed. It was full of cruelty, corruption and incompetence.
4. Name to other Great Powers who were geopgraphically very close to the Ottomoan
Empire and who had, in the past, tried to stop Turkey from taking over large areas of
Europe
Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
5. In simplistic terms, what was ‘The Eastern Question’, as far as the Great Powers were
concerned?
What was to be done with the Turkish (Ottoman) Empire
6. By 1803, there were many partos of the Turkish Empire which had gained uite a lot of
independence from Turkey. What was the name given to those regions and what was the
name given to the rulers of those regions?
i.
ii.
Pashaliks
Pashas
6. Name three things which characterised Turkish rule in the Empire
i.
ii.
iii.
corrupt judges and officials who were often bribed
incompetent administrators who had failed to develop a system of
government that worked effieciently
the barbaric cruelty with which the Turkish rulers suppressed all opposition
to the Sultan and his Empire.
7. What was the anme of the most powerful of the ‘pashas’?
Mehemet Ali (or Muhummad Ali)
8. Of what country in the Ottoman Empire was he the Pasha?
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Egypt
9. Ali was the pasha of a virtually independent country, but who, legally speaking, was
his master?
The Sultan.
10. He became pasha of this country in 1805, as a result of helping the Sultan fight which
famous historical person?
Napoleon.
11. What pat of the Turkish Empire did Russia claim the right to ‘protect’?
The Balkan Peninsula.
12. Name two other principalities in the Balkans in which Russia had an interest and
which in 1829 became self-governing?
Moldavia and Wallachia
13. What was the name of the treaty by which these two principalities became selfgoverning.
The Treaty of Adrianople.
14. Which country in the Southern Balkans began a bitter war of independence with their
Turkish rulers in 1821?
Greece.
15. What was the name and date of the famous naval battle in which this culminated?
The Battle of Navarino, 1827.
16. Name three things that followed this war?
i.
ii.
iii.
A war between Turkey and Russia in 1828
The treaty of Adrianople, 1829
The founding of the independent kingdom of Greece in 1832.
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Questionaire 2
THE INTERESTS OF THE GREAT POWERS IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
1. In addition to the islands of Crete and Cyprus, what other area did the Sultan
control most of?
The Middle East
2. Name two strategically and finaically important areas or routes that this put
him in control of
i.
ii.
The eastern Mediteranean
The overland route to India.
3. In what year did this area become important to the British and why?
In 1869, due to the Suez Canal.
4. As a consequence, what area did Britain regard as a ‘sphere of interest’
The Mediterranean.
5. What two things did Britain wish to maintain in that area?
i.
ii.
stability
balance of power
6. Why did Britain wish to help the Sultan keep his Empire together?
Its collapse might lead to the expansion of the Russian Empire which would clash with
Britain’s interests in that region.
7. Why was France interested in the Mediterranean?
Because they hoped to develop an Empire in North Africa.
8. What year did Napoleon conquer Egypt?
1798
9. What did Mehemt Ali use to help him reform Egypt?
French expertise
10. Which of its ports did Russia think were very vulnerable?
Those in the Black Sea.
11. Why?
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Shipping could only enter the Mediterranean through the easily guarded Bosphoros Channel
and the Dardanelles Straits. Both of these lay between the Asiatic sea and the European part
of Turkey. If this sea passage was closed then Russia’s Balck Sea warships would be blocked
in the Black Sea. It would also mean that her trade would be reduced.
12. In what ways did the Russian people have more in common with the people of
the Balkans than any other Great Power?
Because they shared a similar language (Salvonic) and the same religion –
Ortyhodox Christianity.
13. Despite understanding this, what was it that Russia was doing that made the
other European powers suspicious of Russia’s motives?
Because Russia was trying to expand its territories southwards towards India.
14. Who had the Russian helped in their war of Independence against Turkey?
Greece
15. Although by doing this Russia showed that she supported Balkan nationalism
(helping a Balkan country become a nation in and of itself, independent from
the Ottoman Empire), why, in 1829, did Russia change her mind about
supporting Balkan nationalism?
Because she thought that if they established their independence, the Ottoman Empire would
be broken up into a number of independent nations who would be free to form alliances with
other European powers., rather than with Russia. This might lead to a decrease of Russian
influence in the area.
16. So what became Russian policy towards Turkey in the 1830s?
Russia tried to increase its influence over Turkey and the Sultan.
17. Why, despite beiong of a different religion to the Turkish Sultan, did Austria
favour the Sultan and the Turkish government more than the Christian peoples
of the Balkans (even though Austria was also Christian)?
Because the Turkish Empire was like the Austrian Empire – it was a multi-national Empire.
AN Empire made from many different nations. In particular, Austria was worried about the
Serbs. If the Serbs in the Ottoman Empire established their independence, then the Serbs in
the Austria Empire would want to establish their Independence.
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QUESTIONAIRE 3
MEHEMET ALI
1. What was the name of the son Mehemt Ali sent to thelp the Turks
suppress the Greeks in 1822?
Ibrahim Pasha
2. What did Mehemt Ali want as part payment for this services.
He wanted Turkey to give him Syria.
3. When Turkey refused to give him Syria what did he do?
He sent his son and an army into Plaestine in 1832
4. At what battle did he overwhelm the Turkish army in Anatolia in
1832?
Battle of Konieh.
5. Why was this such an important event as far as all of the Great
Powers were concerned?
Because Mehemt Ali now poised a threat to the future of the whole Ottoman Empire.
6. Which great Power came to Turley’s help?
Russia
7. How did the British and French react to this action on the part of
Russia?
They were alarmed and so sent naval vessels to the area to persuade the Turks to make
concessions to Mehemet Ali by granting him Syria and Palestine in May 1833
8. Why did the Britsih and French see this as a diplomatic victory over
Russia?
It meant that the Russians no longer had an excuse for keeping soldiers on Turkish territory.
9. Russia tried to get back at the British and French by signing a treaty
of mutual alliance with Turkey. What was it called?
The treaty of Unkiar Skelessi.
10. What did both countries promise to do in signing this treaty?
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To help each other in the event of war. In addition, , Turkey agreed to close the Dardanelles to
all non-Russian warships if Russia asked them to do so.
11. What happened in 1839?
The turks invaded Syria but defeated by Ibrahim Pasha at the battle of Nezib.
12. What happened an week later?
the death of Sultan Mahmoud II died
13. By whom was he succeeded?
A 16 year old boy.
14. What happened then?
The new Sultan’s admiral surrendered the Turkish fleet to Mehemet Ali at Alexandria in
Egypt.
15. This alarmed the Great Powers. What did they do as a consequence of
this and in what year?
In 1840 they drew up the Convention of London. This allowed Mehemet Ali to retain
southern Syria during his own lifetime. It also allowed him to have the hereditary title of
Pasha of Egypt. But in return he had to return the northern part of Syria to Turkey.
16. Which Great Power was not in favour of this convention?
France.
17. Why did the British bombard Beirut and Acre?
September and November 1840
18. Why?
To force Ali to submit. He thought the French would help him.
19. What was signed in 1841?
The Straits Convention.
20. How did this strengthen the Ottoman Empire?
It guranteed the continued existence of the Ottoman Empire. It also closed the Dardanelles
and the Bosphorus to all warships.
21. Which treaty did this upset as a consequence?
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The Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi.
QUESTIONAIRE 4
THE CRIMEAN WAR
1. Why, during the 1840s, did the Czar’s advisers think the Ottoman Empire should be
broken up?
Because its weakness threatened the stability of the Balkans and the Middle East.
2. In 1844, the Car Nicholas I said to the British that, if the Ottoman Empire collapsed, it
should be shared between which two countries, to the exclusion of which country?
Britain and Russia, but not France
3. What exactly did the Czar propose to the British?
That the Balakns should be split into a series of independent nations states under Russian
protection, and that the British should take control of Egypt, in order to maintain the balance
of power.
4. What was the British response, and why?
They did nothing. Because it was not a matter of urgency for them.
5. In what year did ‘The Eastern Question’ raise its head once again?
1853
6. Why?
Because of the arrival of Napoleon III of France. He wanted an Empire to justify his title, so
he deliberately picked a quarrel with Czar Nicholas I.
7. How did Napoleon cause this quarrel? (explain the quarrel in your own words)
Napoleon wanted the Sultan to reassert the rights of Catholic monks under his protection.
Russia protected the Orthodox monks who looked after the Holy Places in Jerusalem. Since
the French revolution they had also begun looking after the Catholic places. Russia
pressurized the Sultan into refusing Napoleon’s request, and that he confirm Russia’s right to
protect all Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire.
8. To what was this tantamount?
It was tantamount to the Sultan admitting that Russia could interfere in Turkey’s internal
affairs.
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9. What was the reaction of the British Ambassador, Lord Stratfor de Redcliffe?
He said this to the Sultan and advised him to reject the Czars request.
10. What conclusion did the Sultan draw from this comment by the British ambassador?
The Sultan assumed that the British would help him if he turned down Russia’s request
and Russia got upset with Turkey.
11. What was Russia’s response to this?
They sent troops to Moldavia and Wallachia, claiming they were there to ‘protect’ them.
12. What was the British response to this?
They sent troops to the Dardanelles.
13. What was the name of the document drawn up by the Great Powers in order to resolve
this crisis diplomatically?
The Vienna Note.
14. What did it suggest?
That the Sultan confirm Russia’ ancient rights, but only once Russia had left Moldavia and
Wallachia.
15. What was the Turkish response to this?
The Sultan refused and then declared war on Russia thinking that he would have British and
French support.
16. What happened in November 1853?
The Russian navy annihilated the Turkish feet off Sinope on the Southern shores of the Black
Sea.
17. Who was the British Primeminister at the time?
Lord Aberdeen
18. What was the desire of the British press and public?
To declare war on the Russian tyrant, the Czar.
19. When did Britain declare war
March 1854
20. Where did British and French troops first land?
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Varna (now in Bulgaria)
21. What happened in August 1854?
The Russians, under pressure from Austria, withdrew their troops from Moldavia and
Wallachia.
22. What was the one part of the peace terms that the Russians were unwilling to accept,
and why?
That the Black Sea be a neutral zone, because it was such a strategically important sea for
Russia’s navay and merchant fleet.
23. Name three major battles of the Crimean War.
i.
ii.
iii.
Alama
Balclava
Inkerman
24. Name three things which made the war more difficult for the Allies?
The arrival of winter, the lack fo supplies and the spread of cholera.
25. The Allies eventually won Sevastapol, but at a great loss. How did the English
politican John Bright see it?
As a crime.
26. What was the name of the Congress held to disucss peace terms and when was it held?
The Congress of Paris, 1856.
27. What were the main conclusions of this treaty?
That Russia would give up its ‘protectorates’ of Moldavia and Wallachia.
Russia would abandon her claim to protect the Sultan’s Christian subjects.
The Black Sea would become a neutral area
Turkey’s independence would be guaranteed.
The Sultan would begin to treat toe Christians in his Empire like he treated the Moslems.
Freedom of navigation on the Danube was agreed, and Russia given part of Bessarabia on
the mouth of the Danube.
28. Many of these agreements were soon broken, what can be said to have been the result
of the Crimean war?
The deaths in the British army showed that it needed reforming.
Florence Nightingale’s exploits in the hospital at Scuttari led to the development of
properly trained nurses.
Napoleon III of France gained some prestige
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Cavour and Piedmont-Sardinia also got some credit because their troops fought well.
Austria lost prestige because she remained neutral as did Russia.
29. What happened to the countries which made up the Balkans after the war?
The great powers wanted Moldavia and Wallachia to become separate self-governing
states within the Ottoman Empire. But the Roumans, the people who lived there, chose the
same Prince, Alexander Cuza. They eventually agreed to unite into Roumania, be a part of
the Turkish Empire, but ruled by Prince Carol I. Serbia became almost independent after
1867.Greece outsted King Otto and replaced him with a Danish King, who reigned as
George ! from 1863 to 1913. Other Balkan countries later sought their own independence
from the 1870s onwards.
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