The Eastern Question

The Eastern Question. The Eastern Question (1774-1923) was the century-long diplomatic problem of what should happen as the Ottoman Empire declined: which powers would gain its lands, at what risk of a general European war. It opened with Russia's victory and the Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca (1774), which gave Russia a protectorate over Ottoman Orthodox Christians - a standing pretext for intervention - and it closed only with the Ottoman Empire's abolition after the First World War.

The 19th century turned on the question repeatedly. Greek independence (1821-1832) created the first nation carved from the empire, backed by Britain, France and Russia. Muhammad Ali of Egypt's invasions (1831-1833, 1839-1841) nearly destroyed the empire from within, saved both times by the European powers. The Crimean War (1853-1856) - Britain and France fighting Russia, ostensibly over the Holy Places - propped the empire up; the Congress of Berlin (1878), after the great Eastern Crisis and Russo-Turkish War, dismembered much of its Balkan territory while Bosnia went to Austria, Cyprus to Britain, and Tunisia (1881) and Egypt (1882) to France and Britain.

For the powers, the question was strategic: Britain guarded the route to India, Russia sought the Straits and Constantinople, Austria feared Slav nationalism, and Germany - building the Berlin-Baghdad railway - replaced them as the empire's patron after 1890. For the Balkan peoples it was the road to nationhood; for the Ottomans, a desperate century of reform (Tanzimat), loans, and maneuver between the vultures.

The question answered itself in catastrophe: the Balkan Wars (1912-1913), the First World War - the Ottoman decision for Germany - and the empire's partition. The Treaty of Lausanne (1923) settled its last terms: the Turkish Republic, the Straits regime, and the mandates. Its afterlife is with us still, in the borders and conflicts of the Balkans and the Middle East.

To read more about this topic:

Britannica: Eastern Question World History Encyclopedia: Ottoman Empire Humanities LibreTexts: Decline of the Land-Based Empires