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The
first nineteenth-century crisis to bring about European intervention
was the Greek War of Independence (1821-32). The river Pruth was
agreed as the frontier between the two countries and Walachia and
Moldavia returned to Turkey. The Greeks of Morea now rose in rebellion.
It was put down but England, France and Russia formed an alliance.
They destroyed the Ottoman-Egyptian fleet at Nevarin and Russia
seized Walachia and Moldavia once more. The fortress of Calas, Ibrael,
Isakchi, Tolchi, Machin and Silistre were lost and Russian forces
advanced as far as Edirne and the eastern region of Anatolia. The
Peace of Edirne ended the war with large parts of Anatolia abandoned
to the Russians. In 1830 Turkey accepted the establishment of an
independent Greek Empire
Muhammad Ali, an Ottoman officer who had been
designated pasha of Egypt by the sultan in 1805, had given substantial
aid to the Ottoman cause in the Greek war. When he was not rewarded
as promised for his assistance, he invaded Syria in 1831 and pursued
the retreating Ottoman army deep into Anatolia. In desperation,
the Porte appealed to Russia for support. Britain then intervened,
constraining Muhammad Ali to withdraw from Anatolia to Syria. The
price the sultan paid Russia for its assistance was the Treaty of
Hünkar Iskelesi of 1833. Under this treaty, the Bosporus and
Dardanelles straits were to be closed on Russian demand to naval
vessels of other powers.
War
with Muhammad Ali resumed in 1839, and Ottoman forces were again
defeated. Russia waived its rights under the 1833 treaty and aligned
itself with British efforts to support the Ottoman Empire militarily
and diplomatically. Under the London Convention of 1840, Muhammad
Ali was forced to abandon his claim to Syria, but he was recognized
as hereditary ruler of Egypt under nominal Ottoman suzerainty. Under
an additional protocol, in 1841 the Porte undertook to close the
straits to warships of all powers
Most manifestations of decline were only continuations and elaborations
of earlier conditions. In the later Ottoman period, however, a new
factor of decline was added: the weakness of the central government
resulted in the loss of control of most of the provinces to the
local ruling notables, called ayan or derebeyis ("lords of
the valley") in Anatolia and klephts or hayduks in Europe,
who took more or less permanent control of large areas, creating
a situation that in many ways resembled European feudalism much
more than the traditional Ottoman timar system ever did.
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