Major European Events from 1849 to 1878

Lessons

Senior 6 · History

Major European Events from 1849 to 1878

5 lessons

Lesson 5 of 5

The Crimean War, the Treaty of Paris and the Congress of Berlin

25 min

The source: "a sick man on our hands"

In January 1853 Tsar Nicholas I of Russia spoke privately to the British ambassador in St Petersburg, Sir Hamilton Seymour. The ambassador reported the conversation to London, and the words became famous when the British government published the correspondence in 1854. A French historian later retold the scene:

"It is essential that our two governments should be on better terms. When we are on good terms I have no anxiety about the West of Europe; what others think is really of small importance. … You see, we have a sick man on our hands, a very sick man; it would be a great misfortune if he should slip out of them some day before all necessary arrangements are made."

Nicholas I to Sir Hamilton Seymour, 9 January 1853, as quoted in Imbert de Saint-Amand, Napoleon III and His Court, translated by Elizabeth Gilbert Martin (London, 1898), page 88.

The "sick man" is the Ottoman Empire. The Tsar is proposing that Russia and Britain agree in advance how to share out its lands when it collapses. Britain refused: it wanted the empire to survive as a barrier against Russia. Within fifteen months the two countries were at war. Notice the chain of transmission: the Tsar spoke in French, the ambassador reported in English, and this version reaches us through a later French book in translation. The idea is certain; the exact words are not.

Definition

Concert of Europe: the practice, after 1815, of the great powers meeting in congresses to settle crises together and keep a balance of power.

Balance of power: an arrangement in which no single state is strong enough to dominate the others.

Neutralisation: a treaty rule forbidding military use of an area. The Treaty of Paris neutralised the Black Sea.

Autonomy: self-government within a larger state, short of full independence.

The Crimean War, 1853 to 1856

Causes

Russia's ambition to control the Straits and dominate the Balkans
The quarrel over the Holy Places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem between Catholic monks backed by France and Orthodox monks backed by Russia
The Tsar's demand (1853) to protect all the Sultan's Orthodox subjects, and Russia's occupation of the Danubian principalities
Britain's fear for its routes to India; Napoleon III's search for prestige
The Russian destruction of an Ottoman squadron at Sinope (30 November 1853), which inflamed British opinion

Course

October 1853: the Ottomans declare war on Russia
March 1854: Britain and France join the Ottomans; Piedmont joins in 1855
September 1854: allied landing in the Crimea; battles of the Alma, Balaclava and Inkerman
A year-long siege of the naval base of Sevastopol, which fell in September 1855
Far more soldiers died of disease than in battle; Florence Nightingale and the Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole cared for the sick and wounded

Results

Russia defeated; Treaty of Paris (30 March 1856)
Austria lost Russia's friendship by refusing to help it
Russia turned to reform at home, freeing its serfs in 1861
First war reported by telegraph, newspaper correspondents and photographers
Nursing reformed and military medicine improved

Important

Source analysis: the Treaty of Paris, 30 March 1856. Two articles, in the English text published by the British Foreign Office librarian Edward Hertslet in The Map of Europe by Treaty (volume 2, 1875):

Article XI. "The Black Sea is Neutralised; its Waters and its Ports, thrown open to the Mercantile Marine of every Nation, are formally and in perpetuity interdicted to the Flag of War, either of the Powers possessing its Coasts, or of any other Power…"

Article IX (on the Sultan's decree promising better treatment of his Christian subjects). "It is clearly understood that it cannot, in any case, give to the said Powers the right to interfere, either collectively or separately, in the relations of His Majesty the Sultan with his subjects, nor in the Internal Administration of his Empire."

Article XI struck at Russia's power: it could keep no warships on its own southern coast. Article IX struck at Russia's excuse for war: no power, Russia included, could claim a right to protect the Sultan's subjects. Other terms opened the Danube to all shipping, took southern Bessarabia from Russia, and admitted the Ottoman Empire to the Concert of Europe. "In perpetuity" lasted fourteen years: in October 1870, while France was at war with Prussia, Russia declared that it no longer accepted the Black Sea clauses, and the powers accepted this in 1871.

The impact of the Treaty of Paris on Europe

Russia was humiliated and became a "revisionist" power, determined to overturn the treaty; it would not help Austria again.
Austria ended the war isolated, with no friend among the great powers, which left it exposed to France and Piedmont in 1859 and to Prussia in 1866. The treaty thus helped Italian and German unification.
France and Napoleon III reached the height of their prestige; Paris hosted the peace congress.
Piedmont sat at the congress, and Cavour raised the Italian question before Europe.
The Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia came under the guarantee of all the powers; in 1859 both elected the same prince, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the first step towards a united Romania.
The Concert of Europe was weakened: the powers would no longer act together to defend the 1815 settlement, which opened the way to the wars of 1859 to 1871.

The Congress of Berlin, 1878

Why it was called. In 1875 Christians in Bosnia and Herzegovina rose against Ottoman rule, and in 1876 the Bulgarians rose too; the uprising was crushed with great loss of life, which turned European opinion against the Sultan. Serbia and Montenegro went to war with the Ottomans, and in 1877 Russia invaded. After a long siege at Plevna, Russian armies reached the outskirts of Constantinople, and on 3 March 1878 Russia imposed the Treaty of San Stefano. It created a large Bulgaria stretching to the Aegean Sea, which everyone expected to be a Russian satellite. Britain sent its fleet to Constantinople and Austria-Hungary prepared for war. To avoid a general war, the powers met in Berlin from 13 June to 13 July 1878, with Bismarck presiding as what he called an "honest broker".

Issue	Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878)	Treaty of Berlin (July 1878)
Bulgaria	One large autonomous Bulgaria reaching the Aegean	Split in three: an autonomous principality of Bulgaria in the north; Eastern Rumelia, autonomous under the Sultan; Macedonia returned to Ottoman rule
Serbia, Montenegro, Romania	Independent, with gains	Independent, with smaller gains; Romania received northern Dobruja but gave southern Bessarabia to Russia
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Autonomy under the Sultan	Occupied and administered by Austria-Hungary
Russia	Large gains in Europe and Asia	Kept Kars, Ardahan and Batum in Asia and southern Bessarabia; lost the big Bulgaria
Britain	No gain	Took Cyprus to administer, by a separate convention with the Sultan

The impact of the Congress of Berlin

The Ottoman Empire lost most of its European lands and was saved from collapse only by the great powers' rivalry.
Russia felt cheated of its victory and blamed Bismarck. In 1879 Germany made the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary, a first step towards the alliance systems of 1914.
Balkan nationalism was left unsatisfied: Bulgarians wanted the lost lands (Bulgaria united with Eastern Rumelia in 1885), and Serbs resented Austrian rule in Bosnia, which Austria-Hungary annexed outright in 1908.
Austria-Hungary became a Balkan power, setting it on a collision course with Serbia and Russia; the assassination at Sarajevo, in Bosnia, in 1914 grew out of this rivalry.
The Concert of Europe worked one last time: a general war was avoided in 1878, but the settlement was made over the heads of the Balkan peoples.

Warning

Two meetings in Berlin, six years apart. The Congress of Berlin (1878) settled the Eastern Question. The Berlin Conference (1884 to 1885), also hosted by Bismarck, set rules for the European partition of Africa. Do not confuse them, even though the same diplomatic habit, great powers redrawing other peoples' borders without them, runs through both.

Tip

Link the events in a chain. A strong essay on 1849 to 1878 shows connection: the Crimean War isolated Austria, which helped Italian and German unification; the Franco-Prussian War let Russia tear up the Black Sea clauses; Russia's revival led to San Stefano; and Berlin's settlement set up the rivalries of 1914. Examiners reward causal links across the unit, not separate stories.

Important

Discuss. At Berlin in 1878 the great powers decided the borders of Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia, and the Balkan peoples had little say. Six years later, in the same city, Europe's powers set the rules for dividing Africa. What does this pattern tell you about how nineteenth-century diplomacy treated smaller nations, and is it still visible in international politics today?

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Practice

Explain what Nicholas I meant by "a sick man on our hands", and why Britain rejected his approach.
Give four causes of the Crimean War.
From the Treaty of Paris, explain how Articles IX and XI each weakened Russia.
Explain how the Crimean War helped the unification of Italy and Germany.
Why was the Treaty of San Stefano revised at Berlin? Give three differences between the two treaties.
"The Congress of Berlin preserved peace in 1878 but prepared the way for war in 1914." Assess this view.

Show answersHide answers

The "sick man" was the Ottoman Empire, which Nicholas thought was close to collapse; he wanted Russia and Britain to agree in advance how to share its lands. Britain refused because it wanted the empire to survive as a barrier protecting the Mediterranean and the routes to India from Russian expansion.
Any four: Russian ambitions in the Balkans and at the Straits; the dispute over the Holy Places between France and Russia; the Tsar's demand to protect the Sultan's Orthodox subjects and his occupation of the Danubian principalities; British fears for the route to India; Napoleon III's search for prestige; the battle of Sinope inflaming British opinion.
Article XI neutralised the Black Sea, so Russia could keep no warships or naval arsenals on its own southern coast. Article IX denied any power the right to interfere between the Sultan and his subjects, removing Russia's claim to protect the Orthodox Christians, which had been its excuse for war.
Austria refused to help Russia, so it lost Russia's friendship and was isolated; Russia did not help Austria against France and Piedmont in 1859 or against Prussia in 1866. Piedmont's part in the war let Cavour raise the Italian question at the peace congress, and the breakdown of the Concert of Europe made the wars of 1859 to 1871 possible.
San Stefano's large Bulgaria looked like a Russian satellite reaching the Aegean, which Britain and Austria-Hungary would not accept, and they threatened war. Differences, any three: Bulgaria was split into three parts; Macedonia returned to the Sultan; Bosnia and Herzegovina went under Austro-Hungarian occupation instead of autonomy; Britain gained Cyprus; Russia's gains in Europe were reduced.
For "preserved peace": the congress settled a crisis that threatened a war between Russia, Britain and Austria-Hungary, and no great-power war followed for decades. For "prepared the way": Russia's resentment led to the Dual Alliance (1879) and the alliance systems; Austrian rule in Bosnia angered Serbia and led to the annexation crisis of 1908 and to Sarajevo in 1914; unsatisfied Balkan nationalisms caused the Balkan Wars. Judgement: Berlin bought peace in the short term, but by ignoring the Balkan peoples it left problems that later exploded; it was one cause among many of 1914, not the only one.

1The source: "a sick man on our hands"

2The Crimean War, 1853 to 1856