The Eastern Question: Ottoman Decline, the Greek War and the Syrian Question

25 min

The source: a poet's dream of freedom

In 1821 the Greeks rose against Ottoman rule. They were joined by hundreds of European volunteers, the most famous of them the English poet Lord Byron, who died of fever at Missolonghi in 1824 while serving the Greek cause. A few years earlier he had written these lines in his long poem Don Juan (canto III):

The mountains look on Marathon—
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dream'd that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians' grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.

Marathon was the battle of 490 BCE in which ancient Athens defeated a Persian invasion. Byron's poem imagines modern Greeks as the heirs of ancient Athens, and their Ottoman rulers as the new Persians. This way of seeing Greece, called philhellenism, spread through the educated classes of Britain, France, Germany and Russia, and it helps explain why European governments, which usually opposed revolutions, finally intervened on the Greek side.

Definition

Eastern Question: the diplomatic problem, from the late eighteenth century to 1923, of what would happen as the Ottoman Empire weakened: who would control its lands, its peoples and the Straits between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

The Straits: the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, the narrow waterways at Constantinople (Istanbul) linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

Philhellenism: love and admiration for Greek culture; in the 1820s, European sympathy and support for the Greek revolt.

Pasha: a high Ottoman title for a governor or general. Tanzimat ("reorganisation"): the Ottoman reforms begun in 1839.

Why the Ottoman Empire was declining

Internal weaknesses	External pressures
Military decline. The Janissaries, once elite troops, resisted modern methods until Sultan Mahmud II destroyed them in 1826.	Russia pushed south towards the Black Sea and the Straits, and claimed to protect the Sultan's Orthodox Christian subjects.
Weak central control. Powerful governors such as Mehmet Ali of Egypt ruled almost independently.	Britain wanted the empire kept alive as a barrier protecting its routes to India, but also wanted influence in it.
Economic backwardness. Little industry; privileges for foreign merchants (the capitulations) drained revenue.	Austria feared Russian gains in the Balkans; France claimed to protect Catholics in the Holy Land and had interests in Egypt and Syria.
Nationalism of subject peoples. Serbs (from 1804), Greeks (1821) and later Romanians and Bulgarians sought self-rule.	Repeated defeats in wars with Russia cost territory around the Black Sea.

The Greek War of Independence, 1821 to 1830

Read the diagram from left to right. The key turning point was international. When the Sultan called in the modern army and fleet of his governor in Egypt, Mehmet Ali, and his son Ibrahim Pasha reconquered much of Greece (Missolonghi fell in 1826), Britain, France and Russia agreed in the Treaty of London (6 July 1827) to impose a settlement. On 20 October 1827 their combined fleet destroyed the Ottoman and Egyptian fleet in the bay of Navarino. A Russian victory in the war of 1828 to 1829 finished the Sultan's resistance, and in 1830 the powers declared Greece an independent kingdom; a Bavarian prince, Otto, became its first king in 1832.

The Syrian Question, 1831 to 1841

Mehmet Ali expected Syria as his reward for helping the Sultan in Greece. When he did not receive it, he took it by force, and the great powers were drawn in again.

Date	Event	Significance
1831 to 1833	Ibrahim Pasha conquers Syria and defeats the Ottoman army at Konya (1832), threatening Constantinople.	The Sultan, abandoned by Britain and France, turns to Russia.
1833	Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi between Russia and the Ottomans: an alliance, with a secret article closing the Dardanelles to foreign warships when Russia asked.	Russia seems to control the Ottoman Empire; Britain and France are alarmed.
1839	The Sultan attacks again and is defeated at Nezib; the Ottoman fleet goes over to Mehmet Ali.	The empire seems about to collapse.
1840	Convention of London: Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia act together; British and Austrian ships bombard Beirut and take Acre. France, which backed Mehmet Ali, is left isolated.	Mehmet Ali gives up Syria but gains hereditary rule of Egypt.
1841	Straits Convention: the Straits closed to all foreign warships in peacetime.	Replaces Russia's special position with an agreement of all the powers.

Important

An African case study: Mehmet Ali's Egypt. Egypt, an African province of the Ottoman Empire, was the most dynamic actor in these crises. Mehmet Ali built factories, schools and a conscript army trained on European lines. To fill that army he sent an expedition into Sudan in 1820, partly to capture men, which linked his modernisation to the slave trades you studied in the last unit. His power shows that the "decline" of the Ottoman Empire was also the rise of ambitious provinces, and that the great powers would rather keep a weak Sultan than face a strong Egypt.

Warning

Keep the two crises apart. The Greek War (1821 to 1830) is a national revolt that ended in independence. The Syrian Question (1831 to 1841) is a rebellion of a governor against his Sultan that ended with the great powers restoring the Sultan's authority. In both, the outcome was decided by the great powers, not by the Ottomans.

Tip

Every Eastern Question answer has four players. For any crisis from 1821 to 1878, ask what Russia, Britain, France and Austria each wanted: Russia the Straits and influence over Orthodox Christians; Britain the route to India and a living Ottoman barrier; France prestige and influence in Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land; Austria stability in the Balkans. Most outcomes follow from their rivalry.

Important

Discuss. Byron's poem pictures modern Greeks as the heirs of ancient Athens. Why might this picture have won more European support for the Greeks than for other peoples rising against empires at the time? What does that tell you about how outsiders choose which freedom struggles to back?

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Practice

Define the Eastern Question and name the waterways known as the Straits.
Give two internal and two external reasons for the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century.
Explain two causes of the Greek War of Independence.
Explain why the battle of Navarino was a turning point.
Why did Mehmet Ali go to war with the Sultan in 1831, and how did the crisis end in 1841?
"The Greeks won their independence because of foreign intervention, not their own efforts." Assess this view.

Show answersHide answers

The Eastern Question was the problem of what would happen as the Ottoman Empire weakened: who would control its lands, peoples and the Straits. The Straits are the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.
Internal, any two: military decline and resistance of the Janissaries to reform; weak central control over governors such as Mehmet Ali; economic backwardness and the capitulations; nationalism of subject peoples. External, any two: Russian expansion towards the Black Sea and the Straits; British, French and Austrian rivalry and interference; repeated defeats by Russia.
Any two explained: Greek nationalism spread by the Filiki Eteria and by schools and merchants; Ottoman misrule and heavy taxation; the Orthodox Church's role in keeping Greek identity; the example of other revolutions; European philhellenism promising support.
By 1827 Ibrahim Pasha's Egyptian army had nearly crushed the revolt. At Navarino, the British, French and Russian fleet destroyed the Ottoman and Egyptian fleet, so Ibrahim could no longer be supplied by sea. It committed the great powers to the Greek side and opened the way to Russia's war of 1828 to 1829 and to independence in 1830.
He had helped the Sultan in Greece and expected Syria as a reward, which he did not receive, so he took it by force. After his second victory (Nezib, 1839), Britain organised the Convention of London (1840) with Austria, Prussia and Russia; their fleets took Beirut and Acre, and Mehmet Ali gave up Syria in return for hereditary rule of Egypt. The Straits Convention of 1841 closed the Straits to all foreign warships in peacetime.
For: by 1827 the revolt was close to defeat; Navarino, the Russian war of 1828 to 1829 and the London Protocol of 1830 decided the outcome, and the powers even chose the king. Against: the Greeks fought for six years before intervention, keeping the revolt alive; their resistance at places such as Missolonghi created the European sympathy that made intervention possible. Judgement: Greek efforts were necessary to keep the cause alive, but foreign intervention was decisive in winning independence.

Sources and credits

Lines from Lord Byron, Don Juan, canto III, from the Project Gutenberg edition. Public domain.
Pictures, public domain via Wikimedia Commons: The naval battle of Navarino, Ambroise-Louis Garneray (about 1830); Muhammad Ali, Auguste Couder (1841).

Written by Ganzaa: the analysis, the diagram, the tables, the definitions and the exercises.

1The source: a poet's dream of freedom

2Why the Ottoman Empire was declining

3The Greek War of Independence, 1821 to 1830

4The Syrian Question, 1831 to 1841

The source: a poet's dream of freedom

Why the Ottoman Empire was declining

The Greek War of Independence, 1821 to 1830

The Syrian Question, 1831 to 1841