Where East Meets West: Europe and the Ottomans

In the 19^th Century, the Ottoman Empire was dying. Plagued by wars, civil unrest and revolts, and outside meddling, the Ottomans turned to Europe for help. However, the driving force behind a nation's foreign policies at the time were – and still are – the aims of the nation, not whichever country they are supposedly assisting. This is perfectly personified in the Russian Empire's diplomatic reaching out to the failing Ottoman Empire.

Russia, who themselves had begun to emulate western European nations, reached out to the Ottomans, but not in the way one would think. In spite of the Islamic Turks being just as distrusted as the European Catholics, the Russo-Turkish War gave the Russians a considerable hold on the Black Sea, and thus, a border with the Ottomans. ("Russian-Ottoman Relations: The Origins 1600-1800", n.d.) These were later lost in one of the Crimean Wars, where the British and French staved off Russian expansion – fearful Russia would also become a major power in the Near East and breaking the monopoly both England and France shared – and gave the Ottomans a respite. Unfortunately, the Ottoman sultan at the time of World War I sided with the Germans, effectively driving the British and French into Russia's arms, with defensive agreements forming as early as 1904 and again in 1907. (Agoston, n.d.) The sultan also was forced to forfeit Tunisia to the French, along with Cyprus becoming a British holding. This, coupled with further revolts and unrest in Egypt, continued to weaken the already frail Ottoman Empire. (Weatherby, 2012) This whole time, the czars have been slowly modernizing Russia, with selective reforms turning it into a European nation with the potential to become a major player on the political map.

All these factors fed the fire that became the Russian nobility's goals: modernization, and conquest. And who better to expand upon than the ever-weakening neighbor to the south, the Ottomans? Who's very capital, Istanbul, was coveted by the czars, and claimed to be their own through the Russian Orthodox Church? Czar Alexander even planned to move the capital of Russia to Istanbul after he captured it, renaming it Czargrad and reviving the old Roman Empire. (Weatherby, 2012) But the Ottomans were not out of the fight, and a nearly constant territorial war ensued, with Russia merely copying the tactics and technology of western nations, which they had easier access to than the Turks. However, in spite of being superior to the decaying Ottoman Empire, Russia was still competing with their former WWI allies to fill the ever-growing power void being left by the diminishing Turks. Nonetheless, the czars had a considerable advantage, as they were able to devote more men and resources to the Ottomans, since there were no other nations who had plans for Russia – with the exception of Napoleon, or the Poles during the Time of Troubles under Ivan the Terrible. It was Napoleon's advance that caused a cease-fire between the Russians and Turks, with the two factions even going so far as to create a temporary alliance.

But the uneasy peace was not meant to last. Overall, the Russians were more prepared to handle the drastic changes coming in the 20^th Century, and while wresting Turkish land was never easy, the fading Ottomans were discounted by the Russians, never being considered a serious adversary. Unlike Western Europe, the Turks quite simply didn't have the resources to launch a successful offensive on the Russians, so the czars held – rightly so – that they could just pick apart the Ottoman Empire at their leisure. And if their carnivorous approach to the Ottomans was not interrupted by the Bolshevik Revolution, Russia's appetite for expansion may have never been sated.

References

Agoston, G. (n.d.). Military Transformation in the Ottoman Empire and Russia, 1500-1800. Academia.edu - Share research. Retrieved February 3, 2013, from http://www.academia.edu/596738/_Military_Transformation_in_the_Ottoman_Empire_and_Russia_1500-1800

Russian-Ottoman Relations: The Origins 1600-1800. (n.d.). digento - Fachhandel fuer digitale Medien - Homepage. Retrieved February 4, 2013, from http://www.digento.de/titel/104485.html

Weatherby III, E. (2012, February 27). The Fall of the Ottomans. Pipe N' Slippers. Retrieved February 3, 2013, from http://pipenslippers.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/the-fall-of-the-ottomans/