Treaty of Sèvres (1920); World War, 1914-1918 -- Territorial questions -- Turkey; World War, 1914-1918 -- Turkey
But henceforth the decline of the Empire was rapid, and its territories
were dislocated and dismembered. The regencies of Algiers, Tunis, and
Tripoli became practically independent. By the fall of Carlovitz, which
put an end to the 1682-1699 war, the Turks lost nearly the whole of
Hungary. By the treaty of Passarovitz, they lost Temesvar and a part
of Serbia, which was restored to them by the peace of Belgrade in
1740. The Russians, with whom they had been fighting since 1672, and
who began to get the upper hand during the 1770-74 war, took from them
Bukovina and Lesser Tartary, the independence of which was recognised
by the treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji. After a new war from 1809 to 1812,
the treaty of Bukharest gave to Russia the provinces lying between
the Dnieper and the Danube. In 1809 Turkey lost the Ionian Islands,
which became independent under an English protectorate. The victory
of Navarino made Greece free in 1827. The Turks were obliged to cede
Turkish Armenia to Russia in 1829, and, after a new war with Russia,
Wallachia, Moldavia, and Serbia were put under Russian protection by
the treaty of Adrianople. France conquered Algeria in 1831. In 1833
the pasha of Egypt, Mehemet Ali, rebelled, captured Syria, defeated
the Turks at Konia, and threatened Constantinople. Turkey, lying at
the mercy of Russia, opened the Bosphorus to her ships and closed the
Dardanelles to the other Powers by the treaty of Hunkiar-Iskelessi in
1833.
Yet a reaction took place, and it seemed that Mehemet Ali, who helped
the Sultan to subdue the insurgent Greeks, was likely to stop the
downfall of Turkey. But his fleet was annihilated at Navarino, October
20, 1827, by the combined fleets of England, France, and Russia. He
received Candia from the Sultan as a reward for his co-operation, but,
not having been able to obtain Syria, he broke off with the Sublime
Porte. An intervention of the European Powers put an end to his
triumph. Turkey recovered the territories she had lost, and, in return
for this restitution and for giving back the Turkish fleet, he obtained
the hereditary government of Egypt under the suzerainty of the Porte.
Turkey then attempted to revive and to strengthen her condition by
organisation on European lines.
As early as 1830 a liberal movement had made itself felt in Turkey as
in many other States. The Ottoman Government realised, too, that it was
necessary to get rid of the Russian influence imposed upon her by the
treaty of Hunkiar-Iskelessi, and so was compelled to institute reforms.
As early as 1861 Midhat Pasha, first as vali of the Danubian
province, then as vali of Baghdad in 1869, and later on in Arabia,
showed much enterprise and evinced great qualities of organisation and
administration. When recalled to Constantinople, he became the leader
of the Young Turk party.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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