Contents
Introduction
Wallachian Revolution of 1848
Herzegovina Uprising (1852-1862) and War With Montenegro (1852-1853, 1858-1859, 1862)
Cretan Uprising (1866)
The Herzegovinian Uprising (1875)
Bulgarian Uprising and Batak Massacre (1876)
Wars Outside Ottoman Borders
Concluding Remarks
Other News
Bitesize Edition
Last week, we discussed the first half of the period of rising Balkan nationalism in the 19th century. The Serbians partook in two uprisings, the Wallachians uprose in 1821, and the Greeks fought a war of independence. The Albanians and Bosnians also had their own conflicts over the rise of nationalism and their wishes for greater autonomy away from the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
In covering the second half of the 19th century, the Wallachians revolted again in 1848, and the Herzegovinians took centre stage this week with multiple uprisings.
The event of the Batak Massacre was a heinous act by the declining Ottomans, who were desperate to cling to what little power they had left. This was the event, in my eyes, that led to many of the world’s powers at this time realising that the Ottoman Empire needed reform. We’ll discuss this up to this point in this week’s post. Find out more below!
Introduction
This concludes the rise of Balkan nationalism, since after these uprisings discussed today, we saw the Balkan Wars unfold. These acted as a precursor to World War One, so seeing how tensions rose within the Ottoman-controlled Balkans provides the background that was painted in the decades before the Great War.
Wallachian Revolution of 1848
After the Wallachian Uprising of 1821 and gaining semi-independence after the Greek War of Independence, the Wallachians weren’t finished yet. This revolt was closely connected to the unsuccessful Moldavian Revolt also of 1848. Interestingly, this was a revolt led by the youth against the current administration imposed by the Russians. In a rare occurrence, both the Ottomans and Russians intervened to limit the revolution. This revolution is marked by some as the start of the ideal of Romanian national unity. This eventually came after a conflict we’ll also discuss later in today’s piece.
Herzegovina Uprising (1852-1862) and War With Montenegro (1852-1853, 1858-1859, 1862)
The Herzegovina Uprising occurred in the Herzegovina Eyelet, which formed in 1833, after the Bosnian Uprisings. The leader, Ali-Pasa Rizvanbegovic was executed by the Ottomans and the eyelet was merged once again with the Bosnia Eyelet. In 1852, the Ottomans sought disarmament of the Herzegovinians. This resulted in conflicts when the Herzegovinians didn’t want to submit their arms. The leader of the uprising was named Luka Vukalovic, thus giving the Herzegovina Uprisings an alternative name: The Vukalovic’s Uprising.
The Herzegovinians also helped fight against the Ottomans in their war with Montenegro, occurring at the same time. Between 1853 and the end of 1857, there didn’t exist a formal peace, but engagements between the two sides were minimal. Tensions were reignited and the Bosnians and Montenegrins defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Grahovac in May 1858. Some autonomy at this point was granted to Vukalovic, but parts of East Herzegovina remained under Ottoman rule. Hence revolts continued. However, to the north, the Austrians were wary of this spilling over into their own spheres of influence. They started to limit Vukalovic’s moves and even aided the Ottomans.
Earlier in this conflict, the Montenegrins had gained a border and thus independence had been recognised. The Herzegovinians under Vukalovic wanted to join Montenegro. This led to further moves by the European powers against Herzegovina. The tide really turned when the Montenegrins were defeated by the Turks in 1862 and stopped their support of Vukalovic’s rebellion. Vukalovic very quickly understood this marked the beginning of the end. He wrote to the Ottomans and the rebels were promised amnesty. He eventually left his birthplace, heading to Russia, where he died in 1873.
Cretan Uprising (1866)
After the Greek War of Independence, the Cretans sought their own independent state. Crete was an Egyptian province as of 1828 but had returned to Ottoman control in 1841. 1858’s uprising saw Crete gain the right to bear arms and the equality of Christian and Muslim worship. The next stage of the process of the Cretans came in the 1866 uprising.
This conflict was an unsuccessful uprising, but it garnered great support from the Greeks and other powers in Europe. However, the Ottomans saw losing Crete as a precursor to further potential losses of territory within the Balkans. So much so that Ottoman Grand Vizier, Ali Pasha, spent four months on the island in 1867, rebuilding fortresses that saw the Ottomans continue to rule over the island until the crisis of 1896-1898.
The Herzegovinian Uprising (1875)
This uprising was like many others before it, a rebellion against Ottoman policies aiming to centralize the territory under its control. However, with the Ottomans weakening, many of these nationalist movements were powerful challenges to the Ottomans. The rebels in Herzegovina were aided first by weapons from Serbia and Montenegro until both governments declared war on the Ottomans in 1876. This contributed to the Serbian-Ottoman War and Montegrin-Ottoman Wars, both of 1876-1878, both of which are discussed below.
Bulgarian Uprising and Batak Massacre (1876)
At the same time as the 1875 Herzegovina Uprising, the Bulgarians were also plotting their own uprising. Unfortunately, this led to the event known as the Crime of the Century. The uprising was suppressed through the Batak Massacre, which saw thousands of civilians murdered in the town of Batak by Ottoman troops in May 1876, after they had surrendered and dropped their weapons. This crime saw the Ottoman's model of leadership throughout the Balkans brought into question by the powers in Europe. The model needed reform in their eyes. It was this issue that led the Ottomans to decline even quicker than they had been. They were desperate and resorting to heinous attacks on civilians. As this gained the attention of the rest of Europe, other wars outside the Ottoman territory were on the horizon.
Wars Outside Ottoman Borders:
The Crimean War – The Treaty of Paris – UK and France – Occurring between 1853 and 1856, the Crimean War was caused by the expansion of the Russians, and the British and French wishes to maintain the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. The Ottomans had lost territory in previous wars to the Russians in the Danube Principalities. With promises of support from the British and French, the Ottomans declared war on the Russians. The Ottomans stopped the Russian advance in Silistra, now in modern-day Bulgaria. The British and French entered the Black Sea in January 1854 and in the Baltic, they blockaded the Russian capital of Saint Petersburg. This caused economic damage and held up many troops in the Russian army that had to remain defending Saint Petersburg. Skirmishes occurred in Constanta before the allied troops advanced on Sevastopol, Crimea, which housed Russia’s main naval base in the Black Sea. These conflicts ended in a stalemate in 1854, but Sevastopol eventually fell. Russia sued for peace in March 1856, and this led to the Treaty of Paris. This saw the Russians unallowed to possess warships in the Black Sea and saw Moldavia and Wallachia gain more independence. The Crimean War is well known as one of the first well-documented wars including multiple states with written reports and photographs. It was also the war that saw Florence Nightingale gain worldwide attention for her role as a pioneer of modern medicine, treating the wounded from the Crimean War. The war also saw Russia weaken, which took them decades to recover from. But it lit the spark that saw them modernise.
The Crimean War also saw the Ottomans take their first foreign loans to finance deficits accrued from wars and lavish infrastructure expansion. This marked the beginning of the Ottoman's financial struggles due to huge expenditures placed on the Ottoman treasury. By 1875, the Ottomans had declared sovereign default and increased taxes in all Ottoman provinces. In work done by many analysts of cycles, increases in debt put a financial strain on empires and often marked the beginning of a faster decline. We’ve seen the Ottoman decline stretched out over centuries, but the financial condition with unsustainable debt marks the beginning of the financial end. It was these tax rises that planted the seeds for the Great Eastern Crisis.
The Great Eastern Crisis – Collective term for the Serbian-Ottoman War, Montegrin-Ottoman War, Eleventh Russo-Turkish War, and Bulgarian Uprising.
Serbia-Ottoman Wars And Montegrin-Ottoman Wars - As a consequence of the previous Herzegovina uprising and of the Bulgarian uprising leading to the Batak Massacre, the Serbians and Montenegrins declared war on the Ottomans. This conflict saw a Serbian victory, in which the Serbians gained de jure independence from the Ottoman Empire. It also saw the expulsion of Albanians and Turks from Serbia and the wider persecution of Muslims in the Balkans during the decline of the Ottomans.
The Serbs were supported by the Russians, who at the same time were fighting with the Ottomans in what feels like the 300th Russo-Turkish War. It wasn’t the 300th, but it was the 11th.
Eleven Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) – The Ottomans suffered a defeat in the Eleventh Russo-Turkish War from which they could never recover. The Russian Coalition included states in the Balkans who had partaken in their own uprisings over the century prior: The Bulgarians, Romanians, Serbians, and Montenegrins. The Russians also had the goal of regaining their losses from the earlier Crimean War and to re-establish their rule over the Black Sea.
It was this conflict that saw the Ottomans retreat back to the gates of Constantinople, upon which the Western powers intervened to stop the Ottoman Empire from disappearing at this point. Russia annexed Southern Bessarabia, and Romania annexed Northern Dobruka as a result of the conflict. The Greeks took Thessaly and Arta, the Russians took the Kars and Batum Oblasts, and we saw the establishment of the Principality of Bulgaria after being ruled by the Ottomans since 1396. The British occupied Cyprus, and Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia. Finally, we saw independence in the Balkans for Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro from the Ottoman Empire. It was a collapse of empirical power of a magnificent scale, but after being held up by European powers seeking to limit Russia’s power expanding into the Balkans, it wasn’t an unexpected decline.
The conflict led to the Treaty of San Stefano, which was signed on 3rd March 1878. The Treaty of Berlin improved upon the Treaty of San Stefano and involved Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire. This treaty pulled back some of the extreme gains the Russians gained in the previous war. The Congress of Berlin marked the implementation of all these policies discussed above. The Peace of Constantinople in 1879 marked changes to the situation in the Balkans, with many Western European powers fearing the extent of Russia’s power. Peace was officially signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire on February 8th, 1879.
Concluding Remarks
The Ottomans were pushed back closer to the gates of Constantinople.
This rise in nationalism was contributed to by the decline of the Ottomans that occurred over centuries prior.
The decline saw the rise of many independent states we see in the Balkans today. The chapter of the 11th Russo-Turkish War led to a decisive Russian victory. But, after the Treaty of Berlin, few states were satisfied with their gains and losses. This cultivated in the 20th Century Balkan Wars, and the First World War, which we’ll cover next week.
Other News
President Of UAE and King of Bahrain Discuss Gaza Ceasefire Hopes
WSJ: 50% of Iranian Missiles Failed To Launch Or Crashed Before Reaching Targets
US and Iran Were In Contact Through Swiss Intermediaries Before Attack
Iran Summons UK, France and Germany Ambassadors Over Condemnation Of Attack On Israel
Saudi Arabia Publicly Acknowledges Role In Defending Israel Against Iran
US Seeking To Impose New Sanctions on Iran After Attack On Israel
US Veto Thwarts Palestinian Full Membership In United Nations
Israel Making Progress For Evacuation Of Around 1 Million Civilians From Rafah Before Operation
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Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Constantinople_(1879)
https://www.prlib.ru/en/history/619381#:~:text=The%20Treaty%20of%20Berlin%20was,1%20(13)%2C%201878.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Turkish_War_(1877%E2%80%931878)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbian%E2%80%93Ottoman_Wars_(1876%E2%80%931878)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herzegovina_uprising_(1852%E2%80%931862)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herzegovina_uprising_(1875%E2%80%931877)