Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/652

* TXJRKET. 562 TUBKE"i. Bender, broke into the Crimea, and in 1773-74 advanced into Bulgaria, where, however, the Turk- ish fortresses withstood their attacks. In 1770 the Russians burned the Turkish fleet at Tchesme. Peace was concluded at Kutchuk-Kainardji in 1774, Turkey renouncing her suzerainty over the Crimea and other Tatar territories in the region of the Black Sea, and according to Russia a sort of protectorate over Moldavia and Wallachia and the free navigation of the Turkish waters. During this war Turkey was to a certain extent crippled by the revolt of the Mameluke Governor of Egypt, Ali-Bey (q.v.). In 17S7 iSultan Abdul- Hamid 1. plunged Turkey into a fresh war with Russia. Joseph II. of Austria seized the oppor- tunity to make a sudden onslaught on the Turk- ish territories, and fresh disasters befell the Ottoman arms. Potemkin stormed Otchakov (1788); the allies won a great victory afc Fokshani ( 1789) ; Belgrade and Bender were cap- tured in the same year; and Ismail was stormed by Suvaroil at the close of 1790, the Russians enacting a carnival of blood. Austria, through pressure from Prussia, withdrew from the struggle in 1791 without reaping any benefit from it, and Catharine II. in 1792 concluded the Peace of Jassy with Sultan Selim III., which made the Dniester the boundary be- tween the JIuscovite and Ottoman dominions. Rent by internal disorders, Turkey was unable to oiler resistance when Bonaparte in 1798 suddenly swooped down upon Egjpt, which, under its Mameluke beys, was already almost severed from the Empire. In Syria the advance of the French was stayed by the brave defenders of Acre (1799). Bonaparte returned to France, and in 1801 the English drove the French from Egypt. The downtrodden Servians rose in insurrection in 1804 under the leadership of Czerny George. Selim 111., under the influence of French thought, had conceived e.Ktensive ideas of reform, which he endeavored to put in operation when he ascended the throne. Many of his innova- tions were premature and he aroused the anger of the Janizaries by his attempts at military reorganization. A revolt forced Selim to abdicate in 1807, and placed his nephew, Mustapha IV. ( 1807-08), on the throne. Mustapha was soon de- posed and Mahmud II. (1808-39) was made Sultan. A war begun by Russia in 1806 was terminated by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812, by which the country between the Dniester and the Pruth was ceded to Russia. The authority of the Sultan was reestablished in Servia, but the people rose again under Milosh Obrenovitch and achieved a partial independence. Greece threw ofJ the Turkish yoke in 1821 and after an heroic struggle secured its independence through the armed intervention of the European powers in 1827-29. A revolt of the Janizaries in 1825 was successfully met by Mahmud; in 182G thousands of the famous corps were slain, and the organiza- tion was abolished. Russia waged a suc- cessful war against Turkey in 1828-29. General Diebitsch advanced as far as Adrianople, and Paskevitch was equally successful in Armenia. In the Peace of Adrianople (1829) Turkey sur- rendered to Russia the northeastern coastland of the Black Sea and transferred to her the suzer- ainty over the tribes of the Caucasus ; Russia was accorded a regular protectorate over Wallachia and Moldavia, which for a time were reduced to the position of Russian dependencies. Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, who had raised himself to an almost independent position, made war in 1831 on liis liege lord, the Sultan. The victories of Ibrahim Pasha (1832) secured to the Egyptian ruler the possession of Syria and Cilicia, while Russia took advantage of the desperate state of Turkey to force upon tlie Sultan the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi (1833), which closed the Bhack Sea to the vessels of war of all nations save Russia. In 1839 Mahmud II. made war upon Mehemet Ali. The Turkish army was utterly defeated by Ibrahim Pasha at Nisib (June 24, 1839), and soon after the Turkish fleet was treacherously delivered up to the Egyptians. Only the intervention of the Quadruple Alliance (q.v.) in 1840 prevented the downfall of the Turkish power. Mehemet Ali was forced to re- linquish Syria aud other territories ; he was recognized as hereditary', though tributary, ruler of Egj'pt. Soon after the beginning of this war Mahmud II. died (July 1, 1839). His son, Abdul-Medjid (1839-61), continued the reforms commenced in the preceding reign. Russia's truculent attitude brought on a war with Turkey in 1853, in which that country would have suf- fered severely b>it for the effective intervention in 1854 of England and France, soon joined by Sardinia, all bent on humbling Russia. The allies of the Sultan made the Crimea the scene of their land operations, and in 1855 Sebastopol fell. (See Crimean War.) The Treaty of Paris (1856) restored to Turkey the command of both sides of the Lower Danube, excluded the Czar from his assumed protectorate over the Danu- bian Principalities (Wallachia and Moldavia), and closed the Black Sea against all ships of war. Wallachia and Moldavia secured almost complete independence and were soon united into the Prin- cipality of Rumania. The Porte, adopted into the family of European nations, made a procla- mation of equal civil rights to all races and creeds in the Turkish dominions. A massacre of Christians in the Lebanon and at Damascus (see Drlses) provoked ^"estern intervention in 1860. Abdul-iledjid was succeeded bv his brother Abdul-Aziz (1861-76). The Treaty of Paris in 1856 was supposed to have settled the Eastern question ( q.v. ) by guaran- teeing Turkey's integrity, but Russia was merely awaiting an opportunity to press its old policy, and in 1871 the Russian Government seized the opportimlty of war between Germany and France to declare that it felt itself no longer bound by that provision of the Paris treaty which forbade Russia to have a fleet in the Black Sea. A Lon- don conference sanctioned this stroke of Russian diplomacy. An insurrection in Crete in 18G6-G8 was suppressed with difficulty. Between 1854 and 1871 the Tvirkish debt had increased by nearly $600,000,000; and in 1875 the Porte was driven to partial repudiation of its obligations. An insurrection which broke out in Herzegovina in 1875 served to stir up all the neigliboring Slavic peoples and was skillfully encouraged by Russian emissaries. In May. 1876, frightful massacres of Christians in Bulgaria took place. At the close of that month Abdul-Aziz was deposed and soon after was found dead. His nephew, Amurath or Murad V.. son of Abdnl- Jledjid, reigned only three months, when he was deposed as an imbecile, and his brother, Abdul-