Page:The Russian Review Volume 1.djvu/67

Rh brought matters to a head, and a European War became inevitable. In 1854 an Anglo-French squadron entered the Straits, just as a much more powerful squadron, flying the same two flags, entered them sixty years later. Only, the first time, the Allies came to save Turkey from the encroachments of the "northern giant."

The treaty of Paris, signed after the termination of the Crimean War, brought Russia back to the position she was in before 1833. The Straits were once more closed to Russia, and she was deprived of her right of keeping a navy in the Black Sea. The powers signatory to the treaty again pledged themselves to preserve the territorial integrity of Turkey. As an English newspaper of that time characterized the results of the Crimean War, in so far as they affected the control of the Straits, "the pendulum swung to the left, then to the right, and again came to a dead stop."

In 1870, Alexander II. decided to remove the disgraceful restrictions upon the Russian freedom of the Black Sea. Again conditions in Europe favored such an action. France was occupied with her unfortunate war. Prussia was more than glad to acquiesce, considering this a cheap enough reward for Russia's neutrality. It was clear that England could not go to war alone. On October 31, Prince Gortchakov, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, sent out a circular note to the European powers, declaring the restrictions imposed by the treaty of Paris invalid. This declaration was finally ratified by the European powers in 1891.

The revolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina brought on the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. The Russian troops were again victorious and had already reached the very gates of Constantinople, when an English squadron appeared in the Straits and halted their triumphant march. The Congress of Berlin again closed the Straits to the warships of all nations. This clause, introduced by Bismarck, was obviously directed against Russia alone. The provisions of the Berlin treaty were in force until the present war.

Beginning with the last decade of the 19th Century, a new influence in Turkey came to assert itself. Germany evidently conceived the idea of making Asia Minor a direct continuation of the German Empire. It is very probable that the German plan of direct imperial expansion was through Austria-Hungary, the Balkans, Turkey and Asia Minor. Her policy of pushing Austria-Hungary farther and farther into the Balkans and thus