Introduction

By the beginning of the twentieth century the Great Powers had considerable interests in the Ottoman Empire. Political, economic, strategic and cultural, these interests had been largely acquired in the course of the eighteenth and, especially, the nineteenth century. Throughout the nineteenth century the periodic crises of the Eastern Question-that threatened fragmentation of the Ottoman Empire with its implied threat to European peace —had produced rivalry and tension in the political relations among the Powers. Each Power had its particular concerns in the Ottoman Empire as well as its particular areas of concern, but so long as the Powers did not encroach seriously on each other’s interests or special areas of interest significant disturbance was avoided from such a quarter. The crises of the Eastern Question arose when such infringements occurred, whether through direct Great Power action, or indirectly, resulting from the actions of client Balkan national groupings or of the Ottoman government or its vassal rulers.