ABSTRACT
Although so much has been written on the driving forces of imperialism that further comment seems superfluous, no study of the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Europe can begin without taking them into account. The interests of the European powers do not need restating in detail. It is sufficient to say that they were strategic, economic, commercial and even religious and that they effectively shackled Ottoman freedom of movement in many directions. Not only did the Ottoman territory whet the European appetite for its own intrinsic reasons but it also became a battleground where European rivalries were fought by stealth and proxy. The result of this unequal struggle, involving the imperial interests of the European powers on one side and the attempts of the Ottomans to survive as an empire and a civilisation on the other, was the piecemeal loss of territory by the sultan. In the fall-out from great power rivalry new states emerged (Greece and Bulgaria), stimulating a clamour from others for independence (the Macedonians and the Armenians). In Egypt much earlier, Muhammad Ali had seized his chance to create a state that was independent in all but name.
