ABSTRACT
At the end of the eighteenth century the Eastern question assumed its modern form. Three factors determined it: the growing weakness of the Turk at Constantinople, the rise of small, vigorous Christian nationalities in the Balkan peninsula, and the effect of both on the policy of the Great Powers. Between the years 1788 and 1791 Austria and Russia attacked Turkey in concert, and Russia, asserting that she was the protector of Christians in the Turkish Empire, advanced as far as the port of Oczakov on the Black Sea. The younger Pitt, speaking for Britain, denounced the danger of the Russian advance and the menace to Turkey’s integrity. Parliament did not support him over this incident, but he had set the fashion for his successors; for almost ninety years to come they followed a pro-Turkish and anti-Russian policy. Austria, too, showed a moderate attitude to Turkey in 1791. She returned nearly all her conquests to Turkey and henceforth sought to protect her. For, by 1791, both Britain and Austria had recognised that Turkey was a menace, not because of her strength, but because of her weakness.
