The Eastern Question: the Last Phase

Abstract

The Eastern Question was the great diplomatic conundrum caused by the gradual decline of the Ottoman Empire. It was an issue which took on different configurations depending upon a state’s geographical perspective. The term ‘Eastern Question’ was first used by Habsburg officials, who had seen it in land-based terms while Britain, which later became deeply involved with it, saw it from a maritime perspective. Ever since Nelson defeated Napoleon’s forces at the Battle of the Nile, Britain had been growing as a power in the Eastern Mediterranean and there is a continuum of intent that extends from the Battle of the Nile to Gallipoli, through Allenby’s entry into Jerusalem in 1917 and culminating in that remarkable day in November 1918 when British ships sailed into the Golden Horn and British forces took part in the occupation of Constantinople. British arms in 1918 had achieved a victory that had eluded all of Europe, all of Christendom, during the Crusades. Britain now dominated the Eastern Mediterranean world, with Constantinople occupied, a veiled protectorate over Mesopotamia, the Caspian Sea in British hands, the Caucasus occupied by British divisions from the Black Sea to the Caucasus mountains, and Egypt, Palestine and Syria all under British control.