- a. Greek Revolt in 1821-1824 was led by the Greek Prince and Tsarist army officer Alexander Ypsilanti.
i. He wanted to free the Greeks and Romanian Christians.
ii. The revolt was unsuccessful because the Romanians did not want the Greek’s help because they hated them more than the Turks.
iii. Russia felt it needed to intervene and gave Turkey an ultimatum (Turkey rejected it)
iv. Austria and Britain met to devise a plan to prevent Russia and Turkey fighting
v. According the Troppau Protocol Russia should not intervene because Greece was in a rebellion which was considered a crime.
vi. 1823 Britain grant ‘belligerent rights’ to the Greeks (Br. Wanted to protect themselves from Greek pirates)
vii. The powers of Europe tried to compromise at St. Petersburg but they were unable to do so
- b. Changes in 1824-1827
i. 1824 the Sultan of Turkey called on the Egyptians which would be led by Mehemet Ali (He was bribed with promises of rewards for his aid)
ii. Britain was outraged (Gave money to the Greeks)
- c. Russian Intervention
i. Russians claimed they were protecting the Orthodox Christians
ii. Russians were becoming pro-Greek
iii. St. Petersburg Protocol Signed by Russia and Britain (later France would join) The goal was to make a settlement with the Turks
iv. Several unsuccessful attempts
- d. Treaty of London (11/30/1829):
i. Turks accepted the Treaty granting Greece independence under Turkish rule
ii. At the last moment Britain, France and Russia wanted Greece to have complete independence
iii. Treaty was not completely settled until 1832
- e. Impact of Greek revolt
i. Austria felt excluded from the negotiations of the Great Powers and lacked power
ii. Also demonstrated the power of revolutions
iii. Temporarily broke down the Holy Alliance and the cooperation of France, Russia and Britain
- 2. What was the effect of the 1830 revolutions throughout Europe?
- a. 1830 French Revolution
i. Bourbon monarchy overthrown
ii. Louis Philippe came to power
iii. Europe reminded of the previous revolutions in France (still considered to be the main danger in France
iv. Countries were distracted by their own problems
v. Powers agreed not intervene as long as it didn’t affect other countries
- b. Belgian Revolt
i. Belgians were under the rule of the Netherlands
ii. Belgians were disgruntled with the enforcement of the Dutch language, Dutch officials, unfair taxation and division about religion
iii. King of the Netherlands asked for help, but new concerns had developed in 1830
iv. The other powers were concerned with the ‘liberal’ French intervention to protect the Catholic Belgians
v. France threatened to send in troops if the Dutch sent in troops to Belgium
vi. By October 1830
- c. Polish Revolution
- 3. How successfully did (a) Russia, (b) France and (c) Britain uphold their interests in the Near East between 1831 and 1841?
- a. Russia:
i. Wanted to protect the Orthodox Christians and trading routes.
ii. Also concerned with the expansion of France
iii. They were successful because in the Treaty of Unkair-Skelessi Turkey ensured Russian rights to the Black Sea.
iv. When France worked with Mahemet Ali, the Russia decided to act independently before the French could really make a move ensuring to limit French influence in the region.
- b. France
i. France was unable to protect its interests
ii. When the other Great Powers met, France was isolated in supporting Ali so it had to go along with the decisions made by the others
iii. Eventually Egypt was given to Ali, but France had to essentially switch side to prevent war from breaking out
- c. Britain
i. Britain’s main concerns was to keep Russia and France in check
ii. Palmerston wanted to give support to the Turkish Empire…to ensure their trading routes, however the British cabinet overruled his decision
iii. Britain would work cooperatively with the other powers to ensure stability within the Ottoman Empire.
- 4. How and why did Britain’s relationships with France and Russia change in the period from 1831 to 1841?
- a. Britain and France
i. At the beginning of the Egyptian revolt again Turkey, Britain did not want to intervene.
ii. France saw the situation as a good way to side with Egypt at first because they could ensure some influence in the region
iii. Eventually the British intervened in squashing Ali’s attempt to break from Turkish rule
iv. The French really had no other choice to agree with the other powers
- b. Britain and Russia
i. In this situation both were able to agree upon about keeping France in check with spreading their influence
ii. Russia was able to give support to the Turks immediately while the British questioned Russia’s motives
iii. When the Turks agreed to give full rain to Russia in the Black Sea, the British were interested in eliminating that agreement
iv. Britain realized that it would have to work with Russia and the other Holy Alliance countries in order to not lose their position with Turkey
- 5. Using information from the whole of this chapter, explain why the Great Powers were successful in maintaining peace in Europe from 1815 to 1848?
- a. Checks and balances
i. Countries could not necessarily act on their own without intervention from another country or suffer consequences that could be hazardous to their own affairs
- 1. Each country had their own interests, but the alliance system required that countries negotiated.
- 2. The different congresses that were held across the continent of Europe helped to create relative stability
- 3. When revolts did break out (Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Greece) nations did further divide (Holy Alliance)
ii. Keep France in check
- 1. The two Treaties of Paris were able to keep France in check.
- 2. When the first treaty failed the countries were able to unite and demand further reparations be made by France
- 3. When the other countries realized that France was acting independently in Egypt, other countries realized they had to have France work with them.
iii. Congresses
- 1. Some historians have argued that the Congress of Vienna and the Concert of Europe were failures because of the continuous revisions
- 2. However, one could argue that the revisions allowed the Great Powers to take into consideration the different circumstances that faced each situation (with each of the revolts
iv. Give examples from some of the revolts