After the Vienna Congress of 1815 Russia was a victorious, prestigious and powerful state maintaining the largest standing army in Europe. Thereafter, Russia would pursue two main objectives; ‘upholding a conservative cause in Europe’ for the preservation of the status quo, while adjusting the current situation in the Near East utilizing any opportunity to expand its influence.38
In 1839, a daring reformation initiative had been put in effect in the Ottoman Empire. Yet the Ottoman Empire had to deal with the nationalist uprisings as well as Russia’s antagonistic policies. Sultan Mahmud II, the initiator of these reforms, faced the Greek uprising in 1820s.39 The uprising was suppressed with the help of Mehmed Ali Pasha, the Governor of Egypt. However, this was to be the beginning of new crises. A war with Russia, involvements of Britain and France and the resultant Treaty of Edirne, the crisis between Sultan Mahmud II and Mehmed Ali Pasha, and then the Straits question upon the resort of the Ottoman Empire to the help of Russia squeezed in a very short period of time when also the Circassian war was turning to be an international problem.
In these circumstances a year after the merciless suppression of the Polish revolt of 1832, a very surprising demand from the Ottoman Empire came to the Russian capital: the Ottoman Empire asked Russia’s military support against the rebellious Mehmed Ali Pasha, who had defeated the Ottoman army in Konya, and was marching to Istanbul.40 Russia sent help to the Ottoman capital, but not without compensation. The same year on 8 July 1833, the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire signed the Treaty of Hunkar Iskelesi, according to which the Ottoman Empire promised to close the straits to the European battleships when Russia would be engaged in a war.41 No doubt, suppression of the Polish revolt and the emergence of the Egyptian question during the first years of the 1830s changed the balance of power in favor of Russia threatening the British interests.
After concluding such an agreement with Russia, it would not be surprising to expect from the Ottoman Empire a more docile policy regarding the Russian and Caucasian matters. The Treaty of Hunkar Iskelesi was perceived as the ratification of Russia’s suzerainty over the Ottoman Empire by Britain and France.42 It was also accepted as a great defeat of the British foreign policy in the Near Eastern matters.43
Suspicions of the existence of the secret clauses of the Treaty of Hunkar iskelesi fed antagonism against Russia in Britain.
Russia’s control over Poland, the involvement in the Greek revolution, and the Egyptian question, as well as the secret clause of the Treaty of Hunkar iskelesi all convinced the British politicians that Russia was enlarging and strengthening against the British interests. The question was whether the fate of the Ottoman Empire would resemble that of Poland or not. However, for Britain the Ottoman Empire was too important to be sacrificed. Gleason very well portrays the effect of the Treaty of Hunkar iskelesi to the British policy-making:
If the conclusion of the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi produced a revolution in English policy toward Russia and Turkey, it constituted a landmark not so much because at the moment of its signature Russia enjoyed greater power in Constantinople than at any other time, as because the implications of the treaty satisfied the foreign office that Russia was pursuing a policy carefully calculated to secure for herself the ultimate possession of the European portion of the Ottoman Empire.44
As Temperley claims, “Unkiar Skelessi is a true turning-point in the attitude of English statesmen towards Russia.” After 1833, Britain would pursue a more cautious policy in the Near Eastern affairs not to lose any opportunity to prevent further Russian profits and to reverse the Russian gains. As the Treaty of Hunkar iskelesi showed that inactive policies in the Near East would harm the British interests, thereafter, Britain tried to pursue a more active policy till the conclusions of the Treaty of Balta Limani in 1838 and the Treaty of London in 1840, which
Established the commercial preponderance of Britain over the Ottoman Empire, and
Reset the balances in the Near East along the lines of the British objectives.
In 1833, strengthened its position in the Near East, Russia was hereafter more determined to suppress the North-Caucasus. However, there were difficulties for Russia: first and foremost Circassia was terra incognita for the Russians; second, as the Circassians became aware of the Russian threat they started to unite (they gave oaths not to trade with Russians, etc.); and third, Britain showed off itself as a participant of the game in Circassia. What is more, by then intensive activities of the Polish emigres and the Circassian missions were visible.
World History
