History of the Balkans

I. Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces in Balkan

Nationalism
II. Insecurity and attacks on civilians in the revolutionary
era
III.Great Power protection for Christians
IV. Events in Serbia, Greece, and Danubian Principalities
V. Ottoman Problems
VI. Tanzimat Era Reforms
VII. Impact
Review: factors leading to Balkan nationalism (concepts from L.S. Stavrianos, Traian Stoianovich, Barbara Jelavich )

I. A. Centripetal Forces of Balkan Nationalism

1. Intellectuals disseminated ideas of popular sovereignty and equality (influenced by European Enlightenment)
2. Merchant networks of Orthodox Christians=> vectors of Enlightenment and republican ideas
3. Peasant grievances concerning janissary raids and high taxes=> motive to end Ottoman rule

I. B. Centrifugal Forces of Balkan Nationalism

No social unity in favor of revolution
1. “Primates”/”Notables” did not want to lose their privileges.
Phanariote, Hospodar, Boyar, Kodjabashi, or Knez interests vs. peasants
2. National ideas developed in competition with each other
- Greeks vs. Bulgarian Slavs (Patriarchate vs. Exarchate)=> issue was not just religious, but linguistic and cultural
3. Geography- proximity of Bulgarian to Constantinople delayed Bulgarian revolts (closer to imperial center)
4. Cultural divides- clan separation and religious divisions (Albania)
II. Insecurity and attacks on civilians during the
Danubian and Greek Revolutions
- Lootings- armies of Vladimirescu and Ypsilantis in Danubian
Principalties, 1821
- Philike Etairia massacred Turkish civilians in Jassy and Galati
- Greek revolutionaries massacred Ottoman subjects (Turks,
Albanians, Jews) in the Peloponnesus.
- Response: Janissaries hanged the patriarch of Constantinople and
some bishops on Easter Eve. (Other metropolitans were executed
on Crete and Cyprus by Turkish-Egyptian forces or Ottoman ones.)
- Ottoman siege of the Missolonghi fortress in 1826 and massacre
of civilians elicited Western Europe sympathy (see Delacroix’s 1827
painting. NB= Greece depicted as female, not male.)
=> Russian intervention under Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji (1774)

La Grèce sur les ruines de Missolonghi, Eugène Delacroix Musée des Beaux-Arts-mairie
de Bordeaux
III. Great Power Supervision
Justification: Protection for Christians
1. Danubian Principalities remained under Russian control until 1856.
2. Serbia was under Russian protection until 1856 (then under the Great Powers
generally until 1878).
3. Greece was under British, French, Russian protection from 1830-1923.
4. Plus, no major wars in the Balkans from 1830-1870.
IV. Developments in the autonomous or independent entities
(i.e. Serbia, Greece, and the Danubian Principalities)
A. Serbia
1. New administration was supposed to provide better security for Serbs
N.B. Muslims’ homes and businesses were seized in Serbia after 1819
2. Constitutional Party pushes through law code in the 1840
3. Obrenović’s rule in the 1860s: strengthened military and removed Ottoman
garrisons
4. Formed alliances with Montenegro, Greece, unified Danubian Principalities
B. Greece
1. Land reform- peasants became sharecroppers
(unable to afford buying Ottoman estates that the
Greek government had seized)
2. Greek politics- unstable to due parties handing
out spoils/favors to cronies
3. Great Powers backed different parties.
Example: 1843- British and Russian parties backed
a military coup, forcing Otho to accept a
constitution and dismiss Bavarian advisors.
4. Successful coup by military in 1862-3 European
powers install Danish Prince William George
(photo on right)

5. New constitution: limited monarchy with secret

ballot. Still, cronyism and instability remained.
C. Danubian Principalities:

1. Russia had right of intervention

under Treaty of Adrianople (1829)
2. Russian military rule through
1834.
3. Russia developed new
administrative regulations=
Organic Statutes, 1831-2
4. Power of the boyar landlords=>
5. Choice of princes (hospodars)
Formation of legislative
assemblies Boyar assembly (Obşteasca Adunare), Bucharest 1837

Boyars retained their economic

power=> Re-feudalization
D. 1848 Revolution in Moldavia
1. Broader European development:
liberal demonstrations for constitutional
monarchy, free press/assembly, national
sovereignty rather than rule by a “foreign
empire”
2. Supported from younger, well-
educated boyars
- Undertaken by 1,000 townspeople
- Romanian peasants had little interest in
Romanian nationalism
3. Suppressed by Russian military, joined
by Ott military
4. = >Boyar assemblies replaced by a
“divan” selected by the Ottoman govt.
and Wallachian prince (chosen by Russia
and the Porte)
V. Ottoman Problems and Reforms
Rebellious governors, outmoded sipahi, janissary violence
Janissary
Under Sultan Mahmud II (1808-35): tombstones in
A. Three simultaneous situations Edirne. Photo
by Ali
- Ali Pasha Yaycioglu,
- Greek Revolution, 1821 Stanford Univ.
- Muhammad Ali (governor of Egypt) professor of
History
B. Proceed one step at a time
1. Eliminate Ali Pasha (attempted to build kingdom in Albania/Epirus)
2. Establish new army corps (Janissaries revolted, 1826. Mahmud II eliminated them)
3. Market liberalization. Getting janissaries off state payroll and forcing them to work as
artisans (many already were) may have had positive effect. (Quataert)
C. Existential Threat of Muhammad Ali (ind. Greek state meant he only received Crete) Muhammad Ali
Sought Syria as compensation
Muhammad Ali’s armed defeated Ottoman army at Konya (1832); threatened to conquer
all of Anatolia and take over Sultanate.
OE and Russia signed mutual defense Treaty of Unkiar Iskelessi (stopped advance of
Muhammad Ali)

D. Mahmud II survived challenge

1. Implements Western govt.-style reforms: Council of Ministers, civil service
bureaucracy, Foreign Ministry (1836)
2. Sought revenge against Muhammad Ali to reconquer Syria, but Mahmud died.
New Sultan Abdülmecid I (Abdul Mejid): Coalition building to force Muhammad Ali to
withdraw from Syria and Crete
VI. Tanzimat Era (Reordering)
Goals=> create:
- central authority
- bureaucracy reaching to subject level
- trained civil service (to reduce
corruption)
A. Initiated and written by Mustafa Reşid
(Reshid) Pasha
B. Gülhane Reform Edict (Noble Edict of
the Rose Chamber), 1839
Equality under the law, guarantee of
security of property for all Ottoman
subjects, regardless of origin or religion Jewish Bridal
Procession in Tunisia
19th C.

Armenian Men, 19th C. Kurds, 1854

C. Reshid Edicts
Imperial reforms (covering entire
empire)
Westernization, centralization,
secularization
1. Limit power of governors: fixed
salaries, promotions by merit, follow Ottoman Women, Istanbul, c1850

establish tax schedules

2. Conscript army (Prussian system)
3. New commercial and criminal law
codes (French models)
4. Education: Secular schools; new
technical colleges; fixed teacher
salaries Portrait of a Woman in
Istanbul, c1880
Specific Balkan Reforms
1. New administrative divisions: 6 vilayets
with subdivisions: sanjak, kaza, etc.
2. Police, gendarmerie, courts
3. Tax offices, accounting offices, property
deeds, statistics=> growth of the state
bureaucracy
4. Local municipalities (belediye = opština. In
Macedonia)
5. Voting system for local mayors (tax Map of the Salonica (Greece), Monastir (Macedonia), Shkodra (Albania)
Provinces, 1891
requirement, secret voting, mayor must
read/write Turkish)
6. Local notables retained power

Gendarmerie School in Uskub (Skopje,

Macedonia), 1907
VII. Impact
(see Quataert, “The Age of Reforms, 1812-1914”)
A. Mil. reforms in Middle East: soldiers, suppliers, colonists
advance into Kurdish tribal areas=> increased agricultural
productivity
B. Better conditions of order in some parts of the Balkans, but
countered by drought, nationalist revolutionaries, and cycles of
violence between Ottoman gendarmes and Greek and
Macedonian guerillas
C. Territorial losses=>population loss=>economic losses
1850- Balkan peoples were ½ of all Ott subjects. Ottoman money, 1880, printed in five languages: Ottoman Turkish,
Arabic, Armenian, Greek, French.
1906- only 1/5 of all Ott subjects
D. Financial costs=>loans at high interest rates
1860- 20% of income to finance debt
1875- 50%
E. Political conflict inside OE:
- Conservative ulema were anti-secular
- Young Ottomans (supported constitutionalism and
Ottomanism)
- Balkan nationalist guerrillas, conspirators, activists
Namık Kemal (1840–1888. Writer,
activist, Young Ottoman)