The Eastern Question in 1870s Britain

This book examines mid-Victorian discourse on the expansion of the British Empire's role in the Middle East. It investigates how British political leaders, journalists and the general public responded to events in the Ottoman Empire, which many, if not most, people in Britain came to see as trudging towards inevitable chaos and destruction. Although this 'Eastern Question' on a post-Ottoman future was ostensibly a matter of international politics and sometimes conflict, this study argues that the ideas underpinning it were conceived, shaped, and enforced according to domestic British attitudes. In this way, this book presents the Eastern Question as as much a British question as one related in any way to the Ottoman Empire. Particularly in the crucial decade of the 1870s, debates in Victorian society on the Eastern Question served as proxies for other pressing issues of the day, including electoral reform, changing religious attitudes, public education, and the costs of maintainingBritain's empire. This book offers new perspectives on the Eastern Question's relationship to these trends in Victorian society, culture, and politics, highlighting its significance in understanding Britain's imperial programme more widely in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Explores the significance of the 'Eastern Question' in British domestic politics and society Draws on a wide range of public and private sources, from government records to the Victorian popular press Argues the importance of the Eastern Question in understanding late 19th-century Britain's imperial goals and ideals

Auteur

Leslie Rogne Schumacher teaches history, leadership, and intelligence studies at Wells College in Aurora, NY, USA. He also serves in the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University and as a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, PA, USA. He is a historian of Europe and the Middle East, focusing on nationalism, imperialism, and migration in the Mediterranean Sea and its basin from the 1700s to the present day.

Contenu

1. Veiled under the easy name of the Eastern Question: Locating the Eastern Question in 1870s Britain.- 2. Altered out of all recognition: Unearthing the Eastern Question from Its Grave.- 3. The Eastern Question cannot settle itself: From Bulgaria to India and Back Again.- 4. The Triumph of War: The 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War in Victorian Society.- 5. Surveillance, Negotiation, and Propaganda in British Imperialism: The Case of Cyprus.- 6. Imperialism by Negotiation: Britain at the 1878 Congress of Berlin.- 7. Another Eastern Question: The Eastern Question Expands.- 8. The Eastern Question will never be solved: The Perseverance of History.