Rear Admiral Lazarev's squadron on the roadstead of Constantinople
The summer of 1832 crept into Topkapi Palace with ominous stuffiness and anxiety. The owner of these walls ceased to feel that blissfully serene sense of peace, which helps to relax and concentrate on something abstract, for example, thinking about European literature or painting, the love for which his mother instilled in him. It seemed that neither large, gracefully executed fountains, nor tastefully laid out gardens could distract and give lightness to the thoughts of the thirtieth ruler of this palace, an ancient city and a great country. The country, most of which have ceased to obey him. The coolness of the night did not bring the expected relief - the old palace was full of shadows and memories: the sultans and their wives, viziers, pashas, eunuchs and janissaries, strangled and stabbed to death in numerous coups, assaults and conspiracies. Among these shadows was the elder brother of Mustafa IV, who was killed by his, Mahmud II, order in the distant autumn of 1808. But the Sultan feared the living more than the dead - only the living can come to you with a silk cord or a naked blade. And Mahmud II diligently drove away obsessive anxieties about an imaginary visitor - a magnificent old man with a good-natured voice of a sweet seller and a stranglehold of power. The army of the Egyptian Pasha Muhammad Ali marched to Istanbul, and between it and the capital there was nothing but the Will of Allah.
Stop feeding Istanbul
In the first half of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire lived more on memories of its own greatness than used it. A series of wars lost over the past 120 years not only significantly reduced the territory of the Sublime Port, but also shattered all its internal state organs. The once mighty army turned into just one great eastern antiquity, and if it were not for the reforms begun by Selim III and continued by Mahmud II, it would have finally become an anachronism. Constantly scanty finances - the treasury eaten by debts - have long acquired a chronic status and were inherited from one sultan to another. The state structure of the empire itself became fragile and loose: the farther from the capital, the cleaner and freer the air seemed for the local pasha. Local authorities began to feel more confident and behave more arrogantly. And the richer the region was, the stronger and more conscious this confidence was.
Back at the beginning of the 18th century. Algeria and Tunisia became virtually independent - they needed to be part of the Ottoman Empire in order to provide "protection" for their large pirate business. The once vast European possessions shrank to the Balkan Peninsula, where in various places hotbeds of discontent and open armed uprising burned and smoldered. At first, the Serbs with their leader Karageorgiy, who achieved broad rights to autonomy as a result of a long partisan struggle and active assistance to Russia, brought acute concern. When, at last, the thick dust of the Napoleonic wars had settled slightly, it was the turn of Greece. In 1821, the War of Independence began, also known as the Greek Revolution.
There were also, at first glance, loyal regions, but due to their economic self-sufficiency, seditious thoughts began to creep into the heads of their leaders. First of all, this concerned Egypt, whose grain (and its quantity) played an important role in providing the empire with food. This Turkish granary was run by Muhammad Ali, who can hardly be called an ordinary person. And wrong, from the point of view of the Sultan's court, doubts, reflections and unexpected conclusions not only seeped into the head crowned with an expensive turban long ago, but also created a solid foothold there. Having weighed all the pros and cons, the Egyptian Pasha justly decided that living under the hand of a powerful padishah, of course, is good, but without the care of the capital, life will become much more free, prosperous and just. What happened sooner or later happens in many empires, when their strong provinces begin to consider themselves self-sufficient and want to get rid of the harsh and demanding power of the capital.
From merchants to rulers - steps of the path
Muhammad Ali Egyptian
The future shaker of the foundations of the empire was born in 1769 in Macedonia. His father was a small landowner, Albanian by nationality. The boy was left without parents early and was adopted into a strange family. Having matured, Muhammad Ali, in order to acquire economic independence, opened a small tobacco shop. And a young man would succeed in the fertile field of commerce, if not for the time in which he lived. The end of the 18th century was marked by stormy and impetuous events. Europe was in a fever with the French Revolution, which quickly escalated into a series of bloody wars. This powder hurricane swirled many countries in its vortices and, of course, could not ignore the Ottoman Empire.
Realizing his eastern project, Napoleon Bonaparte with an expeditionary force landed in Egypt, intending to strengthen France's position in the Middle East and, pushing away rival England, finally pave the road to India. Since Egypt was part of the Oman Empire, it was automatically involved in the war. Participation in hostilities is sometimes extremely beneficial to career growth, if, of course, you are lucky. Leaving the trade craft, Muhammad Ali went into military service and, as part of the Albanian contingent, departed in 1798 for the active army in Egypt. Uncommon personal qualities, courage, hardened character, intelligence and a certain amount of luck quickly raised the former merchant up the career ladder. When the British allied with the Turks left Egypt, chaos began in the country. An attempt by the Istanbul-appointed governor to reform the local armed forces led to a mutiny that forced the would-be reformer to flee. The epicenter of the performance was one of the regiments formed from the Albanians and which were part of the Turkish expeditionary forces. The general confusion during the restoration of order threw up the new commander of this unit, who was at the right time in the right place. This was Muhammad Ali. In 1805, Istanbul appointed him governor of Egypt.
The ebullient activities at the Sultan's court of the French ambassador, General Sebastiani, are changing the vector of the empire's foreign policy. After Austerlitz, Jena and Auerstedt, no one in Selim III's entourage doubted who was now the main military force in Europe, and at the same time the control over the old and powerful enemy - the Russians. Already in 1806, relations with France, which had recently been in the camp of opponents, were reformatted, and a rapid cooling took place with Russia and England. The war soon begins with the British. Following Admiral Duckworth's unsuccessful Dardanelles expedition, which cost the Royal Navy too dearly, Misty Albion struck elsewhere, highly vulnerable to its new foe. On March 16, 1807, the five thousandth British expeditionary force landed in Egypt and occupied Alexandria. The calculation took into account the possibility of cutting off grain supplies to the Turkish capital and other regions of the empire and making the Turks more receptive to the voice of reason with a clear English accent. However, the hope of repeating the Napoleonic epic in miniature was not justified. Muhammad Ali, being the governor of Egypt, was able to quickly gather the troops at his disposal and lay siege to Alexandria. The course of the siege was favorable for the Egyptians - the English sorties were successfully neutralized, and the garrison was completely blocked. When the situation of the "redcoats" began to look more and more hopeless, the British were forced to come to an agreement with Muhammad Ali and in August 1807 to evacuate their troops from Egypt. However, the Anglo-Turkish conflict did not develop into a large-scale confrontation and, taking into account the traditional interests and strong political positions of England in this region, was later viewed in London as a slight misunderstanding.
Muhammad Ali began to reform and modernize Egypt - during his reign Alexandria was again connected to the Nile by the Mahmoudia canal - and the governor made this ancient and once majestic city his residence in 1820. Having faced Europeans more than once not only during a pacifying conversation over a cup of coffee, but also in battle, Muhammad Ali recognized the superiority of the Western military organization over the increasingly archaic Turkish army. In his entourage there were many immigrants from Europe, primarily the French, whose martial art the governor considered excellent. Pasha did not forget about ordinary tax payers: many schools were opened in Egypt, financial and administrative reforms were carried out. Mohammed Ali also led a fairly active foreign policy. Under him in 1811-1818. was taken under control of the Arabian Peninsula.
Like any energetic leader, whose activities are not limited only to the grandiose shaking of the air, the spending of state funds on medical treatment and entertainment, and new achievements in the construction of modest palaces, Muhammad Ali soon began to cause justified concern in Istanbul. The capital of the empire saw that Egypt's dependence on the center of Turkey was becoming more conditional and therefore dangerous. Mahmud II also played quite seriously at reforming, but this process was extremely difficult, slow and with a distinct creak. Especially in the military. Muhammad Ali achieved great and, most importantly, effective results in this field. To paraphrase a quote from a wonderful film, everything was on fire in Istanbul, and it worked in Alexandria. Those who expressed excessive doubts about the advisability of changes, built intrigues and tirelessly inserted sticks into the intensively working mechanism of reforms, the omnipotent governor, who increasingly began to resemble an independent ruler, eliminated without unnecessary excitement. And this did not prevent him from indulging in thoughtful conversations with foreign guests with the most pacified air. While the number of well-wishers and sympathizers in Istanbul was growing, diligently increasing the amount of compromising evidence on the too independent pasha, very serious events began to take place in the empire itself, which, without proper response to them, could lead to very sad consequences. And it turned out that one cannot do without the help of Muhammad Ali with his powerful army and navy. In 1821, the ancient land of Greece erupted in the conflagration of a popular war for liberation from the Turkish yoke.
Greek flame and pasha's resentment
Mahmoud II
The moment for the speech was chosen better than ever: dissatisfaction with the policies of Mahmud II increased, Ali Pasha Yaninsky openly ceased to obey Istanbul. It is interesting that one of the first leaders and initiators of the uprising was a Russian general, a Greek by nationality, Alexander Konstantinovich Ypsilanti. The uprising soon engulfed all of Greece, including the numerous islands. The scale of the Greeks' actions expanded, as did the repressions undertaken against them. In Candia, on the island of Crete, Turkish soldiers killed a metropolitan and five bishops right in the altar of the cathedral. By order of the Sultan, on Easter Wednesday, April 22, 1821, Patriarch Gregory V was hanged at the gates of his residence.
Greek corsairs captured Turkish ships and destroyed their crews. The uprising struck economically on the southern ports of Russia, primarily in Odessa. Most of the commercial ships that come there belonged to the Greeks, who were subjects of Turkey and the Russian Empire. Now, under the pretext of fighting military smuggling, the Turks intercepted, robbed and even sunk Greek ships, not paying much attention to their nationality. Due to the uprising and lack of food in Istanbul, the Sultan imposed an embargo on the transport of grain and other goods through the straits, which further hit Russian trade. The Russian ambassador to the Turkish court, Count GA Stroganov, has repeatedly declared protests that were simply ignored. In July 1821, having exhausted his patience and a list of formulas for strong objections, the count left the capital of the Sublime Port with all the staff of the embassy.
In Russia itself, public opinion was, of course, on the side of the rebels, but Alexander I met the Greek revolution without enthusiasm, refused a request for help, arguing that the Greeks had rebelled against their legitimate ruler. Only with the accession to the throne of Nicholas I did Russia abandon the policy of sympathetic sighs and began to provide assistance to the rebels. In April 1826, the Anglo-Russian Treaty of St. Petersburg was signed, according to which Greece received autonomy, but remained under the supreme jurisdiction of Turkey. France soon joined the agreement. In 1827, an agreement was signed in London to create an autonomous Greek state. The Ottoman Empire was offered mediation. There was little left to do: persuade Istanbul to negotiate. But with this point, everything was not easy. Due to the widening uprising and the outbreak of war with Iran, the Turks were faced with the natural problem of a shortage of troops.
It was then in Istanbul that they remembered about the "strategic" pasha of Muhammad Ali with his first-class armed forces. In 1824, Mahmud II was forced to turn to the Egyptian ruler for help in restoring the Sultan's order in Greece, in exchange, the son of Muhammad Ali Ibrahim Pasha was promised the honorary and restless post of governor of the Peloponnese. Egypt did not leave the "center" in trouble, and in February 1825 the Egyptian fleet delivered an expeditionary force to Methoni Bay. Having captured a number of important fortified points, the army of Ibrahim Pasha soon took control of the entire Peloponnese. After a long siege on April 26, the fortress of Mesolongion, located at the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth, fell (a week ago, which became the final destination for Lord Byron), and Athens was taken a year later. The actions of the Egyptian expeditionary corps were accompanied by massive repressions of the population, acts of intimidation and merciless massacres. A very small territory remained in the hands of the rebels.
Seeing the successes in the process of suppressing the uprising, Sultan Mahmud II perked up and refused any intermediary assistance from Russia and the Western powers. He overestimated his strength and misunderstood the situation. The Greek uprising has long ago outgrown the framework of an ordinary popular rebel, which was so rich in the history of Turkey. The events in the Balkans attracted the attention of not only the Russian, but also the Western European public. For the Greeks, they collected money, weapons, and numerous volunteers fought in the ranks of the rebels. In addition, there was also an economic interest: France was interested in stable trade relations with Greece.
Realizing that diplomatic attacks alone would not stir up even a fan of peacock feathers in the Sultan's palace, the temporary allies formed a squadron and sent it to the shores of the Peloponnese. The result of ignoring Ibrahim Pasha's ultimatum of three admirals - Russian, English and French - was the Battle of Navarino on October 20, 1827, in which the Turkish-Egyptian fleet was destroyed. Mahmud II considered this tragic event for Turkey to be interference in internal affairs and ordered to prepare for war with Russia. The fact that ships under the flag of England and France fought at Navarino, the padishah decided prudently not to notice. In April 1828, a war broke out between Russia and Turkey.
The actions of the Greek rebels by that time had become unsuccessful, and the French expeditionary corps of General Meison arrived in Greece itself for peacekeeping purposes. The French occupied a number of key areas and, in partnership, invited Ibrahim Pasha to collect the locker and return to Egypt. The military operations against Russia were, by the most modest definition, not very successful, and the Turks did not want to quarrel with France, so the Egyptian expeditionary force was soon evacuated. According to the Adrianople Peace Treaty of 1829, which crowned the next Russian-Turkish war, Istanbul recognized the autonomy of Greece.
The Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali was by this time already an elderly man, but, unfortunately for the Sultan, the knot in memory tied by the Egyptian pasha was still intact. The old politician remembered the circumstances under which Mahmud II turned to him for help, and to some extent this appeal was like a drowning man's plea for a lifeline. Since the position of governor of the Peloponnese promised to his son Ibrahim Pasha was now no more accessible, significant and honorable than the governorship on the Moon, Muhammad Ali counted on something corresponding to his efforts in preserving the territorial integrity of the empire.
After reflecting on the difficult situation, the Sultan took and awarded the Egyptian ruler the title of Pashalyk (Governor-General) of Crete. Muhammad Ali was outraged by this "generosity" - this appointment was as if, instead of the expected hot Arabian horse, you were solemnly presented with a viciously humming hornet's nest in a gold case. For his labors, the de facto ruler of Egypt hoped to get control over the rich Syrian provinces, which Mahmud modestly asked for, but instead he was awarded a restless island with a local population seething with hatred of the Turks. Muhammad Ali was greatly offended and made the appropriate conclusions - and, of course, not in favor of the central government. What he was not given of his own free will, he could take himself, at the same time teaching the capital snobs, led by the Sultan himself, a good lesson. Everything steadily slipped into a simple situation, when the one who has more guns turns out to be right.
In October 1831, the army of Ibrahim Pasha, the son of the Egyptian ruler, entered Syria. They also found a plausible excuse: a personal quarrel between Muhammad Ali and Pasha of Acre. The army consisted of 30 thousand people with 50 field guns and 19 mortars. Jerusalem and Gaza were taken without much difficulty, and the siege of Acre soon began - from land and from sea, since after Navarin the Egyptians rebuilt their fleet. In Istanbul, they began to show more and more concern - the situation had long crossed the line of a local get-together, and the features of a civil war began to emerge clearly and ominously in it. Mahmud II declared Muhammad Ali and his son Ibrahim Pasha rebels, deprived of all their posts and outlawed. In place of the rebel, Hussein Pasha, loyal to the throne, was appointed, who was ordered to gather an army and march against Ibrahim.
While Hussein Pasha was organizing a punitive expedition, Acre fell in May 1832, and in June Egyptian troops entered Damascus. The offensive to the north continued rapidly - organized in haste, the army of the Syrian governor was defeated, and in July Ibrahim Pasha entered Antioch. Thus, all of Syria was in the hands of the Egyptians. In Istanbul, they were frightened in earnest - in order to suppress the extensive anti-government activities of Muhammad Ali, a serious army was needed, which still had to be gathered into a fist and organized.
Summer in Istanbul was really hot. The people with might and main discussed the news - a lot was recalled to the reformer sultan. In his asset were not only transformations in various spheres of the Ottoman Empire, not everyone understood and accepted, but also the brutal defeat of the Janissary corps and the war lost to the Greeks and Russians. Anyway, maybe this lover of everything Western is not a real sultan? And the real one whose son is going to the capital? The summer of 1832, full of alarming expectations, was replaced by an autumn that did not bring peace. Ibrahim crossed the Taurus Mountains and in November captured the heart of Asia Minor, the city of Konya. In December, a decisive battle took place between an army of 60,000, led by the Grand Vizier Rashid Pasha himself, and the Egyptian troops of Ibrahim under the same Konya. Despite the ratio of the forces of the parties (there were no more than 15 thousand Egyptians), the government forces were defeated, and the vizier was captured along with 9 thousand of his soldiers. The road to the capital was opened, and the Egyptian fleet took control of the approaches to the Bosphorus. The Sultan no longer had time to worry, it was necessary to think about immediate anti-crisis measures.
Russians are coming
Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev
There is no exact information whether Muhammad Ali at that time had an intention to expand his powers far beyond the increasingly conditional dependence on Istanbul, but his son Ibrahim Pasha insisted that he minted his own coin, and the name of Muhammad Ali was mentioned in Friday prayers. Like other wise rulers who do not disclose their plans for the time being, the old bearded man tactfully kept quiet. In the meantime, the inconsolable Mahmud II rushed for help to the traditional friends and partners of the Ottoman Empire - England and France. Here he was in for a bitter disappointment. Like little Muk, who asked the traders in the market for food and received only sympathetic sighs and cuffs in response, the Turkish sultan wasted his time on invitations and meetings with Western ambassadors. The British did not seem to mind, but when the question reached the then Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston, he refused to help, referring to the reduction in spending on the army and navy, and expressed regret. The French almost openly supported Egypt. Paris seriously counted on the support of Muhammad Ali in its claims to Algeria and Tunisia.
And then the Sultan was forced to turn for help to another great power, which for a long time and firmly was for most Turks a synonym for the word "enemy". In St. Petersburg, they foresaw a similar somersault and were ready for it. As early as in the fall of 1832, seeing that the disgrace being done there with an indefinite finale was spreading in the house of the southern neighbor, at the direction of Nicholas I, the chief of the Main Naval Staff A. S. Menshikov ordered the chief commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral A. S. Greig, to prepare a squadron for a possible campaign to Constantinople.
On November 24, 1832, an imperial order was sent to the Russian envoy in Istanbul A. P. Butenyov, which indicated that if the Turks turned to Russia for help, the envoy could demand that Greig immediately send a squadron to the capital of the Ottoman Port. The Sultan was an old enemy and neighbor - his actions and intentions were known and predictable. And what would happen to Turkey in the event of the fall of Mahmud II, it was also easy to predict. There were serious concerns about the possibility of the passage of Russian ships through the straits and the open intervention of the Western powers with all the ensuing consequences.
Moskov-tash, a monument in honor of the Bosphorus expedition on the Asian coast of the Bosphorus
On January 21, 1833, the official Turkish authorities turned to Russia with a request for help: to send to Istanbul not only a squadron, but also an expeditionary detachment of 3-5 thousand people. Ibrahim Pasha, pulling up the rear of his army, was already marching towards the capital. On February 1, 1833, Rear Admiral Lazarev, who directly commanded the squadron, received an order from Butenev to go to Istanbul. On February 2, four ships of the line, three 60-gun frigates, one corvette and one brig left Sevastopol. Because of the headwinds, Lazarev approached the mouth of the Bosphorus only on February 8.
The Turks, instead of the expected joy, began to behave strangely and confused - otherwise they would not have been Turks. At first, the Russians were asked not to enter the Bosphorus until they received permission from the Sultan, but Lazarev simply ignored this ridiculous request and anchored in the mind of the British and French diplomatic missions. Immediately, like gins from a bottle, representatives of Mahmud II appeared, who began to repeat something about the alleged negotiations between the Sultan and Muhammad Ali and that the Russians should leave for the parking lot in Sizopol so as not to anger the Egyptians and not interfere with the process peaceful settlement. Lazarev knew from reliable sources that the gentlemen in turbans and fez are blatantly lying, and the reasons for such amazing metamorphoses are very prosaic.
As soon as the English and French envoys learned about the appearance of the Russian squadron, their indignation knew no bounds. These gentlemen raced to the Sultan to express regret and persuade him to refuse Russian help. Lord Palmerston never talked about saving - nothing stimulates the European economy like the St. Andrew's flag on the Bosphorus. While diplomatic passions raged, agents of Muhammad Ali raised a mutiny in Izmir - soon Egyptian troops landed there. This fact caused another no less amazing transformation in the behavior of the padishah and his entourage - now he urgently asked to send ground troops to protect his capital and person.
Russian medal "To Turkish troops in Unkar-Iskelesi"
On March 24, 1833, the second squadron of the Black Sea Fleet came to Istanbul under the command of Rear Admiral M. N. Kumani, consisting of 3 battleships, 1 frigate and 9 transports with troops. On April 2, a third squadron joined these forces - 3 ships of the line, 2 bombardment ships and 10 more transports. Now Russian troops in the Bosphorus area reached the number of 10 thousand people. Two frigates cruised in the Aegean Sea, which have been in the Mediterranean since 1829. In Istanbul, there were 10 new battleships and 4 frigates, which was comparable in number to the Egyptian fleet.
On March 31, 1833, Minister of War Chernyshev issued an order to Lieutenant General Muravyov, who was in general command of the ground expeditionary forces, to take up defensive positions on both sides of the Bosphorus and strengthen them. A significant contingent was allocated to defend Istanbul itself together with Turkish troops. In the event that the Egyptians went to the Dardanelles, Lazarev had an order to immediately go there and hold the strait. Military engineers carried out an inspection of the Turkish fortresses in the Dardanelles for their strengthening and occupation by Russian troops. The envoy Butenyov responsibly declared to the nervous Sultan that the Russian troops and navy would not leave the Bosphorus until the Egyptians cleansed Anatolia, and His Sultan's Majesty could well count on help and protection.
Seeing the decisive intentions of the Russians, Ibrahim Pasha stopped six days from the capital of the empire, awaiting instructions from his father, whose plans did not at all include fighting such a powerful enemy. Realizing that their game was not going well, the British and French tried to get the most out of the situation and began to put pressure on Muhammad Ali to conclude peace. April 24, 1833in Kutaya, peace was concluded between the Sultan and his rebellious Pasha - at last, rich Syria was given to Muhammad Ali. By a special decree, he was appointed Pashalyk of Egypt, Damascus, Tripoli, Aleppo, Adana and Crete. All these positions were assigned to him for life, without guarantees of transferring them to their heirs. Subsequently, this and other reasons led to a new conflict between Istanbul and Egypt.
Turkish medal "Russian landing on the Bosphorus"
Russia has undoubtedly won a big diplomatic victory, unlike its Western partners. Long negotiations with the special envoy of the emperor A. F. Orlov led to the signing on June 26, 1833 of a defensive treaty between the two empires, called the Unkar-Iskelesiyskiy - that was the name of the base where the Russian squadron was stationed. The highlight of this agreement was a special secret article, according to which Turkey pledged not to let any warships of any third power into the Black Sea. Unfortunately, the question of the free passage of Russian warships through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles was still open. On June 28, 1833, the Russian squadron, taking on board troops, left the Bosphorus and, under the command of Vice-Admiral Lazarev (he received a promotion for the Bosphorus expedition), set the course for Sevastopol.
The conflict with Muhammad Ali, which almost ended in state collapse, clearly demonstrated to the whole world the weakness of the rapidly aging Ottoman Empire. From the subject of political relations, it gradually became their object, an object of bargaining. The growing rivalry between the Western powers and Russia for the right to be the chief physician at the bedside of the "sick person" (as the once mighty Sublime Porte was called more and more often) ultimately led to the bastions of Sevastopol, Balaklava and Malakhov Kurgan. But that's a completely different story.
