The Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Question

The Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans, Anatolia and much of the Arab world for centuries, governing a population of many religions and languages. Under the millet system, religious communities such as Orthodox Christians, Armenians and Jews had considerable autonomy over their own religious, educational and legal affairs. In the nineteenth century, however, the empire declined relative to Europe's industrial powers, and Balkan peoples increasingly defined themselves by nationality.

European diplomats called the problem of what would happen to Ottoman territory the Eastern Question. Russia sought influence over Orthodox Christians and access to the Mediterranean; Austria feared Russian expansion and Slavic nationalism; Britain wanted to protect routes to India and generally supported the empire's survival. Nationalism therefore became tangled with great-power rivalry, and Balkan independence movements often succeeded only when a great power backed them.

Tsar Nicholas I is said to have called the empire 'the sick man of Europe', though its decline is now seen as more uneven than that label suggests.