Earlier partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

What point of time between 1700 and 1900 would be the most likely for a partitioning of the Ottoman Empire? And how could it have been done?
 
What point of time between 1700 and 1900 would be the most likely for a partitioning of the Ottoman Empire? And how could it have been done?

Maybe Napoleonic Austria-Russia-Britain alliance conquers Constantinople. Afterwards they partify parts of the Empire. Alternativeley post Napoleonic the Holy Alliance put all their differences away, and Napoleon II. is crowned King of a a Greater pan Hellenic - Rhomaion Greece, which spans to Asia Minor and is protected by Russia.
 
I wonder, during the French Revolutionary or Napoleonic wars, when everyone was busy fighting France, could Russia had used the opportunity to attack the Ottomans?
 
Maybe the French Revolutionary armies push on after Camp Formio, capture Istanbul, create a Republic of Turkey?

Maybe a more successful Egyptian campaign leads to a Republic of the Levant, too.
 
I doesn't seem very out of character for Napoleon to do it. For whatever reason, he decides (prior to attacking Spain and Russia but after defeating Austria and Prussia) that the Ottomans have got to go. It wouldn't be inconceivable for him to then assemble a coalition with Austria, Russia, and revolting Greeks to destroy the Ottoman Empire. Like with the Poles, a new Rhomanion emerges that holds much of the Ottoman Balkans and Western Asia Minor, a mostly Greek entity which is very loyal to Napoleon. Russia and Spain grab bits in North Africa and Northern Anatolia respectively.

All you need to do is find the right reason for Napoleon to decide to do it, and he'll get it done.
 
Maybe the French Revolutionary armies push on after Camp Formio, capture Istanbul, create a Republic of Turkey?

Maybe a more successful Egyptian campaign leads to a Republic of the Levant, too.

Without any Republic traditions there hard to imagine...
 
I doesn't seem very out of character for Napoleon to do it. For whatever reason, he decides (prior to attacking Spain and Russia but after defeating Austria and Prussia) that the Ottomans have got to go. It wouldn't be inconceivable for him to then assemble a coalition with Austria, Russia, and revolting Greeks to destroy the Ottoman Empire. Like with the Poles, a new Rhomanion emerges that holds much of the Ottoman Balkans and Western Asia Minor, a mostly Greek entity which is very loyal to Napoleon. Russia and Spain grab bits in North Africa and Northern Anatolia respectively.

All you need to do is find the right reason for Napoleon to decide to do it, and he'll get it done.

Of course the Russians and Austrians would have problems to decide how to divide the spoils. Any suggestions?
 

Ryan

Donor
Of course the Russians and Austrians would have problems to decide how to divide the spoils. Any suggestions?

Austria gets influence over the west (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Greece, Albania) and Russia gets influence over the east (Romania, Bulgaria, Thrace, straits)
 
Of course the Russians and Austrians would have problems to decide how to divide the spoils. Any suggestions?

Well, at least at first, France and Napoleon would have the most influence over the partitioned Ottoman Empire, with them only throwing bones to keep Spain, Austria and Russia satisfied (or at least not rebellious).

And then who's to assume Napoleon's Empire will still fall apart? With a Holy War to unite them, Russia and Spain might stay in France's orbit for a bit longer, and Napoleon might just not start the Peninsular War at all.

If it does still fall apart, though, it really depends on the circumstances. Did this Rhomaion State switch sides near the end or remain neutral? Then it remains, although it's losing a French ally. Remember that Russia and Austria wouldn't really either have too many ambitions concerning the Aegean at this point. Russia's stated goal is to protect the Orthodox Christians in the area, and they would already have expanded a lot assuming a partitioned Ottoman Empire (most of OTL Romania, the Northern Coast of Anatolia, historical Armenia, the Caucasus, all likely to be controlled by Russia. It's hard to take that and then expand even more). Austria may take over all of Serbia, or they may not.

Assuming this Rhomaion State fights with France until the bitter end, that really depends on who has the upper hand in negotiations. Dismantling the whole thing will be a tricky endeavor, and returning Ottoman rule wouldn't be easy to justify- these are oppressed Christians, after all.
 
Last edited:
Austria gets influence over the west (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, Greece, Albania) and Russia gets influence over the east (Romania, Bulgaria, Thrace, straits)

That´s a lot to Austria. And what about France? Anatolia, Arabia and North Africa? Maybe Russia gets Armenian areas plus Greek speaking areas along the Black Sea coast? I guess France would at least want to have a partial control over the straits, although Russia would probably get Constantinople. Maybe France would want Greece under French "protection". Russia would probably not be to happy with Austria (or France) controlling orthodox countries, but I guess they could accept it if they managed to get Constantinople.
 
Last edited:
Sorry to rain on this parade, but in actual history, the Ottoman Empire and Napoleonic France were consistently allies. This changed somewhat after Tilsit, as the Porte was understandably irritated at what they perceived as the French throwing them under the bus to make peace with Russia, even there, Napoleon actually attempted to extract some concessions for the Ottomans at Tilsit.
On the other hand, Napoleon being Napoleon, him deciding to attack the Ottoman Empire, perhaps as a way to tie both Austria and Russia to him more closely, is not impossible. But I don't know that it was ever considered. After all, it would benefit Austria and Russia a lot more than France. And France had some serious political and commercial interests in the Near East that the Porte consistently guaranteed.
 
Sorry to rain on this parade, but in actual history, the Ottoman Empire and Napoleonic France were consistently allies. This changed somewhat after Tilsit, as the Porte was understandably irritated at what they perceived as the French throwing them under the bus to make peace with Russia, even there, Napoleon actually attempted to extract some concessions for the Ottomans at Tilsit.
On the other hand, Napoleon being Napoleon, him deciding to attack the Ottoman Empire, perhaps as a way to tie both Austria and Russia to him more closely, is not impossible. But I don't know that it was ever considered. After all, it would benefit Austria and Russia a lot more than France. And France had some serious political and commercial interests in the Near East that the Porte consistently guaranteed.

Spain and France were consistently allies. Russia and France were consistently allies. It's not very hard to imagine a situation where Napoleon would turn on France and draw in Austria, Russia, and Spain for a mass partition. Just because it was never considered IOTL doesn't mean circumstances couldn't change.
 
What point of time between 1700 and 1900 would be the most likely for a partitioning of the Ottoman Empire? And how could it have been done?

If you get the right coalition together you can basically do it any time you want.

For example; if Austria either never loses Silesia in the war of Austrian Secession or gets it back in the Seven Years' War, Prussia ends up drastically weakened. This releves a whole lot of pressure from Austria, who is then free to make an agreement with Russia about the division of the Balkans. Have France distracted by some other war (like for example with Britain) and after that just have the Austro-Russian alliance win big in the war and reach Constantinople. The two powers divide the Ottoman's former European posessions between themselves, either by annexation or setting up client states. At this point the Ottoman Empire has taken such a savage loss that further partitions of its Middle Eastern and African territories should happen fairly easily.
 
Spain and France were consistently allies. Russia and France were consistently allies. It's not very hard to imagine a situation where Napoleon would turn on France and draw in Austria, Russia, and Spain for a mass partition. Just because it was never considered IOTL doesn't mean circumstances couldn't change.

You meant the Ottomans, right? :p
 
You meant the Ottomans, right? :p

Of course not. We all know that Napoleon's goal all along was to restore rightful clay to his homeland.

Napoleonic Corsica.png
 
Top