Earlier partitioning of the Ottoman Empire

Deleted member 67076

Mahmoud II dies before having kids. At the time he was the sole surviving Ottoman clan. Being a dynastic state, the empire simply won't last without him.
 
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.

Agreed. It was the Prussians that propped up the Ottoman from 1763 to 1791. Otherwise, Austria and or Russia would have overrun the Ottoman's European proncinces.
 
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.

Of course. I never said it is impossible in an ATL.
But since the OTL alliance between Napoleon and the Porte seemed overlooked in this discussion, I felt the need to point it out.
 
Agreed. It was the Prussians that propped up the Ottoman from 1763 to 1791. Otherwise, Austria and or Russia would have overrun the Ottoman's European proncinces.

Agreed, in 1781 Au and Ru discussed (but did not finalize) a partition plan for the OE in Europe:

~ Russia would get the Crimea and the Black Sea coast up to Bessarabia and coastal Pontus in the north of Asia Minor;
~ Bess., Moldavia and Walachia would be combined into a Principality of Dacia (probably under Catherine's favorite Potemkin);
~ Austria would get (Northern) Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and formerly Venetian Istria and Dalmatia;
~ Venice would be compansated with Morea (Pelopponese), Cyprus and Crete;
~ the remainder of Greece, Macedonia, Thracia and Bulgaria would become a renewed Greek Empire under Catherine's grandson Constantine (the younger brother of later Tsar Alexander I.)
~ France would get Egypt or another part of North Africa if they would desert their traditional Ottoman ally (but they didn't);
~ Great Britain and Spain would be compansated in the Levant or North Africa, if necessary.
~ IIRC, Russia at least contemplated giving Mesopotamia to Persia in exchange for the Caucasus.

The Russo–Turkish War of 1787–1792 and the parallel Austro–Turkish War of 1787–1791 were inconclusive, and Joseph II.s death in 1790 (and the French revolutionary wars) ended the whole thing.
 
the remainder of Greece, Macedonia, Thracia and Bulgaria would become a renewed Greek Empire under Catherine's grandson Constantine (the younger brother of later Tsar Alexander I.)


This is the part that in my opinion is not plausible. After all you have given Morea to Venice but created a "Greek empire" with probably more Turks, Bulgars, and Albanians than Greeks.

As weak as the central government of the Ottomans was; local leaders like Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, Ali Pasha of Yanina and other "notables" held tight control of their localities. They were not afraid to make treaties with other countries, depose sultans, and attempt reforms. However they were still very much part of the Ottoman system.
 
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