283. Retaining the empire
“All subjects of the empire are indifferently called Otomans, whatever the religion they profess.”
Midhat Pasha, Ottoman Constitution, 1876
“I’m Chukchi writer, not the Chukchi reader”
A popular Soviet joke [2]
“The Balkans aren't worth the life of a single Pomeranian grenadier.”
Bismarck
”There are Slavs and they are numerous; there is no Slavism or it is still very weak and not clear.”
K.N.Leontev
Ottoman Empire.
In 1876 the Ottoman Empire got itself a Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, who was not visibly insane and seemingly did not suffer from mania grandiosa. One of the first things he did was to sign the constitution proposed by his Vizier Midhat Pasha [1]. The constitution provided for
equal rights for all citizens without distinction of race or creed, abolition of slavery, an independent judiciary based on civil (rather than religious) law, universal elementary education, and a bicameral parliament, with a
Senate appointed by the Sultan and a directly elected
Chamber of Deputies. Among other things it promised:
- “The press is free within the limits inscribed by law.”
- “Immovable and movable property, legally fixed, is guaranteed. There can be no alienation of property except for the public benefit, duly certified and after advance payment, according to the law, of the value of the alienated property.”
- “The private dwelling is inviolable. Public power can’t by force enter into the home of anyone, except in cases determined by law.”
- “Personal freedom is completely inviolable. No one, under any pretext, may be subjected to any punishment other than in cases determined by law and in accordance with the forms prescribed by him.”
- The members of the Chamber of the Deputies were provided immunity during the session, unless caught red-handed, and even then only if a majority agrees to investigation.
- There was even a temporary provision for the members of the lower chamber waiving for 4 years a mandatory knowledge of the Turkish language at least on a level of being able to read.
Of course, there were some other items that could be considered less “democratic”:
- His Majesty the Sultan is irresponsible; his personality is sacred and inviolable.
- His Majesty the Sultan, among his supreme rights, enjoys the following prerogatives: he appoints and removes ministers; he grants the ranks, positions and badges of his orders; he gives investment to the heads of privileged provinces, according to the content of the privileges granted to them; he orders to mint a coin; his name is pronounced in mosques during public prayer; he declares war; he concludes peace; he commands over the land and naval forces; he disposes the movements of troops; he orders the enforcement of the decrees of the sharia (holy law) and laws; he issues decrees on public administration; he pardones or modifies the punishments of persons convicted by criminal courts; he convenes and consolidates the national assembly; he dissolves, if he recognizes this as necessary, the house of appointment of new deputies.
- In cases of manifestations of facts or signs that force to anticipate unrest at any point on the territory of the empire, the imperial government has the right to declare a state of siege in this paragraph. The consequences of the state of siege are the temporary termination of civil laws.
In general, constitution was quite on a “mainstream” level and,
logically, would have to please everybody inside and outside the empire. Fat chance:
- The members of international conference simply ignored it existence because they gathered to write the rules, not to read documents written by others. They preferred the 1856 constitution (Islâhat Hatt-ı Hümâyûnu) or the 1839 Gülhane edict (Hatt-ı Şerif), and questioned whether there was need for a parliament to act as an official voice of the people. [3]
- The Ulema and devoted Muslims were considering it being anti-Sharia and an idea of the infidels getting the same rights would require a very serious mental readjustment.
- Some of the provinces referred to in the constitution were alarmed, such as Rumania, Scutari and Albania, because they thought it referred to them having a different change of government or no longer being autonomous from the Empire.
Anyway, with the Constantinople Conference being successfully completed [4], the only thing that Abdul Hamid had
really to fear was the Russian reaction: the rest of the participants could do little on their own, even if they wanted and most of them did not want. Will Russia remain the Ottoman ally or is it going to be seduced by the temptation of gaining something tangible at the Ottoman expense? Or, even worse, would AIII be forced to act against the Ottomans due to the domestic pressure?
When Serbia and Montenegro had been ready to start war with the OE to support rebels of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, Austria and Hungary forced them to abandon that idea.
However, one of the leaders of Slavophiles I.S. Aksakov believed that it was not necessary to seriously rely on the consent of Serbia and Montenegro not to start a war with Turkey. In a letter to V.A. Cherkassky on September 21, 1875, he claimed that "
the uprising is not tamed at all, but only flares up," and Serbia and Montenegro "
will not stand neutrality: the cup of patience is filled and it will go over the edge from the slightest drop. What will happen then? Russia cannot allow Austria to occupy Serbia with its troops. This would be the beginning of the fall for Russia... In short, unless the diplomacy manages to keep the "status quo" and make Herzegovina and Bosnia enjoy some cheeky nonsense - there will be thunder and blows!”
The Orthodox Church also was actively involved in organizing the humanitarian help and this resulted in a wide grass roots support: out of 811,000 rubles of donations collected by the Slavic Committee two third had been coming from the lower classes. Tzar ordered the authorities to take measures "
to curb illegal and inappropriate actions of the committee", referring to its call to raise funds for "fighters for independence". However, the committees kept functioning expecting that the government may use the public opinion for putting pressure upon the OE. In April 1876, the Bulgarian uprising began. Slavic comittees sent them weapons and several Russian officers, Bulgarians of origin, joined the rebels.
The uprising was suppressed in a severe way: the Turks burned 80 villages and ravaged more than 200 settlements. The bulk of Bulgarian refugees were accepted by Romania, Serbia and Montenegro. The latter began to actively prepare for war with the Ottoman Empire. However, the Russian government still hoped to avoid it. Russian Consul General in Belgrade A.N. Kartsov told Serbian Prince Milan that Russia would not help Serbia if it started a war with the Turks. He replied that he could not resist the will of the people who demand to oppose Turkey. In July 1876. Serbia and Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
After that activities of the Slavic Committee intensified: 5 hospitals had been open in Montenegro and the committees of various cities had been sending their doctors to Serbia and Montenegro. In total, 115 doctors, 78 paramedics, 118 nurses, 41 students of the Medical and Surgical Academy were sent to Serbia from Russia.
At that time Serbia was accepting all volunteers; there were many volunteers from different countries, including Russians, Bulgarians, Italian followers of
Giuseppe Garibaldi and Prussian officers, and also Englishmen, Frenchmen, Greeks, Romanians and Poles. The Slavic Committee of Moscow headed by Aksakov started (illegal) recruiting of the volunteers ready to go and fight in Serbia.
Cherry on the top of the cake was general Chernyaev who secretly contacted Prince Milan of Serbia and left for Belgrade. AIII ordered him to return and he refused. Milan appointed him commander-in-chief of the Serbian army, which was a fatal mistake because Chernyaev’s self-esteem did not coincide with his military talents. From the very start of the hostilities the Serbian army had been suffering one defeat after another. Battle of Aleksinac, which happened on September 1st 1876, presented a perfect opportunity to test Dragomirov’s favorite idea regarding spirit being superior to the firepower: Serbian bayonet charge was broken by the Ottoman fire.
The Slavophiles were considering the government’s policy as brainless, insane and heartless. Depending upon the personal preferences, their leaders suspected that it is a dastardly plot of either Britain or Austria. Now they were acting as if they were a government of their own communicating with the foreign officials, recruiting and sending the volunteers for a war.
Some members of the military establishment who were not Slavophiles started expressing “pro-Slavic” sentiments. They were easy to understand: in a generally peaceful country where the last war (quite limited in scope) had been fought more than a decade ago, a big-scale war was the obvious way to get the fast promotions. Of course, they were not
demanding the war, this was pretty much unthinkable, but some inappropriate statements had been made in public by the prominent military figures. Of course, these statements had been made during the banquets and similar occasions and the speakers were usually not 100% sober and could be excused.
By the summer of 1876 AIII saw that he can’t keep ignoring the situation. In his opinion, creation of the small Slavic states on the Balkans will give Russian Empire nothing but a headache because they will immediately start quarreling with each other forcing Russia to take sides and, while counting upon the Russian protection, would give nothing in return [5]. Of course, he had nothing about the doctors traveling to tend the wounded and sick (well, actually, why wouldn’t they tend to the Russian patients instead?) but Aksakov & Co had been steadily becoming more and more annoying forgetting their place. The enthusiasts even called Aksakov “Russian Bismarck” and AIII had no intention to allow the publishing nobody to define Russian foreign policy. Just to get a complete picture, he ordered the chief of the General Staff, general Obruchev, to make a fast estimate of a cost of the possible war and got an answer that it would be in a ballpark of 1,000,000,000 rubles (give or take few millions). On that point even slightest doubts had been gone: AIII was not going to waste such amount of money on the projects unrelated to strengthening Russian Empire.
Operations of the Slavic committees had been taken under the strict government supervision. The medical activities had been permitted but purchasing of the weapons and recruiting volunteers for fighting had been prohibited. The officers itching for action had been warned that those leaving without official permission will be considered deserters and those who are retiring will never be allowed back to the state service. Abdul Hamid had been assured that Russian Empire is not going to abandon its friendly position to the Ottoman Empire. However, it would be a good move to come to a mutual understanding with the Serbs. Abdul Hamid paid attention: a two months armistice had been declared and on 16 February 1877 the OE and Serbia signed a peace treaty reinstating the antebellum situation.
- Slavophiles had been greatly disappointed: their time of glory was over and so was their influence.
- General Obruchev was awarded order of St. Anna 1st class.
- Aksakov was forbidden to continue publishing activities until the further notice. He was, understandably, unhappy but there was no revolution or even a small demonstration in his defense.
- Chernyaev was “immortalized” in Saltykov-Schedrin’s satire “The modern idyll” as “Rededia, a general for hire”.
- The Serbs were happy to get off that easy.
- Disraeli was glad to have this crisis ending but disappointed that AIII did not stick out his neck and Russia was not weakened by an expensive war.
- Bismarck did not give a blip.
- Bunge, Russian Finance Minister, was quite happy.
- The big maneuvers of two military districts provided an opportunity for distributing promotions and awards.
With the peace restored Abdul Hamid II had to turn his attention to other issues.
- The top priority was to build an appropriate residence. Yıldız Palace, meaning "Star Palace", was built in 1880.
- Less pleasant issue was a need to pay debts. In 1875, the nominal public debt was £200,000,000, with annual interest and amortization payments of £12,000,000, more than half the national revenue. Within the following six years it was reduced down to £191,000,000 and in 1881 the Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA) was established. This made the European creditors bondholders, and assigned special rights to the OPDA for collecting various tax and customs revenues within the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the debt was reduced from £191,000,000 to £106,000,000.
- His push for education resulted in the establishment of 18 professional schools, and in 1900, Darulfunun, now known as Istanbul University, was established. He also created a large system of secondary, primary, and military schools throughout the empire.
- The railroad and telegraph systems had been expanded and eventually the Orient Express connected Paris to Constantinople.
- While he, of course, signed the constitution soon after accession, upon serious contemplation and taking into an account the fate of Abdul Azuz, he came to the conclusion that after all a constitutional government was not a good idea and behaved accordingly. The parliament had been called only once, information was tightly controlled and the press was severely censored. A secret police (Umur-u Hafiye) and a network of informants was present throughout the empire and the curriculum of schools was subject to close inspection to prevent dissidence.
All these activities had been met with a sight of relief by the
responsible European politicians: now the Sultan started behaving as a mature and competent ruler and has to be treated accordingly.
Of course, by that time France already annexed Tunisia. Well, it had a valid excuse. The Bey of Tunis, inspired by the Ottoman example, attempted to effect a modernizing reform of institutions and the economy with a predictable result: Tunisian international debt grew unmanageable and the French
had to do something to remedy the situation. After the country declared bankruptcy, the international commission took control over its economy and in 1881 after somebody reported that the armed people looking like the Tunisians had been seen somewhere in Algeria (undeniable act of an aggression), the French invaded with an army of about 36,000 and forced the Bey to agree to the terms of the
Treaty of Bardo (Al Qasr as Sa'id) by which Tunisia was officially made a
French protectorate. Italy was objecting (they were seemingly confused regarding their true place on a totem pole) but why would anybody pay slightest attention? After all, they were permitted to hold that nice sandy beach on the Read Sea shore as their colony and they were allowed to live in Tunisia (which they were doing since the XVI century, anyway).
Back to the subject of being respected, Abdul Hamid was assured by France, Britain and Russia that Tripolitania remains in his possession. This time the Italian government was smart enough not to express its opinion. Actually, Emperor Charles was for a short while entertaining the idea of annexing Tripolitania as well but he was assured by the British and Russian governments that this was not a very good idea and, being an intelligent person, reconsidered.
Ottoman Empire and Egypt. Economy (boring stuff)
By the 1870s both countries were in a bad economic and financial situation but there were nuances which, in a long run, had been favoring the OE (providing there would be no major disasters).
The sweeping changes transforming industrial production worldwide during nineteenth century also had a far-reaching impact on Middle Eastern manufacturing. The region, most of which belonged to the Ottoman Empire, became an exporter of primary commodities and an importer of manufactured goods. Increased integration with the world economy, in part due to steamships and railroads, accelerated the process of its manufacturing decline.
The collapse of
Egyptian industry started in the 1840s, when Muhammad Ali’s policy of state-led industrialization was replaced by one of laissez-faire. The imported raw materials and machinery were taxed at the same rate as finished products. Excise duties were levied on a variety of locally produced goods, notably the 8% duty on local cotton goods. This offset the 8% import tariff, leaving the industry de facto completely unprotected. Egypt represented an extreme case of agricultural specialization. Cotton accounted for more than 80% of total exports in the 1880s. The ACW increased the central importance of the raw fibre, and its share of government and private investment. Unsurprisingly, the second half of the nineteenth century saw only minimal industrial progress, despite considerable foreign investment and dramatic improvements in Egypt’s transportation network: the share of industry (both mechanized and non-mechanized) did not exceed 2.3%. Agriculture, construction, finance, and trade attracted most foreign and domestic investment, being most profitable and relatively less risky. Egyptian industry in the 1870s - 1880s consisted of a small traditional manufacturing sector, co-existing with an even smaller mechanized sector. Employment was dominated by textiles and clothing (53% of employment), both largely non-mechanized. Food processing, which ranked third (17 %), was also dominated by small, mostly unmechanized, family firms. Mechanization started in a few manufacturing sectors, mainly related to elementary raw material processing. Most important were sugar refining and cotton ginning/pressing, accounting for 65.6% of capital invested in industry by the late 1880s.
Turkey’s manufacturing production also declined during the nineteenth century, but less than in Egypt. Cotton textiles provide the most dramatic example, with the share of domestic producers falling from 97 to 25–35% between the 1820s and the 1870s. More than half of the decline involved spinning and weaving by rural households. Most other branches of manufacturing shrank to a lesser extent or were not affected at all, either because the productivity increases in the European core were more limited, and/or because high transportation costs continued to protect Ottoman producers. Finally, exceptional cases such as carpet making and silk reeling saw increases in employment and production, due to growing demand in developed countries.
In the 1860s the OE caved to the British and French pressure to adopt the free trade and low tariffs in exchange to the agreement to supply the modern ironclads and weapons.
After 1870 Ottoman trade growth slowed, and the decline in textile manufacturing moderated and was even reversed in some areas, despite low tariffs. This slower manufacturing decline, which in some regions and sectors led to a process of re-industrialization, was consistent with a reversal in the terms of trade. In some regions, small-scale urban workshops began using imported yarn to expand their output of cotton and mixed cotton cloths to meet local demand. Moreover, while hand spinning continued to decline, the volume of weaving rose, thanks to the imports. Significant amounts of textiles were shipped to long-distance markets elsewhere in Anatolia, Syria, and Egypt. Then, there was establishment of a small number of factories in Turkey, mostly in the western part of the country, in Istanbul and Izmir. Cotton, woollen and silk textiles, food processing, and construction materials such as cement and brick, were the most important branches. Nevertheless, the output of these mechanized factories remained limited when compared with domestic handicraft production. Besides shortage of a capital and skilled workers, low tariffs and open economy conditions were the main determinants of the country’s weak industrial performance.
Nor did the Ottoman (or Egyptian) currency provide any support for domestic manufacturing, being linked to gold. Low tariffs exposed domestic manufacturing to strong competition from abroad. Both countries remained vulnerable to international price shocks: improving terms of trade up to the 1870s contributed to manufacturing decline. The reversal of this trend from the 1870s onwards provided some relief to the import-competing sectors.
Domestic tastes also afforded local handicrafts some staying power. Although European companies attempted to imitate local styles, often they could not do so satisfactorily, and thus there was still demand for domestic cloth, including cotton, woollen, and mixed varieties. Knowledge of local preferences helped domestic manufactures survive in the short run, while imported foreign techniques and foreign managers increased their efficiency and competitiveness in the longer run.
Turkish geography offered more protection to domestic producers. Foreign goods were unable to penetrate regions distant from major trade routes or ports, especially before the railway boom late in the century. High transportation costs also provided considerable protection to domestic producers of bulky, non-textile goods, even in some coastal areas. On the other hand, Egyptian geography left the country more exposed to import penetration. The Nile valley in Lower Egypt, which included the vast majority of the population and cultivated land, represented a more compact and homogeneous area, and was thus easier and less costly to access. Large investments and improvements in transportation networks further facilitated import competition.
There were crucial economic differences between Egypt and Turkey:
- Large-scale commercialization in agriculture, a lack of export diversification, land scarcity, and the existence of powerful landed and foreign interests continued to characterize the Egyptian economy. Even the state-sponsored irrigation programs could not drastically increase size of the agricultural land. The inefficient revenue system based on land taxes, remained a powerful constraint on the government’s fiscal capacity. The government, being under the strong foreign pressure, stuck to the low tariffs for the imports.
- Turkey was different. Commercial agriculture was limited to the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts; the share of exports in national income was smaller; the export basket was more diverse and land was relatively abundant. Turkey was still bound to the low tariff system but had more freedom in changing that situation. With the growing nationalist sentiment among the military and civilian bureaucracy neither local wealthy elites nor foreign powers had been excessively influential in policy making.
__________
[1] He was not a member of the commission that drafted the constitution but played an important part in its adoption.
[2] It was about a Chukchi made a member of the Union of the Soviet Writers (every nation had to be represented in it) and beinasked if he read Lev Tolstoy. I bet that most of the population of the SU did not read his books either unless forced at school and, anyway, shouldn’t people stick to their professions? 😉
[3] Which was a very interesting position for the countries with the parliaments of their own. But they were civilized and the Ottomans were not. Anyway, constitution of 1856, while formally guaranteeing the equal rights of the minorities, was clearly making them into the separate entities all the way to creating “mixed tribunals” to handling the cases involving different religions.
[4] As in, each side did not pay attention to what other side is saying and the whole charade ending without any action besides a written reprimand to the Ottomans regarding atrocities in Bulgaria.
[5] This is ITTL, not OTL. 😜
