Hello everyone, I'm Captain Nemo, and welcome aboard the Nautilus, who takes you on a journey through the ocean of knowledge.
When we think of the modern Ottoman Empire, we generally think of the "sick man of West Asia". However, Europeans never used the term "sick man of West Asia" to refer to the Ottomans, but to the "sick man of Europe." Why the Ottoman Empire is called the "sick man of Europe", the captain will explain it for you.
First, the origin of the sick man of Europe
In December 1825, Nicholas I Pavlovich became the Russian monarch. After taking the throne, he quickly consolidated his rule at home, and then inherited the ambitions of successive Russian monarchs to encroach on European territory and embarked on the road of aggression and expansion.
At that time, the Ottoman Empire was weakened, and in the eyes of Nicholas I, it was simply a lamb to be slaughtered, and became the key object of invasion by Tsarist Russia. From 1828 to 1829, through the Ninth Russo-Turkish War, Tsarist Russia successfully annexed a large area of the Danube River valley and the Caucasus Mountains, which originally belonged to the Ottomans.
From 1831 to 1833, Muhammad Ali Pasha, the governor of the Egyptian province of the Ottoman Empire, openly launched a war against the Istanbul court in order to expand into Syria, provoking the Egyptian-Ottoman War. Then the Egyptian army defeated the Austrian army and approached the imperial capital Istanbul.
The Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II was forced to appeal to the feuding Russia for help, and signed the Treaty of Hunkiel-Skylesi with Nicholas I, which was extremely unfavorable to himself. Earlier, Mahmud II sighed to his minister: "In order to survive, even a poisonous snake must be clung to him!" ”
Then the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Kingdom of France, and Tsarist Russia, fearing that the expansion of Muhammad Ali Pasha would threaten the balance of power in the Near East, stepped in to prevent Egypt's northward expansion. Egypt then declared an armistice under pressure from Britain, France and Russia and other European powers, ending the war.
Nicholas I then wooed Austrian Prime Minister Clemens Wentzel von Metternich to divide the Ottomans and called Ottoman the "sick man of the Bosphorus" (Constantinople is located on the coast of the strait), but Austria refused in order to curb the expansion of Tsarist Russia into the Balkans.
In 1852, as Nicholas I prepared to wage a new war against the Ottomans, he told the British Prime Minister John Russell, who met him: "The Ottomans are but a seriously ill and dying patient, and we must make all arrangements before he falls." ”
In 1853, on the eve of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War, John Russell published his conversation with Nicholas I, calling Ottoman "Sick man of Europe." Subsequently, European countries generally adopted the term "sick man of Europe" to refer to the weak and incompetent Ottoman Empire. Moreover, the Ottoman Empire has always regarded itself as a European country, and the capital is also located in Constantinople on the European side, so there is actually no such thing as the "sick man of West Asia".
Second, the Ottomans and the Sick Man of Europe
In 1299, Ottoman I, the tribal leader of the Ottoman Turks, proclaimed himself sultan, thus establishing the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans then embarked on a path of rapid expansion, which lasted for 400 years, building a powerful empire spanning three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. At the same time, the Ottoman military capabilities not only made him the unquestioned hegemon of eastern Europe, but also surprised and feared Europeans, becoming a nightmare that threatened them for more than 200 years.
By the middle of the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was no longer in its former glory, and its rule on three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa was crumbling. First, he lost the war against the Austrian Habsburgs and lost control of Hungary and other places; Later, he lost repeated wars against Russian invasions and gradually lost control of the Crimean Peninsula and the northern shore of the Black Sea. At this time, the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula rebelled at the instigation of Tsarist Russia, seriously shaking the Ottoman rule over European territory.
After the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War in 1853, Britain and France quickly sent troops to support the Ottomans against Tsarist Russia, successfully crushing Nicholas I's attempt to expand south, and allowing the crumbling Ottoman Empire to last for more than half a century. The Ottomans remained bound to the sick man of Europe for more than half a century until the fall of the empire.
Third, the use of later generations
In 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Allies in fighting against the Entente, but in 1918 the Allies were defeated and the Ottomans disintegrated. In 1922, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI was deposed by the military general Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and the Ottoman Empire fell and was no longer known as the sick man of Europe.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the term "sick man of Europe" became more widespread and was also used to refer to European countries outside the Ottoman Empire. For example, in 1917, Tsarist Russia suffered successive military defeats and domestic resistance movements one after another, and was called the sick man of Europe by the United States.
Since then, the scope of the sick man of Europe has gradually expanded, and as long as there are problems such as slow economic development or sub-health of the people, it will be called the sick man of Europe. For example, in the 1970s, Britain was known as the sick man of Europe because of its weak economy, and its subordinate country, Scotland, was called the sick man of Europe because of the health problems of its residents.