The Invention of the Eastern Questionrecounts the gripping and dramatic history of how the Russian Empire's invasion of Ottoman Crimea reshaped global politics at the dawn of the nineteenth century. Through the lives of Scottish diplomat Sir Robert Liston and his wife Henrietta (n?e Marchand) Liston, the book follows the emergence of the Eastern Question- the most dangerous, enduring and complex international relations issue of the century that would claim millions of lives until the 1920s. Drawing on the Listons' official and private letters, personal diaries and a trove of Austrian, British, Dutch, French, Ottoman, and Russian archives, Ozan Ozavci reveals the importance of the art of negotiation in the age of revolutions, showing how the choices of a few people shaped empires, stirred tensions, and left a legacy that would haunt global imperial relations long after the Listons left the world stage.
Providing a new analysis of Euro-Ottoman relations at a crucial historical juncture, the book will be of great interest to scholars of history and International Relations.
A diplomatic and contrapuntal history of the emergence of Robert Liston, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century and the emergence of the 'Eastern Question'.
Ozan Ozavciis Associate Professor of Transimperial History at Utrecht University, Netherlands. He is the author of
Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798-1864(2021) and
Intellectual Origins of the Republic: Ahmet Agaoglu and the Genealogy of Liberalism in Turkey(2015).
The Invention of the Eastern Questionconstitutes a masterful combination of new diplomatic history and research on the Eastern Question, uncovering the complex dynamics on the ground. While the book focuses on one individual, it effectively illustrates the workings of trans- and inter-imperial politics, reaching the full potential of a global microhistory. CEUls&
![The Invention of the Eastern Question: Sir Robert Liston and Ottoman Diplomacy in the Age of Revolutions [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/7/1/4/2_7041316.jpg "The Invention of the Eastern Question: Sir Robert Liston and Ottoman Diplomacy in the Age of Revolutions [Hardcover]")