This book focuses on the Eastern Crisis of 1839-41, closely examining the first instance of coordinated Western intervention in the Middle East during the modern era. Readers can explore topics such as how culture, domestic politics, and ideology shaped diplomacy in this landmark crisis, and the importance role played by religion - including, alongside mainstream Christianity, the Protestant Zionist movement. Highly informative and fully researched, this book suggests that the Eastern Crisis - and its associated diplomatic and military efforts - marked the first of many modern-era attempts to improve the region by moulding it in a Western image, providing scholars with a new perspective on this period of history.
1. Three Ships
This introductory chapter provides key background on the Eastern Crisis, such as on the diplomatic and military narrative. It introduces the main protagonists, including the French premier Adolphe Thiers, Lord Palmerston, Metternich, and his Prussian counterpart Werther. The introduction also differentiates the book from existing works on the crisis and on nineteenth-century European diplomacy. Finally, it touches on the European Oriental renaissance, on ambassadorial roles and the contents of the consular correspondence, and the role and nature of the contemporary press and public opinions.
2. Shifting Sands
This makes the point that policy, far from being the immutable product of geographic imperative, was shaped by domestic pressures and opinions. Palmerston was compelled to tender his resignation in 1840 when the cabinet refused to sign his treaty. Louis-Philippe and Thiers both owed their careers to the press and were the creatures of the great Paris dailies. In Russia, factions of Orthodox nationalists and Westernisers competed for the Tsars attention, causing priorities to shift betwelc-
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