Numberless reforms were now projected for the better administration of the empire. The people were, however, hardly prepared for so many changes, and the sultan's proj ects cost him his throne and life. The occupation of Egypt by the French brought on a war between them and the Turks, in which the latter, by the aid of the _British, were successful in regaining their lost terrin.ries. In revenge for the defeat of his Egyptian expedition, Napoleon contrived to entrap the sultan into a war with Russia and Britain, which Wes confined to a struggle in Egypt, hrwhich the British were worsted.— After the ephemeral reign of SIUSTAI'A IV. (1807-8), the able and energetic Mahmud II. (q.v.) (1808-39) ascended the throne; and though his dominions were curtailed by the loss of Greece. which established its independence, and of the • country between the Dniester and the Pruth, which, by the treaty of Bucharest in 1812, was surrendered to Russia, the reformation he effected in all departments of the administration checked the decline of the Ottoman empire. Egypt, during his reign, attempted unsuccessfully to throw off the authority of the sultan (see MEITEMET AU, IBRAHIM PASHA).— Ills rem, A Bout-Ms:ono (1839-61), continued the reforms commenced in the previous le but the czar, thinking that the dissolution of the Ottoman empire was at bend. cot stretly tried to from the sultan seine acknowledgment of er r!ght of interfere nee with the internal affairs of the country. It. was an attempt. of this sort to obtain the e:clu sive protectorate of the members of the Greek church in Turkey that brought on the " Crimean war" of 1853-55, in which the Turks w ere effectively snpported by England, France, and Sertlinin. The treaty of Paris (1856) restored to Turkey the coninnunl of both sides of the lower Danube, excluded the czar from his assumed protectorate over the Danubiaut principalities, and eloeed the Black sea against all ships of war. 'rho pule, apparently adopted into the family of European nations, made proclamation of equal civil rights to all the races and creeds of the Turkish dominions. But a mas sacre of Christians in Lebanon and at Damascus provoked western intervention in 1860. Alalul-Medlid. whose last years Were disgraced by irrational profuseness of expenditure, was succeeded by his brother Annul: Am in 1861. Meanwhile the nominally subject peoples of 31ohlavin and Wallachia ventured to unite themselves into the one state of Emimania; and in 1866 the empire, becorniug more and more en•eehled through its rupt administration, had to look on while the Routnauktus expelled their ruler, and, in the hope of securing western support, chose prince Charles of Hohenzollern to be hered itary prince (dontnu) of the united principalities. The rebellion of Crete in 1866 a severe blow to the integrity of the empire, but was ultimately suppressed iu 1868—in spite of active help from Greece. Servia, already autonomous within her own frontiers. demanded the removal of the Turkish garrisons still maintained in cer tain Serviau fortresses; and in 1867 Turkey saw herself compelled to make this conces sion. In the same year the sultan distinguished the vali of Egypt by granting to him the unique title of khedive (q.v.). The vassal king drew down the wrath of his suzerain in 1870 by negotiating directly with foreign courts, and was compelled to give- formal tokens of vassalage. But later concessions have made the khedive virtually an inde
pendent sovereign. The Russian government took the opportunity of war between Ger many and France to declare, in 1871, that it felt itself no longer bound by that provision of the Paris treaty which forbade Russia to have a fleet in the Black sea; and a London conference sanctioned this stroke of Russian diplomacy. Between 1S54 and 1871 the Turkish debt had increased by more than £116.000,000; and in 1875 the porte was driven to partial repudiation of its debts. An insurrection in Herzegovina in the latter part of 1874 marked the beginning of a very eventful and critical period in the history of the Ottoman empire. The insurrection smoldered on through 1875 and part of 1876, and excited all the neighboring Slavonic peoples. A threatened revolt in Bulgaria in May, 1875, was repressed with much bloodshed; and the merciless cruelty displayed by the bashi-bazonks or Turkish irregulars alienated foreign sympathy from the government. In May Abdul-Aziz was deposed; and his nephew, Munan V., son of Abdul-Medjid, who succeeded him, was destined in turn to make way for his brother, Annut,-HAmfu II., in August of the same year. In June Servia declared war, and Montenegro followed her example. Before the end of the year the Servians were utterly defeated, in spite of the help of many Russian volunteers; but the state of affairs in the Turkish provinces seemed to call for a conference of the great powers at Constantinople. The proposals then made for the better government of the Christian subjects of Turkey were rejected by the Turkish authorities, who had, during the conference, taken the extraordinary step of bestowing a parliamentary constitution on the Ottoman empire. Russia took upon. herself to enforce on Turkey the suggestions of the conference, and ou April 24, 1877, declared war. Both in Armenia and Bulgaria the opening of the campaign was favorable to Russian arms, but later the Turks rallied and seriously checked the hitherto triumphant progress of the invaders. Even after the Russian forces had been greatly augmented. the Turks resisted energetically. Kars, besieged for several months, resisted till the middle of November; Erzeroum did not surrender until after the armistice had been concluded. Osman Pasha, who established himself in Plevna early in July, repelled with brilliant success repeated and determined assaults from a besieging army of Rus sians and Roumanians; and he had so strengthened the fortifications as to be able to hold out until Dec. 10, when he surrendered. Desperate fighting in the Shipka pass had failed to expel the Russians from their position in the Balkans; and within a month of the fall of Plevna the Russians captured the whole Turkish army that was guarding the Shipka pass, and then easily overran Roumelia. The victorious Muscovites occupied Adrianople in Jan., 1878; on the last day of that month an armistice was concluded; and in March the "preliminary treaty" of San Stefano was signed. After grave diplo matic difficulties, owing chiefly to the apparent incompatibility of English and Russian interests, a congress of the powers met at Berlin, and ultimately agreed to that sointion of the "eastern question," discussed under the article TURKEY, which has so seriously affected the area and standing of the Ottoman empire.