In 1882 the Arabi Pasha revolt broke out in Egypt, and the sultan at the outset en couraged it, as being directed against the grow ing dictation of Europe personified principally by the Dual Control. The viceroy Ismail had been deposed and held a prisoner in Constan tinople, and his son Tewfik was running with hare and hounds, being also in partial sym pathy at first with Arabi and his army, whom he knew to be working with the tacit approval of his suzerain. Later on, when the British expedition arrived, Tewfik threw over the rebels, though it was he who gave the order to return the fire of the British fleet. The sultan was invited to send his own troops to Egypt, but for some reason never made clear he de clined the British invitation. The result has been the definite loss of Egypt, although the suzerainty had already become purely nominal under Ismail. By 1885 the Ottoman Empire had been shorn of Serbia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, eastern Rumelia, Egypt, Cyprus, Tunis and Thessaly. A comparative calm reigned after the settlement of the Bulgarian question and Abdul Hamid devoted himself principally to improving his army and extin guishing all internal opposition to his arbitrary rule. It was not until the Armenian questior loomed upon the horizon that European diplo macy again roused itself to activity on the shores of the Bosporus, though there was now different grouping of influences. Since the war, Russia had been viewed with justified mis trust, and the sultan had leaned upon the Triple Alliance, headed by the German em peror, who had almost openly posed as hii friend and protector in Europe, as Great Britain had bound herself to he in Asia. When Abdul Hamid saw signs of disruption between mem bers of the Triplice, and England drifting into trouble both with Russia and France, who were joining hands, he decided to reverse his policy and turn to Russia as a friend. No exact date can be fixed for this change, but it may roughly be said to have been inaugurated about 1889-90. It was at this time that the beginnings of dis orders in Armenia were reported. Early in 1890 the churches of Erzerum were broken into and profaned, while a score of Armenians were killed and wounded. The Armenians then de cided that their only hope of salvation was, at any cost, to bring about European interven tion. The a Russian branch, instituted a system of anarchism, bombs and dynamite, by which they counted on provoking the sultan to such massacres as should force the intervention of Europe. So far as the massacres went, their calculation was correct; but Russia, who was distinctly opposed to any establishment of an autonomous or independent Armenia, invari ably hampered any proposal for active coercion of the sultan. That monarch, being confident of the non-participation of Russia, if not of her positive help in case of any act of force by other European powers, and also being steadily encouraged by Germany, took little heed of the threats and warnings issued by a Concert no three of whose members had the same views and almost all of whom were cer tain to protect him from aggression on the part of any one power that might attempt such a thing. The Sassun massacres of January 1895 brought more protests from European govern ments, to which the sultan replied that he was then engaged upon a project of reforms which he hoped to communicate within a month. Nothing happened up to September, however, when the Armenians organized a demonstration at the Porte, which was followed at once by a wholesale butchery all over Stambul, Galata and Pera., This was only a beginning, and for the next few months there was scarcely a dis trict in Asia Minor which did not run red with the blood of Armenians. In spite of the most energetic paper remonstrances of the Powers singly, collectively and in groups, not a single individual was punished. At first, after the Convention of Cyprus, the task of guarding the rights of the Christian population was supposed to devolve chiefly upon Great Britain, who ap pointed military consuls and up to a certain point succeeded in remedying a few abuses. But toward 1890— as soon as Russia had come to some terms with Turkey— Great Britain lost all influence. She appealed to all the sig natories to the Berlin Treaty when the Sassun massacres tookplace, but only France and Russia responded, and they, apparently, only to prevent England from acting alone. The re form scheme eventually submitted by the six am bassadctrs, quite apart from its inherent defects, was foredoomed to failure from the certain knowledge of the sultan that Russia did not really recognize the existence of any Armenia; also that Germany had no particular interest in Asia Minor, as she carelessly stated, and that England did not consider the scheme as sufficiently guaranteed, but wanted something more which the other Powers would not back her in asking or obtaining. In fact, directly England wished to insist upon an immediate and categorical answer from the sultan, Prince Lobanoff wired from Saint Petersburg to the Russian Ambassador that "in no case would Russia co-operate in coercive measures, nor, indeed, would she consent to the establishment of a privileged Armenian province or provinces° (which England was pressing for) "to serve as a nucleus for a possible future Armenian king dom.° After months of fruitless discussion the
sultan again emerged triumphantly from the contest by substituting another scheme of his own — which never materialized.
Having thus entirely defeated the fictitiously united Powers, the sultan turned his attention to the Young Turkey party, a group or relic of the Midhat faction which aimed at the re generation of the empire by utilizing the best Moslem elements without interference or con trol from Europe. Its first article was minis terial responsibility, as opposed to palace au tocracy, with ultimate ideas of representative chambers for legislation which should put an end to the worst abuses and raise the country from the slough of corruption into which it had fallen. In short, the Young Turks' object was to curb the arbitrary exercise of power by the sultan and give to every Turk and Christian some sort of legal status, though it was scarcely likely, having got rid of Midhat Pasha and all his associates by means of trumped-up charges and judicial murders, that Abdul Hamid would permit the seed sown by them to ripen and bear fruit. The chief sources of danger were the Sof tas and the students in the naval and military academies. Accordingly, these were mercilessly pursued with torture. drowning, beating and exile. As he had cowed the Armenians, so the sultan resolved to break the spirits of the Young Turks. Unlike the Armenians, they had not the passive sympathy of foreigners behind them, and they lacked the necessary finances. Not that cash was wanting among the people, but any man who ventured to subscribe was sure to be denounced and spirited away.
At the beginning of 1897 the sultan was probably stronger than ever before, despite the furious assaults made upon him by ostensibly united Europe. The Cretans once more broke out into revolt. Not only did the Powers refuse to let the sultan send more troops to the islands, but demanded that a large portion of those already there should be withdrawn. The Greeks then landed'an expeditionary force under Colonel Vassos and proclaimed the island annexed to Greece, but the Powers protested and blockaded Vassos with a mixed fleet. The sultan speedily mobilized a large army on the Thessalian, Bulgarian and Serbian frontiers. Despite all warnings from the Powers, the Greeks raided Turkish territory and the sultan declared war upon Greece, with the consent, be it noted, of the Powers them selves. In a few weeks Greece was beaten to her knees, and now the Concert headed by Russia intervened, deprived the Turks of the spoils of victory, ordered them to evacuate conquered Greek territory and created the island an autonomous state under the high commissionership of Prince George of Greece, an arrangement which lasted till 1906. By the Balkan wars of 1912-13 Crete was finally annexed to Greece.
The outstanding events of Turkish history during the first 15 years of the 20th century were the perennial Macedonian feuds, an irregular civil war between Serbians and Albanians on one hand and Greeks and Bulgars on the other, both being freely assisted by guerrilla bands from beyond the frontier. Bulgarian villages were attacked and their inhabitants assaulted or murdered by Greeks, while sanguinary conflicts occurred between Turkish troops and Bulgarian bands. The international gendarmerie established by the Powers was unable to cope with the insurgents, and its operations were impeded by the in efficiency and corruption of the judiciary. A revolt in Yemen and the lack of funds pre vented the sultan from dealing with the difficulties besetting him on all sides. In 1907 the Porte, still suzerain over Bulgaria, made remonstrance to the latter as to the persecution of the Greeks. All the Balkan states seemed on the verge of war; European intervention was powerless; massacre and outrage continued. The Turkish revolution, engineered by the Young Turks, broke out in 1908. Almost bloodless in execution, it led to the revival of the dormant Constitution and the prorogued Parliament of 1878. Abdul Hamid accepted the inevitable and transformed himself into an ardent reformer and a pattern sovereign ac cording to the best Western models. He sud denly became almost the most popular person in the empire. On 5 Oct. 1908 Prince Ferdinand proclaimed himself tsar of Bulgaria and de clared his absolute independence of Turkey; Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. Abdul Hamid was dethroned in 1907 and ban ished to Salonica; he died on 10 Feb. 1918. His brother, Mohammed V, succeeded to the throne and soon became a helpless puppet in the hands of the Young Turk leaders, Enver Bey and Talaat Pasha. Italy declared war on Turkey in 1911 and took Tripoli. Before that war was ended the Balkan League declared war on Turkey in 1912, which was followed by another war among the members of the league in 1913, the results of which were destined to have im portant consequences in the great European War which broke out in the following year. All the events here touched upon will be found fully described under the different headings given in the list of cross-references below. Separate articles are also devoted to all the prominent characters concerned. See ABDUL