Conference of Constantinople

Participant in the conference

The Conference of Constantinople ( Turkish Tersane Konferansı ) was a conference of representatives of the great European powers that took place from December 12, 1876 to January 20, 1877 in Constantinople (now Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire , at the urging of Great Britain . It was an attempt to solve the Balkan crisis on an international or multinational level and thus prevent another Russian-Ottoman war . This attempt failed because of the Ottoman Empire's unwillingness to compromise, and because of bilateral Russian-Austrian agreements.

procedure

The territory of the Bulgarian Exarchate

Bulgarian borders projected at the conference

At the conference a plan for greater autonomy for Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as for Bulgaria within the Ottoman Empire should be worked out, which should prevent a possible war between the Russian Tsarist Empire and the Ottoman Empire. However, as early as July 1876, Austria-Hungary and Russia had agreed to partition the Ottoman Empire in the Reichstadt Convention . At the Conference of Constantinople, the boundaries of a Bulgarian political entity were described for the first time in modern times, which, although oriented towards the expansion of the sphere of influence of the Bulgarian exarchate , were supposed to be less extensive. This Bulgaria should be meridionally divided into two autonomous (formally still subordinate to the Ottoman Sultan) provinces, in which Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire should help organize the political administration.

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  Western Bulgaria was to become an Austro-Hungarian zone of influence

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  Eastern Bulgaria was to become a Russian zone of influence

However, the assembled ambassadors found no solution. The reform proposals aimed primarily at strengthening foreign influence were rejected by the Ottoman Assembly of Notables, with reference to the internal reforms that had already been initiated by the Ottoman constitution, which was also introduced in December 1876 . The conference also failed because of the conflicting positions of Russia and Great Britain on the one hand and Austria-Hungary and Germany on the other. However, during the conference in January 1877, Austria-Hungary and Russia agreed on the Budapest Treaty to divide the Ottoman Empire after the impending war.

Shortly thereafter, the Russo-Ottoman War broke out, which ended with the Peace of San Stefano . The end of the Balkan crisis finally brought the Berlin Congress in the summer of 1878 .

Representative

• France : Comte Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Damaze de Chaudordy
• Austria-Hungary : Count Franz von Zichy , ambassador in Constantinople
• Russia: Count Nikolai Pawlowitsch Ignatjew , Ambassador to Constantinople
• Italy : Conde de Corti. Ambassador to Constantinople.
• Great Britain: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury , Secretary of State for India and Henry Elliot, British Ambassador to Constantinople
• German Empire: Baron Karl von Werther , Ambassador to Constantinople
• Ottoman Empire: Grand Vizier Midhat Pascha , Saffet Pascha (later Grand Vizier ) and Edhem Pascha .

map

• Bulgaria within the borders under the Treaties of Constantinople, San-Stephano, Berlin, London, Bucharest and Neuilly. Map on a scale of 1: 1600000.

literature

• Robert William Seton-Watson : Disraeli, Gladstone and the Eastern Question: A Study in Diplomacy and Party Politics , London 1935 (Reprint: New York: WW Norton & Co., 1972. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-393-00594 -3 )
• George Washburn: Fifty Years in Constantinople and Recollections of Robert College . Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1909. pp. 115-119. ISBN 978-1-4067-0530-0
• H. Sutherland Edwards: Sir William White KCB, KCMG, For Six Years Ambassador at Constantinople . London: John Murray, 1902.
• GE Buckle, WF Monypenny: The Constantinople Conference, in: The Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield . Vol. VI, p. 84.
• The Eastern Question. The Constantinople Conference. What May Be Expected from the Meeting. The Foreign Representatives and How They Are Treated. The Report of the American Consul General. Various items of interest. In: New York Times, December 31, 1876.
• Turkey and the Great Powers. The Constantinople Conference. The Commissioners' Last Proposals to the Porte. An Ultimatum Presented the Great Dignitaries of State to Decide Upon an Answer. New York Times, January 16, 1877.
• Conference de Constantinople. Réunions Préliminaires. Compte rendu No. 8th séance du December 21, 1876. Annexe III Bulgarian. Règlement organique.
• Correspondence respecting the Conference at Constantinople and the affairs of Turkey: 1876–1877. Parliamentary Papers No 2 (1877). P. 140.
• Further Correspondence respecting the affairs of Turkey. (With Maps of proposed Bulgarian Vilayets). Parliamentary Papers No 13 (1877).
• LS Stavrianos: Constantinople Conference , in: The Balkans Since 1453 . Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963.
• Sneh Mahajan: British Foreign Policy, 1874-1914: The role of India . London, New York: Routledge, 2002. p. 40.
• Raymond Detrez: Historical dictionary of Bulgaria , Scarecrow Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8108-3177-5 , p. 175

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Revista extranjera ilustrada (PDF; 424 kB) in La Ilustración Española y Americana , 1876, edition LXVI, p. 363
2. ↑ ^{a b} Historical dictionary of Bulgaria, p. 175
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Vladimir Petrovich Potjomkin : History of diplomacy. Volume 2: The Diplomacy of Modern Times 1872–1919. SWA-Verlag, Berlin 1948, pp. 46f and 54.
4. ↑ Simeon Radew : The builders / creators of modern Bulgaria. Volume 3 (bulg. "Строителите на съвременна България. Том 3"), 2008, ISBN 978-954-9384-12-3