Chapter 1 - The Eastern Question

 

The Eastern question

 

Describes the weakening position of the Ottoman Empire in the

19th century that in its peak included Hungary, Rumenia, Bulgaria,

Yoguslavia, North Africa, Arab countries from the Atlantic to the Persian gulf.

In 1768 a war broke out between  Turkey and Russia which occupied the Crimea, invaded Rumenia and approached Kushta. Catherine the great(1729-1796) who was a German princess ruled Russia between 1762 to 1796. A Russian fleet went out from St. Peterburg entered the Med thru Gibraltar and annihilated the Turkish fleet in the bay of  Chesme in the South of Turkey in 1770.  A peace treay was signed in 1774 in Kucuk- Kainarji, a small town which is today in Bulgaria. Russia gained territories  along the Black sea and free passage in the Bosphoros and Dardanelles Straites. Russia was recognized as the defender of the Christian  Orthodoes in the Ottoman Empire.

In the years 1790 until his death Ali the lion from Yanina(1750-1822) was the local ruler in Greece and Albania and managed to maneuver between

London, Paris and Kushta(Constatinopol in Hebrew) to stay in power.

In 1799  General Napoleon occupied Egypt, invaded Palestine, failed to occupy Acre returned to France and became the Emperor. In 1801 Turkey supported by Britain and Russia succeded to expel the French from Egypt. Muhamad Ali(1769-1849), an Albanian, became the governor of Egypt and his descendants ruled Egypt until the 1952 revolution.

The British had a predominant position in Egypt after quelling the Urabi rebellion in 1879 until Nasr became the ruler of Egypt in 1953.

Between the years 1807 to 1812 Russia and Turkey waged war in Rumenia

and ended in the Bucarest agreement in May 1812. The region north to the Prut river(flowing from Moldavia into the Danube in Rumenia) fell into

 Russian control and the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia became autonomous under Turkish rule.

In 1821 the Greeks rebeled against Turks and in 1825 the Sultan Mahmud the second (1785-1839) who ascended the throne in 1808 asked Muhamad Ali for help . He sent his adopted son Ibrahim heading the Egyptian expedition who was very successful fighting the Greeks who were supported by Britain and Russia. In 1826 the Sultan massacered thousands of Janissaries(his personal guard) who tried to topple him. In the summer of 1827 the  five Powers – Britain, Russia, France, Prussia and Austria to send a naval force under the command of the British  admiral Codrington(1770-1851) and they annihilated the Turkish- Egyptian fleet in the battle of Navarino. Ibrahim returned to Egypt in 1828 and Greece became independent in 1829 and the Bavarian prince Otto became their first king.

In 1828 war broke out between Turkey and Russia who invaded from the Notrh-East and occupied Erzerum and also from the West and reached Adrianopol near Kushta. In Octobre 1829 the Adrianopol treaty was signed and Armenia and Georgia became part of Russia. In the West the Russians reached Constanza(today part of Rumenia) where the Danube flows into the Black sea, Serbia became independent and the Russians became very influential in Greece.

The Egyptian invasion

In the summer of 1831 Muhamad Ali army invaded Palestine which was under Turkish rule under the command of Ibrahim. Acre was conquered after a siege a siege of a few months and then also Damascus was conquered. Muhamad Ali tried to negotiate an agreement with the Sultan,

without success, and Ibrahim invaded Anatolia and defeated the Turkish army in Konya in December 1832, 200km from Kushta. The Sultan under duress called for Russian help and they sent a contingent of soldiers. But this move did not prevent Muhamad Ali from achieving a diplomatic victory. According to the Kutayah treaty signed in March 1833 Muhamad  Ali became de facto the ruler  of Syria, Palestine and the district of Adana in South Turkey which was rich in wood.

As part of the Russuan aid to Turkey a Russian diplomat, general Alexei Orlov(1787-1862) in May 1833. In July 1833 the Unkiar Isklesi(the Royal Quay on the Bosphorous agreement was signed  which was a defence alliance between  Turkey and Russia The agreement lasted until 1841 and it contained a secret clause which enabled the Russians can ask the Turks to close the Straits.

In 1833 the new British ambassador to Kushta John Ponsoby(1770-1855) was worried by the growing influence of Russians in Kushta and their attempts to gain a foothold in India and Persia. Ponsoby and the

Sultan tried to convince the British foreign  minister Lord Palmerton

(1784-1865) who dominated British policy from 1830 to 1865, to send

The British navy to stop Muhamad Ali  but he rejected the proposal.

In 1834 many new European embassies were reopened which were closed

 In 1804 during the reign of the Sultan Selim the third (1761-1807, reigned

from 1789). In spite of being very unwell the Sultan decided to send the army to Nesivin  in north Syria. The army was defeated by Ibrahim and the the Sultan  died in the mid of the battle. The Tutkish navy fled to Alexandria and asked Muhamad Ali for asylum fearing a Russian takeover.

In Novmbre 1839 the new Sultan Abdul Majid the first, 16 years old,

 (1821-1861) signed the Gulhana( the Roses square on the Marmara sea)

This was the first part of the Tanzimat(reforms) which created a Constitutional council and reformed taxaton' the army,judicial system,

human rights which were initiated by the  foreign minister Muhamad Rashid who was previously the Turkish ambassador in London. The

reforms aimed  also to improve the image of Turkey in Europe.

Palmerston was afraid of the collapse of the Ottoman empire ordered the British navy to  block the naval routes between Syria and Egypt to force

Muhamad Ali to retreat to Egypt.  In July 1839 the big Powers sent a letter supporting the  new Sultan. The French tried to support the Egyptians and only in July 1840 Britain, Russia, France, Austria, and Prussia reached an agreement to force Egypt to retreat.

In Septembre 1840 admiral Robert Stopford(1768-1860) the commander of the Btitish navy to bombard Beirut. The Lebanese Amir Bashir the ally of Muhamad Ali deserted him and joined the Sultan. In October 1840

vice admiral Charles Napier(1768-1860) conquered Beirut and in November Acre. At the end of November Napier signed an agreement which granted Muhamad Ali and his descendants  the rule of Egypt.

Ibrahim left Damascus un Decembre and in his retreat was harassed by the local population proceeded to Gaza and in February 1841 Egypt.

In June 1841 the "straits agreement" was signed between the Great Powers

in London between the Great Powers and Turkey which specified the terms of passage in the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles.

The Crimean war

The tension between the Russians the protectors of the Greeks in the Holy land and the French protector of the Latins became stronger in the 1840's

and broke into the open after the disappearance of the Silver S tar from the Church of Nativity in Beth Lehem. Nikolai the Russian tsar(1796-1855)

from 1825 when he ascended the throne after his brother the first died.

In France the Napoleon the third(1808-1873) who became the ruler in 1849 wanted to gain the support of the Catholics. In December 1852 he declared himself  Emperor but Nikolai in contrast to the other powers refused to recognize him as the Emperor. In 1851 the French ambassador in Kushta  Lavalette tried to gain previliges for the Franciscans but was opposed by the Russian ambassador and the Sultan

reconfirmed the "status quo" without any changes in 1852.

Nikolai the first called Turkey " the sick man of Europe". He visited London in 1844 and got the impression that England was ready to devide Turkey. In  February 1853 nikolai sent general Menshikovto Kushta to present an ultimatum to the Sultan to recognize the special status of the

Russians. The Turks rejected the ultimatum with the support of thr British  ambassador Stratord – Canning(1786-1880) who served in Kushta in the years 1825 -1828 and 1841 to 1858. The Russian consul I Beyrut Bazili  left his post at the end of 1852 because of the deterioration in the relations between Russia and Turkey.

Menshikov left Kushta at the end of May 1853and the relations between the two countries were severed. George Seymour the new ambassador was called back and Canning returned  on a British battleshipin April 1853. In June, squadrons of the British navy arrived in the Dardanelles

and the Russians crossed the Prut river and occupied Bucarest. At the end of November 1853 the Russians destroyed the Turkish navy in Sinope in the Black Sea. In January 1854 squadrons of the British and French navies entered the Black Sea and war was declared on the 28 of March 1854. In August the Russians agreed to retreat from the Rumenian  principalities and were replaced by Austrian forces and in September fifty thousands British and French soldiers landed in the Crimea. In March 1855 Nikolai died and his son Alexander the second became the new tsar. A great part of the Russian troops were  held up in Poland and the Caucasus. In September after a siege which laste more than a year Sevastopol was occupied. Lev Tlostoy was among the Russian, an officer age 26 and later was inspired to write a nvel called

"Sevastopol ". Two important forts, Kerch and Unikale were conquered

and the Russians decided to end the war.  In February 1856 peace conference was held in Paris and the peace agreement was signed 

on the 30 of March in Paris. The Sultan agreed on freedom of religion and in Paris.  The Sultan agreed to recognize freedom of religion in his empire with special emphasis upholding the rights of the Christian communities and demilitarizing the Black sea and no naval forces.

It was also agreed that the Rumenian principalities will enjoy an Haimautonomous status under Turkish suzerainty  and not under Russian one as it was since 1829.

The Berlin Congress

In 1876 Turkey had a big financial debt to European Banks. Haim Guedalla(1815-1904) who was a banker and relative of Montefiore and accompanied him on his trip to Palestine in 1855. He was the chairman of the Turkish Bondholders of the general debt of Turkey. Influenced by George Elliot book Daniel Dironda he suggested to Midhat Passha that Palestine will be exchanged for the Ottoman debt.

Midhat Pasha  (1822-1833) became at a young age the governor of several regions in the Ottoman Empire. He was very liberal and was sent in 1869 to the remote district of Baghdad. After 3 years, in 1872 he returned to Kushta. In 1876 ( the year of the 3 Sultans) he removed the Sultan Abdul Aziz aand the unstable Murad the Fifth and at the end of August 1876 Sultan Abdul Hamid the Second(1842-1914), the Red Sultan, so named for the Armenian massacred in 1894 and reigned until 1908. He became Grand Wazir and installed in December 1876 the constitution which created the legislative council and the executive authority. A few months later he was dismissedand in 1878 became the governor of Syria and Palestine. In 1881 he was removed from his office,

stood trial for conspiracy against the Sultan, exiled to Hijaz and murdered in prison in 1883.

After the Crimean war there were rebellions against Turkey, Beserabia, Bosnia and Crete.  The insurrection in Bulgaria was brutally suppressed and it created antagonism against Turkey in Britain after Gladstone Disraeli political rival published a book on horrors of the Turks in Bulgaria which was widely circulated. The Russians invaded  north-east Turkey in April 1877 and occupied  Kars in the east. They invaded from the west and in January 1878 reached the town of San Stefano, on the Marmara Sea 20 km  west to Kushta. The British sent their gunboats to the Dardanelles to stop the Russians but the Turks decided not to resist and signed the treaty of San Stefano in March 1878. The Russia ambassador in Kushta , Ignatiev, forced the Turks to grant independence

to Bulgaria and Serbia and  Montenegro and to reconfirm the special status of the Russians as protector of the Greek Orthodox.

In June 1878 the Berlin Congress was convened under the Presidency of Bismarck. Disraeli(1804-1881) the British PM was the most influential leader and the two leaders became very friendly. The British Ambassador; Layard, signed a secret agreement with Turkey which was revealed only during the Congress according to which Turkey ceded Cyprus to Britain. France took over Tunis and Greece won more areas in the North. Beserabia in the west and Kars and Batum  were annexed to Russia. Bulgaria lost some of its territory. According to article 62 to the Berlin treaty Russia and France were reconfirmed as the protectors of the Christians. Also reconfirmed was the special status of the foreign consuls and their Jurisdiction over non-Ottoman subjects.

In 1885 Bulgarian king Alexander the First, who was German  annexed to Bulgaria,  Rumelia and its capital Plovdiv which was formerly called  Philippolis.

Germany and Turkey

In 1835 the King of Prussia Frederik Wilhelm the Third sent Helmut von Moltke(1800-1891) to Turkey as a military advisor. He was  later the chief of staff(1857-1871) and defeated France in 1870. He participated in the battle of Nezivin in 1839 and then returned to Germany. In 1882 the

Kaiser Wilhelm I sent cavalry officer Kohler but he died in 1885.

He was replaced by general Kohlmar von Goltz who styed there until 1895 and returned to Turkey in 1908 after the "Young Turks " takeover.

The German chancellor Bismarck(1815-1898)was against special relationship between the two countries. The young Kaiser Wilhelm Two who was crowned in 1888sailed to Athens to the wedding of his sister to the Greek crown prince in 1899. He also visited Kushta on the 21 of October 1899 and decided to develop the relations with Turkey.

Few months later he dismissed Bismarck  in March 1890. Following the  royal visit trade between the two countries developed very rapidly, the Anatolian Railway company which built the railway to Ankara and Konya.

Wilhelm also acquired the land for the Redeemer Church in Jerusalem.

In the years 1894 to 1896 Horrible  atrocities were committed against Armenians partly for religious reasons in many parts of Turkey some of them Kurdish tribes. The British tried to help the Armenians and considered sending the British navy to Kushta after a serious massacre  occurred in Kushta in August 1896 but in the end refrained from doing it.

In 1897 the  Turks beat the Greeks on the battlefield but the great powers prevented the Turks from gaining new territories.

The years 1908-1914 In December 1908 the Sultan Abdul Hamid was forced  under the pressure of the Committee for Union and Progress an organization  of all the political parties to reconvene the parliament. In

1909 he  was deposed, and exiled to Tsaloniki and  the Young Turks effectively ruled the country. The new Sultan was Muhamad Rashad who sat on the throne till 1918 but had no real power.

Between 1911 and 1912 Italy exploited the weakness of Turkey and occupied Tripolitania in west Libya and the Dodecanese islands(which includes Rhodes) in the east Aegean sea near the straits of Marmara.

During the  two Balkans wars in 1912-1913 Turkey lost almost all its European territories. Albania became independent, Romania and Serbia and Serbia gained new land an d Greece occupied Tsalonikiat the end of 1912. Bulgaria which temporarily  had access to the Med. lost it in the

Bucharest treaty of August 1913 and Turkey was left with the region of Adrianopol(Iderna) near Kushta

From 1909 there were several prime ministers and the last one was Sait Pasha who was in office from1913 to 1917. The three Pashas held the real power between 1914 to 1919:

Talaat(1874-1921) who started his career in the Postal service, who was the minister of Interior and was Murdered in Berlin in 1921.

Djamal(1872-1922) who was an officer in the army, was in charge of the train service, the governor of Syria and Palestine during the war and was murdered in Tbilisi Georgia.

Anwar(1881-1922)who was an outstanding officer in the war in Macedonia and in the war against the Italians in Libya. He was also stationed in Berlin and had good connections in Berlin. He was minister of War and was murdered in Tajikstan.

General Kemal Ataturk drove out the great powers in 1919-1920 and repelled the Greek invasion which brought about the transfer of millions of Turks and Greeks in 1922. He deposed the last Sultan Muhamad the sixth who was on the throne between 1918 to 1922 and was the first president of Turkey in 1923 to 1938 and died age 57.

The conquest of Palestine                                                                                                                                     The Turks joined the Germans in the beginning of world war and Djamal Pasha became the Governor of Palestine. Life for  the Jewish Yishuv was very harsh and many of its leaders went abroad or exiled To Damascus.

At the end of 1916 the British sent an expedionary force from Egypt to occupy Palestine but after 4 months failed and rtreated back to Egypt.

 

In June 1917 general Allenby(1861-1936) had been appointed to be the new commander. His army advanced thru the Sinai desert and by the end of October he conquered Beer Sheva in the South and then advanced to Gaza and Jaffa and entered Jerusalem in December and completed the conquest of the Southern part of Palestine. In September 1918 the British defeated the Turkish army in the battle of Megido and by the end of 1918 the conquest of Syria and Palestine was completed and thus ended 400 years of Turkish rule.

Summary

Russia waged several wars from the middle of the 18^th century against the Ottoman empire head to the South in order to get access to the Med.  thru the straits. Napoleon invaded Egypt and Palestine in 1799

but  failed returned to France and within a short period became the French emperor. In 1832 Muhamad Ali the governor of Egypt who helped the Turks in their war against the Greeks conquered Syria and Palestine and reached Konya which was very close to Kushta. Only thanks to the intervention of the great powers headed by Britain the Egyptians had to evacuate Palestine. Turkey was very dependent on the great powers and so they allowed the opening of European consulates in the 1840's in Jerusalem. The Crimean war another important step to strengthen the influence of Britain and France. Greece Bulgaria Serbia and Romania became independent and Britain strengthened its grip by gaining control in Cyprus and the Suez canal. In the period before 1914 TheTurkey lost several wars and lost almost all its European territories.

Dahir al Amar and the Russian navy in the second half of the 18^th century

In the 18^th century the Ottoman century was one of the most important powers and ruled vast areas in  Europe  and South Russia. In 1761 a German princess married the Russian Tsar Peter the Third and managed to murder him in 1762 and became  the Tsarina Catherine the Great. Her collaborator was an officer Gregory Orlov who was her lover for 10 years. Her dream was to gain access to the Med thru the Black sea.

The Greek Orthodox and the Russian Pravoslav are sister churches and until 1483the Patriarch of Kushta was the religious and spiritual authority of the two churches. The Russians believed that their religious duty and political interest is to defend the Greek Orthodox in the Ottoman empire mainly in Greece but also in Palestine.

In October 1768 war broke out between Turkey and Russia. In the preceding years Russian agents tried to organize rebellions among Christian subjects of the Ottoman empire especially in Greece. In November 1768 Gregory Orlov suggested to send naval Russian units to the Med. and to help the Greeks in their fight against the Turks to pose a direct threat against Kushta. Alexei Orlov his brother who was vacationing in Italy was appointed to command the flotila. The unexpected appearance of the Russian fleetin the Med. was one of the most stunning miltiray events in the 18^th century. It was a new and serious threat which changed the course of the Turkish-Russian war. Moreover it was a development to which Britain contributed directly.

Two British admirals Greig(1735-1788)  and Elphinstone(1746-1823) who joined the Russian navy were the military commanders of the navy under Alexei Orlov. The battleships stopped at Hull on their way from the Baltic to the Med. and were equipped with food and ammunition. They also got assistance from the British navy in the Med.

In 1770 the Greeks rebelled against the Turks in Morea in the Peloponnese with the assistance of Russian agents. The Russian fleet tried to land but was not supported by the Greek rebels and had to retreat. The Turks took their vengeance on the Greeks. The Russians attacked the Turkish fleet near the island of Chios and caused it heavy casaulties  and forced it to retreat to Chesme bay near Izmir. The battle of Chesme happened on the 5^th and 7^th of July 1770 and was won by the Russians after a British officer manged to light on fire a  Turkish ship which burned the rest of the Turkish fleet and the Russians did not shoot another sigle shot. The battle of Chesme like the battle of Trafalgar  35 years later changed the course of history and created a national Mythos and Alexi Orlov added the title Chesme to his name.

In the 18^th century was a distant and neglected province of Turkey. The 

Northern part(the Galilee) was under the Wali (governor) of Sidon and the South(from Haifa) was under the Wali of Damascus. The two Walis were under the direct control of the Sultan. The most prominent leader in Palestine was Dahir who lived in Tiberias. For 30 years between 1845 to 1775 he was the "strong man" in the North  of  Palestine and south Lebanon. He was appointed to be the governor(Multezim)  of Acre which had a small port  and a few dozens French traders. During Dahr rule Acre port became more important than the port of Sidon.

Dahir  main rival was Ottoman Pasha the Wali of Damascus who was authorized in 1770 to curb Dahr power. Egypt at the was under the suzerainty  of the Porte but practically independent. The Egyptian ruler Ali Bey rebelled  and conquered Mecca. Ali and Dahr became allies and Ali invaded Palestine and in June 1771 conquered Damascus. But he was forced to return to Egypt to quell a rebellion. Dahr defeated Ottoman army near the Khula lake in September 1771 and a month later conquered Sidon. The Sultan appointed a new commander Ottoman

al Masri who was supported by the Druze leader Junbelat who sieged

Sidon. Ali fled from Egypt with a small Mamluk army and Joined Dahr.

The two asked Alexei Orlov to send Russian ships to help them. At the time the Russians were engaged in military and Piratic operations in order to acquired supplies and were attacking Turkish and Greek locations. Thus they were ready to support rebellious local leaders.

The Russians arrived in Sidon on the 11 of June 1772 and bombarded the Turkish army which surrendered to Dahir after 2 hours. The Wali of Damascus was mistakingly thinking that the ships were French and complained to the French consul in Sidon who informed him that the ships were Russians. The next day the Russians sailed to Beirut and bombarded the town, and the Turkish army surrendered and the locals had to pay a huge ransom. The Russians sailed to Acre and from there to the Greek island of Paros. In the meantime a temporary truce was reached between Russia and Turkey in June 1772 and the Porte considered sending the Turkish navy to Palestine. Orlov agree to help Dahir and Russian officers brought weapons in October to Dahir  who conquered Jaffa in January 1773.

After the Russians left Beirut in October 1772 the Druses were not allowed to return to Beirut and a young officer Jazzar Pasha was appointed to be the governor of Beirut. He excelled himself as tough fighter in Egypt and then served under the Wali of Damascus. The Druses wanted to reoccupy Beirut and sought  the support of Dahir. They besieged Beirut which at the time numbered 5000 and was smaller than Acre and Sidon . The Russian fleet sailed from Greece in May 1773 via Cyprus and Egypt and reached Acre in June. In July they reached an agreement to help the Druses and Dahir to evict the Turks from Beirut.The siege of Beirut lasted from July until October1773 and Jazzar fought valiantly but had to surrender after the army which was sent from Damascus were defeated by Ahmad the son of Dahir. The Russians stayed in Beirut until January 1774 . The Druzes wre very grateful to the Russians and asked them to be granted Russian citizenship. It was the first time that a non-Muslim power helped Muslim subjects.

The war between Russia and Turkey ended after the Kucuk Kairnaji treaty of July 1774. The Russian fleet returned to Russia and Dahir, who was 80 years of age,  offered to make peace with the new Sultan Abdul Hamid the first. But his offer was rejected, and an army was sent to Acre, and was bombarded from the sea and Dahir was defeated and killed in the summer of 1775. Jazzar was appointed governor of Acre and later Wali of Sidon. In 1799 Jazzar defended Acre from Napoleon and forced him with the aid of the British fleet to retreat and return to  France.

The Damascus affair

On the fifth of February the Capuchin father Thomas and his valet vanished in Damascus. At the time the town was under Egyptian control and the French were very influential. The French consul Ulysse de Ratti Menton(1799-1879) , who was a veteran  of 17 years in the diplomatic service arrived in the town 3 months earlier. Jonathan Frenkel who wrote a very thorough book about the affair assumes that the main motif for his activity was to strengthen the position of France in Syria and especially among the Christians. Menton remanded and convicted 7 Jews of commiting murder for religious reasons. The Jews belonged to the Farhi, Harrai, and Laniado families. They were tortured  and one Farhi and one Laniado died while Saloniki and Antebi survived. Menton had to release an Austrian Jew by the demand of the Austrian Consul Merlato. The latter also reported to his superior  Lorrain  the general Austrian Consul in Alexandria who approached Muhammad Ali who instructed to stop the tortures.

The Jews of Kushta sent a letter to Lionel  Rothchild  and Montefiore which was published in the "London Times" on the 18^th of February 1840. In the same issue news about the Rhodes affair was also published. The island was under Turkish rule and the anti Jewish affair was quashed after the intervention of all the foreign consuls including the French. A t the end of April 1840 a delegation of important Jews met Palmerston in London. The foreign secretary scolded the British consul Werry  for supporting Menton. He also demanded from the British general in Alexandria Hodges who enlisted the support of the  other foreign consuls to protest to Muhamad Ali. The London Jewish society(British missionaries) sent from Jerusalem father George Pieritz(1808-1884), a converted Jew to Damascus. He prepared a very detailed report which was sent to London and was presented to Palmerston by Lord Shaftsbury on the 28 of May 1840. Pieritz went also to Alexandria and presented the report to Muhamad Ali.

The Jewish Board(British Jewish organzation) decided on the 15 of June 1840 to send a rescue mission  headed by Montefiore and Cremieux.  They left on the 8^th of July and arrived in Alexandria on the 4^th of August. The British ambassador in Kushta Ponsoby , obtained a Firman from the Sultanto protect the mission. Montefiore met Muhamad Ali a day later and Cremieux, a French citizen the following day. The two meetings took place during the international crisis in which the great powers demanded fro Muhamad Ali to evacuate Syria and Palestine. On the 24^th of August the Sultan  ordered Muhamad Ali to issue a Firman exonerating the Jews and they were released on the 6^th of September. Montefiore left Alexandria on the 17^th of September and proceeded to Kushta,Rome , Paris and arrived in London on the 28^th of February 1841. Cremieux left Egypt on the 7^th of October 1840 and sailed to Greece, and then to Italy and Germany and after travelling for 2 months arrived in Paris. Raphael Farhi after his release regained his important position.  Ibrahim left Damascus on the 29^th of December 1840 and returned with his army to Egypt.

Moses Montefiore(1784-1885) was born in Livorno Italy and married in 1812 Judith Cohen daughter to a very rich family and connected to the Rothchilds. He was a banker and made quite a fortune and chaired the Jewish Board. He was knighted by  queen Victoria and became a Sir. Between the years 1827 to 1875 he visited Palestine 7 timesand helped financially the Jewish Yishuv. He was also very active in giving support to Jewish communities in Russia, Italy, Morocco and Romania.

Adolph Cremieux(1796-1880) Was a French-Jewish Jurist who for a brief

Period was the minister of Justice in 1848 and in 1870. He was the founder of Alliance Israelite Universelle in 1860 which was aiming to help the Jews around the world and had many French-Jewish schools in many countries.

Karl Netter the founder of the Mikve-Yisrael agricultural school and the first general secretary of the organization.

 

The Jedda Incident

According to Tibawi the rebellion in Crete and Montenegro in the fifties caused a deterioration between Muslims and Chrstians in Turkey. The Crimean contributed to the growing tension and the Muslims did not

Differentiate between Britain and France which were Turkeys allies 

and the Russian enemy.

Because of a rebellion that broke out in Jedda the pilgrims port on the Red sea the "Kiklop"' a British  battleship under the command of captain Pullen was sent  on the 21 of March  1858 to protect the British consul. But the force came to late and 21 Christians were murdered including the British and the French consul in June 1858. The  survivors boarded the Kikilop and Pullen sailed to Suez in Egypt and then returned to bombard Jedda.. Crown prince Ismail(1830-1895)and the nephew of the Egyptian Khediv(ruler) Said(who ruled Egypt between 1863 and 1879) arrived in Jedda hanged 11 of the perpetrators but not the leaders. In the beginning of August 1858 the "Kiklop" sailed from Jedda without completing its mission to arrest the chief perpetrators.

In October 1858 an international commission was created which was composed of Turkish , British and French members and reached the conclusions that the disturbances were not caused for religious reasons

but were intended to rob the victims and two important business were hanged. In August-September Brant the British consul in Damascus reported that the events in Montenegro, Candia in Crete and the bombardment on Jedda created  unrest among the local population.

A crisis in Lebanon

In 1840 Wood(1806-1900) the Brirtish consul in Damascus recruited the

Druzes in the Mount Lebanon to drive out the Egyptian general from Lebanon. In 1842 Omar Pasha, of Austrian origin who became a Muslim and a favorite of the Sultan Mahmud the second was appointed as governor of Lebanon. After the London agreement of 1841 Britain and France became very influential in Kushta. Stratford-canning replaced Ponsoby as  the British ambassador and served there in the years 1841-1858 and Bourqueney was the French Ambassador from 1841 to 1851.

In the autumn of 1841 there were fierce battles in the town of Dir el Kamar between the Druses and the Maronites(Catholic Christians of Lebanon in which the Druses had the upper hand. Only because of the intervention of Colonel Hugh Rose(1801-1885) who later became a Fieldmarshal, the general British consul in Beirut in the years 1841- 1851 a massacre was avoided. In March 1842 ambassador  Canning  to devide  the Mountain of Lebanon between the Maronites and the Druzes. Under the pressure of the ambassadors of the five big powers namely Britain, France, Russia, Prussia and Austria the Porte nominated  governors to the two new regions.

In 1845  there were new clashes between Druzes and the Maronites that were suppressed by the Turks and caused the departure of American missionaries from Beirut. In the years 1845-1860 the French consul in Beirut  and the Jesuite order invested a lot of effort to strengthen the Maronites.

In the spring of 1860 the tension between the Druzes and the Maronites increased and the foreign consuls in Beirut demanded from the Turkish governor Khurshid to deal with the crisis but of no avail. In June-July 1860 the Druses massacred   thousand of Maronites in Hasbaya, Rashaya, Dir el Kamar and Zahla. In Damascus the Muslims and the Druses massacred 25 thousands Christians among them the Dutch consul. British and French warships evacuated Christian refugees from Beirut.  In August as a result of the five power conference the emperor Napoleon the Third sent a 6000 men force under the command of general Beaufort d'Hautpoul(1804-1890) who served in Ibrahim army 20 years before, to Beirut where they landed in mid-August. The French task  was to protect the Maronites and they helped them to return to

Dir el Kamar. The Sultan sent the foreign minister general Fuad pasha

heading a special military force to Damascus and he hanged the governor and several hundreds of the perpetrators.

Between October 1860 and June 1861 there were discussions in Paris among the five great powers and the Turks and on the 9 of June 1861 an agreement was reached and a few days later the Sultan Mahmud the Second  died. To the Mount Lebanon, which is 5740 square Km was nominated a Christian governor and it became autonomous andi was divided into three regions: Maronite, Druze, and Greek- Orthodox.

Also an advisory council was created composed of Maronites, Druze,

Greeks, Greek Catholics, Mutawaliies and Muslims. The French evacuated their army in June 1861 and the agreement was very successful and brought stability and lasted until 1918.

The Suez canal

Most probably already in ancient times there was a canal which connected  the Red sea and the Med. The engineers who were part of Napoleon expedition reached the mistaken conclusion that there was a difference between the two seas and that it is impossible to construct a canal. Muhamad Ali who feared foreign intervention was opposed to the idea building a canal. It was the English Francis Chesney who became famous travelling the Euphrate valley Mesopotamia, Was named by

De Lesseps the "father of the Suez canal" after proving that the two seas are at the same level.

The  Said Pasha(1822-1863) the ruler of Egypt after Muhamad Ali was on friendly terms with  Ferdinand De Lesseps (1805-1894) the ex-French consul who was dismissed by Napoleon the third. Said gave De Lesseps already in 1855 permission to built the canal,  but wanted also the approval of  Disraeli, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer but failed to get it. In 1859 Napoleon gave his approval  to the project and the French tarted to build,  but the British vetoed it, and the works were halted.

In 1863 Ismail pasha(1830-1895) became the new ruler of Egypt and with French support and no objection from the British got a Firman from the Sultan to built the canal. De Lesseps resumed the building of the canal and it was opened in 1869.

Eugenie de Montijo the French empress(1826-1920) was invited By Ismail to the opening ceremony on his visit in Paris to be the guest of honor. The Latins in Jerusalem prepared for her a big welcome in Jerusalem but cabinet in Paris decided to cancel the visit in Jerusalem.

The Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and a few days later the Prussian Crown prince  Rudolph arrived in Jerusalem and enjoyed a very warm welcome. The Empress sailed in mid-October 1869 from Marseille on the royal yacht to Venice, Athens and Kushta and arrived on the 5^th  of November in Alexandria and proceeded to Cairo, and sailed to Port Said where she was met by De Lesseps who was her cousin. The opening ceremony took place on November the 17^th and a flotilla crossed the

162 km long canal. The ceremony was attended by the Empress who then returned to Paris, Franz Joseph, Rudolph, Dutch prince Henry,

the new British  ambassador in Kushta, the Russian Duke Michael and the Russian ambassador in Kushta Ignatiev.

Napoleon the Third was deposed in 1870 and De Lesseps lost French support. Ismail accumulated  heavy debts try to  develop Egypt. In 1875 prime minister  Disraeli  without the knowledge of parliament, and with the help of Lionel de Rothschild, acquired the shares of the Suez company from the French, and the canal was under British control until it was ended by Gamal Abdul Nasser in 1957.