Mahmud II and Ottoman diplomacy in the context of the Mehmed Ali Problem (1832-1839) : with special reference to the Ottoman archives in Ä°stanbul
Between 1833 and 1838 the diplomatic relationship between Britain and the Ottoman Empire underwent a radical change. The starting point for this transformation came when the army of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II, suffered two consecutive heavy defeats at the hands of that of his rebel governor, Mehmed Ali Pasha; the first being in Syria, on 14 April 1832, and the second in Konya, on 21 December 1832. This last defeat of the Sultan rapidly escalated the matter into an international problem. All the very complicated diplomatic developments, which would continue right up to the Convention of London, 15 July 1840, started at the beginning of 1833. All of these are well documented historical facts in both Turkish and English literature. However, the unknown side of the story is what role Mahmud and his finest diplomats played in the process of resolving the Mehmed Ali problem using diplomacy. This role has been overlooked by the vast majority of scholars. This neglect ensues from a lack of knowledge of the Ottoman diplomatic effort in this process. The most obvious way to overcome this problem is to depart from the orientalist perspective, and use the Ottoman documents, which bear witness to Mahmudâs instructions
Demirbas, Serkan
Mahmud II and Ottoman diplomacy in the context of the Mehmed Ali Problem (1832-1839) : with special reference to the Ottoman archives in Ä°stanbul. Between 1833 and 1838 the diplomatic relationship between Britain and the Ottoman Empire underwent a radical change. The starting point for this transformation came when the army of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II, suffered two consecutive heavy defeats at the hands of that of his rebel governor, Mehmed Ali Pasha; the first being in Syria, on 14 April 1832, and the second in Konya, on 21 December 1832. This last defeat of the Sultan rapidly escalated the matter into an international problem. All the very complicated diplomatic developments, which would continue right up to the Convention of London, 15 July 1840, started at the beginning of 1833. All of these are well documented historical facts in both Turkish and English literature. However, the unknown side of the story is what role Mahmud and his finest diplomats played in the process of resolving the Mehmed Ali problem using diplomacy. This role has been overlooked by the vast majority of scholars. This neglect ensues from a lack of knowledge of the Ottoman diplomatic effort in this process. The most obvious way to overcome this problem is to depart from the orientalist perspective, and use the Ottoman documents, which bear witness to Mahmudâs instructions
ottoman diplomacy context problem special_reference ottoman archive diplomatic relationship britain ottoman_empire underwent_radical change start_point transformation come army ottoman sultan suffer consecutive heavy defeat hand rebel governor first syria second last defeat sultan rapidly escalate matter international problem complicate diplomatic development would continue right convention london start begin well_documented historical fact turkish english literature however unknown side story role fine diplomat play process resolve problem use diplomacy role overlook vast_majority scholar neglect ensue lack_knowledge ottoman diplomatic effort process obvious way overcome_problem depart orientalist perspective use ottoman document bear_witness instruction