EASTERN QUESTION

THE, an international political problem which occupied the attention of European statesmen during the last two centuries, and even since 1453, when the Turks established their empire and gained sway over the Balkans. It deals with the relations of the Balkan nationalities, Turkey, and the Great Powers to each other. Ru ia, Germany, Austria, Greece, France, Italy, and Great Britain were all interested in the Near East and in the Eastern Question ever since the Treaty of Kutshuk-Kainardji in 1774. The Levantine commerce and the Mediterranean ports were, and still are, of vital importance not only to Ru ia, but also to the Balkan States and to the neighbouring European powers. The occupation of Egypt by Great Britain, the Ru o-Turkish War of 1878, the proclamation of Bulgaria’s independence, the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria in 1908, all contributed to the complication of the Eastern Question. This complication was further increased by Italy’s occupation of Tripoli in 1911, by the Balkan Wars (1912-3), and by the construction of the Baghdad Railway with the aid of German capital. It is no exaggeration to say that the Eastern Question was one of the causes which led to the outbreak of the European War of 1914. The Peace Treaties of Versailles, Sevres, Lausanne, and St. Germain did not settle the EHastern Question, and the peace in the Near Hast is still a problem which occupies the attention of European diplomatists.— BIBLIOGRAPHY: W. ailing: Modern Europe; R. W. Seton Watson, The Rise of Nationality in the Balkans. EASTERN RUMELIA. GARIA; RUM@ELIA.