The Eastern Question in 1870s Britain

Beschreibung

This book examines mid-Victorian discourse on the expansion of the British Empire’s role in the Middle East. It investigates how British political leaders, journalists and the general public responded to events in the Ottoman Empire, which many, if not most, people in Britain came to see as trudging towards inevitable chaos and destruction. Although this ‘Eastern Question’ on a post-Ottoman future was ostensibly a matter of international politics and sometimes conflict, this study argues that the ideas underpinning it were conceived, shaped, and enforced according to domestic British attitudes. In this way, this book presents the Eastern Question as as much a British question as one related in any way to the Ottoman Empire. Particularly in the crucial decade of the 1870s, debates in Victorian society on the Eastern Question served as proxies for other pressing issues of the day, including electoral reform, changing religious attitudes, public education, and the costs of maintaining Britain’s empire. This book offers new perspectives on the Eastern Question’s relationship to these trends in Victorian society, culture, and politics, highlighting its significance in understanding Britain’s imperial programme more widely in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Leslie Rogne Schumacher teaches history, leadership, and intelligence studies at Wells College in Aurora, NY, USA. He also serves in the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University and as a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, PA, USA. He is a historian of Europe and the Middle East, focusing on nationalism, imperialism, and migration in the Mediterranean Sea and its basin from the 1700s to the present day. 

This book examines mid-Victorian discourse on the expansion of the British Empire’s role in the Middle East. It investigates how British political leaders, journalists and the general public responded to events in the Ottoman Empire, which many, if not most, people in Britain came to see as trudging towards inevitable chaos and destruction. Although this ‘Eastern Question’ on a post-Ottoman future was ostensibly a matter of international politics and sometimes conflict, this study argues that the ideas underpinning it were conceived, shaped, and enforced according to domestic British attitudes. In this way, this book presents the Eastern Question as as much a British question as one related in any way to the Ottoman Empire. Particularly in the crucial decade of the 1870s, debates in Victorian society on the Eastern Question served as proxies for other pressing issues of the day, including electoral reform, changing religious attitudes, public education, and the costs of maintainingBritain’s empire. This book offers new perspectives on the Eastern Question’s relationship to these trends in Victorian society, culture, and politics, highlighting its significance in understanding Britain’s imperial programme more widely in the second half of the nineteenth century.

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Leslie Rogne Schumacher

Themen in »The Eastern Question in 1870s Britain«

Victorian Domestic politics International history Diplomacy Ottoman Empire Crimean War Popular press Political leaders Journalists Public opinion Late empire New imperialism Eastern Crisis Nineteenth century

Stimmen zu »The Eastern Question in 1870s Britain«

“Schumacher’s contribution stands as a significant departure from the conventional literature on the Eastern Question, which has traditionally emphasized perpetuality, equilibrium, and state-centric realism. …  Both authors help us understand the Eastern Question not as a fixed problem, but as a rhetorical device—used to justify intervention … .  Ultimately, these studies remind us that the Eastern Question was as much about Britain’s self-image as it was about the fate of the Ottoman Empire.”  (M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, Victorian Studies, Vol. 67 (4), 2025)

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