These O rthodox merchants form ed an im portant part o f the population o f Vienna and other H absbu rg cities. It has been estimated that by the middle o f the eighteenth century there were eighteen thousand Serbian, G reek, and Tsintsar merchants in the monarchy, living in the highest concentration along the border between the tw o em pires.3
3 Jo h n R . L am p e a n d M a rv in R . Jackson, Balkan Economic History, isso-ipso (B lo o m in g to n : In d ia n a U n iv ersity Press, 1982), p. 60.
The first national revolutions
Th us, w ithin both the H absburg and the O ttom an states, the control o f international trade was held by certain limited groups o f the population; in the O ttom an E m pire almost all foreign trade was in non-M uslim hands. A l though there was some concern in Austria about the situation, there was no practical alternative. T he Eastern trade was profitable and necessary. In the H ab sbu rg E m pire neither the enserfed peasantry nor the landed nobility had the talent o r inclination to enter the business w orld. A s in the O ttom an E m pire, these groups preferred to invest in land. In the Balkans the M uslim population was indeed engaged in com merce, but usually only as small local traders, shopkeepers, and artisans, although there were some M uslim m er chants engaged in long-distance trade within the em pire, and some active in the Black Sea ports. The O ttom an attitude tow ard foreigners, how ever, and the lim ited know ledge o f foreign languages were handicaps.
T h e existence o f a large num ber o f Balkan O rthodox people engaged in trade in the O ttom an Em pire — and it m ust be remem bered that the numbers include muleteers, porters, sailors, and others on the low er levels o f these undertakings — was to have a definite effect on the political evolution o f the Balkans. A lth ou gh their num bers were small in com parison to the peasant population, merchants and their associates occupied crucial positions, and they traveled around. Som e o f these men were well satisfied w ith O ttom an conditions. T h e low tariffs encouraged trade; the O ttom an governm ent did not impede o r regulate international commerce. There were no m ajor bar riers to m ovem ent w ithin the empire. E ven the corruption o f the system offered som e advantages. W ith sufficient m oney it was possible to accomplish almost anything. M an y operated efficiendy in this atmosphere, and those w h o benefited from the situation naturally sought to maintain it.
In contrast, others in the merchant com m unity were deeply dissatisfied. Som e internal conditions were not conducive to trade. T he merchant suffered from the poor roads and the unim proved waterways, and the disorder and anarchy in the countryside made his business dangerous. H e could benefit from a governm ent that w ould maintain adequate police forces and guaran tee law and order. M o st im portant, he was almost com pletely w ithout p ro tection abroad. W hereas European consuls were resident in almost all the m ajor O ttom an trading centers, the Porte maintained no similar offices in other countries to assist its citizens. The em pire thus did not offer protection and encouragem ent to its m erchant class; it merely placed no particular hindrances o r limitations on their activities.
Because o f their travels and their residence in foreign cities, the merchants were in a go o d position to com pare systems o f governm ent. T h e w ide differ ences between conditions in the O ttom an Em pire and those in E uro pe were m ost apparent to them. M oreover, many, particularly the Greeks, were well educated. T h eir travels brought them into contact w ith Europeans w ith sim i lar interests, and they were thus enabled to become acquainted with current political doctrines. T h e ideas connected with the French R evolution were to
The revolutionary years, 1804-1887
prove particularly attractive to individuals w h o felt oppressed and restrained by the O ttom an system, o r w h o felt that the governm ent was backward and tyrannical. Th ose w h o had not made a success o f their undertakings were m ost likely to be attracted by revolutionary ideology. Certain o f the future leaders o f the national liberation movements were direcdy affected by their com mercial backgrounds, either as members o f overseas merchant com m u nities o r sim ply as livestock dealers crossing between the tw o empires.
Th e Eastern Q uestion
T h e solution o f Balkan and O ttom an problems was infinitely com plicated by the fact that in the nineteenth century this region became a m ajor center o f great-pow er conflict, and the fate o f the area became intim ately linked with the maintenance o f the European balance o f pow er (see M ap 17). Th e entire cluster o f issues surrounding the decline o f the O ttom an Em pire, the revolt o f the subject people, and the European intervention became known as the Eastern Q uestion. This problem was to become the single m ost important cause for diplom atic controversy am ong the powers and was to lead to the only tw o general wars in the century after the C ongress o f V ienna — the Crim ean War and World War I.
T h e question that must be answered first is w hy this area was so important to the m ajor European governm ents. Certainly Britain, Russia, Austria, and France, to be joined by Germ any and Italy after their national unifications, all had com peting and vital interests involved in the fate o f the region. M any o f the m ajor issues had already arisen in the eighteenth century. A t that time Russia and A ustria, usually in alliance, extended their frontiers at the expense o f the O ttom an Em pire until the Russian boundary reached the Pruth and the Austrian the D anube-Sava line. D u rin g this period France usually stood fo r the integrity o f the em pire, since it wielded the greatest influence in C o n stantinople; Britain at first did not play a m ajor role in the conflict.
T h e first pow er to shift its attitude radically was the H ab sbu rg Em pire. In the Treaty o f Vienna, as w e have seen, that governm ent acquired the D al matian coast as w ell as a predom inant position in the Italian peninsula and among the German states. Thereafter, the Habsburg statesmen ceased to work actively tow ard the incorporation o f any more Balkan people into the empire; they had difficulty enough controlling the m ultinational population they al ready held. A lth ough the H absbu rg governm ent remained in alliance with R ussia, it sought to restrain any advance o f its partner in the E ast because it/ could take no com pensating benefits. Austrian leaders were well aware o f the advantages that Russia enjoyed am ong the O rthodox people, and they feared that a further extension o f Russian territory o r influence w ould endanger A ustrian security on the eastern and southeastern frontiers. H absbu rg diplo macy in the first h alf o f the nineteenth century was thus to become passive.
The first national revolutions
M E D I T E R R A N E A N S E A
Map 17. Europe in 1815