the ottoman empire conquered the balkans in 1352.
the ottoman empire conquered the balkans in 1352.
when did the ottoman empire conquer the balkans?
1352
the fall of constantinople in 1453 and the subsequent fall of the successor states of the eastern roman empire marked the end of byzantine sovereignty. since then, the ottoman empire ruled the balkans and anatolia, although there were some exceptions: the ionian islands were under venetian rule, and ottoman authority was challenged in mountainous areas, such as agrafa, sfakia, souli, himara and the mani peninsula. orthodox christians were granted some political rights under ottoman rule, but they were considered inferior subjects. the majority of greeks were called "rayas" by the turks, a name that referred to the large mass of subjects in the ottoman ruling class. meanwhile, greek intellectuals and humanists who had migrated west before or during the ottoman invasions began to compose orations and treatises calling for the liberation of their homeland. in 1463, demetrius chalcondyles called on venice and “"all of the latins"” to aid the greeks against the ottomans, he composed orations and treatises calling for the liberation of greece from what he called “the abominable, monstrous, and impious barbarian turks.” in the 17th century, greek scholar leonardos philaras spent much of his career in persuading western european intellectuals to support greek independence. however, greece was to remain under ottoman rule for several more centuries. in the 18th and 19th century, as revolutionary nationalism grew across europe—including the balkans (due, in large part, to the influence of the french revolution)—the ottoman empire's power declined and greek nationalism began to assert itself, with the greek cause beginning to draw support not only from the large greek merchant diaspora in both western europe and russia but also from western european philhellenes. this greek movement for independence, was not only the first movement of national character in eastern europe, but also the first one in a non-christian environment, like the ottoman empire.
background of the greek war of independence
between the 14th to the 17th centuries, the balkans region of europe was conquered by the ottoman empire. in the 19th century, various orthodox peoples such as the greeks, bulgarians and serbs, charging that they were being oppressed by the muslim ottomans fought wars of independence. british policy towards the "eastern question" and the balkans in particular oscillated between a fear that the decline of ottoman power would allow britain's archenemy russia to fill the void in the balkans and the near east vs. a humanitarian concern for christian peoples oppressed by the ottomans. in 1876, an uprising in bulgaria was harshly repressed with the ottoman state unleashing the much feared "bashi-bazouks" to wage a campaign of plundering, murder, rape and enslavement against the bulgarians, killing at about 15,000 bulgarian civilians in a series of massacres that shocked the west. the conservative government under prime minister benjamin disraeli, which saw the ottoman empire as a bulwark against russia sought to deny the so-called "bulgarian horrors" under the grounds of "realpolitik". by contrast, the liberal leader, william ewart gladstone came out energetically in support of the balkan peoples living under ottoman rule, publicised the "bulgarian horrors" in his famous 1876 pamphlet "the bulgarian horrors and the question of the east", and demanded that britain support independence for all of balkan peoples on humanitarian grounds. even though the government under disraeli supported the ottomans, gladstone's campaign to publicise the gross human-rights abuses committed by the ottomans and support for balkan independence movements not only made him extremely popular in the balkans, but led to a wave of anglophilia amongst certain balkan christians, who admired britain as a land capable of producing someone like gladstone. anglophilia was rare in the balkans in the 19th century as balkan muslims looked towards the ottoman empire while balkan christians generally looked towards france or russia for inspiration. gladstone saw himself as the defender of human rights which led him in 1890 to criticise anti-chinese laws in australia under the grounds that chinese immigrants were being penalised for their virtues like the willingness to work hard rather than any supposed vices. in the same way, gladstone perceived himself as the champion of the rights of small nations, which led to support "home rule" for ireland (i.e. devolving power from westminster to an irish parliament). the same principles that led gladstone to support home rule for the irish and the rights of chinese immigrants in australia made him very sympathetic to the balkan peoples. balkan angophiles such as vladimir jovanović and čedomilj mijatović in serbia; ioannes gennadius and eleutherios venizelos in greece and ivan evstratiev geshov in bulgaria were all inclined to admire british liberalism, especially of the gladstonian type. furthermore, all five of the above-named men saw britain as an example of a liberal power which had successfully created institutions that were meant to serve the individual rather the state, which inspired them with institution-building in their own newly independent nations. finally, though venizelos, geshov, jovanović gennadius, and mijatović were all nationalists, by the standards of the balkans they were tolerant nationalists who admired the united kingdom as a state which had brought the english, the scots, the welsh and the irish living together in peace and harmony in one kingdom (the precise accuracy of this view is besides the point-this is how the uk was viewed in the balkans), which they saw british unionism as an example for their own multi-ethnic nations.
anglophile