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“Russia and Turkey; Or, Which Is The Gobbler?”
Whene'er that tender bird I chance to see,
I wish that I might e'en a gobbler be;
So, as my foes are wrapt in battle murky,
I'll take my chance, and bone that heathen Turkey.
Russia
and the Ottoman (or Turkish) Empire fought a series of wars during the
seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries that gradually allowed Russia
to extend its territory southward. This cartoon portrays the hungry Russian Bear eyeing the
sleeping Turkey with intent to devour it while the rest of Europe
is distracted by the Franco-Prussian War. The crescent
moon, symbolic of Islam, the majority religion in Turkey, appears on the
turkey's forehead and in the
background.
The onset of the
Franco-Prussian War in the summer of 1870 opened the way for Russia to
achieve what had long been one of its major foreign policies goals:
nullifying the neutralization of the Black Sea.
Following the Crimean War (1854-1856), the terms of the Treaty of
Paris stipulated that the Black Sea (nestled between southern Russia, northern Turkey,
and eastern Europe) was closed to naval vessels and opened to commercial
ships of all nations. Russia’s
foreign minister, Prince Alexander Gorchakov, was in Berlin in July 1870
shortly before the Franco-Prussian War began, and discussed the
impending situation with Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian chancellor.
Gorchakov promised to keep his own country out of the conflict,
and subsequently pressured Austria, which had been defeated by Prussia
in 1866, to remain neutral, as well. Furthermore, Russia joined with
Britain to compel the neutrality of Denmark, which France had tried to
entice into the war as its ally, and to close neutral waters to the
French navy.
However, as a French
defeat in the war seemed likely following its resounding rout by Prussia
at the Battle of
Sedan on September 2, Gorchakov began voicing positions unfavorable to
the Prussians. The Russian
foreign minister raised concerns about possible German annexation of
French territory, and suggested that a European congress adjudicate the
war settlement. On October
31, 1870, the price for Russia’s continued cooperation with Germany became clear.
Gorchakov circulated a letter among the European powers in which
he denounced the Treaty of Paris’s prohibition against a Russian
military presence on the Black Sea.
Even before any official
pronouncement from St. Petersburg, the European and American press
reported uneasiness and uncertainty about Russia’s behavior.
Harper’s Weekly noted in its October 15 issue (published
October 5) that Russia was “making military preparations on a vast
scale, but whether to attack Turkey or to interfere between Prussia and
France is not yet apparent.” A foreign news column in the October 22 issue of Harper’s Weekly (published
October 12) dismissed as “a sign of
alarm” the fear in Europe that a secret pact between Prussia and
Russia would allow the latter to seize Constantinople, the capital of
Turkey. In the same issue,
however, artist Frank Bellew obviously took the possibility seriously,
as demonstrated in this featured cartoon.
In his circular, Gorchakov
argued that the demilitarization of the Black Sea had not prevented
European wars; that it unfairly allowed Turkey to maintain its navy in
the Straits, while England and France had a presence in the eastern
Mediterranean Sea; and that the treaty had already been violated by
various naval forces patrolling the Black Sea under different pretexts.
As a result, Russia no longer recognized its loss of sovereignty
over the Black Sea, and it denounced the special convention allowing
Turkey’s coast guard access to the Black Sea.
Although Russia planned to place a naval fleet on the Black Sea,
it accepted the right of the sultan of Turkey to do the same.
In fact, though, neither country could afford a massive military
buildup there.
The
reaction of the European powers was unanimously negative, but none were
effectively in a position to do anything about it.
Britain offered to join an alliance with Prussia and Austria
against Russia, but, with Prussia still fighting in France, Bismarck
declined and, instead, called for a European conference.
Russia agreed so quickly that Gorchakov may have consulted with
Bismarck prior to the German chancellor’s discussion with British
officials. On January 17,
1871, representatives from Prussia, Austria, Turkey, Britain, and Italy
(only France was absent) began meeting in London.
The powers agreed to Russia’s remilitarization of the Black
Sea, but allowed the Turkish sultan to open the Straits to foreign
navies if he deemed the peaceful security of the waters were threatened. The convention was signed on March 13, 1871.
However, the temporary peace was interrupted by another Russo-Turkish War in 1877-1878 over a struggle for control
of the Balkans.
Robert C. Kennedy
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