Transcriber’s note:
Some of the unusual Latin transliterations of Turkish names from Arabic-PersianAlphabet used by the Ottomans have been corrected to be closerto the modern spellings of these names.
THE TURKISH EMPIRE
ITS GROWTH AND DECAY
BY THE SAME AUTHOR “In this volume Lord Eversley givesus the story of Poland’s tragedy withhis usual precision and compression, butadding the special charm of a delightfullyfresh, sustained, and vivid handling.” Westminster Gazette. “Thoroughness, dignity, and a calm,even judgment are the conspicuous characteristicsof Lord Eversley’s study ofthe sufferings and wrongs of Polandduring the last 150 years.... It wasalways Lord Eversley’s way to pursueany theme with complete independenceof judgment, and an assiduous determinationto get back to facts, and thisvolume is a meritorious example of itsauthor’s industry and intellectual vigour.” Daily Telegraph. London: T. Fisher Unwin Ltd. |
MAHOMET THE CONQUEROR
From a medallion in the British Museum attributed to theItalian artist Gentile Bellini, who was invited by Mahomet toConstantinople, in 1480, and painted a portrait of him.
The portrait is in the Layard Collection.
THE TURKISH
EMPIRE
ITS GROWTH AND DECAY
BY
LORD EVERSLEY
Author of “The Partitions of Poland,” “Peel and O’Connell”,
“Gladstone and Ireland”
WITH A FRONTISPIECE
AND THREE MAPS
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN LTD.
ADELPHI TERRACE
First published in 1917
Second Impression 1918
(All rights reserved)
PREFACE
The favour with which, two years ago, my book on ThePartitions of Poland was received by the public has inducedme to devote the interval to a study of the history of anotherState which, in modern times, has almost disappeared fromthe map of Europe—namely Turkey.
The subject is one in which I have for many years pasttaken great interest. In the course of a long life, I havewitnessed the greater part of the events which have resultedin the loss to that State of all its Christian provinces inEurope and all its Moslem provinces in Africa, leavingto it only its capital and a small part of Thrace in Europe,and its still wide possessions in Asia.
So long ago, also, as in 1855 and 1857, I spent some timeat Constantinople and travelled in Bulgaria and Greece, andwas able to appreciate the effects of Turkish rule. As aresult, I gave a full support, in 1876, to Mr. Gladstone inhis efforts to secure the independence of Bulgaria, and in1879 was an active member of a committee, presided overby Lord Rosebery, which had for its object the extensionof the kingdom of Greece so as to include the provincesinhabited by Greeks still suffering under Turkish rule.
In 1887 and 1890 I again visited the East and travelledov