Preservation of American Hellenic History
Preservation of American Hellenic History
by Jason C. Mavrovitis
Ziso and Sofia Zisova lived in the early nineteenth century, when the Kingdom of Greece was born. Sozopolis was distant from the new Kingdom, but one can imagine the excitement and anticipation that news of the liberation of Hellenes from the oppression of the Ottomans must have created for Balkan Christians of all ethnicities.
In the mid-nineteenth century, Russian Tsar Nicholas proclaimed himself protector of all Orthodox Christian citizens of the Turkish Empire, a status that greatly threatened Ottoman suzerainty. The Tsar warned the Turks that if they did not recognize his role as protector, he would occupy the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, the northernmost regions of Turkey in Europe.[map / 52] Another Turko-Russian war threatened.
The British and French were constantly on guard against Russian intentions toward the Balkans and the Black Sea. Russia desperately wanted unfettered access to the Aegean and had the strategic goal of taking Constantinople and turning the Balkans into a giant client state. Russia approached Britain with a secret plan to partition the Ottoman Empire. Britain remained convinced that it was in her best interest for the Ottoman Empire, described by Tsar Alexander as "the sick man of Europe," to be preserved.(53)
Between 1825 and 1852, Britain's exports to Turkey grew to the point that they exceeded those to Russia, Italy, Turkey and France. In 1852, 1,741 British ships traded in the Black Sea, with great quantities of wheat and corn imported from Turkey's provinces on the Danube.(54) For Britain, the smallest chance that its access to the Black Sea through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorous, and control of the eastern Mediterranean might be lost was an unacceptable economic risk. Political policy followed economic reality.
The immediate excuse for the Crimean War was a dispute between Russia and France over which Christian Church, Russian Orthodox or French Catholic, would hold the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Bethlehem.(55) In fact, the national interests of England, France, Russia and Turkey were at play. The Sultan ruled for the French Catholics. Britain and France sent warships to the Dardanelles on 8 June 1853 to support the Turks. On July 3 the Tsar ordered his troops to occupy Moldavia and Wallachia. Turkey declared war on Russia on 5 October.
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