Ottoman War On Russia Essay

In 1853, the Crimean War was fought among the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Britain, and France over a Russian protectorate in the Ottoman Empire’s vassal states to compete with France’s influence. The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia with the backing of France and Britain. The Russians were defeated and humiliated and were angry with the Austrians for not supporting them as their ally so Russia cut off ties with them. Austria’s supposedly new friends Britain and France failed to help Austria like the Russians did when she needed it. Instead, the French aided the the Italians in their fight for independence against Austria and the British withdrew from foreign affairs. The lack of support for Austria also led to German unification. Austria’s

Instead of joining the Russians in the war, the Austrians remained neutral and supported the French and British because of the risks and their limited capabilities, a result of their recent rebellions. Before the war even started, Austria led attempts in Vienna to defuse the situation where a resolution called the Vienna Note was created that appeased all the powers. The Vienna Note restored the balance of power to what it was before the conflict while preserving all the nation’s honour. However, there was no actual enforcing of the note because of the distrust among them and the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire refused to accept it because he saw it has an opportunity to gain British and French support against his traditional enemy, Russia. When Russia occupied the Dardanelles, Austria reacted aggressively and threatened to join the war against Russia because the Russian occupation endangered Austrian security. The Danube Principalities were as the Russian Tsar Nicholas Ⅰ put it, the border between Austria and Russia. The Danube Principalities under the Ottoman Empire was seen as a buffer between Russia