The Invention of the Eastern Question - by Ozan Ozavci (Hardcover)

About the Book

A diplomatic and contrapuntal history of the emergence of Robert Liston, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century and the emergence of the 'Eastern Question'.

Book Synopsis

The Invention of the Eastern Question recounts the gripping and dramatic history of how the Russian Empire's invasion of Ottoman Crimea reshaped global politics at the dawn of the nineteenth century. Through the lives of Scottish diplomat Sir Robert Liston and his wife Henrietta (née Marchand) Liston, the book follows the emergence of the Eastern Question- the most dangerous, enduring and complex international relations issue of the century that would claim millions of lives until the 1920s. Drawing on the Listons' official and private letters, personal diaries and a trove of Austrian, British, Dutch, French, Ottoman, and Russian archives, Ozan Ozavci reveals the importance of the art of negotiation in the age of revolutions, showing how the choices of a few people shaped empires, stirred tensions, and left a legacy that would haunt global imperial relations long after the Listons left the world stage.

Providing a new analysis of Euro-Ottoman relations at a crucial historical juncture, the book will be of great interest to scholars of history and International Relations.

Review Quotes

"A culmination of years of painstaking research across European and Ottoman archives, The Invention of the Eastern Question masterfully unveils the high-stakes drama of early 19th-century geopolitics. Ozavci, with singular breadth and subtle depth, explores the world of European and Ottoman diplomats as they grappled with the complexities of one of the most enduring issues of 19th-century international relations. The result is a rich and stimulating account of how individual choices influenced the fate of empires and left an indelible mark on history. This is a rare achievement, likely to set the terms of historical discussion for many years." --Alexander Mikaberidze, Professor of History, Louisiana State University in Shreveport, USA

"Ozan Ozavci's fascinating book is an entangled biography of three main characters: a subtle diplomat in search of safeguarding his country's interests, but also the airy phantom of fame; a complex question in international politics that was re-imagined during late eighteenth and early nineteenth century; an inter-imperial realm that was as crucial to world peace in the early 1800 as it is now. The Invention of the Eastern Question is a meticulously researched and beautifully written piece of historical scholarship, drawing upon a wealth of archival sources from across Europe. It is a must-read for scholars - and the larger public - interested in historical security studies, new diplomatic history, and the history of inter-imperial relations." --Constantin Ardeleanu, Institute for South-East European Studies, Bucharest, Romania

"In this eloquent primer of the life and service of British Ambassador Robert Liston (1742-1836), diplomat and philosophe, Ozavci has re-mapped the origins of much of our contemporary international politics in the Ottoman-Russian clash of imperial governance in Eurasia of the early 1800s." --Virginia H. Aksan, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University, Canada

"In this deeply researched and fluently narrated history, Ozan Ozavci takes a "new" diplomatic approach to explain the origins of the "Eastern Question" through the biography of Scottish diplomat Sir Robert Liston, who mediated between the British, Ottoman, Russian, and French camps in the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars during two postings in Istanbul in 1794-1795 and 1812-1820. Attending to the significant-but often overlooked-impact of these wars on the Ottoman Empire, he convincingly shows how they provoked an emotional sense of "insecurity" in the government of the Porte, which henceforth chose to disengage from the Congress System established at Vienna in 1815. Ozavci's careful reconstruction of Ottoman-Russian relations in this critical period illuminates a number of significant historical events with contemporary implications, including the contest for the Crimea and Ukraine, the Polish Question, the Serbian Revolution, and the Greek War of Independence. It is thus a welcome addition to the scholarship on revolution, war, international relations, and security studies in the long nineteenth century." --Christine Haynes, Professor, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA

About the Author

Ozan Ozavci is Associate Professor of Transimperial History at Utrecht University, Netherlands. He is the author of Dangerous Gifts: Imperialism, Security, and Civil Wars in the Levant, 1798-1864 (2021) and Intellectual Origins of the Republic: Ahmet Agaoglu and the Genealogy of Liberalism in Turkey (2015).