Austria and the Eastern question 1829-1841

Relying on thorough examination of relevant documents housed in the archives in Vienna, Paris, London, Berlin and Munich, this thesis analyzes the attitude of one of the most important personalities of the 19th century, Austrian Chancellor Metternich, towards the Ottoman Empire and his behaviour in the complicated evolution of the Eastern Question from 1829 to 1841, in other words from the signature of the Treaty of Adrianople to the conclusion of the second London Treaty regarding the Straits. Attention is paid particularly to the final phase of the Greeks' struggle for independence and the relating Russian-Ottoman war, the French expedition to Algeria, the two Ottoman-Egyptian crises, the Rhine crisis caused by the complications in the Levant, the Russian-British rivalry in the East and the difficult situation of the Christians in Syria in the spring of 1841. A further reason for writing this thesis is to point out some of Metternich's hitherto unknown characteristics and diplomatic procedures transpiring from his Near Eastern policy. In the whole period covered by this research, Metternich pursued the policy of conservation: he tried to preserve the declining Ottoman Empire and avoid serious complications in the Levant caused by the attitudes of other European Powers or the internal disorder of the..