THE CIVILIZED OTTOMAN: RACISM, MASCULINITY, AND HONOR DURING THE GREAT EASTERN CRISIS OF 1875-78

Abstract

This dissertation examines the “Great Eastern Crisis of 1875-78” from the Ottoman perspective and argues that the Ottoman Empire viewed its rights under international law as contingent on proving that it was a civilized empire. Ottoman officials recognized that Great Power conceptions of being civilized rested in part on adherence to international law and a uniform positive domestic law, and the foreign ministry sought to prove that it strictly observed all its international obligations and treaties and that the empire’s internal reforms had created a modern government and legal system.At the same time, the Ottomans knew that the Great Powers conceived of international society as a hierarchy of states based in large part on religion, race, gender, and aristocratic honor. Ottoman officials thus attempted to convince their Great Power counterparts that Turkishness and Islam were compatible with the civilizing mission and Ottomans were the legitimate rulers within the empire. Additionally, they emphasized their masculinity and masculine honor, viewing both as consistent with the standards of the Great Powers as well as Ottoman society. Finally, though Ottoman diplomatic rhetoric failed to achieve its goals, this dissertation argues that Ottoman diplomacy was quite sophisticated and well-suited to appeal to the Great Powers. The failure of Ottoman diplomacy was that rhetoric alone could not convince the Great Powers to respect Ottoman sovereignty. The Great Powers had created an international system that legitimated the powerful taking from the less powerful, justified by the ideologies that the Ottomans had correctly identified.