GREAT POWERS AND THE STRAITS: FROM LAUSANNE TO MONTREUX

Since the bcginning of the 19th century, the territories of the Ottoman Empire have been a bone of contention for the Great Powers. The so-called "sick man of Europc" had occupied the thoughts of numerous statesmen in Europe. The Balkans attracted the Russians and Austrians while Egypt and the Levant had always whetted British and French appetites. But the rifts existing among those povvers and the diplomatic maneuvers of the Porte saved the Empire from annihilation. If the Porte had any capacity to manipulate the outcome of events, it was indeed, as Ahmet Şükrü Esmer (1947) aptly claimed, grounded on the question of the Straits.