Relying on thorough examination of relevant archival material, this paper analyzes the attitudes and behavior of the Austrian Chancellor Metternich during the second Meḥmed cAlī crisis from 1839-1841, which arose from the antagonism between Sultan Maḥmūd II and his powerful Egyptian vassal, Meḥmed cAlī. The object of this study is not simply an analysis of Austrian diplomacy. Attention is also paid to Metternich’s attitude towards the Ottoman reform movement, his “church policy” in the spring of 1841, and the false and frequently repeated accusation by then French historians that he was the instigator of Mustafa Reshīd Pasha’s fall at the end of March in 1841.
The first Mohammed Ali crisis of the early 1830s significantly influenced the situation within the Ottoman Empire as will as the relations among the European Powers. The goal of this paper is to analyze the diplomacy of the Austrian Chancellor Metternich in the Levant during this important affair and thus to reveal how Austria´s vast economic interests in this refion, and particularly in Egypt, determined the decision-making process of the cabinet in Vienna. At that time the extent of Austrian trade with Egypt exceeded that of other European countries and prevented Austria´s active involvement in the conflict. The arguments of the paper are based upon a research of the archival materials housed in Vienna, Berlin, London and Paris.
In 1840, several members of the Jewish community in Damascus were accused of killing a Christian priest owing to his blood for the Passover and tortured, one of them even to death. This incident with a strong echo in Europe became one of the most important chapter of the modern Jewish history contributing both to the 19th century anti-Semitism and to the idea of the Jewish homeland in Palestine. The course of the unfortunate event and its impact on history is discussed in the submitted paper.