Page 242 - Beholding Liberty!

Portrait
of Alexandros Ypislantis illustration (frontispiece) in the edition of Jacovaky Rizo Néroulos, Histoire moderne de la Grèce,
Geneva 1828
Library of the Hellenic Parliament
1. M. S. Anderson, The Eastern question, 1774-1923.
A study in international relations, Macmillan, London 1966.
because of its own abilities but because of the inability of the Great Powers of Europe to agree – owing to their conflicting interests – on a commonly accepted solution related to the distribution of the spoils.1
THE CONGRESSES OF LAIBACH AND VERONA
At the time when Alexander Ypsilantis issued his revolutionary proclamation in the Danubian Principalities, the representatives of the Great European Powers were summoned in Laibach. The selection of the Danubian Principalities as the starting point of the Revolution was not acciden- tal, but rather reflected a political calculation. The Principalities were formally under the nominal rule of the Ottoman Empire. However, the Ottomans did not have the right to maintain an army in them, nor to bring armed forces there without consulting Russia. Consequently, if the Sublime Porte respected the regime of demilitarizing the Danubian Principalities, the forces of Ypsilantis would prevail owing to the lack of an adversary. If, on the other hand, the sultan violated this regime, then a Russo-Turkish war was very likely, a development that would facilitate Friendly Society relations. In the end, neither one nor the other occurred, since the Russians did not react to the invasion of the Danubian Principalities by strong Ottoman armies that would very rapidly destroy the forces of Ypsilantis.
The defeat of Ypsilantis on the battlefield was associated with the renunciation of his movement
242 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!