Canning and the Eastern Question

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Canning and the Eastern Question

In 1822 Castlereagh committed suicide and George Canning was appointed as the new British Foreign Secretary, a position he kept until his death in 1827. Castlereagh as Foreign Secretary had played a leading role in the defeat of Napoleon and was very keen to use the Congress System to restore peace in Europe; Canning however was more hostile to the Congress System as he believed British interests lay outside Europe and he had no good relationship with the other European statesmen. By his death in 1827 he had played a major role in the death of the Congress System but had also managed to successfully maintain British interests.

At this time the Ottoman Empire was very large containing South Eastern Europe and parts of Asia and North Africa. However as it was such a huge ramshackle of different nationalities and religions in order for it to be governed effectively it needed a strong leadership from Constantinople, which the Turkish Sultan of this time couldn't offer, since 1815 the Ottoman Empire had been in decline.

(The Ottoman Empire)

After France's defeat previously Russia was now considered the