In 1875 Britain purchased 44% of the shares of the Suez Canal. Britain, now under the leadership of Disraeli. Before the Suez canal was built it was much harder for Britain to get to India. However by Purchasing 44% of the shares from the Khedive and if you couple that together with the amount of shares that private businesses in Britain owned then it lifted the percentage of shares that Britain held above fifty and so that therefore gave them complete control of the canal. With this is their grasp it meant that they could ensure that India was much more safe. India at this time was Britain�s main colony and the British government�s main priority always had been to always maintain old and secure new routes to India. India was a huge point of commerce success for the British during this period and so as long as they could control the routes to India then that also ties in with another priority of the British government which is trade. And so by purchasing these shares in order to secure and a new route to India it meant that the British government had been successful in upholding one of it�s priorities.
In 1875 Britain�s prime minister Disraeli became obsessed with the fact that �Constantinople is the key to India, and not Egypt and the Suez canal� He believed that if Russia invaded Turkey it could then sweep round to Egypt. This meant that Britain was still potentially vulnerable in the eastern Mediterranean purely because it lacked a major power base there and it was thought that Suez would not be secure if the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Also during this time The balance of power in Europe was moving because of the Emergence of Germany as a new country in 1871. During this time Russia continued to itch to expand further and so finally 1877 they could wait no longer and so began the Russo-Turkish war. It was the official statement that Russia went to war because �it wished to protect the Christians of the Balkan area of the empire� however realistically it was probably more to do with the fact that it was looking to exploit the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and By January 1878 Russia had lost 200,000 men. But they kept on going and eventually they came close enough to Constantinople for Disraeli to finally act by sending a fleet of iron clad warships to the straits. The Russians who were by this point exhausted and their army was diseased stopped a few miles outside of San Stefano and agreed to make peace. The Balkan crisis mainly plays on the fact of the balance of power and the routes to India which then inevitably ties in with trade. And so by Disraeli stepping in when he did it means that Russia was unable to take Constantinople which he said was �the key to India� and so preserved the routes to India which in turn saved trade. And by stopping Russia and sending them back it means that the balance of power was once again restored. And so once again it is true that the British government were extremely successful in upholding their priorities in this situation.
The fact that Russia won the war meant that they were able to impose heavy penalties on the Turks, The terms of this treaty (the Treaty of San Stefano 1878) were that Serbia, Montenegro and Romania should become Independent this was also the point when Big Bulgaria was formed. Although Russia did actually take some land for itself, however the most important thing about this is that it meant that Russia thought it would have hug influence over the newly formed states and best of all access to Mediterranean ports. When the great powers heard of this they quickly held a congress in Berlin in 1878 this was to be the last grand 19th century congress at which the great powers would co-operate in order to restore the balance of power. In the end it was left to Disraeli to convince the other countries that although they could not impose terms on Russia because they had actually won the war. And so to appease the Russian�s somewhat Serbia, Montenegro and Romania were to become independent as was originally agreed, but the contentious issue came with �Big Bulgaria� and its access to the Mediterranean so they decided to shrink Bulgaria into two smaller states that would have elected rulers but would still be theoretically in the ottoman empire. Russia was actually given some land just to the north of the Danubian provinces. The way in which the British government, led by Disraeli handled this most recent situation to the upset of the balance of power was quite exceptional. It again showed that The British government would uphold their priorities.
Between the years of 1878-80 The afghan war took place, In 1878 the Russian empire had spread almost to the boarders of Afghanistan. And on the other side of Afghanistan was of course India, this greatly scared Britain that Russia may try to Invade Afghanistan in order to secure passage to India and therefore in turn try to invade India where of course the majority of British interests did lie. This resulted in Disraeli jumping the gun somewhat and Invading Afghanistan in an attempt to protect the routes to India for Britain but also the balance of power.A British force of about 40,000 fighting men, mostly British and Indians, was distributed into military columns which penetrated Afghanistan at three different points. An alarmed Sher Ali attempted to appeal in person to the Russian Tsar for assistance, but unable to do so, he returned to Mazari Sharif, where he died on 21 February 1879. The fact that Britain was convincingly beaten in this war did not matter so much in the end. Because it showed the Russians how hard it would be to effectively invade Afghanistan beat them and take control of the country and then go on to invade India and crush both the British and Indian forces there. Therefore the British government did once more simply by sticking to it�s priorities manage to once again successfully uphold them. For they managed to also keep the routes to India safe.
So in conclusion I believe that it is very obvious that although different prime ministers and different governments have all been thrown very different challenges they have all responded to them in a resolute way and have only once from the matters that I have examined in this essay strayed fro upholding their priorities and that was when the black sea clauses were broken and Britain chose to turn a blind eye. However asides from this is it is cleat that throughout the period 1856-1902 the British Government�s were extremely successful in upholding their priorities in the Eastern Question.
by
sammysoph (student)
