Velmocenská politika carského Ruska a Osmanská říše za Velké války (1914–1916)

For centuries, the Ottoman Empire had an important status in international relations, for which the term ‘the Eastern Question’ is generally used. Its traditional rival, Tsarist Russia, eventually determined the principal objective of its policy regarding Istanbul as controlling the strategic straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles between the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The First World War provided Russia with further opportunity to pursue its own imperial demands against the Ottoman Empire. Along with its British and French allies, Russia first tried to prevent the Ottoman Empire from joining the war on Germany and Austria-Hungary’s side. At the turn of October and November of 1914, the Ottoman Empire came out in opposition to the Entente. As such, Russia, France and Britain began discussions on dividing out the ‘legacy’ of the Ottoman Empire, during which the often contradictory interests of the Entente powers came into conflict. The Russian Revolution and the outcome of the First World War transformed the original plans of the Middle East’s future in a significant manner.