The influences behind the Zionist movement and the formation of Israel are many. The process involved time, ideological vision, strategy, navigation of international relations, internal politics, and sheer determination. The process was also subject to many external international events. There are also signs of a conflict between the leading Jewish minds of the Revolutionary and Zionist movements. This small series of articles will review what happened in Europe leading up to, and after, Britain received the official Mandate for Palestine from the League of Nations in August 1922.
The Russians and the Ottomans
Russia had gradually eaten away at the resilience and forces of the Ottomans over the course of 300 years on and off conflict. With some of these wars Russia gained new ground. In 1570 they took Khazan and Astrakan. In 1699 the Cossack Hetmanate, a large state to the north and west of Crimea and the Black Sea, became a protectorate of the Russian Empire. A number of battles waged in and around the city of Chigrin, the home of the Cossack Hetman, reduced Ottoman forces further.
In 1681 the Treaty of Bakhchisarai, after yet another Russo-Turkish war, divided Ukraine at the Dnieper River between Russia, the Cossacks and Ottomans. In 1700 Russia annexed the Sea of Azov, but then lost it again in 1710. In 1722 both the Ottomans and Russians waged war against Safafid Iran (Persia) and divided the lands between them. Russia took Dagestan, Azerbijan and Northern Iran, but would later return Northern Iran in exchange for an alliance with Persia.
The Middle Eastern Question, or the debate over rivalry between Britain and Russia in relation to the Middle East, ramped up when Russia established a foothold after the Ottoman defeat in the Russo-Turkish war of 1768-1774. In the resulting Treaty of Kuçuk Kainarji, both the Ottoman and Russian Empires agreed to terms which would end the ‘undisputed Ottoman control of the Black Sea and providing a diplomatic basis for future Russian intervention in internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire.’ It ceded much more control to Russia of the Azov Sea and Crimea, allowing Russia to edge it’s foothold further south towards Constantinople, the main target being control of the key shipping route of the Bosphorus and ready access to the eastern Mediterranean.