| Two Mediterranean Agreements (See 1887, Feb. 12), among Britain, Italy, Austria, and Spain, brokered by Germany, supported British policy in Egypt and affirmed the need to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian or French expansion. | 1 |
| Armenian massacres (See 1894–96). Armenian nationalists, inspired by the example of Russian Pan-Slavs and terrorists, organized secret revolutionary groups (leader Avetis Nazarbek), which, operating from Geneva, Tiflis, Paris, and other places, followed a policy of provoking troubles in Armenia in the hope of calling forth reprisals by the Ottomans and thus bringing about European intervention. Beginning in 1890, there were constant disturbances, culminating in the Armenian rising of August 1894 in the vicinity of Sassun. This was put down with ferocity by the Kurdish irregular cavalry. The result was a great outcry in Europe, particularly in Britain, where humanitarians called on the Liberal government to intervene. Ultimately, the sultan appointed a commission of investigation, which was joined by British, French, and Russian delegates. Russia, threatened in its own territory by the prospect of an Armenian state, was averse to any action. The commission produced a fairly innocuous program of reform (April 1895). | 3 |
