Fiscal consequences of the Ottoman Russian war of 1828-29

This master's thesis focuses on the fiscal consequences of the 1828-29 Ottoman-Russian war. The defeated Ottoman Empire had to sign the Treaty of Adrianople which contained very harsh terms and was required to pay two types of reparations: war reparations and trade reparations. These reparations are the central focus of this study in terms of the fiscal consequences they created. The first chapter deals with the background to the war, how the war happened, and how it ended. The second chapter is about trade reparations and the third is about war reparations, both of which are examined through documents from the Ottoman Archives of the Presidency of Turkey. These chapters explore how the payments were financed, the problems experienced in making the payments, and the political relationships that were developed around the payments. The study shows that the Ottoman Empire, which was already experiencing economic problems because of the war, had a very hard time in paying the reparations after the war, and was forced to build relationships of political dependency. In this context, fiscal problems got deeper throughout the payment process of reparations, debasements of coinage made the Ottoman currency system very unstable, and the state was unable to defend itself during the rebellion of Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt. The reparations, which had to be paid during a critical juncture, not only placed a heavy burden on state finances but also was used by Russia as a tool of political pressure. The fact that the Egyptian crisis resulted in Russia's tutelage led to an important shift in Britain's foreign policy regarding the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman bureaucrats, who were able to break free from Russia's political pressures as a result of this, were able to shift their attention on Tanzimat reforms.