"A timely, ambitious, and clearheaded account of the complex history of humanitarian intervention in the nineteenth century. Rodogno astutely shows how European humanitarianism fed on views of the Ottoman Empire as barbaric and moribund, and its Christian subjects as uniquely deserving of sympathy. Stressing the selectivity of interventions and the mixed motives of their agents, Rodogno traces the interplay between public opinion, the journalism that fueled it, and European states' imperial and geopolitical agendas."--Jennifer Pitts, University of Chicago
"This excellent book offers a fresh and imaginative look at the history of humanitarian intervention by focusing on European action or inaction in the Ottoman Empire during episodes of violence against some of its Christian populations. Its well-researched and nuanced analysis illuminates the theory and practice of such interventions that remain very relevant for our own day. It also recasts through this prism the much-vexed 'Eastern Question' in highly original ways."--Aron Rodrigue, Stanford University
"Against Massacre is a comprehensive and readable account of the first modern humanitarian interventions by Western powers in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. While the new 'responsibility to protect' norm is making more impact than Rodogno concedes, he is right to suggest that broad consensus on military action in mass atrocity cases will long be elusive: the nineteenth-century legacy of selective response lives on."--Gareth Evans, cochair, International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty
"In this outstanding, elegant, and informative book, Rodogno makes a powerful case for reexamining humanitarian intervention from a historical perspective by exploring cases of European involvement in the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century. With impressive research and insightful analysis, Against Massacre will have a major impact in international history and be of great importance to humanities and political science scholars."--J. P. Daughton, Stanford University
"Studying the emergence of humanitarian intervention in the nineteenth century and its implementation in the Ottoman Empire, Rodogno provides a new and interesting view on the concept as a whole. Rodogno's topic is excellent, his approach original, and his arguments sound and well-grounded. I know of no similar book."--Stevan K. Pavlowitch, emeritus professor of history, University of Southampton
"This book is an easy read. It flows along nicely and will be popular with students and the chattering classes alike, for it says all the right things."--Kate Fleet, Journal of Islamic Studies
"Scholars of international relations, law, and other disciplines have explored the phenomenon of humanitarian intervention, in which one or more states acting on behalf of the international community invades a sovereign state in response to the mass killing of civilians. Rodogno takes a historical approach to the issue in this deeply researched study of how the European Great Powers (primarily Great Britain and France) dealt with the massacres of civilians within the Ottoman Empire between 1825 and 1914."--Choice
"Against Massacre fills a significant lacuna in the vast and growing literature on humanitarian intervention and will find readers among international relations historians and scholars."--Daniel J. Whelan, American Historical Review
"Against Massacre is a major contribution to a history of humanitarianism. Based on a multitude of Western sources, it profits from the new researches on late Ottoman history."--Hans-Lukas Kieser, Comparativ
"Enthusiasm for humanitarian interventions in foreign conflicts tends to go in waves, as David Rodogno demonstrates in this erudite and well-researched book."--James Pettifer, Journal of Ecclesiastical History
"Through a closer examination of the issue of humanitarian intervention in the nineteenth century, this book has made a valuable contribution to the political history of humanitarian intervention."--Pinar Senisik, Insight Turkey
"[T]his is an important and groundbreaking work that deserves a wide readership among Ottomanists, Balkanists, scholars of international relations, and public policy experts with interests in the possibilities and limits of intervening to stop mass violence against civilians."--Max Bergholz, Historian
Introduction 1
Chapter One: The International Context of Nineteenth-Century Humanitarian Interventions 18
Chapter Two: Exclusion of the Ottoman Empire from the Family of Nations,and Legal Doctrines of Humanitarian Intervention 36
Chapter Three: Intervention on Behalf of Ottoman Greeks (1821-33) 63
Chapter Four: Intervention in Ottoman Lebanon and Syria (1860-61) 91
Chapter Five: The First Intervention in Crete (1866-69) 118
Chapter Six: Nonintervention during the Eastern Crisis (1875-78) 141
Chapter Seven: Intermezzo-The International Context (1878-1908) 170
Chapter Eight: Nonintervention on Behalf of the Ottoman Armenians (1886-1909) 185
Chapter Nine: The Second Intervention in Crete (1896-1900) 212
Chapter Ten: Nonforcible Intervention in the Ottoman Macedonian Provinces (1903-08) 229
Epilogue 247
Abbreviations 277
Notes 279
Bibliography 345
Index 385