The Ottoman Empire and the Balkan Wars

There was a real sense that the ottomans were distilling their empire down to something that would be more sustainable. Within those lands, you still had very sizable christian manority communities and jewish communities which gave the ottoman empire its cosmopolitanism. They knew the meaning of the word alganization, and it was where nationalism would fragment territories away. But then equally, there were internal politics that were just as turbulent. And i think for russia, the real concern was to make sure that constantinople, the ancient capital of the byzantine empire, if it should fall out of autom hands, should fall into those of the czar and his family