Anti-Ottoman Alliance

The sudden murder of the ambassador caused European public opinion, already unfavorable toward the Ottoman Empire, to tilt completely to one side. Politicians, experts, and scholars who had originally leaned toward the Ottomans also fell silent at this time.

Affected by this, on May 7, 1882—the third day after the incident—the Vienna Government terminated the second round of negotiations.

Immediately afterward, on May 9, the Vienna Government delivered an ultimatum to the Ottoman Government, ordering it to hand over the true culprits behind the "massacre" within a week.

This was not a matter of agreeing or refusing; it was simply impossible to do.

The group involved in the massacre was far too vaguely defined. The identities and number of the dead, as well as the locations where they were killed, had never been clearly established. They would not even know where to begin an investigation.

Forget one week—even if the Ottoman Government were given a year, it would lack the ability to find the real culprits.

At the very moment the Vienna Government released its announcement, the Greek Government likewise delivered an ultimatum to the Ottoman Empire. Its terms were much the same: the Ottoman Government was to hand over the murderers.

Everyone knew war was coming. The international community turned its eyes toward London and Saint Petersburg; now, only those two could influence this war.

France had originally been one of them as well, but it had two governments. If one supported something, the other had to oppose it.

At such a crucial moment for winning public support, only someone with something wrong with their head would support the Ottoman Empire and offend the religious forces at home.

At Gatchina Palace in Saint Petersburg, Dimitri Pasha, the Ottoman ambassador to Russia, had been waiting bitterly in the reception hall