Straits Question | European history
Straits Question, in European diplomacy of the 19th and 20th centuries, a recurrent controversy over restrictions on the passage of warships through the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, the strategic straits connecting the Black Sea with the Aegean and Mediterranean seas. The straits were in Turkish territory, but when Russia gained control of the north shore of the Black Sea in the 18th century, Russian commercial vessels were accorded free passage through them by the Ottoman government. Seeking to protect itself against attack from the south, Russia, after defeating the Tu...
Source: britannica.com
