Thread:Vorknkx/@comment-3547390-20150204202730/@comment-1496755-20150303121225

Well, they couldn't really hurt the Empire, you know. It was more like a struggle to inspire the rest of the people to start a major nation-wide uprising.

The earliest resistance groups (in the 15th - 17th century) were usually driven by personal motives. People who were hurt in some way by the Ottomans would come together, form such a group and then go out to seek revenge against the people who harmed their families or villages. Still, they were considered to be heroes and defenders of the ordinary folk.

In the 19th century, however, things changed and these groups started to pursue a greater cause - overthrowing Ottoman rule. Some of these groups were organised in neighboring countries and were pretty big (they even inccluded foreign volunteers). Still, they were not large enough to directly threaten the Empire, so their main hope was in the instigation of a major rebellion.

The rebellion did happen in 1876.... but it failed, mostly due to poor organization. It failed, and yet at the same time it succeeded because it caused a great outrage in the west. The Ottomans had been tolerated for centuries, but this time they had crossed the line with the atrocities they had committed. And so, the Russian king declared war on the Ottomans and led his army against it. Our resistance groups joined the fight and won the greatest prize of all - freedom (officially declared in 1878). We couldn't have succeeded separately, but together we toppled the evil Empire.

(this whole thing sounds almost like Star Wars, doesn't it?)