Europe’s advantage over the Ottomans grew from its internal divisions, not its strength.

Evidence

Europe arose not from its strength but its weakness, and from the scope that this weakness gave to hostile forces, both inside and outside the failing empire. It was in this latter phase that it came to be known as “the Eastern Question.” — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1740

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies what ‘the Eastern Question’ actually meant in diplomatic usage.
• XREF: Relates to the Milgrom civil-law reading about how decentralized institutional competition produced commercial gains — strength through fragmentation.