The conglomerate that had formerly stretched from the gates of Vienna to the comeuppance of Arabia now quivered beneath the steps of revolutionists, exiles, and foreign powers who sought to sculpt away its remaining meat. By the dawn of the 1820s, the Ottoman sultan, Mahmud II, stood at a crossroads of history. His conglomerate was weakened by internal corruption, the arrogance of the Janissaries, the defiance of parochial autocrats, and the restless hunger of subject peoples hankering for independence. Among these, none burned more fiercely than the Greeks. Their rebellion would come not simply another parochial rebellion but a movement that captured the imagination of Europe and shook the veritably foundations of Ottoman sovereignty.