Sick man of Europe

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The term "Sick man of Europe" is a nickname associated with a European country experiencing a time of economic difficulty and/or poverty.

Contents 1 Origin 2 Modern use 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Origin

Main article: Decline of the Ottoman Empire

The phrase "sick man of Europe" is commonly attributed to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, referring to the Ottoman Empire, because it was increasingly falling under the financial control of the European powers and had lost territory in a series of disastrous wars. However, it is not clear that he ever said the precise phrase. Letters from Sir G.H. Seymour, the British ambassador to St. Petersburg, to Lord John Russell, in 1853, in the run up to the Crimean War, quote Nicholas I of Russia as saying that the Ottoman Empire was a sick man—a very sick man", a "man" who "has fallen into a state of decrepitude", or a "sick man ... gravely ill".^[1][2][3]

Later, this view led the Allies in World War I to underestimate the Ottoman Empire, leading in part to the disastrous Dardanelles Campaign.

[edit] Modern use

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Beginning in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, the United Kingdom was sometimes known as the sick man of Europe because of industrial strife and poor economic performance compared to other European countries. Spain had such a nickname due to the economic difficulties during the last years of Francisco Franco's reign and the period following the dictator's death until circa 1983.

The Republic of Ireland was also known by this term during a long period of poverty, before the Celtic Tiger (a nickname for Ireland's booming economy) grew in the 1980s, creating thousands of jobs and making the Irish economy one of the fastest growing in western Europe. The term was also used in describing Portugal before the Portuguese economy made a recovery in the 1990s.

Since the early 1990s, Russia and most of Eastern Europe received such nickname due to the severe economic hardships of the time, as well as the soaring rates in alcoholism, drug abuse, and AIDS that led to a negative population growth and falling life expectancies (although, in recent years, it has shown signs of slowing down).

The term was applied to the Russian Federation more recently in the book "Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the End of Revolution" by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser (Scribner). In this book, chapter nine is titled "Sick Man of Europe."

In the late 1990s, the press labeled Germany with this term because of its economic problems, especially due to the costs of German reunification after 1990, which are estimated to amount to over €1.5 trillion (statement of Freie Universität Berlin).

In May 2005, The Economist attributed this title to Italy, covering "The real sick man of Europe". This refers to Italy's structural and political difficulties thought to inhibit economic reforms to relaunch economic growth.

In 2006, Mark Steyn calls Russia the "sick man of Europe" in the book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. This diagnosis is based on Russia's demographic profile, which is a main theme of the book.

In 2007, a report by Morgan Stanley referred to France as the "new sick man of Europe".^[4]

In April 2007, The Economist described Portugal as "a new sick man of Europe".^[5]

[edit] See also

• Sick man of Asia

[edit] References