Breaking the Chains : the Royal Navy's War against White Slavery /Tom Pocock

"When the Napoleonic wars ended, Britain had already halted the transatlantic trade in African slaves, although slavery itself in the Caribbean had yet to be abolished. But, in the Mediterranean, the enslavement of Europeans by north African states - semi-autonomous regencies of the Ottoman Empire - continued with Algiers as its driving force. This, too, would have to stop and, if necessary, be stopped by force. But, when that seemed to have been achieved without apparent ruptures with the ruling Sultan in Constantinople, a new and unexpected crisis arose. The Greeks, subjects of the Sultan for four centuries, rose against their rulers and many in the west also saw them as Christian slaves, despite their religion being under no threat. [...] The confrontation that followed threatened war, which all except the Greeks and Russians wished to avoid; eventually war, not only between east and west but within Europe itself, seemed possible. The British strained to avoid the conflict, once with unworthy avoidance of their own responsibility; despite this, extreme violence did erupt. This narrative is primarily as seen by those in the executive arm of British foreign policy: the Royal Navy and, whenever possible, it is told in their own words."--Taken from the Introduction.