Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin was a conference held in Berlin in 1888 to reoganize the Balkans following the Russo-Turkish War.
Contents
History
The Ottomans and Russians fought a series of twelve land wars across the 1700s and 1800s. They are all collectively known as the Russo-Turkish Wars.
The Russo-Turkish War of 1878 erupted in the context of significant ethnic and religious upheaval in the Balkans.
Following the Crimean War, the Paris Peace Treaty required that the Ottomans recognize equal rights between Muslims and non-Muslims (among other things). This was then reinforced by internal reforms pushed by Abdülmecid I and Reşid in the Edict of Gülhane.
A religious civil war erupted in the Beirut vilayet; it was settled when Fuad directly intervened and executed all agitators on both sides. A French and British military intervention forced the sultan to agree to the creation of an autonomous Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate led by a Christian mutasarrif (متصرّف).
A small religious rebellion on Crete was similar crushed; in particular the siege of Arkadi Monastery ended with the execution of all rebels. A diplomatic intervention forced the sultan to agree to greater self-rule in Greece.
Circassians fled Russian genocide into the Ottoman Empire.
- There was a confluence of political goals in Russia. Conservative statesman were in favor of irredentist claims, a pan-Slavic state, or a united Orthodox state. Liberal statesman were in favor of liberating the imperial nations (Bulgaria in particular).
Serbia and Montenegro declared war against the empire in June 1876.
Covertly, Alexander II and Franz Joseph I bargained for a redivision of the Balkans. Austria would occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina; Russia would annex [[ The war itself was a clear victory for Russia, and they enforced their war goals in the Treaty of San Stefano.
The Congress of Berlin was a diplomatic intervention, because the terms of that peace treaty would have imbalanced European international relations. The Treaty of Berlin walked back several war goals