| Treaty between Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, for the Settlement of the Affairs of the East | |
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 Southeastern Europe after theCongress of Berlin | |
| Context | Congress of Berlin, after theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–1878 |
| Signed | 13 July 1878 (1878-07-13) |
| Location | Berlin,German Empire |
| Parties | |
TheTreaty of Berlin (formally theTreaty between Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire for the Settlement of Affairs in the East) was signed on 13 July 1878.[1][2] In the aftermath of theRussian victory against theOttoman Empire in theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–1878, themajor powers restructured the map of theBalkan region. They reversed some of the extreme gains claimed by Russia in the preliminaryTreaty of San Stefano, but the Ottomans lost their major holdings in Europe. It was one of three major peace agreements in the period after the 1815Congress of Vienna. It was the final act of theCongress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) and included theUnited Kingdom,Austria-Hungary,France,Germany,Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Chancellor of GermanyOtto von Bismarck was the chairman and dominant personality.
The most important task of the Congress was to decide the fate ofBulgaria, but Bulgaria itself was excluded from participation in the talks, at Russian insistence.[3][4] At the time, as it was not asovereign state, Bulgaria was not a subject ofinternational law, and the same went for the Bulgarians themselves. The exclusion was already an established fact in the great powers'Constantinople Conference, which had been held one year before without any Bulgarian participation.
The most notable result of the conference was the official recognition of the newly independent states ofRomania,Serbia, andMontenegro (which had de facto been acting independently for decades). Furthermore, Russia regained access to the formerly demilitarisedBlack Sea region.
TheParis Peace Treaty of 1856, which ended theCrimean War, had made theBlack Sea a neutral territory. The treaty had protected the Ottoman Empire, ended theHoly Alliance (Austria, Prussia and Russia) and weakened Russia's overall position. In 1870, Russia invoked the doctrine ofrebus sic stantibus and effectively terminated the treaty by breaching provisions concerning the neutrality of the Black Sea. The great powers became increasingly convinced that the Ottoman Empire would not be able to hold its territories in Europe.[5]
In 1875, theHerzegovina uprising resulted in theGreat Eastern Crisis. As the conflict in the Balkans intensified, atrocities during the 1876April Uprising in Bulgaria inflamedanti-Turkish sentiments in Russia and Britain, which eventually culminated in theRusso-Turkish War of 1877.[5]
The treaty formally recognized the independence of thede facto sovereign principalities ofRomania,Serbia andMontenegro (plus their expansion) and the autonomy of Bulgaria although the latterde facto functioned independently and was divided into three parts: the Principality of Bulgaria, the autonomous province ofEastern Rumelia, andMacedonia, which was given back to the Ottomans,[6] thus undoing Russian plans for an independent and Russophile "Greater Bulgaria". The Treaty of San Stefano had created a Bulgarian state, which was just what Britain and Austria-Hungary feared the most.[7]
The Treaty of Berlin confirmed most of the Russian gains from the Ottoman Empire specified in the Treaty of San Stefano, such asBatumi andAdjara, but the valley ofAlashkerd and the town ofBayazid were returned to the Ottomans.[8] The regions ofArdahan andKars were also ceded to Russia.[9] The1879 Treaty of Constantinople was a further continuation of negotiations. It reaffirmed the provisions of the Treaty of San Stefano which had not been modified by the Berlin Treaty and established amounts of compensation that the Ottoman Empire owed to Russia for losses to businesses and institutions during the war. It granted amnesty to Ottoman subjects and for release of prisoners of war.[10][11] In addition, Article VII of the treaty provided that in the territory acquired by Russia, subjects could choose whether they wished to be Ottoman or Russian subjects for a period of six months after the agreement became effective.[11][12]
Despite the pleas of the Romanian delegates, Romania was forced to cedesouthern Bessarabia to the Russian Empire.[13] As a compensation, Romania receivedDobruja, including theDanube Delta.[13] The treaty also limited the Russian occupation of Bulgaria to 9 months, which limited the time during which Russian troops and supplies could be moved through Romanian territory.[13]
The three newly independent states subsequently proclaimed themselves kingdoms:Romania in 1881,Serbia in 1882 andMontenegro in 1910.Bulgaria proclaimed full independence in 1908 after it had united withEastern Rumelia in 1885.
The Treaty of Berlin accorded special legal status to some religious groups and also would serve as a model for theMinority Treaties, which would be established within the framework of theLeague of Nations.[14] It stipulated that Romania recognize non-Christians (Jews and Muslims) as full citizens. It also vaguely called for a border rectification betweenGreece and the Ottoman Empire, which occurred after protracted negotiations in 1881, with the transfer ofThessaly to Greece.[citation needed]
In the "Salisbury Circular" of 1 April, theMarquess of Salisbury, appointed foreign secretary the next day, made clear his own and his government's objections to the Treaty of San Stefano and its favourable position of Russia.[15] HistorianA. J. P. Taylor wrote, "If the congress was a defeat for Russia, it was not a complete success for Austria-Hungary or even for Great Britain... The Macedonian question haunted European diplomacy for a generation and then caused the Balkan war of 1912. Bosnia first provoked the crisis of 1908 and then exploded the World war in 1914, a war which brought down the Habsburg monarchy. If the treaty of San Stefano had been maintained, both the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary might have survived to the present day. The British, except forBeaconsfield in his wilder moments, had expected less and were, therefore, less disappointed. Salisbury wrote at the end of 1878: 'We shall set up a rickety sort of Turkish rule again in the south of the Balkans. But it is a mere respite. There isno vitality left in them.'"[16]
TheKosovo Vilayet remained part of the Ottoman Empire. Austria-Hungary was allowed to station military garrisons in the OttomanVilayet of Bosnia and theSanjak of Novi Pazar. The Vilayet of Bosnia was placed underAustro-Hungarian occupation although it formally remained part of the Ottoman Empire.Austria–Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1908, sparking theBosnian crisis, a major European crisis that reinforcedpre-World War I alliances.[17][full citation needed] The Austro-Hungarian garrisons in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar were withdrawn in 1908, after the annexation of the Vilayet of Bosnia,[17] to reach a compromise with the Ottoman Empire, which was struggling with internal strife because of theYoung Turk Revolution (1908). The chaotic situation in the Ottoman Empire also allowed Bulgaria to formallydeclare its independence on 5 October 1908.[citation needed]
Ottoman Empire
United Kingdom
Germany andPrussia
Austria-Hungary
France
Russia
ItalyPolitical History
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