Editing Eastern question (section)

==Great Eastern Crisis (1875–78)==
{{main article|Great Eastern Crisis}}
{{see also|Herzegovina uprising (1875–1877)|April Uprising of 1876|Constantinople Conference|Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)}}

In 1875 the territory of Herzegovina [[Herzegovina uprising (1875–1877)|rebelled against the Ottoman Sultan]] in the Province of Bosnia; soon after, [[April Uprising of 1876|Bulgaria rebelled]] as well. The Great Powers believed they should intervene to prevent a bloody war in the Balkans. The first to act were the members of the [[League of the Three Emperors]] (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia), whose common attitude toward the Eastern Question was embodied in the Andrassy Note of 30 December 1875 (named for the Hungarian diplomat [[Gyula Andrássy|Julius, Count Andrassy]]). The note, seeking to avoid a widespread conflagration in Southeastern Europe, urged the Sultan to institute various reforms, including granting religious liberty to Christians. A joint commission of Christians and Muslims was to be established to ensure the enactment of appropriate reforms. With the approval of Britain and France, the note was submitted to the Sultan, and he agreed on 31 January 1876. But the Herzegovinian leaders rejected the proposal, pointing out that the Sultan had already failed in his promises of reforms.

Representatives of the Three Emperors met again in Berlin, where they approved the [[Berlin Memorandum]] (May 1876). To convince the Herzegovinians, the memorandum suggested that international representatives be allowed to oversee the institution of reforms in the rebelling provinces. But before the memorandum could be approved by the Porte, the Ottoman Empire was convulsed by internal strife, which led to the deposition of Sultan Abdul-Aziz (30 May 1876). The new Sultan, [[Murad V]], was himself deposed three months later due to his mental instability, and Sultan [[Abdul Hamid II]] came to power (31 August 1876). In the meantime, the hardships of the Ottomans had increased; their treasury was empty, and they faced insurrections not only in Herzegovina and Bulgaria, but also in [[Serbia]] and [[Montenegro]]. Still, the Ottoman Empire managed to crush the insurgents in August 1876. The result inconvenienced Russia, which had planned to take possession of various Ottoman territories in Southeastern Europe in the course of the conflict.

After the uprisings were largely suppressed, however, rumours of Ottoman atrocities against the rebellious population shocked European sensibilities.<ref>
See for example:
{{cite book
 | last1 = Gladstone
 | first1 = William Ewart
 | author-link1 = William Ewart Gladstone
 | title = Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East
 | url = https://archive.org/details/bulgarianhorror03gladgoog
 | edition = 1
 | location = London
 | publisher = John Murray
 | date = 1876
 | access-date = 30 September 2019
}}
</ref>
Russia now intended to enter the conflict on the side of the rebels. Delegates of the Great Powers (who now numbered six due to the rise of Italy) assembled at the [[Constantinople Conference]] (23 December 1876 to 20 January 1877) to make another attempt for peace. However, the Sultan refused the December 1876 proposals to allow international representatives to oversee the reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1877 the Great Powers again made proposals to the Ottoman Empire, which the Porte rejected (18 January 1877).

[[File:SouthEast Europe 1878.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|South-East Europe after the [[Congress of Berlin]], 1878]]

Russia declared [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|war against the Ottoman Empire]] on 24 April 1877. The [[Chancellor (Russia)|Russian chancellor]] [[Alexander Gorchakov|Prince Gorchakov]] had effectively secured Austrian neutrality with the [[Reichstadt Agreement]] of July 1876, under which Ottoman territories captured in the course of the war would be partitioned between the Russian and Austria-Hungarian Empires, with the latter obtaining Bosnia and Herzegovina. Britain, though acutely aware of the Russian threat to its [[British Raj|colonies in India]], did not involve itself in the conflict. However, when Russia threatened to conquer Constantinople, [[British Prime Minister]] [[Benjamin Disraeli]] urged Austria and Germany to ally with him against this war-aim. Russia negotiated peace through the [[Treaty of San Stefano]] (3 March 1878), which stipulated independence to Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, autonomy to Bulgaria, reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the ceding [[Dobruja]] and parts of [[Armenia]] and a large indemnity to Russia. This would give Russia great influence in Southeastern Europe, as it could dominate the newly independent states. To reduce these advantages to Russia, the Great Powers (especially Britain), insisted on a thorough revision of the Treaty of San Stefano.

At the [[Congress of Berlin]], the [[Treaty of Berlin (1878)|Treaty of Berlin]] of 13 July 1878 adjusted the boundaries of the new states in the Ottoman Empire's favour. Bulgaria was divided into two states (Bulgaria and [[Eastern Rumelia]]), as it was feared{{by whom|date=September 2019}} that a single state would be susceptible to Russian domination. Ottoman cessions to Russia were largely sustained. Bosnia and Herzegovina, though still nominally within the Ottoman Empire, were transferred to [[Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878|Austrian control]]. A secret agreement between Britain and the Ottoman Empire transferred the Ottoman island of [[Cyprus]] to Britain. These final two procedures were predominantly negotiated by Disraeli, whom [[Otto von Bismarck]] famously described as "The old Jew, that is the man", after his level-headed Palmerstonian approach to the Eastern question.<ref>
{{cite book |title= The Concise Dictionary of Foreign Quotations |last= Lejeune
 |first= Anthony |year= 2002 |publisher= Taylor & Francis |isbn= 978-1-57958-341-5 |page= 139
 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3KLz2QEdQaoC&pg=PA139 |access-date= 2010-01-03
}}
</ref>