Congress of Berlin

The Congress of Berlin was a meeting of the representatives of the era's six great powers in Europe , the Ottoman Empire and four Balkan states . It aimed at determining the territories of the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Berlin, which replaced the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano, which had been signed three months earlier between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who led the Congress, undertook to stabilise the Balkans, recognise the reduced power of the Ottoman Empire and balance the distinct interests of Britain, Russia and Austria-Hungary. At the same time, he tried to diminish Russian gains in the region and to prevent the rise of a Greater Bulgaria. As a result, Ottoman lands in Europe declined sharply, Bulgaria was established as an independent principality within the Ottoman Empire, Eastern Rumelia was restored to the Ottoman Empire under a special administration and the region of Macedonia was returned outright to the Ottoman Empire, which promised reform.

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