Original sentence: The Bulgarians and Serbians, who were no longer under Turkish rule by the end of the war, regard this war as the second beginning of their nationhood.The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 had its origins in the Russian goal of gaining access to the Mediterranean Sea and capturing the Balkan Peninsula from the Ottoman Empire
Edited sentence: The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 had its origins in the Russian goal of gaining access to the Mediterranean Sea and liberating the Orthodox Christian Slavic peoples of the Balkan Peninsula (Bulgarians, Serbians) from the Islamic-ruled Ottoman Empire.These nations delivered by the Russians from the centuries of Ottoman rule regard this war as the second beginning of their nationhood