page_title: Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)
section_title: Changing balance of power in Europe
hierarchical_section_title: Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) / Conflict pre-history / Changing balance of power in Europe
caption_attribution_description: Territorial changes of the Ottoman Empire
context_page_description: The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox coalition led by the Russian Empire and composed of Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro. Fought in the Balkans and in the Caucasus, it originated in emerging 19th-century Balkan nationalism. Additional factors included Russian goals of recovering territorial losses endured during the Crimean War of 1853–56, re-establishing itself in the Black Sea and supporting the political movement attempting to free Balkan nations from the Ottoman Empire.
  The Russian-led coalition won the war, pushing the Turks back all the way to the gates of Constantinople but for the timely intervention of the western European great powers.
  As a result, Russia succeeded in claiming provinces in the Caucasus, namely Kars and Batum, and also annexed the Budjak region. The principalities of Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro, each of which had de facto sovereignty for some time, formally proclaimed independence from the Ottoman Empire.
context_section_description: Although on the winning side in the Crimean War, the Ottoman Empire continued to decline in power and prestige. The financial strain on the treasury forced the Ottoman government to take a series of foreign loans at such steep interest rates that, despite all the fiscal reforms that followed, pushed it into unpayable debts and economic difficulties. This was further aggravated by the need to accommodate more than 600,000 Muslim Circassians, expelled by the Russians from the Caucasus, to the Black Sea ports of north Anatolia and the Balkan ports of Constanţa and Varna, which cost a great deal in money and in civil disorder to the Ottoman authorities.
caption: Ottoman Empire in 1862
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