Great Eastern Crisis

Great Eastern Crisis (1875–1878)
Part of the rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire and of the Great Game

Serbian soldiers attacking the Ottoman army at Mramor, 1877
Date19 June 1875 – 13 July 1878
(3 years, 3 weeks and 3 days)
Location
Result

Ottoman defeat

Territorial
changes
  • Reestablishment of the Bulgarian state
  • De jure independence of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro from the Ottoman Empire
  • Kars and Batum Oblasts become part of the Russian Empire
  • Belligerents
    Supported by:
    Imamate rebels
    Abkhazian rebels Supported by:
    Commanders and leaders
    Strength
    • Russian Empire 185,000 in the Army of the Danube, 75,000 in the Caucasian Army[1]
      • Finland: 1,000
    • Romania 66,000
    • Principality of Bulgaria 12,000, 190 cannons
    • Principality of Serbia 81,500
    • Principality of Montenegro 45,000
    • 15,000
    Ottoman Empire 281,000[2]
    Casualties and losses
    • Russian Empire 15,567 killed, 56,652 wounded, 6,824 died from wounds[3]
    • Romania 4,302 killed and missing, 3,316 wounded, 19,904 sick [4]
    • Tsardom of Bulgaria (1908–1946) 2,456 dead and wounded[5]
    • Principality of SerbiaPrincipality of Montenegro 2,400 dead and wounded[5]
    Ottoman Empire 30,000 killed,[6] 90,000 died from wounds and diseases[6]

    The Great Eastern Crisis of 1875–1878 began in the Ottoman Empire's territories on the Balkan peninsula in 1875, with the outbreak of several uprisings and wars that resulted in the intervention of international powers, and was ended with the Treaty of Berlin in July 1878.

    It is also called Serbo-Croatian: Velika istočna kriza; Turkish: Şark Buhranı ("Eastern Crisis", for the crisis in general), Turkish: Ramazan Kararnamesi ("Decree of Ramadan", for the sovereign default declared on 30 October 1875) and Turkish: 93 Harbi ("War of 93", for the wars on the Balkan peninsula between 1877 and 1878, referring in particular to the Russo-Turkish War, the year 1293 on the Islamic Rumi calendar corresponding to the year 1877 on the Gregorian calendar).

    1. ^ Timothy C. Dowling. Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond. ABC-CLIO, 2014. p. 748
    2. ^ Mernikov, A. G.; Spektor, A. A. (2005). Всемирная история войн [World History of Wars] (in Russian). Minsk, Belarus: Харвест.
    3. ^ Urlanis, Boris (1960). Войны в период домонополистического капитализма [Wars during the period of pre-monopoly capitalism]. Войны и народонаселение Европы. Людские потери вооруженных сил европейских стран в войнах XVII—XX вв. (Историко-статистическое исследование) [Wars and population of Europe: Human losses of the armed forces of European countries in the wars of the 17th—20th centuries (Historical and statistical research)] (in Russian). Minsk: Sotsekgiz. pp. 104–105, 129 § 4.
    4. ^ Scafes, Cornel, et al., Armata Romania in Razvoiul de Independenta 1877–1878 [The Romanian Army in the War of Independence 1877–1878]. Bucuresti, Editura Sigma, 2002, p. 149 (Romence)
    5. ^ a b Boris Urlanis, Войны и народонаселение Европы [Wars and population of Europe], Part II, Chapter II
    6. ^ a b Mernikov, A. G.; Spektor, A. A. (2005). Всемирная история войн [World History of Wars] (in Russian). Minsk, Belarus: Харвест. ISBN 985-13-2607-0.