Bulgaria Wins Independence from the Ottomans: The Treaty of San Stefano
Bulgaria's independence lasted exactly five months. The Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878 created a massive Bulgarian state stretching from the Danube to the Aegean, terrifying Britain and Austria-Hungary who saw it as Russia's Mediterranean puppet. Tsar Alexander II had just spent 200,000 Russian lives liberating the Bulgarians from Ottoman rule. But by July, the Congress of Berlin slashed Bulgaria to one-third its promised size and placed it back under nominal Ottoman control. The Bulgarians called it "the national catastrophe"—their mapmakers couldn't keep up with borders that changed faster than ink could dry. Russia won the war but lost the peace, discovering that liberating a nation didn't mean you got to keep it.
March 3, 1878
148 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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