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| 1878, June 4 |
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| Transfer of Cyprus to Britain. The Ottomans allowed the British to occupy and administer the island in the name of the sultan in return for a pledge to defend the Ottomans against Russia, and specifically to help revise the Treaty of San Stefano. Formally, the island remained under Ottoman suzerainty until Nov. 5, 1914, when it was unilaterally annexed by Britain. | 1 |
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| July 13 |
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| THE TREATY OF BERLIN (See June 13–July 13). The European powers, particularly Britain and Austria, opposed certain terms of the Treaty of San Stefano (most notably the creation of a large Bulgaria) and forced Russia to have the entire settlement reexamined in an international congress held in Berlin. In the new treaty, the independence of Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania was reaffirmed, but Bulgaria was carved up into three parts: an autonomous principality of Bulgaria under Ottoman suzerainty north of the Balkan mountains, a semi-autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia south of the mountains, and Macedonia in the south under direct Ottoman rule. Bosnia and Herzegovina, though nominally under Ottoman rule, were placed under Austrian occupation. Russia retained Kars, Ardahan, and Batum, but returned Bayezid to the Ottomans. The Ottomans promised to introduce reforms in areas settled by the Armenians. The war indemnity to Russia was reduced. | 2 |
| The Ottoman Empire emerged from this settlement, and from the protracted crisis of 1875–78 in general, a much weakened and diminished state. Its territorial losses in the Balkans, Anatolia, and Cyprus amounted to some 210,000 square kilometers inhabited by about 5.5 million people (around one-fifth of the empire's population). Its revenue base shrank accordingly, compounding the financial hardships caused by the bankruptcy, the costs of the wars, and the influx of Muslim refugees from the lost territories. The structure of its dominion in Europe was shattered irreversibly as the old system of autonomous provinces and tributary states gave way to wholly independent countries and a number of autonomous regions now bent on total separation from the empire. The foreign intervention in the empire's affairs in the name of protecting minorities and monitoring reforms reduced Ottoman stature. | 3 |
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