Serbian-Ottoman War
The Serbian-Ottoman War or Serbian-Turkish War from 1876 to 1878 was a war between the Principality of Serbia and the Ottoman Empire .
In fact, there were two Serbian-Ottoman Wars, but historians often treat them as a single war. In parallel with the Serbian-Ottoman War, there was also the Montenegrin-Ottoman War and the Russian-Ottoman War . The wars are sometimes seen as the beginning of the Balkan crisis .
prehistory
After the first and ultimately successful second large-scale Serbian uprising at the beginning of the 19th century, the tributary principality of Serbia was formed within the Ottoman Empire in 1817 . From the middle of the 19th century, however, the Principality of Serbia under Prince Mihailo Obrenović had become so independent from its suzerainty to the Ottoman Empire that new conflicts could not be avoided. These culminated in 1867 when Ottoman forces were forced to abandon their last bastions in the principality, including the fortress of Belgrade . Although the Principality of Serbia became de facto independent, it did not receive international recognition as a sovereign state, which meant that relations with the Ottoman Empire remained problematic.
In 1875 an uprising against the Ottoman Empire began in Herzegovina , which was strongly supported by the Principality of Montenegro . At the same time, uprisings flared up in Bulgaria , which was then also ruled by the Ottoman Empire. The actual and supposedly rigorous action of the Ottoman armed forces, especially against the Bulgarians , triggered a wave of indignation against the Ottomans in Europe, which was expressed by Victor Hugo in his appeal to save the Bulgarian people from the alleged extermination by the Ottomans led to a request for help from the Herzegovinian insurgents to Russia and Serbia.
On the one hand, the national mood in Serbia was so charged that the Serbian government under Prince Milan I could not refuse the request for help. On the other hand, the government saw the opportunity to position itself as a sovereign state and to gain international recognition, and hopes arose that Bosnia and Herzegovina would become part of the principality.
Serbia and Montenegro then declared war on the Ottoman Empire. This sparked a great wave of enthusiasm, especially in Russia. 4,000 volunteers from the Russian nobility and the imperial army came to Serbia, Tchaikovsky composed the Slavonic March (Russian Славянский марш), and the command of the Serbian armed forces was entrusted to the experienced Russian general Mikhail Grigoryevich Chernyaev .
course
First Serbian-Ottoman War
The First Serbian-Ottoman War began on June 30, 1876. The Serbian army advanced with about 24,000 soldiers, including many Russian and Bulgarian volunteers, into the area of western Morava . In the Battle of Aleksinac and the Battle of Djunis , however , the Serbian armed forces suffered a heavy defeat against the better equipped and numerically superior Ottoman army with around 33,000 soldiers. The Ottoman army brought almost the entire principality under their control. On August 26, Serbia asked for an armistice. In response to Russian pressure, the Ottomans agreed to a ceasefire, but set harsh conditions for a peace treaty . Russia and Great Britain rejected these demands and called for a peace based on the status quo ante . Thereupon the Porte tried to consolidate the situation that had been achieved by pressing for the longest possible period of armistice, about five to six months in order to establish itself in the occupied Serbian territories. Russia advised Serbia to refuse this and on October 31, 1876 threatened the Porte with war if they did not immediately agree to a month-long armistice. The gate gave way and received the great European powers for a conference in Constantinople .
A preliminary peace was concluded on November 1, 1876. The war was officially ended with the Constantinople Peace Treaty of February 28, 1877. General Chernyayev left Serbia bitter because he blamed the inexperienced Serbian soldiers and the Serbian government for the defeat. Serbian politicians, on the other hand, put the responsibility on the Czech František Zach , the founder of the Serbian military academy had not properly trained the Serbian officer corps. Since Zach was both a Serb general and military advisor to King Milan I, he was accused of ignoring the modernization of the Ottoman army and having carelessly driven the Serbian army into defeat. This view was later to be revised as the major European powers also expected an Ottoman defeat.
When the Porte finally rejected further demands for comprehensive structural reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the supervision of the great European powers, Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire in April 1877, and in June Russian- Romanian troops invaded Bulgaria . The intervention of Russian troops was based on the Reichstadt Convention of July 8, 1876 between Russia and the Austrian Empire , according to which, among other things, the greater part of Bosnia would be recognized in the event of a Serbian victory, but in the event of a defeat Serbia should be kept within the pre-war borders Austria-Hungary would get the mandate over Bosnia. The Imperial City Agreement led to an even greater British-Russian conflict on the Orient question .
Second Serbian-Ottoman War
The Second Serbian-Ottoman War lasted from December 13, 1877 to January 31, 1878. This war was the result of the Russo-Ottoman War, which began on April 24, 1877. It began at the insistence of Russia, who hoped that this would ease the burden because the Ottomans offered stronger resistance than assumed. Because the Ottoman armed forces were busy with those of Russia, the Serbian armed forces had more success this time and occupied what is now eastern Serbia and the Bulgarian territories that were then bordering on Serbia, with Niš , Vranje and Pristina . Actually there was only one major military conflict between Serbian and Ottoman troops near Sjenica in the Second Serbian-Ottoman War , which lasted two hours and in which the 1st Valjevo Brigade was briefly held up under the command of Živojin Mišić . According to the Imperial City Agreement, which Russia confirmed again in the Budapest Treaty of January 15, 1877, Austria-Hungary now asserted its claims on Bosnia and the Sanjak Novi Pazar , and threatened Serbia with war if it were to continue its military operations do not set these areas. Especially with the claims to the Sanjak of Novi Pazar Austria-Hungary wanted to prevent the reunification of Serbia and Montenegro, and with it Serbia access to the Adriatic Sea . The Serbian army could therefore only operate along the southern Morava , where there were sporadic skirmishes with Ottoman troops.
consequences
On March 3, 1878, the Peace of San Stefano officially ended the Russo-Ottoman and thus also the Second Serbian-Ottoman War. During the war years the Serbian and Russian positions were dispersed and Russia, to the great disappointment of Serbia, now preferred a large Bulgarian state. Out of disappointment with the new Russian policy towards Bulgaria, Serbia turned to the Imperial House of Austria as an ally, which led to the Serbian-Bulgarian conflict and the final division of the Balkan Peninsula into two spheres of interest, one Austrian and one Russian.