The Turkish subjects in Bosnia and Herzegovina naturally envied the happier lot of the neighboring Servians, who had escaped from the bondage of the Turks. These provinces were stirred to revolt in 1875, when the Turks, after collecting the usual heavy taxes, immediately demanded the same amount over again. The oppressed Christians proposed to escape Turkish tyranny by becoming a part of Servia. They naturally relied upon the aid of Russia to carry out their plans. The insurrection spread among the other Christian subjects of the Sultan, especially those in Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian atrocities.
Here the Turks wreaked vengeance upon the insurgents by atrocities which filled Europe with horror and disgust. In a single town six thousand of the seven thousand inhabitants were massacred with incredible cruelty, and scores of villages were burned. Russia, joined by Roumania, thereupon declared war upon the Porte (1877). The Turks were defeated, but western Europe would not permit the questions at issue to be settled without its approval. Consequently, a congress was called at Berlin under the presidency of Bismarck, which included representatives from Germany, Austria, Russia, England, France, Italy, and Turkey.
The Congress of Berlin (1878) and the eastern question.
The Congress of Berlin determined that Montenegro, Servia, and Roumania should thereafter be altogether independent. The latter two became kingdoms within a few years, Roumania in 1881 and Servia in 1882. Bosnia and Herzegovina,[461] instead of becoming a part of Servia, as they wished, were to be occupied and administered by Austria, although the Sultan remained their nominal sovereign. Bulgaria received a Christian government, but was forced to continue to recognize the Sultan as its sovereign and pay him tribute.[462]
To-day the once wide dominions of the Sultan in Europe are reduced to the city of Constantinople and a strip of mountainous country stretching westward to the Adriatic.
General Reading.—In addition to the works of Andrews and Fyffe referred to in the footnotes, the following are excellent short accounts of the political history of Europe since 1815. W.A. Phillips, Modern Europe (The Macmillan Company, $1.50); Seignobos, Political History of Europe since 1814, carefully edited by MacVane (Henry Holt & Co., $3.00), and the readable but partisan German work of Müller, Political History of Recent Times (American Book Company, $2.00). For Germany: Munroe Smith, Bismarck and German Unity (The Macmillan Company, $1.00) and Kuno Francke, History of German Literature as determined by Social Forces (Henry Holt & Co., $2.50). For Italy: Thayer, Dawn of Italian Independence (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 2 vols., $4.00); Stillman, Union of Italy (The Macmillan Company, $1.60); Countess Cesaresco, Liberation of Italy (Charles Scribner's Sons, $1.75) and her Cavour (The Macmillan Company, 75 cents). For England: McCarthy, History of our Own Times (issued by various publishers, e.g., Coates & Co., 2 vols., $1.50).