Treaty of Berlin, 1878

The Treaty of Berlin was the final Act of the Congress of Berlin (June 13-July 13, 1878), by which the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Turkey revised the Treaty of San Stefano signed on March 3 of the same year.

The treaty recognised the complete independence of the principalities of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro and the autonomy of Bulgaria, though the latter remained under formal Ottoman overlordship and was divided between the two principalities of Bulgaria proper and Eastern Rumelia, undoing Russian plans for an independent "big Bulgaria". The Ottoman province of Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as the former Sanjak of Novi Pazar were placed under Austro-Hungarian occupation, though formally still a part of the Ottoman Empire.

The three newly-independent states subsequently proclaimed themselves kingdoms (Romania in 1881, Serbia in 1882 and Montenegro in 1910), while Bulgaria proclaimed full independence in 1908 after uniting with Eastern Rumelia in 1885. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1908, sparking a major European crisis.