History of modern Serbia
History of modern Serbia or modern history of Serbia covers the history of Serbia since national awakening in the early 19th century from the Ottoman Empire Yugoslavia, to the present day Republic of Serbia. The era follows the early modern history of Serbia; the history of modern Serbia began with the fight for liberation from the Ottoman occupation in 1804. The establishment of modern Serbia was marked by the hard-fought autonomy from the Ottoman Empire in the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 and the Second Serbian Uprising in 1815, though Turkish troops continued to garrison the capital, until 1867; those revolutions revived the Serbian pride and gave them hope that their Empire might come into reality again. In 1829 Greece was given complete independence and Serbia was given its autonomy, which made her semi-independent from Turkey. Serbia's first constitution, the Sretenje or Candlemas constitution, was adopted in 1835 replaced by the Constitution of 1838. During the Revolutions of 1848, the Serbs in the Austrian Empire proclaimed a Serbian autonomous province known as Serbian Vojvodina.
By a decision of the Austrian emperor in November 1849, this province was transformed into the Austrian crownland known as the Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat. Against the will of the Serbs, the province was abolished in 1860, but the Serbs from the region gained another opportunity to achieve their political demands in 1918. Today, this region is known as Vojvodina. Serbia and Montenegro were badly defeated. Russia, inspired by Pan-Slavism, decided to intervene; the war alongside Russia against the Turks in 1877 achieved victory and brought full independence for Serbia and large territorial gains toward the south-east, including Niš, henceforth Serbia's second largest city. Some of the gains from the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano were reversed by the intervention of Germany and other powers at the Treaty of Berlin; the Serbian Kingdom was proclaimed in 1882, under King Milan I. Serbia was one of the rare countries at the time that had its own domestic ruling dynasty on the throne. However, millions of Serbs still lived outside Serbia, in Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
Russia and Austria became involved in Serbian domestic politics and foreign affairs. The new country was, like most of the Balkan lands, was poor and overwhelmingly agrarian, with little in the way of industry or modern infrastructure; the total population rose from a million in the early 19th century to 2.5 million in 1900, when Belgrade contained 100,000 inhabitants, Niš 24,500 and half a dozen other cities 10-15,000 each. Internal politics revolved around the dynastic rivalry between the Obrenović and Karađorđević families, descendants of Miloš Obrenović and Karađorđe, leader of the 1804 revolt but killed in 1817; the Obrenovići headed the emerging state in 1817–1842 and 1858–1903, the Karađorđevići in 1842–1858 and after 1903. Milan I was ruler of Serbia from 1868 to 1889, first as prince, subsequently as king. After the 1880s the dynastic issue became entwined to some extent with wider diplomatic divisions in Europe. King Milan I aligned his foreign policy with that of neighbouring Austria-Hungary in return for Habsburg support for his elevation to king.
} The Karadjordjevici inclined more toward Russia, gaining the throne in June 1903 after the bloody May Overthrow organised by a group of Army officers led by then-Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis. After the 1903 coup, Serbia was securely in the Russian camp and henceforth followed a policy of irritating Austria-Hungary at every opportunity. Serbian opposition to Austria-Hungary's October 1908 annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, a territory Serbia craved for itself, brought about the Bosnian crisis: German and Austro-Hungarian pressure forced Russia to prevail on Serbia to accept the annexation, but Russia undertook to defend Serbia against any future threats to her independence. Following Bulgaria's independence from Ottoman overlordship and a successful movement by Greek army officers to steer their government onto a more nationalistic course, Serbia joined with the other two countries and her Serb-populated neighbour Montenegro in invading Ottoman-held Macedonia and reducing Turkey-in-Europe to a small region around Constantinople.
Bulgaria failed in her subsequent attempt to take from her allies territory which she had been promised, to Habsburg alarm at another near-doubling of Serbia's territory was added Bulgarian resentment at having been denied what she saw as her just share of the territorial gains. On June 28, 1914, a team of seven assassins awaited the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, at his announced visit in Sarajevo. After Nedeljko Čabrinović's first unsuccessful attack, the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke and his wife Sophie Chotek. Princip, Čabrinović and their accomplice Trifko Grabež had come from Belgrade. Serbian Major Vojislav Tankosić directly and indirectly not only had provided six hand grenades, four Browning Automatic Pistols and ammunition, but money, suicide pills, training, a special map with the location of gendarmes marked, knowledge of contacts on a special channel used to infiltrate agents and arms into Austria-Hungary, a small card au
Second Serbian Uprising
The Second Serbian Uprising was the second phase of the Serbian Revolution against the Ottoman Empire, which erupted shortly after the re-annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire in 1813. The occupation was enforced following the defeat of the First Serbian Uprising, during which Serbia existed as a de facto independent state for over a decade; the second revolution resulted in Serbian semi-independence from the Ottoman Empire. The Principality of Serbia was established, governed by its own parliament and royal dynasty. De jure independence, was attained in 1878, following the decisions of the Congress of Berlin; the First Serbian Uprising liberated the country for a significant time from Ottoman Empire. After the failure of the First Serbian Uprising 1813, most commanders escaped to the Habsburg Monarchy, including Karađorđe Petrović, leader of the First Serbian Uprising. Only a few commanders Miloš Obrenović, Stanoje Glavaš etc. remained in Serbia trying by one specific diplomatic way to protect and share the destiny of the local people.
Miloš Obrenović surrendered to the Ottoman Turks and received the title of "obor-knez". Stanoje Glavaš surrendered to the Turks and was made a supervisor of a road, but the Turks killed him after they became suspicious of him. Hadži Prodan Gligorijević knew the Turks would arrest him and so declared an uprising in 1814, but Obrenović felt the time was not right for an uprising and did not provide assistance. Hadži Prodan's Uprising soon failed and he fled to Austria. After the failure of this revolt, the Turks inflicted more persecution against the Serbs, such as high taxation, forced labor, rape. In March 1815, Serbs decided upon a new revolt; the national council proclaimed open revolt against the Ottoman Empire in Takovo on 23 April 1815. Miloš Obrenović was chosen as the leader and famously spoke, "Here I am, here you are. War to the Turks!" When the Ottomans discovered the new revolt they sentenced all of its leaders to death. The Serbs fought in battles at Rudnik, Ljubić, Palež, Valjevo, Čačak, Požarevac, Kragujevac and Dublje and drove the Ottomans out of the Pashalik of Belgrade.
Milos letter to Orthodox priest Matea Nenadovic: "We writed to you from Zabrezje we tooked Valjevo,Rudnik,Kragujevac,Jagodinu,Palez and many places not close to 50 serbian soldiers died and that over 2.000 turkish soldiers were killed. In mid-1815, the first negotiations began between Miloš Obrenović and Marashli Ali Pasha, the Ottoman governor. Miloš Obrenović got a form of partial autonomy for Serbs, and, in 1816, the Turkish Porte signed several documents for the normalization of relations between Serbs and Turks; the result was the acknowledgment of the Principality of Serbia by the Ottoman Empire. Miloš Obrenović received the title of Prince of Serbia. Although the principality paid a yearly tax to the Porte and had a garrison of Turkish troops in Belgrade until 1867, it was, in most other matters, an independent state. Under the grandson of Miloš's brother, Serbia gained formal independence in 1878 under the Treaty of Berlin. In 1817, Miloš Obrenović succeeded in forcing Marashli Ali Pasha to negotiate an unwritten agreement, an act which ended the Second Serbian uprising.
The same year, the leader of the First Uprising, returned to Serbia and was assassinated. Serbia's semi-independence was reaffirmed by a Ferman from the Porte in 1830, in 1835 the first constitution in the Balkans was written in the Principality of Serbia, it introduced the Serbian Parliament on the regular basis and established the Obrenović dynasty as the legal heir to the throne of Serbia. It described Serbia as an independent parliamentary Principality, which outraged the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy. History of the Serbian-Turkish wars Protić, K. S. "Ратни догађаји из другог српског устанка 1815. Год". Archived from the original on 2015-04-22. Batalaka, Lazar. "Историја српског устанка II". Belgrade: Kingdom of Serbia. Archived from the original on 2015-04-22. Media related to Second Serbian Uprising at Wikimedia Commons John R. Lampe: Yugoslavia as History - Twice there was a Country, Cambridge University Press, 1996
Geography of Serbia
Serbia is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the far southern edges of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. It shares borders with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania through the disputed territory of Kosovo, it is landlocked, although access to the Adriatic Sea is available through Montenegro, the Danube River provides shipping access to inland Europe and the Black Sea. Serbia covers a total of 88,361 km2. Arable land covers 19,194 km2, forests cover 19,499 km2 of the territory of Serbia. Serbia's total border length amounts to 2,026 km: with Bosnia and Herzegovina 302 km, with Bulgaria 318 km, with Croatia 241 km, with Hungary 151 km, with North Macedonia 62 km, with Montenegro 124 km and with Romania 476 km ). Extreme points North: 46°11'N South: 42°14' N East: 23°01'E West: 18°51'E Serbia's terrain ranges from rich, fertile plains of the northern Vojvodina region, limestone ranges and basins in the east, in the southeast ancient mountains and hills.
The north is dominated by the Danube River. A tributary, the Morava River flows through the more mountainous southern regions. In central parts of Serbia, the terrain consists chiefly of hills and medium-high mountains, interspersed with numerous rivers and creeks; the main communication and development line stretches southeast of Belgrade, towards Niš and Skopje, along the valley of Great and South Morava river. Most major cities are located around that line, as well as the main railroad and highway. On the East of it, the terrain rises to limestone ranges of Stara Planina and Serbian Carpathians sparsely populated. On the West, height of mountains rises towards southwest, but they do not form real ridges; the highest mountains of that area are Kopaonik. Mountains cover the largest parts of the country. Four mountain systems meet in Serbia: Dinaric Alps in the west cover the greatest territory, stretch from northwest to southeast. Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in north-south direction in the eastern Serbia, west of the Morava valley.
Ancient mountains along the South Morava belong to Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system. The most significant mountains in Serbia are: Kopaonik Stara Planina Golija Tara ZlatiborThe highest peak in Serbia is Midžor on Stara Planina near the border with Bulgaria; the entire territory of Serbia belongs to the Danube drainage basin, an area in Kosovo belongs to the Adriatic drainage basin, chiefly through the White Drin river, the rest in Kosovo and southern Serbia belongs to Aegean basin, chiefly via the Vardar river. Apart from the Danube, which flows 588 km through Serbia or as a border river, the chief rivers are its tributaries Sava, Tisa and Morava, their tributaries form a dense network of smaller creeks, covering most of the country. Due to the configuration of the terrain, natural lakes are small. However, there are numerous artificial lakes due to hydroelectric dams, the biggest being Đerdap on the Danube, Perućac on the Drina and Vlasina Lake. Abundance of unpolluted surface waters and numerous underground natural and mineral water sources of high water quality presents a chance for export and economy improvement.
Despite this, many Serbian cities still suffer from water supply problems, due to mismanagement and low investments in the past, as well as water pollution. The hydroenergetic potential of Serbia is around 17,000 GWh, of which around 10,000 GWh is utilized in power plants, chiefly big ones; the remaining unused potential can be realized using small and medium power plants, whose building by the private sector is seen as a chance for improvement of Serbia's economy and energy reliability. Serbia has a huge geothermal potential, only and sporadically utilized; the use of geothermal waters is chiefly for balneological purposes: there are around 60 spas, which are seen as a great chance for improvement of the tourism sector. Climate of Serbia is moderate continental with a diversity on local level, caused by geographic location, terrain exposition, presence of river and lake systems, urbanization etc. Proximity of the mountain ranges of Alps, Rhodopes, as well as Adriatic Sea and Pannonian plain affect the climate.
Location of river ravines and plains in the northern area of the country enable occasional deep southward protrusion of polar air masses on winters, while hot Saharan air intrudes over the Mediterranean Sea on summers. Average annual air temperature for the period 1961-1990 for the area with the altitude of up to 300 m amounts to 11 °C; the areas with the altitudes of 300 to 500 m have average annual temperature of around 10.5 °C, over 1
Belgrade Fortress
Belgrade Fortress, consists of the old citadel and Kalemegdan Park on the confluence of the River Sava and Danube, in an urban area of modern Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad. Belgrade Fortress was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, is protected by the Republic of Serbia, it is the most visited tourist attraction in Belgrade, with Skadarlija being the second. Since the admission is free, it is estimated that the total number of visitors is over 2 million yearly. Belgrade Fortress is located on top of the 125.5-meter high ending ridge of the Šumadija geological bar. The cliff-like ridge overlooks the Great War Island and the confluence of the Sava river into the Danube, makes one of the most beautiful natural lookouts in Belgrade, it borders the neighborhoods of Stari Grad and Kosančićev Venac. It is encircled by three streets: Boulevard of Vojvoda Bojović, Tadeuša Košćuška, the railway along the riverside. Belgrade Fortress is the oldest section of the urban area of Belgrade.
For centuries the city population was concentrated only within the walls of the fortress, thus the history of the fortress, until most recent times, equals the history of Belgrade itself. The first mention of the city is when it was founded in the 3rd century BC as "Singidunum" by the Celtic tribe of Scordisci, who had defeated Thracian and Dacian tribes that lived in and around the fort; the city-fortress was conquered by the Romans, was known as Singidunum and became a part of "the military frontier", where the Roman Empire bordered "barbarian Central Europe". Singidunum was defended by the Roman legion IV Flaviae, which built a fortified camp on a hill at the confluence of the Danube and the Sava rivers. In the period between AD 378 and 441 the Roman camp was destroyed in the invasions by the Goths and the Huns. Legend says that Attila's grave lies at the confluence of the Danube. In 476 Belgrade again became the borderline between the empires: the Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire, the Slav-Avar State in the north.
The Celtic fortification was a primitive one, located on top of Terazije ridge, above the confluence of the Sava into the Danube, where the fortress still stands today. Celts lived in small and fortified settlements around the fort, called opidums. Since it is not known for sure where the Celtic fort was, some historians suggest that it was rather close to the necropolises in Karaburma and Rospi Ćuprija. Celtic settlements belonged to the La Tène culture; the original military camp was occupied by the soldiers from the Legio VIII Augusta from 46 AD to 69 AD. Early Singidunum reached its height with the arrival of Legio IV Flavia Felix, transferred to the city in 86 AD and remained there until the mid 5th century; the presence of Legio IV prompted the construction of a square-shaped castrum, which occupied Upper Town of today's fortress. Construction began at the turn of the 2st century AD as since the early 100s, Legio IV Flavia Felix became permanently stationed in Singidunum. At first, the fortress was set up as earthen bulwarks and wooden palisades, but soon after, it was fortified with stone as the first stone fort in Belgrade's history.
The remains can be seen today near the northeastern corner of the acropolis. The legion constructed a pontoon bridge over the Sava, connecting Singidunum with Taurunum. Rectangular castrum covered what is today the Kalemegdan Park; the castrum had tall walls, built from the white Tašmajdan limestone and spread over the area of 16 ha to 20 ha, being shaped as an irregular rectangle. The Byzantine Emperor Justinian I rebuilt the fortress around 535. In the following centuries the fortress suffered continuous destruction under the Avar sieges; the Slavs and Avars had their "state union" north of Belgrade with the Serbs and other Slavic tribes settling in the Belgrade area as well as the regions west and south of Belgrade in the beginning of the 7th century. The name Belgrade, not just in Serbian but in most Slavic languages, means a "white town" or a "white fortress", was first mentioned in AD 878 by Bulgarians; the fortress kept changing its masters: Bulgaria during three centuries, the Byzantines and again Bulgarians.
The fortress remained a Byzantine stronghold until the 12th century when it fell in the hands of the newly emerging Serbian state. It became a border city of the Serbian Kingdom Empire with Hungary; the Hungarian king Béla I gave the fortress to Serbia in the 11th century as a wedding gift, but it remained part of Hungary, except for the period 1282–1319. After the Serbian state collapsed after the Battle of Kosovo, in 1402 Belgrade was chosen as the capital of Despot Stefan Lazarević. Major work was done to the ramparts; the lower town at the banks of the Danube was the main urban center with a new built Orthodox cathedral. The upper town with its castle was defending the city from inland. Belgrade remained in Serbian hands for a century. After the Despot's death in 1427 it had to be returned to Hungary. An attempt by Sultan Mehmed II to conquer the fortress was prevented by Janos Hunyadi in 1456, saving Hungary from Ottoman dominion for 70 years. In 1
Armed forces of the Principality of Serbia
The Military of the Principality of Serbia or Army of the Principality of Serbia, known as the Serbian Military or Serbian Army, was the armed forces of the Principality of Serbia. It was succeeded by the Royal Serbian Army. A small army was established in 1830 on Russia's initiative, after the Russian victory over the Ottomans in 1829, the signing of the Treaty of Adrianople, which reguaranteed the autonomy of Serbia as per the earlier Akkerman Convention. Serbian officers participated in the Serb Uprising of the Herzegovina uprising. During and after the Serbian–Ottoman War of 1876–78, between 30,000 and 70,000 Muslims Albanians, were expelled by the Serb army from the Sanjak of Niș and fled to the Kosovo Vilayet. Expulsion of the Albanians 1877–1878 Milićević, Milić. Генерали војске Кнежевине и Краљевине Србије. Vojnoizdavački zavod. Vasić, Pavle. Uniforme srpske vojske: 1808-1918. Jugoslavija. Milićević, Milan. Кнежевина Србија: географија, орографија, хидрографија, топографија, аркеологија, историја, етнографија, статистика, просвета, култура, управа.
Milkić, Miljan. "Специфичности верског живота у војсци Кнежевине–Краљевине Србије". Војно дело. Đorđević, Života. Srpska narodna vojska: studija o uređenju narodne vojske Srbije 1861-1864. Narodna knjiga. Stanojević, Danilo. Zlatiborci u vojsci Kneževine Srbije: 1815-1878. Istorijski Arhiv, 2008. Đorđević, Branislav D. "Training of the Serbian Army." Vojno delo 51.5-6: 149-165. Đukić, Slobodan. "Contribution of the Military Academy to the development of military theory in Serbia in the second half of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century." Vojno delo 67.5: 401-425. Bjelajac, Mile. "Tradicija". O Vojsci. Vojska Srbije
Politics of Serbia
The politics of Serbia function within the framework of a parliamentary democracy. The prime minister is the head of government. Serbia is a parliamentary republic composed of three branches of government: an executive and judiciary; the Economist Intelligence Unit has rated Serbia as "flawed democracy" in 2016. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister; the prime minister is chosen by the National Assembly on the proposal of the president, who names the designate after consultations with all parliamentary leaders. The president is elected based on popular vote, but has little governing power and is a ceremonial position; the president's term can be elected for at most 2 terms. Cabinet ministers are confirmed by the National Assembly. Governing power is vested in deputy prime ministers and other ministers; the prime minister is responsible for presenting his agenda to the National Assembly as well as proposing the ministers to fill the cabinet posts in his government. The government is considered elected if it has been elected by a majority vote of all representatives in the National Assembly.
Legislative power is vested in the unicameral parliament known as the National Assembly, composed of 250 proportionally elected deputies by secret ballot. The National Assembly wields constitutional authority in the republic; the judicial system of Serbia is headed by the Supreme Court of Cassation. The court reviews and rules on past court cases made at the lower court levels; the 2008 Law on Organization of Courts decreased the number of courts in Serbia - from 168 to 64. In addition many different court tiers were established: the Basic and Appellate Courts and as mentioned, the Supreme Court of Cassation. There are special courts of jurisdiction, such the Commercial court, Commercial court of Appeal, Administrative court of Serbia. Serbia uses the multi-party system, with numerous political parties in which no one party has a chance of gaining power alone, this results in the formation of coalition governments. Elections are held on the parliamentary and local level, are scheduled every four years, while presidential elections are scheduled every five years.
UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, BSEC, NATO Partnership for Peace, CEFTA, ICC, IMF, World Bank, Southeast European Cooperation Process, Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, Central European Initiative. Serbia was granted candidate status for membership in the European Union and it submitted its application 4 years earlier. Serbia made progress in meeting the criteria established by the European in recent years. For example, Serbia provided majority municipalities in Kosovo with broad powers in education and spatial planning, it is a candidate for the World Trade Organization and was expected to join by 2013. Kosovo, on the other hand, has been deemed a United Nations protectorate since 1999. On February 17, 2008 ethnic Albanians in the region declared Kosovo’s independence and sought the recognition of foreign nations; the Serbian government did not recognize this attempted demand for independence and saw and is null under the UN Charter and the Serbian constitution.
Although the Serbian government has stated it shall not acknowledge Kosovo’s independence, it has stated that Serbia wants a “normal life for all the people in Kosovo". Constitution of Serbia List of Ambassadors from Serbia
Treaty of Berlin (1878)
The Treaty of Berlin was signed on 13 July 1878. In the aftermath of the Russian victory against the Ottoman Empire, the major powers restructured the map of the Balkan region, they reversed some of the extreme gains claimed by Russia in the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano, but the Ottomans lost their major holdings in Europe. It was one of three major peace agreements in the period after the 1815 Congress of Vienna, it was the final act of the Congress of Berlin and included Great Britain and Ireland, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Italy and the Ottoman Empire. Germany's Otto von Bismarck was the dominant personality; the most important task of the Congress was to decide the fate of Bulgaria, but Bulgaria itself was excluded from participation in the talks, at Russian insistence. At the time, as it was not a sovereign state, Bulgaria was not a subject of international law, the same went for the Bulgarians themselves; the exclusion was an established fact in the great powers' Constantinople Conference, held one year before without any Bulgarian participation.
The most notable result of the conference was the official recognition of actual newly independent states of Romania and Montenegro. The Paris Peace Treaty of 1856, which ended the Crimean War, had made the Black Sea a neutral territory; the treaty had protected the Ottoman Empire, ended the Holy Alliance and weakened Russia's position in Europe. In 1870, Russia invoked the doctrine of rebus sic stantibus and terminated the treaty by breaching provisions concerning the neutrality of the Black Sea; the great powers became convinced that the Ottoman Empire would not be able to hold its territories in Europe. In 1875, the Herzegovina uprising resulted in the Great Eastern Crisis; as the conflict in the Balkans intensified, atrocities during the 1876 April Uprising in Bulgaria inflamed anti-Turkish sentiments in Russia and Britain, which culminated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. The treaty formally recognized the independence of the de facto sovereign principalities of Romania and Montenegro and the autonomy of Bulgaria although the latter de facto functioned independently and was divided into three parts: the Principality of Bulgaria, the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia and Macedonia, given back to the Ottomans, thus undoing Russian plans for an independent and Russophile "Greater Bulgaria".
The Treaty of San Stefano had created a Bulgarian state, just what Britain and Austria-Hungary feared the most. The Treaty of Berlin confirmed most of the Russian gains from the Ottoman Empire specified in the Treaty of San Stefan, but the valley of Alashkerd and the town of Bayazid were returned to the Ottomans. Despite the pleas of the Romanian delegates, Romania was forced to cede southern Bessarabia to the Russian Empire; as a compensation, Romania received Dobruja, including the Danube Delta. The treaty limited the Russian occupation of Bulgaria to 9 months, which limited the time during which Russian troops and supplies could be moved through Romanian territory; the three newly-independent states subsequently proclaimed themselves kingdoms: Romania in 1881, Serbia in 1882 and Montenegro in 1910, Bulgaria proclaimed full independence in 1908 after it had united with Eastern Rumelia in 1885. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1908, sparking a major European crisis; the Treaty of Berlin accorded special legal status to some religious groups and would serve as a model for the Minority Treaties, which would be established within the framework of the League of Nations.
It stipulated. It vaguely called for a border rectification between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, which occurred after protracted negotiations in 1881, with the transfer of Thessaly to Greece. In the "Salisbury Circular" of 1 April 1878, British Foreign Secretary, the Marquess of Salisbury, made clear his own and his government's objections to the Treaty of San Stefano and its favourable position of Russia. Historian AJP Taylor wrote, "If the treaty of San Stefano had been maintained, both the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary might have survived to the present day; the British, except for Beaconsfield in his wilder moments, had expected less and were, less disappointed. Salisbury wrote at the end of 1878: "We shall set up a rickety sort of Turkish rule again south of the Balkans, but it is a mere respite. There is no vitality left in them."The Kosovo Vilayet remained part of the Ottoman Empire. Austria-Hungary was allowed to station military garrisons in the Ottoman Vilayet of Bosnia and Sanjak of Novi Pazar.
The Vilayet of Bosnia was placed under Austro-Hungarian occupation although it formally remained part of the Ottoman Empire until it was annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908. The Austro-Hungarian garrisons in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar were withdrawn in 1908, after the annexation of the Vilayet of Bosnia and the resulting Bosnian crisis, to reach a compromise with the Ottoman Empire, struggling with internal strife because of the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, which paved the way for the loss of Bosnia and of Bulgaria the same year United Kingdom Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Foreign Secretary Lord Odo Russell, ambassador to Berlin Germany and Prussia Otto von Bismarck, Minister President of Prussia and Chancellor of Germany Baron Ernst von Bülow, Foreign Minister of Prussia Chlodwig, Prince of
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