BERLIN, CONGRESS or. The European dip lomatic conference which met at Berlin, June 13, 1878. to settle the Eastern (,),nestion (q.v.), and especially those phases of it which grew out of the Russo-Turkish War (q.v.). Temporarily restrained by the Crimean War and the Treaty of Paris of 1856. Russia had resumed, after the downfall of Napoleon III., her historic policy of intervention in the affairs of the Turkish Empire for the purpose of reaehing the Mediterranean. The result was the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 78. The overwhelming success of Russia's armies filled with consternation the rivals of that em pire. and especially Austria-Hungary and Great Britain, with their interests in the Balkan States and the eastern Mediterranean respect ively. When Russia wrung from the Porte the Treaty of San Stefano, Great Britain and Aus tria united in declaring it unsatisfactory, and in demanding a European congress to revise its provisions. Germany had hitherto kept out of the Eastern imbroglio, but her Chaneellor, Prince Bismarck, now (-ante forward with an invitation to the Powers to hold the Congress in Berlin. The meetings were held at the Radziwill Palace. Bismarck's residence, and under his presidency. The delegates from Great Britain were Lord Bea consfield, Lord Salisbury, and Lord Russell; from Russia, Prince Gortehakoff, Count Shrivaloff, and Baron front Germany, Prince Bis marck, Primp Hohenlohe, and General von Bil low; from Austria-llungary, Count Andrtissy, Count Kfirolyi, and Baron Haymerle; from France. 31. Waddington and the Comte de Saint Calker; from Italy, Counts Corti and de Latmay; and from Turkey. Karatheodo•i Pasha, Sadonl lab Bey, and Slehemet .Ali Pasha.• Delegates from Greece, Rumania, Servia and 3Iontenegro attended the sessions in which their States were concerned, hut were not members of the Congress. Russia had been compelled to concede that the whole of the San Stefano Treaty should be taken up for consideration, and the Congress revised or eliminated eighteen of its twenty-nine articles— all that had any political signifieance—andeffeet ed a rearrangement of the Eastern situation, using as a foundation the treaties of Paris (1856) and of London (1871). It reaffirmed the principle that the status of the Turkish Empire was to be decided by the Powers jointly, and not by any one of them. The provisions of time earlier treaties that were retained related to commercial ques tions. on the political side, a new procedure was adopted, reaffirming emphatically the prin ciple of nationality so far as the Balkan peoples were concerned. Rumania. Servia, and Mon tene;ro were declared independent principalities. The tributary principality of Bulgaria and the autonomous province of Eastern Rumelia were carved out of the Turkish territory.
The first twelve articles related to Bulgaria (q.v.), which Russia had sought at San Stefano to erect into a State reaching from the Danube to the -Egean. The Congress greatly reduced the area of the new State, but granted to Bulgaria au tonomy and guarantees against Turkish oppres sion. The next ten articles concerned Eastern
Rumelia, a part of the proposed Greater Bul garia. This was made a Turkish province, to be ruled by a Christian governor. but it ROOD took its destiny into its own hands and effected a union with Bulgaria. By Articles XXIII. and XXIV. the Porte agreed "scrupu lously to apply in the island of Crete the Organic Law of 1868, with such modifications as may be considered equitable," and to rectify the Greek boundary. Article XXV. placed Bosnia and Herzegovina under the administration of Aus tria•llungary, although they remained under Turkish sovereignty. The independence, delimita tion, and external relations of Montenegro were treated in 7 articles; S were taken up by a sim ilar adjustment for Servia, and 9 for Ru mania. The Dobrndja was given to Rumania ; Servia received large accessions of territory (including Nish) ; Montenegro obtained Nik sitch, Podgoritza, and Andvari. It was pro vided that the five fortresses in Bulgaria which had been the bulwark of Turkey against Russia —Shuntla, Varna, Silist•ia, Rustchuk, and Vid din—should be dismantled. The Danube below the Iron Gate was neutralized, and Rumania was .given a place upon the Danube Commission, which had been instituted in 1856. The Con gress allowed Russia to retain most of her con quests in Turkish Armenia—ineluding Kars and Ardahan—as well as Tiatum, and reinstated her in the possession of the strip of Bessarabia which had been taken from her at the close of the Crimean War. It had been recognized that Russia would probably not yield the fruits of conquest in Asia, and on June 4, 1878, Great Britain had entered into a defensive alliance with Turkey, to take effect if Russia retained Batum, Ardahan, or Kars. Under this treaty Great Britain holds Cyprus for Turkey as a guarantee against further aggression by Russia in Asia. The fact of the practical acqui sition of Cyprus by Great Britain, and of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary, while Russia was robbed of the fruits of her victory, has been a source of international bitterness not without. effect on political relations since 1878. The remaining articles of the Treaty of Berlin imposed certain obligations upon the Porte, such as the guaranteeing of civil rights to non-Mo hammedan subjects, and provided for sundry evacuations, confirmations, and ratifications. Russia opposed as strenuously as possible the course taken by the powers at Berlin, but to no avail. Bismarck and Germany were accused of having abandoned their traditional friendship for Russia.
Consult: Hertslet, The Map of Europe by Treaty, Vols. 111. and IV. (London, 1891) ; Hol land, The European Concert in the Eastern Quest-ions (Oxford, 1885) and Studies in Interna tional Law (Oxford, 1885) ; Andrews, The His torical Development of Modern Europe, Vol. II. (New York, 1899) ; Start, "The Rivalry of Na tions," in Chautanquan (Cleveland, 1901).