The Official Maps To Illustrate Articles I, III, IV And XIX of the Treaty of Peace, Signed At San Stefano, 3 March 1878

Description

This map is a copy taken from the official maps of the Treaty of San Stefano signed on March 3, 1878. As can be understood from the explanation at the bottom of the map, the map was drawn to visually support Articles I, III, IV and XIX. The map shows the border arrangements and territorial losses in the Balkans and the Caucasus as a result of this treaty signed between the Ottoman Empire and Tsarist Russia at the end of the 1877-1878 Ottoman-Russian War (93 War). The borders marked with thick and horizontal lines on the map indicate the "Proposed Boundaries", i.e. the proposed new borders; the thin and vertical lines indicate the existing borders. The borders of Bulgaria were marked in the form of an expanded "Greater Bulgaria" map according to the Treaty of San Stefano, and Bulgaria was established as a large autonomous principality (but de facto came under Russian influence). In this form, Bulgaria extended to the Aegean Sea, Macedonia and the east of Thrace. This situation worried the great powers in Europe, especially England. With this treaty, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania gained full independence. The Ottoman Empire largely retreated from the Balkans. The Caucasus region in the lower left corner of the map is given as an additional map and the Ottoman territorial losses in the east (especially the ceding of Kars, Ardahan and Batum to Russia) are shown with this agreement. Therefore, this map presents the geographical projection of the Treaty of San Stefano, which points to one of the most dramatic territorial losses in Ottoman history. Due to the disruption of the geopolitical balance created by this agreement, the Treaty of Berlin (July 13, 1878) was drawn up with the reaction of the great powers in Europe and the "Greater Bulgaria" project on this map was limited. As a result, this map is both a map of the great power struggles of the period and a map showing the dramatic results of the Ottoman-Russian rivalry in the Balkans and the Caucasus.