The Congress of Berlin was a way for German chancellor, Prince Otto von Bismark, to mediate the conflicts between Russia and Austria-Hungary in 1878. Bismark’s diplomacy policy to isolate France (since they were in conflict) could only work if he created an alliance with the other five great powers (which included Russia and Austria-Hungary), hence his desire for Russia and Austria-Hungary to make amends. The Ottomans still had to control over the Balkans and used their power to kill thousands of women and children angering the Balkans. This led to the Russo-Turkish war from 1877-78, which resulted in the defeat of the Ottomans. Bismarks policy would prove to be difficult as Russia and Austria-Hungary became involved in the Balkans when Russia aided the Serbs as they revolted against the Turks. On the opposite end, Austria-Hungary was against the Russian influence in the Balkans once they won against the Turks. For Bismark’s policy to stay put, he suggested a conference in Berlin for the two countries to sort out their differences.
During the congress, other powers were in the Congress such as England, France, and Turkey. The result of the diplomatic meeting was a replacement for the Treaty of San Stefano, the Treaty of Berlin. The San Stefano Treaty of 1878 was signed by Russia and Turkey and gave independence to three Balkan countries, and Russian control over a Bulgarian principality (a country ruled by a prince). The reason this treaty was replacement was because of the startled reactions of the other great powers as Russia gained a significant amount of influence in the Balkans. The treaty led to the independence of Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania. Most of the influence Russia had in the Balkans was lost. Bosnia-Herzegovina was also been put under Austria-Hungarian control. This led to many different sentiments between the countries. For the perspective of Germany, Bismark felt accomplished since the Congress created a solution and the alliance with Russia and Austria-Hungary was still there, despite more arising conflicts. For Russia, however, it was quite an embarrassing turn of events. They lost most of their power in the Balkans and a lot of their access the Black and Mediterranean sea was diminished. Negative sentiments towards Germany and especially Bismark grew and their relationship with Germany began to falter. Austria-Hungary felt quite content with their control in the Balkans since they had more control over eyeing the future plans of Russi, which of course did not please Russia in the slightest. England at the time did not want Russia gaining power in the Balkans because Russia gaining control of the seas would lead to naval conflicts due to their desire for their navy to be the dominant and most powerful. Britain was very happy to see Russia lose their influence over the seas. However, growing nationalism and resentment towards Austria-Hungary grew in Bosnia-Herzegovina from the presence of military and the overall control contrasted many nationalistic Slavs at the time. This grew resentment towards Austria-Hungary and showed the dislike Bosnia-Herzegovina had towards them because they had little to no influence during the diplomatic meeting.
Through these different perspectives of the results of the Congress of Berlin, we can see conflicting sentiments and different perspectives. Many countries in the Balkans, overall felt excluded from the decisions creating a dislike for the imperialistic ideals the other great powers had. While the great powers alike began to show greater tension and resentments as some influences grew larger than other countries in the Balkans.
Sources
Singh, Raj. “Congress of Berlin (1878).” Owlcation.com, HubPages Inc., 8 Aug. 2016, owlcation.com/humanities/Congress-of-Berlin-1878.
The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Congress of Berlin.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 June 2018, www.britannica.com/event/Congress-of-Berlin.
Just reading this summary of the Congress of Berlin makes it so clear why WWI occurred: so many countries, each with territorial aspirations, historic conflicts and grudges, and webs of alliances, all coming together in a small region, was bound to explode into conflict.
each perspective is clearly explored. i would maybe make shorter paragraph to put more emphasis on the similarities and differences in interest that the powers had.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post on this conference, especially as we didn’t discuss it much in class. I can tell you did your research, and the information, as well as the perspectives that you chose to include in the post, was relevant and interesting. Great job!