Slav insurgencies against the Ottoman Empire rock the Balkans.

Turkey viciously crushes a Christian revolt in eastern Rumelia.

Russia invades Rumelia and defeats Turkey, gaining influence in the Balkans by creating the independent state of Greater Bulgaria.

Britain and Austria-Hungary intervene, Britain's fleet checking a second Russian drive for a warm water port; the British take Cyprus to prevent further Russian advances.

The Great Powers hold the Congress of Berlin to impose a redesigned order upon the Balkan states, limiting Russian gains at British insistence.

The Principality of Bulgaria is created in 1878 as a result of war waged in the territory of modern Bulgaria between the Russian and Ottoman empires, in which Russia is joined by the Romanians, the Serbs, and the Montenegrins.

The peace settlement, imposed on the Ottoman government by Russia at this high point of its influence on Balkan affairs, provides for a new disposition of the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire that ends any effective Turkish control over the Balkans.

The independence of the Kingdom of Romania is recognized, together with that of the principalities of Serbia and Montenegro, the boundaries of which are extended so as to be contiguous.

Romania is compelled to cede southern Bessarabia to Russia, receiving the Dobruja from Turkey in exchange.

Sultan Abdülhamid has had reasonable success in preserving the empire after 1878. (Apart from eastern Rumelia, he will lose no further territories until 1908.)

The principalities of Romania and Serbia gain recognition from the Great Powers as kingdoms in 1881 and 1882, respectively.

Popular sentiment for union with Bulgaria has been growing in Eastern Rumelia, and the restoration of the constitution provides the Eastern Rumelian allies of Bulgaria's Liberal Party with the stimulus to prepare for a seizure of power in Plovdiv.

The Bulgarian nationalists stage a bloodless coup d'état on September 18, 1885, with the prior approval of Prince Alexander, and declare the unification of the two states.

Russia, incensed by such independence of action in its diplomatic sphere, refuses to approve, and Tsar Alexander III demands the ouster of Prince Alexander and orders the withdrawal of all Russian officers and advisers in the Bulgarian army.

Greece and Serbia see their interests threatened.

Serbia is opposed to this strengthening of its rival, Bulgaria.

After the coup, King Milan Obrenović, who also hopes that an aggressive foreign policy will relieve his domestic problems, demands that Bulgaria cede some of its territory to Serbia.

In spite of active international diplomatic efforts to discourage him, Milan, encouraged by Austria and stating that the balance of power in the Balkans is endangered by Bulgarian unification, suddenly declares war on Bulgaria on November 14, 1885.

The Serbs, expecting a swift victory, advance as far as Slivnitsa, where they are met and defeated by the untrained Bulgarian army under Prince Alexander's command.

Bulgarian forces pursue the Serbs across the frontier, but when Austria-Hungary threatens to enter the war in Serbia's defense, Alexander accepts an armistice.

Bulgaria and Serbia, after inconclusive fighting, agree to the Austrian-arranged Treaty of Bucharest of March 3, 1886.

The convention of Tophane restores peace and the status quo ante bellum between Serbia and Bulgaria on April 5, 1886.

This reëstablishes the prewar Serbo-Bulgarian border but leaves Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia united.

The Pomak Republic is reincorporated in the Ottoman Empire.

Prince Alexander is appointed governor-general of Eastern Rumelia, and the Eastern Rumelian administrative and military forces are merged with those of Bulgaria.

Bulgaria's brilliant victory over Serbia at the Battle of Slivnitsa is a source of great national pride for the newly independent nation, but Prince Alexander has little time to enjoy the fruits of his popular triumph.

Russia continues to withhold recognition of the union with Eastern Rumelia, and on August 21, 1886, a group of Russophile conspirators and Russian-trained Bulgarian military officers whom Alexander has passed over for promotion seize the prince in his palace, force him to sign a statement of abdication, ...

...transport him out of the country, and hand him over to the Russians at the Danube port of Reni.

The Bulgarian conspiracy is countered, however, by Stefan Nikolov Stambolov, president of the National Assembly, and by Lieutenant Colonel Sava Mutkurov, commander of the Plovdiv garrison, who takes control of Sofia and recalls Alexander.

The Russians do not detain the prince, but he refuses to remain in Bulgaria without Russian approval.

When the tsar refuses to give it, Alexander abdicates on September 7, appointing a regency composed of Stambolov, Mutkurov, and Petko Karavelov.

The Bulgarian government is now as unstable as it was in its first year.