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The Ottoman Empire was in terminal decline and since the start of the 19th century it had been in retreat in the Balkans, which it had once dominated.<ref>Taylor, Alan J. P. (1954). Struggle for the Mastery of Europe 1848–1918. UK: Oxford University Press. p. 241</ref> However, it still retained control over large areas of the southern Balkans. The region was very unstable. The population of the Balkans was made up largely of Slavs and many of these wanted the creation of a single Slavic state in the region, this ideology was known as Pan-Slavism. The nationalist ideology of Pan-Slavism was very hostile to the Ottoman Turks, but generally support Russian influence in the Balkans, as it was considered a Slavic nation. Russia considered itself to be the defender of the Christian Slavs against the Muslim Ottomans.<ref>Taylor, p. 167</ref>
In 1876, the Bulgarians rebelled against Ottoman rule. The Turkish Ottoman forces brutally crushed the revolt with great loss of civilian life. This led to Russian intervening on behalf of their fellow Slavs and Christians, the Bulgarians. From 1877-8, the Russians fought a war against the Ottomans, mainly in the Balkans.<ref> Taylor, p.256.</ref> The Russians, who were supported by Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Rumania, inflicted a series of defeats on the Turks. By 1878, the Turks had been forced out of almost all of their Balkan provinces. The Russian and their allies signed a Treaty with the Ottomans, in 1878. The terms of this treaty meant that Russia and its allies had confined the Turks to a narrow band of territory in the Balkans. To many observers it seemed likely that the Russians would go on to occupy Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Glenny, Misha (2000). The Balkans, 1804-1999: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers. Granta Books, p. 78.</ref>
Russian soldiers during the Turkish-Russian War 1877-78.
