This video was supposed to be focused around the Anglo-Russian rivalry, and its influence upon the Congress of Berlin. It has instead turned into something of a mini-documentary on the Great Eastern Crisis. The Anglo-Russian rivalry is still something I want to cover, though I think it would be better saved for a video on the Great Game. The video has also turned out slightly longer than I imagined. Any feedback on how you found it would be appreciated. Personally, I think it's probably too long for the type of videos I produce; diplomacy that is this intense and complicated is usually best served in small doses (not to mention staring at maps for 20 minutes can become slightly nauseating). Hopefully it is still watchable though.

Its really funny how today Turks bash us Greeks about our dependance to the West while they were clearly saved by them more than once from being literally crushed by Russia.

4:05 - For Any Canadians watching who are thinking “Does that Ignatyev have a connection to former Canadian Leader of the Opposition Michael Ignatieff?”. Yes, that’s his Great Grandfather. Nikolay Ignatyev’s son Pavel Ignatieff fled to Canada after the bolshevik revolution.

You make the most excellent videos on 19th century European geopolitics I've ever seen. Well done!

A well made analysis and my appreciation for turning political talks, usually rather boring, into an interesting step by step evolution of the European thinking of itself. The ending was unexpectedly touching.

A somewhat unknown event, which I would personally appreciate be covered, would be the Bulgarian summer of 1915. How Bulgaria literally had 1 foot in the Allied camp (with Greece and Romania patiently observing) and the allied diplomacy squandered it, as Serbia refused to split Macedonia with Bulgaria (as per the 1st balkan war agreement they had) and no one dared push them as everything was going great. The Russian offensive into Austria-Hungary, the Gallipoli landings, Serbia's recapturing Belgrade, the Germans held off at Verdun. Just 1 domino left to finish everything off and it never fell.

This is quickly becoming one of my favourite channels on UKposts. Your descriptions of Lord Salisbury is quickly making him one of my favourite historical figures

I really enjoyed this video, which was very in-depth about a part of the Victorian Era which often is just ignored. The only real criticism/contribution I could give is that one of the major reasons for the tensity of whether Bulgaria could get Macedonia or not, was the fact that if they had Macedonia, Russia would be able to totally circumvent the fact that the British & Ottomans had blocked them off from the Dardanelles. It was a huge defeat that they were unable to give Bulgaria Macedonia, as it effectively meant they were once again trapped in the Black Sea. Great video, I learned a lot! I really like your map aesthetic as well.

Instant like whilst the adverts play , happy to watch them for such a good channel !!

Good stuff man, one of the only videos i dont feel like skipping through

These videos are great for how they go into the politics and geopolitics of the times and how they affect history. That’s something often ignored in favour of making history non partisan and more understandable. Great work!

Great video as always -- love the art style as well!

Thank you so much for this! It's exactly what I needed to help outline my next script, which prominently includes this very crisis.

Much Better video than last time. You are improving!

Another amazing video from you, I absolutely love your content please keep it up.

Keep these coming, can see the channel subscription climbing very quickly

Yet another amazing video well done lad 👍

Hey! Surprised at the early upload! Haven’t been able to watch the entire video but I know it will be good.

Let me point that the Congress of Berlin was the turning point for Russian-German relations. New unified Germany around Prussia was considered as friendly state in Russia. Bismark used to be Prussian ambassador in Saint-Petersburg, and in past Prussia was left by Napoleon as independent state per personal request of tzar Alexander I , and it was Russian neutrality that offered Prussia an opportunity to avoid war on 2 fronts when Prussia fough with Austria and France for influence within Germany. So it was the idea in Russia that finally there is European power that Russia could trust and rely on. Thus, while Russia was ready that England, despite all cruelty and terror slavic people bore during uprising against Osman Empire, will turn to support Turkey (as 1.Russia is always wrong, 2.Any crime against Russia should be justified), Prussian (now German Empire, that should be gratefull towards Russia) turn to "fair business" and support division of Bulgarian people into 3 parts "to avoid creating too much Russian influence" was considered by people in Russia as betrayal. That was the point when Russian Empire started to search for new allies and found them in France. And that was the separation that led to Antante vs Central powers in WWI.

your content quality is amazing. If you were to upload more frequently I could see your channel grow exponentially. The 19th century after Napoleon seems a little under-covered by the big history channels so there might be a Niche

the more I watch these videos about power politics, the more I appreciate the game of diplomacy. that game just nails both the spirit and the substance of european dynamics in the 18th and 19th century - and the early part of the 20th century. BTW awesome research on this part of history, part which I was really not familiar with. I have to admit, my head started spinning with all of the parries and counter-parries going on here, and if anything it reminded me of a bunch of jackals fighting over a carcass that was beginning to spoil.

another fascinating video. cant beleive i slept on this period of history. our politicians should study it, it's so applicable

This is probably the most complicated yet most important piece of history to understand all of the following decades.

An interesting story! You could have covered the position of Greece in this. Stuck between a pro Russian and a pro British faction, Greece was at a precarious position of having to find an anti-turkish ally while at the same time not being able to risk an intervention through sea by the British, as had been experienced during the Crimean War. Nevertheless, Greece supported rebellions in Epirus, Olympus and Pieria regions from 1877 until 1881. In the end, the Congress of Berlin awarded the Thessalia and Arts regions to Greece.

This channel is criminally underated

A video about napoleon iii or the second french empire would be great,really nice video!

Amazing video as always!

Another great video, you make great thumbnails my guy

great video, I loved this as always

Fantastic video.

absolute banger as always, Mr Old Britannia

I love all your videos. Keep it going!

Very good video!

incredible video

Never have I been more satisfied in my life to hear the words, "Big Bulgaria" uttered.

Yet, no one ever asked what the Balkan nations reborn in that period wanted or how they saw their fate…

In Bulgaria, Disraeli is remembered as a great enemy of our people, while Gladstone is honoured with street and school names - in school we were taught that he stood up for Bulgaria, as did the British people, while the Disraeli Government was actively protecting the Turks and ignoring the Genocide they commited during and after the April Uprising.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this!

You know its a really good educational video when it explains something so well that you can't understand it because you are used to gross oversimplifications in other videos. Also, algorithm.

More 1800s foreign policy/internal political negotiation stuff please! Much more interesting than general history!

I just leave this comment fir the algorithm since I love your content

Great video By the way

amazing stuff. which software do you use?

Fantastic analysis of geopolitics.

Great stuff

This is such a treat

This channel rocks

I’ve never been more thrilled to learn about mid 19th century European politics

Your channel really showed me that the 19th century is clearly the diplomatically most interesting time in history

Your content is really interesting and enjoyable. Considering that you have covered much concerning 19th centuary diplomatic politics, often mentioning the three important prime ministers in the latter half of the centuary, I would very much like to see Disreali and Gladstobe covered in depth. There isn't really much good on them on YT, and I would be interested on your take, given that you (i believe) prefer Salisbury, it would also be excellent to see a kind of comparision. Of course, you expertice is in diplomatic history, but their foreign policies could still be interesting in isolation.

I enjoy your channel! Question; how do you make your profile images? Do you draw these figures or photoshop or what? They're nice to look at

This is good stuff

History looks like a story that repeats itself over and over again.

Great work sir, enjoyed the Napoleon/French documentary. Wish had found this channel sooner

This era is so interesting and confusing at the same time

Excellent video as always - except for the fact that it omitted that the Congress of Berlin gave birth to the full independence of three modern day nations: Serbia, Montenegro and Romania. These shenaningas among the Great Powers had their own consequences on Serbian position - as they felt betrayed by the Russians, the Obrenović dynasty turned toward Vienna. And these events set the stage for many interesting in the 1910s (First and Second Balkan War, Collapse of Ottoman rule in Europe, Sarajevo Assassination, WW1...).

And thus an origin of WW1. Was it not the incorporation of the Orthodox Serbs of Bosnia into the Catholic Austria-Hungary empire, causing boiling resentment, that led to Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination? As Bismark predicted in 1888 when he said ''One day the great European war will come out of some dam foolish thing in the Balkans''.

What a channel this is

Romania also participated in the war. Even if she was created in 1859 by Alexandru Ioan Cuza by uniting the two romanian lands (Moldova and Wallachia) Romania was still under Ottoman rule(she couldn't build international relations and affairs , not even with the permision ot Ottoman Empire like to Muntenegro, Serbia and Albania). Russian Empire went to war with the Ottoman Empire in 1877. And because Russian Empire should have crossed Romania to reach the Balkans at Sevastopol was made a russian-romanian convention wich permited russian soldiers (738.000 personnel and 500 artiliery guns) to cross romanian border without to matter in the romanian internal and external affairs(wich after the covention Romania sent to the Ottoman Empire declaration of independence wich escalated the tesnion between Romania and The Ottoman Empire) . Without declaring war, the ottoman soldiers shot some bullets thus forcing Romania to officially declare war on the Ottoman Empire. Romania requested permision from Russia to join but Russia declined , all until the russian army of 738k soldiers stopped at a fortress(can't remember the name) , then Nicholas the first himself requested Carol I , King of Romania to help take down the fortress. So 80k romanian soldier equiped with 200 artiliery guns and also with some tens of heavy macchine guns (heavy at the trues sense) helped the russian take down the fortress(the fortress is somewhere in today Bulgaria) and continued marching. Muntenegro, Serbia and Albania also joined the fight against the ottomans thus forcing the ottoman Empire to sign a peace treaty(like you said San Stefano). The treaty contained that Russia takes Ismail (wich was under russian administration and ocupation from 1812 to 1857 when Russia lost the Crimeean war of 1854-1857 and lost Ismail , the only acces to the Prut and Danube river that has great economic advantage,became part of Romania from 1859 to 1878, and Russian without romanians decided at Berlin to take Ismail, in turn Romania got Dobrogea, and interesting enough romanian diplomats came by themselfs to Berlin for talks but Bismarck himself told them that Romania will be heard but no listened to yet, wich Romania accepted). Russia also took turkish city Kars. Muntenegro, Serbia and Albania also gained their independence. And The British Empire gained the Cyprus island. Other europeans countries(new ones) seeing the weakneas of the Ottoman Empire, would profit from it later like Austro-Hungary annexing Bosnia and Hertzegovina 1908, Italy in 1911 gaining Lybia, the first Balcanic war. And the Congress of Berlin also severed the ties between Germany and Russia (Bismarck wanted an alliance with Russia before the french would do this bcs of 1871, but Bismarck seemed concerned about Russian expansionists interests in the Balcans in 1878). Thus making a step closer to ww1.

speaking of gratitude, German and especially Austrian elites showed a staggering amount of ingratitude towards their Russian counterparts considering that it was the intervention of the Russian army that saved them all from succumbing to Revolution of 1848

good work. too often these days people tend to forget that it was no picknic to be a Crostian in the Ottoman Empire. the so called 'primacy of the foreign policy' in historical research only contributed. but it is very important to note that the Balkan uprisings that triggered this particular crisis in the Eastern Question did not come out of thin air.

The games of the Great powers sentenced our people to great strife in the name of our freedom and unification. We, Bulgarians, bled time and again for the right to live under our own rule. I find it extremely cynical to call this political maneuvering a game, because it set the lives and deaths of millions on the Balkan peninsula and today we still feel its wrongs.

Whats the music at the beginning called?

Every time I hear more about Salisbury and Bismark from your videos, the more I appreciate these genius leaders.

The legend strikes again

Hey! Great video! But could you maybe invest in a better mic?

I should say, that despite what the video points, there definitely was practical reason for this war for Russian Empire: denonsation of Treaty of Paris and regaining back Black Sea fleet and naval bases. Odessa was the only warm sea port and played great role in economy, so securing path through the straits was crucial. And it was not only by the means of creating friendly slavic states - Osman and Russian Empires tried to settle each other relations on mutually profitable agreements several times. Trade was profitable for each state, and both Empires tried to keep normal relations if possible. For example, when during Koliyivschyna rebellion in Poland (that also spread to Russian right-coast Ukraine) rebels crossed Turkish border in pursuit to kill polish forces, Russia has to take Turkish ambassador there and execute rebels in his presence (just it has no help and rebels attacks on Golta and Dubossary were the occasion for Turkey declared war against Russia in 1768). Russia and Turkey fought together during anti-French coalition. Also, when Egyptian ruler revolted againts Istanbul it were Russian troops that were sent to Istanbul to block the way of Egyptian army (there is a monument to that near Bosphorus bridge till that day - for Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi 1833). Just other Great powers' influence on Osman Empire was greater than Russias own to secure interests. And that anti-Russian influence was the reason (in more or less scale) for all Russian-Turkish wars.

Even a genius like Bismarck couldn't satisfy both Austrians and Russians.

Big fan of A.J.P. Taylor's work

I'm Bulgarian and this is deep

The Great Powers would only recognise Romania's independence if we gave citizenship to the Jews. But they made the rookie mistake of not specifying the pace at which we should do that. We chose our own pace, so by the 1910s we had given citizenship to

Do a video on the last two decades of the XIX century.

watching from uganda

I wonder if any British pubs have whipped out the old song, in light of recent events. There had to be at least one video on the internet.

Pretty good. But you fail to mention that the uprisings in Hercegovina and Bosnia were by Serbs and not 'Slavs' or 'Balkan rebels'. No Muslims (todays Bosniaks) were part of the uprisings, the uprisings were inpart a fight by Orthodox Serbs against rich local Muslims Slav (Serb converts to Islam) landowners who were supported by Istanbul. There were some Catholic Serbs from Hercegovina, Dubrovnik and Dalmatia (Krivosije, Uskoci) who also participated. It wasnt about pan-Slavism it was about the restorement of the Serbian state which was destroyed by the Ottoman Empire. Serbia and Montenegro were two Orthodox Serb states who were supported by Orthodox Russia. I guess you can say that there was a pan-Slavist element which connects Serbia and Montenegro with Russia -- but in essence the uprisings were first and foremost a fight for freedom for the Serbs, supported by Russia. The Hercegovina Uprising infact was fought mostly in modern day Montenegro. All of Montengro from Cetinje up to Pljevlja and the modern border of Bosnia-Herceogvina is historically 'Hercegovina'. We call this area 'stara (old) Hercegovina', as opposed to Western and Eastern Hercegovina which is in modern day Bosnia-Hercegovina. One result of the succesful 'Hercegovina Uprising' was stara Hercegovina uniting with stara Montenegro and the Highland Tribes into what is today modern 'Montenegro' at the Berlin Congress. The plan was to then to unite with Serbia (who would take Bosnia and Rascia/Sandzak) into a Serb state (not 'slav') but the large powers were against a united Orthodox Serb state with Russian support. Austria annexed Bosnia and what was left of Hercegovina (which had a majority Serb Orthodox population) and the Ottomans were given the Sandzak (majority Muslim/Bosniak) of Novi Pazar which was deliberately created to halt Serbia and Montenegro unite. These geopolitical issues are the genesis for World War One ie. Serbs in 'Bosnia' fighting for freedom against the Austrian opppressor just like they fought for freedom again the Ottoman Empire during the 1870s. Either way your video was very very good. But you cant call a uniquely Serb uprising a 'Slav' uprising. It is like labelling the Warsaw Uprising as 'slav uprising' instead of a 'Polish uprising'. Does that make sense? Slavs are a population of 400 million. Czechs had nothing to do with the uprising. Neither did Slovaks. Or Poles. Or Ruthenians. Or Croats. Not even all of the 'slav' ethnic groups living in Bosna and Hercegovina were involved in the uprising. It was a small group of a few millions Orthodox Serbs. It is our fight. It is our history. No Bosniaks or Croats or Maceodnians or 'ethnic- Montenegrins' or Slovenians today celebrate it -- while for Serbs it is seen as the rebirth of our modern state. Serbs. SERBS SERBS SERBS SERBS SERBS

Great stuff which however raises the question of what was France doing during this time

Even if it's just a very short mention in the video, but i think it is an important but often overlooked detail: the austrian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina i mean. Most history videos mention the occupation but make it look like they just wanted some territory and invaded it to the shock of every other country in europe. Most fail to mention that nobody was shocked, but that it was one outcome of the congress of Berlin, and the other powers were not just aware but had agreed to that.

14:09 - that kids is called foreshadowing.

Good old Lord Robert “Speech 100” Salisbury.

Salisbury Therapist to Austria: Big Bulgaria doesn't exist. It can't hurt you. Big Bulgaria: 👁👄👁

17:21, didn't Austria also get the right to occupy the Sanjak of Novi Pazar via this agreement also? You mention it later but I think it was agreed here. Derby was of course specifically chosen by Disraeli to be useless because Disraeli largely wanted to run foreign policy himself although Derby wasn't so happy to play along - I think I read once he is probably the only foreign secretary who negotiated with a foreign ambassador (that of Russia) to specific stymie his own Prime Minister's foreign policy. Disraeli of course had a history of using the Derbys this way, under the weak minority governments of Derby's father Disraeli first became a political figure of the top level largely by usurping the Prime Ministers prominence as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The senior Derby appreciated his popularity and appeal but never really trusted him or the direction and manner by which he took the loose Tory coalition into a unified Conservative Party. One of the ironies of history of course was that the more romantic wing of the Tory party, of one nation aristocraticism etc. was generally led by unrepentent arrivistes and social climbers like Disraeli, Chamberlain and so on. They were generally hostile to the new middle class and sought the future of the conservative party in a broad patriotic imperialist base. The real blue blooded aristocrats like Derby and Salisbury were generally more moderate in wanting to create a new organicist balance of power for this new class and hostile to what they saw as the wild schemes of One Nation reformers. They saw the growing middle classes as essentially inclined to be sympathetic to Conservatism as long as the economic status quo wasn't shocked too badly and if they could be enticed into the old structure with some kind of recognition this would destroy the appeal of Liberal radicalism and provide more of a buffer from openly working class socialism. Indeed Salisbury wanted to introduce gradually life peerages in order to tie them more with the old aristocratic order in a mutually beneficial way. Maybe because, in reality, much of the traditional Tory aristocracy was privately doing quite well from their often impressively judicious investments in the industrial revolution.

The Austro-Hungarian FM was prescient that the nationalist impulse of the Balkans would fall on his empire’s table, were the Turks to fail. It adds a beautiful continuum of reason to the background of the First World War a few decades later.

10:06 would he really? I thought that Germany had economic entanglements in the Ottoman Empire, and the Ottomans were influenced by Germany, especially in the period leading up to the Great War.

i love this man

this guy makes anything interesting honestly

The maps giving me headaches

British public opinion at the point mentioned here. 13:40 really irritates me. Atrocities are okay so long as the Russians don't gain too much.

@old britannia you could say the end part of this was when the bomb and fuse was lit for the great war / world war 1

💪💪

I wonder if Britain's behaviour towards the idea of a large country on the Balkans would have been different, if Bulgaria was not Slavic or if she were at least protestant.

Romania contributed a whole lot to the war in 1878. Russian armies were led in battle at Plevna by the romanian King, Carol I and their troops helped across the front.

14:15 is a deja vu

some countrys are just located inbetween other countrys intrest

*sigh* guess I better install Victoria 2 again

0:00 1876The Crimean War had ended. 1:05 1875 Ottoman Empire 2:07 Pan-Slavism 2:37 Political divide. 3:12 Three Emperors League [Prussia 🇩🇪, Austria 🇦🇹 , & Russia 🇷🇺] 4:44 Gyula Andrássy’s Note 📝 30 December 1875. 6:08 Andrássy’s new memorandum. 6:28 Benjamin did not like “being dictated to.” 7:15 Disraeli wanted to split up Austria 🇦🇹 -Russia 🇷🇺 relations 8:00 Serbia 🇷🇸 War with Ottoman Turks 10:21 Andrássy got Bosnia Herzegovina in Austrian control. 11:07 November 1876 The Constantinople Convention. 12:06 Russia 🇷🇺 declared war on Ottoman Turkey. 12:41 1876 William Gladstone called out Disreali’s inaction. 13:36 The Ottomans were seen as valiant by Britain 🇬🇧 then. 14:12 Russian weakness hurt Russia in treaty negotiations. 14:48 Bulgaria territory formed 🇧🇬 15:13 Foreign Secretary Earl of Derby 15:47 Replaced by Marquis de Salisbury. 16:33 Russo-Prussian relations were shaken. 17:12 Agreement out of respect. 17:27 Salisbury protected The Turks land ownership. 18:37 Russian prestige was hurt. 19:06 Salisbury.

That moment when Bismarck failed in foreign policy alienating Russia for years to come.

Wonder how the world would turn out if the league of three emperors continued on or least till WW1 era

Hi I am Bulgarian I was told that the deal between Russia and Austria for no big Balkan country was specifically about Serbia and the western Balkans not about Bulgaria and the eastern Balkans is this correct or not

my country Romania become independent at this congress because has fighting with the russians against the turks.

Rip big bulgaria