The Herzegovina uprising triggered a chain of Balkan conflicts and the Great Eastern Crisis, reshaping Ottoman power and leading to Montenegrin and Serbian independence.
Key Facts
- Start Date
- Summer 1875
- End Date
- Early 1878
- Primary Region
- Herzegovina, Bosnia, and Raška
- Joint War Declaration
- Montenegro and Serbia declared war on Ottomans
- War Declaration Date
- 18 June 1876
- Outcome Congress
- Berlin Congress of 1878
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Ottoman reforms announced by Sultan Abdülmecid I—granting new rights to Christian subjects and reforming tax collection—were resisted and ignored by powerful Bosnian landowners (beys and aghas). These landowners instead intensified repression of their Christian subjects, and the tax burden on Christian peasants continued to rise, creating deep grievances that made rebellion inevitable.
Beginning in the summer of 1875, the Christian Serb population of Herzegovina rose in armed rebellion against Ottoman rule. The uprising spread into Bosnia and Raška, sustained by weapons and volunteers from the principalities of Montenegro and Serbia. It persisted in some regions until early 1878, coinciding with the Bulgarian April Uprising of 1876 and the Serbian-Turkish wars of 1876–1878, all forming part of the broader Great Eastern Crisis.
Montenegro and Serbia jointly declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 18 June 1876, triggering the Serbian-Ottoman and Montenegrin-Ottoman wars, which in turn provoked the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. The resulting Berlin Congress of 1878 granted independence and additional territory to both Montenegro and Serbia, while Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina for thirty years.