The Eastern crisis from 1875 to 1878 represented a turning point in the history of the Ottoman Empire and a major challenge to the Concert of Great Powers. Beginning like one of the episodic rebellions against Ottoman rule, a peasant revolt in the Herzegovina in July 1875 spread to Bosnia in January 1876 before spilling over to Bulgaria in late April, and Serbia and Montenegro, which declared war against Sultan Murad V in June/July 1876. The events caught the attention of diplomats and became a major issue in the press mainly because of the brutality with which irregular forces, the Bashi-Bazouks, commanded by Ottoman officers, crushed the Bulgarian insurgency. According to contemporary investigators, the Turks killed between 12,000 and 15,000 Christians, yet Bulgarian historians claim that between 30,000 and 60,000 must have perished in the massacres. Whereas the powers intervened diplomatically at an early stage, the failure collectively to persuade the Ottoman government to implement reforms in the provinces led to the Russo-Turkish war in April 1877 which liberated the majority of the Balkan Christians.

What role, if any, did humanitarian motives play in the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War in April 1877? Could it be understood as a humanitarian intervention?