Signed at the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, the treaty forced the Ottoman Empire to recognize a vastly enlarged, autonomous Bulgarian state under Russian influence. Alarmed by Russia's expanded reach into the Balkans, Britain and Austria-Hungary demanded revisions, leading to the Congress of Berlin months later, which shrank Bulgaria's borders considerably.
For Bulgarians, March 3rd became a day of profound national meaning: it marked liberation from nearly five centuries of Ottoman rule and is celebrated today as Bulgaria's National Day, complete with military parades in Sofia and wreath-laying at war memorials.
The treaty's generosity to Russia's Slavic ally alarmed the rest of Europe. Benjamin Disraeli's government in Britain, fearing Russian access to the Mediterranean through a client Bulgaria, mobilized troops and threatened war. The resulting Congress of Berlin, convened that summer, tore up much of San Stefano's map, splitting Bulgaria into smaller pieces and returning territory to Ottoman control—a diplomatic humiliation still remembered in Bulgarian textbooks as a wound requiring later correction.
The episode illustrates how battlefield victory rarely translates directly into political reality; the treaty that ended one war planted seeds for future Balkan conflicts, including the wars of 1912–13 that would again redraw the region.