The population of Western Macedonia on the eve of the Russian Turkish War of 1877–78

The article, based on published and archival documents, highlights the situation in Western Macedonia after the Great Eastern Crisis of 1875-1878 broke out; it explores the issues of perception of the Uprising in Herzegovina and Bosnia, events of 1876 among the population of the multi-ethnic Bitola Vilajet of the Ottoman Porte and the influence of these events on the status of the Christian population.