jure autonomy (de facto independence) within the Ottoman Empire for the Principality of Bulgaria, and the autonomous province status for the Bosnian Vilayet within the Ottoman Empire. Muslim population of the Bosnia Vilayet welcomed the promised greater autonomy thus rekindling their autonomy aspirations. However, international reaction to the Russian-initiated treaty was mostly negative. The Great Powers, especially British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, were unhappy with the extension of Russian power while Austria-Hungary was additionally disappointed as the treaty failed to expand its influence in the Bosnia Vilayet. In the 21 April 1878 memorandum to the European powers, the Austro-Hungarian foreign minister Gyula Andrássy stepped up his Bosnia policy by making a case for a Habsburg occupation of Bosnia Vilayet, arguing that an autonomous Bosnia within the Ottoman Empire lacked the means to overcome internal divisions and maintain its existence against its neighbours. The United Kingdom soon decided to support Austria-Hungary's aspirations in Bosnia. Many of the smaller nations also had objections to the San Stefano Treaty — although satisfied with receiving formal independence, Serbia was unhappy with the Bulgarian expansion, Romania was extremely disappointed as its public perceived some of the treaty stipulations as Russia breaking the Russo-Romanian pre-war agreements that guaranteed the country's territorial integrity, and the Albanians objected to what they considered a significant loss of their territory to Serbia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro. On the other end of the reaction spectrum, in addition to Bosnian Muslims, Bulgarians were just about the only nation ecstatic with the treaty. Local reaction to the prospect of Austro-Hungarian occupation Because of its almost universal rejection by the global powers, the San Stefano Treaty ended up never getting implemented, in the end only setting the stage for a conference organized by the German Empire chancellor Otto von Bismarck three months later in Berlin. Uncertainty over San Stefano brought about rumours of imminent Austro-Hungarian occupation in Sarajevo as early as April 1878, well before the Berlin Congress, evoking different responses from the city's various ethnicities and classes. Bosnian Croats welcomed the notion of being occupied by their Roman Catholic co-believers Austrians and Hungarians, while Bosnian Serbs, on the other hand, were universally opposed to it, finding little reason to cheer the replacement of one foreign occupier with another — Serbia's old nemesis, the Habsburg Monarchy. Bosnian Muslim reaction to the prospect of Austro-Hungarian rule was divided along social lines. Hoping that a smooth transfer