count Gyula Andrássy, who was appointed in 1871 to replace Friedrich von Beust, the dual monarchy's foreign policy identified the Near East as the area of particular interest for its next territorial and political expansion. With the Serb peasants now revolting in Bosnia Vilayet and the Ottomans unable to stop them, Andrássy saw an opportunity to move this policy forward and on 30 December 1875 he sent a dispatch to his foreign ministry predecessor, Von Beust, at the time holding an important diplomatic post in the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Service as the dual monarchy's ambassador to the United Kingdom. In the document, known as the "Andrássy Note", the foreign minister outlined his vision for Bosnia as a territory governed and administered by Austria-Hungary. After obtaining general assent from the UK and France, the document became official basis for negotiations. Simultaneous with their battleground defeats in the Russo-Turkish War, the Ottoman rule in the Bosnia Vilayet was rapidly weakening as well. Logistical and organisational issues began arising in the Ottoman army, such as inability to feed and clothe the soldiers, including its nineteen garrisons stationed in the Bosnia Vilayet, seventeen of which were made up of local Bosnian Muslims. In a January 1878 report, Austro-Hungarian consul stationed in the city of Sarajevo, Konrad von Wassitsch, noted to his Vienna superiors that "Ottoman administrative bodies have no authority, and the population has lost its confidence in the government". By the spring of 1878, the Ottoman Army in the vilayet was in such a state of disarray that many troops simply deserted after essentially being left to their own means. As a consequence, an estimated three thousand armed deserters were roaming the countryside in small bands, frequently terrorizing peasants. With no organized force implementing the law, groups of outlaws operated with impunity in many rural areas, effectively seizing control of significant territories. Treaty of San Stefano All of the events of the so-called Eastern Crisis from 1875 until 1878, echoed resoundingly among the population of Sarajevo. By late winter 1878 it became clear that circumstances for the weakening of the Ottoman grip might finally be in place. The Treaty of San Stefano — imposed on 3 March 1878 by the victorious Russia upon the defeated Ottomans — confirmed that line of thinking. Among other provisions, it stipulated the following points: full independence from the Ottoman Empire for the principalities of Serbia and Montenegro, de