June 27, 1877 · Danube frontier, Bulgaria Theater

Under cover of darkness Russian engineers and Dragomirov's division forced a crossing of the great river barrier at Svishtov, seizing the far bank against Ottoman fire and throwing pontoon bridges across. The main army poured into Bulgaria, opening the invasion.

July 16, 1877 · Danube, northern Bulgaria Theater

Russian forces stormed the Danube fortress of Nikopol, capturing its garrison of some 7,000 men. But the victory carried a fatal oversight: the nearby road junction of Plevna was left ungarrisoned, and the Ottoman general Osman Pasha was already racing to occupy it.

July 20 – December 10, 1877 · Northern Bulgaria Theater

The defining ordeal of the war. Osman Pasha entrenched his army in a ring of earthworks around Plevna, and three successive Russian and Romanian assaults through July, August, and September were thrown back with horrific losses — over 20,000 in the third assault alone. The great engineer Totleben was brought in to abandon storming for a total blockade. Starved out after five months, Osman attempted a breakout on December 10, was wounded and captured, and surrendered 43,000 men.

August 1877 – January 1878 · Balkan Mountains Theater

The Shipka Pass through the Balkan range was the gateway to Constantinople, and its defence became legendary. In August a small Russian and Bulgarian force held the heights against ferocious assaults by Suleiman Pasha's army, at one point hurling rocks and corpses when ammunition ran out. Through the winter the garrison endured blizzards that killed and froze thousands — the 'Shipka Sitting' — until the Ottoman army below was finally trapped and destroyed at Sheinovo.

September 1, 1877 · Northern Bulgaria Theater

To cut Plevna's supply line, the Russians stormed the fortified town of Lovcha to its south, with the young and flamboyant Skobelev distinguishing himself in the assault. The town fell after hard fighting, tightening the noose around Osman's army.

October 15, 1877 · Caucasus front (near Kars) Theater

On the Caucasus front, Loris-Melikov broke the Ottoman army of Ahmed Muhtar Pasha in a night-and-day battle on the Aladzha ridges near Kars, using a bold night flank march to shatter the Ottoman position and take thousands of prisoners.

October 24, 1877 · Northern Bulgaria Theater

To complete the encirclement of Plevna, Gurko's Guards stormed the fortified redoubt of Gorni Dubnik on the Sofia road, taking it after a costly day-long fight that cut Osman Pasha's last line of communication and reinforcement.

November 17, 1877 · Caucasus front (eastern Anatolia) Theater

Russia's Caucasus army stormed the great mountain fortress of Kars in a daring night assault, escalading its ring of forts in the dark and taking the citadel with its garrison of some 17,000. It was one of the boldest feats of arms of the war.

December 31, 1877 · Approaches to Sofia Theater

In a rare Ottoman rearguard success, the English soldier of fortune Valentine Baker Pasha, with a small force, held off Gurko's far larger advancing army for a full day at Tashkessen, covering the retreat of the Ottoman army from Sofia.

January 9, 1878 · Below the Shipka Pass Theater

Russian columns descended from the frozen Shipka heights in a pincer and enveloped the Ottoman army of Wessel Pasha in the valley below at Sheinovo. After Skobelev's assault broke the entrenchments, the entire Ottoman force — over 20,000 men — surrendered.

January 15–17, 1878 · Thrace, southern Bulgaria Theater

Gurko's winter offensive caught and shattered Suleiman Pasha's army in a three-day battle around Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv), scattering the last organised Ottoman force in Thrace and capturing much of its artillery.

January – March 1878 · Thrace, approaches to Constantinople Theater

With their armies destroyed, the Ottomans abandoned Adrianople without a fight and sued for peace as Russian troops advanced to San Stefano, a village within sight of Constantinople. There, in March 1878, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed, creating a large autonomous Bulgaria — only for the alarmed Great Powers to force its revision months later at the Congress of Berlin.