Could Russia win a war against britain in 1878?

If the Japanese do anything it'll be pressing the claim that they own all of Sakhalin, I doubt they'd do much more.

The British might try and force Russia to repudiate the Amur acquisition in the Far East depending on how the war goes.
 
The OP asked would Britain or Russia win the war.

Nope, I'm pretty sure that UK would win the war by just blocking the russian ports and bombing them until they retreated from constatinopolis.

My question is: was it possible for Russia to win the war?
 
Right well the British felt they could have, if required, forced the straits. The Signal sent to Admiral Hornby read

Proceed at daylight without waiting for a Firman (permission). If fired on by forts and ships are struck by fire return the fire but do not wait to silence the forts unless absolutely necessary.

via The Late Victorian Navy by Roger Parkinson

The British ironclads to arrive initially off Constantinople were the Alexandra, Temeraire, Achillies and Sultan. Agincourt and Swiftsure were assigned to cover the Dardanelles passage. Later arrivals off Constantinople were the Monarch, Invincible, Rupert, Hotspur, Thunderer and Defence.

Worth noting even without the weight of the Royal Navy the Turkish had dominated their Russian adversaries in the Black Sea. Also any forts will be in Turkish hands unless the Russians can take them intact and roughly half of them will be the Asian side of the water.
 
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The OP asked would Britain or Russia win the war.

Nope, I'm pretty sure that UK would win the war by just blocking the russian ports and bombing them until they retreated from constatinopolis.

My question is: was it possible for Russia to win the war?
 
The OP asked would Britain or Russia win the war.

Nope, I'm pretty sure that UK would win the war by just blocking the russian ports and bombing them until they retreated from constatinopolis.

My question is: was it possible for Russia to win the war?
 
Nope, I'm pretty sure that UK would win the war by just blocking the russian ports and bombing them until they retreated from constatinopolis.

My question is: was it possible for Russia to win the war?

Well there is always a chance but it would require the Russians teaching the RN to enjoy vodka and lead paint in their tea and for everything possible to go wrong for the Turks and then they'd probably still need to bribe half of Europe to let them go ahead without interference.
 
Right well the British felt they could have, if required, forced the straits.

True, but the men on the ground expected problems if they did so in the wrong way. From the biography I posted earlier:

Letter to Lord Derby, foreign secretary, 10 August 1877:
'I assume that you think the batteries of the Dardanelles would not prevent the squadron passing into the Sea of Marmora whenever it pleased, and that in passing it might, with small delay and damage, destroy them. In that opinion I concur, but I doubt if you realise what might follow. I suppose the squadron would only be sent up to play a part. If the northern shore of the Dardanelles were occupied by an enemy, I think it very doubtful if we could play any material part; and if the Bosphorus also was under their command, it would be almost impossible. In the latter case, we could not get even the Heraclea coal. In the former, our English supply of coal, our ammunition, and perhaps our food, would in my opinion be stopped... It is for these reasons that the possession of the Bulair lines by a strong and friendly force seems to every one here to be imperative, if now, or hereafter, you should want to act at Constantinople... I want to see 10,000 British troops occupying Gallipoli in concert with the Turks; and Mr Layard misinforms me, if the Turks would not ask for, and welcome, such an occupation.'

The Signal sent to Admiral Hornby read

Proceed at daylight without waiting for a Firman (permission). If fired on by forts and ships are struck by fire return the fire but do not wait to silence the forts unless absolutely necessary.

Though Hornby was prepared if he needed to disobey his instructions in respect of silencing the forts:
'As the ships passed out of the bay they saw the Raleigh on shore near Rabbit Island, and the Hotspur and Ruby were detached to her assistance. The Alexandra had rejoined about a fortnight previously, and the other ships with the Admiral were the Agincourt, Achilles, Swiftsure, Temeraire, Sultan, and Salamis. On the two previous occasions the mission of the fleet had been ostensibly a friendly one, and there had been no visible signs of any warlike preparations, but now they had their masts down and everything cleared for action. There were then only four formidable forts in the Dardanelles. The lowest of these was Fort Namasghia, in which were sixteen Krupp breech-loading rifled guns, supposed to be about 26 centimetres, also one Krupp and two Armstrong 7-inch muzzle-loading guns. Nearly opposite is the Sultanieh Fort, in which the monster 50-ton Krupp gun had been mounted to command the approaches to the 'Narrows'; this was, however, the only formidable piece of ordnance in the fort. A mile above is the Medgidieh Fort, probably the strongest of all, having been reconstructed by a German officer, Bluhm; it had thirteen 6-inch breech-loading Krupp guns, seven of which enfilade the channel. The fort of Nagara, two and a half miles further on, completed the defences, as the other forts were either only supplied with obsolete guns, or else the modern ones had not been mounted. The night before leaving Besika, the orders given were, that two of the ships were to engage each of the three lower forts. The Agincourt and Achilles were to endeavour to silence the guns in Fort Namasghia, keeping far enough down stream to be out of range of some old-fashioned monster bronze guns mounted at the castle of Kilid Bahar a little above, and also firing their starboard bow-guns at the Sultanieh Fort. The Alexandra and Sultan were to undertake the destruction of the 50-ton Krupp gun at Tchernak, and with their port-guns to engage any forts on the European side which should open fire on them. The Swiftsure and Temeraire were to pass on to the attack of the Medgidieh Fort, and to do as much damage as possible till the other ships were free to go to their assistance.

When the morning dawned thick and snowy, the Admiral thought it was possible that he might get past the forts unobserved, and it was not till the fleet was within two miles of Tchernak that he ordered the Salamis to go on with a letter to the Pasha. The engineers on board the Salamis had been expecting this signal, and immediately it was given, one could almost have felt the ship spring forward. She had been up and down so often in all weathers, and at all hours of the day and night, that she could have found her way blindfold, which was very lucky, as this thick weather was almost worse than darkness. As the commander of the Salamis landed, he saw that the tompion had not been taken out of the big gun.'

From the House of Commons debate 4th February 1878 on whether to vote funds for such an intervention (decided that this was not needed as Russians had already backed down):

I think you might have your chronology slightly off- Disraeli was the prime minister in 1878, which made Gathorne-Hardy war minister. But the point that Gladstone was mildly more inclined towards intervention in 1878 than at the time of the publication of the 'Bulgarian horrors' pamphlet is an interesting one.
 
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