Russians lose the Russo-Turkish War of 1877

If this butterflies away Bulgarian and Bosnian independence as is likely then that's going to put the Ottomans in a much better position regarding industrialisation. Going from memory of when this PoD has come up in the past the Ottomans had already started expanding their railway network so that will help, Bulgaria was starting to industrialise and would of become a good location of light industry if the change over from Ottoman rule and associated upheavals hadn't set things back, and Bosnia would of been a good source of coal, iron, and timber when linked by railway to supply it and the Empire at large. Okay it's certainly not going to make them a Germany or Great Britain but it'll improve their economy a fair bit and make them more self reliant.
In fact, that's what happened in OTL. If the upheavals damaged industrialization in Bulgaria, then that was more than offset by removing the rather inefficient and capricious Ottoman administration. And in this scenario there would still be massive upheaval.
 
Top