The Battle of Plevna was perhaps the most important battle in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877/78. Ottoman forces managed to hold the Russian army for several months and managed to win back some of the public opinion in the West the Ottomans had lost with their suppression of the Bulgarian revolt a year earlier. A.J.P Taylor considered the battle to have been the one that "Saved the Ottoman Empire in Europe".
But lets say something went differently and the Ottomans are not able to hold off the Russian armies for months. Say the Russians do some basic recon before the first battle. Say Osman Pasha is incapacitated. Lets assume that the force that held Plenva OTL is beaten with moderate casualties. What next for the Russians? I find it quite possible for them to be at the gates of Constantinople before winter, but what else happens?
But lets say something went differently and the Ottomans are not able to hold off the Russian armies for months. Say the Russians do some basic recon before the first battle. Say Osman Pasha is incapacitated. Lets assume that the force that held Plenva OTL is beaten with moderate casualties. What next for the Russians? I find it quite possible for them to be at the gates of Constantinople before winter, but what else happens?