Anna Kudrnova

14.09.2008
The significance of the Balkan Wars

Personally, I consider the Balkan wars and the conflicts over the influence in the Balkans as the central reason for the beginning
of the First World War. Naturally, this might seem as a very premature and generalised conclusion as many other conflicts
(such as the colonial rivalry, the naval race and the Weltpolitik) are considered as factors that increased the likelihood of a
European war. Nevertheless, the Balkans remain the zone over which the most severe crises arose as contrarily to the colonies,
the amount influence and territory the Great Powers exerted in this region was crucial to their foreign policy, their plans as well
as their prestige.

For illustration, the colonial conflicts (such as the Fashoda crisis between France and Britain in 1898, or the Italian occupation
of the Dodecanese islands in 1912) were in most of the cases (not in the case of the second Moroccan crisis or the conflict over
the Berlin-Baghdad railway) of minor importance as the Great Powers security, prestige and influence were not likely to be at
stake if there were to be bargaining over certain parts of African colonies.
However, the Balkans was as important for Austria Hungary, Russia and the Ottoman Empire as India was for the British. The
division of the Balkan countries and the amount of influence the respective powers exercised in the region could threat the
interests of the other Great Powers. For illustration, Austria Hungary was keen to keep the zone calm and under firm control, as
the multinational Empire would fall apart if nationalism in even one of the countries was allowed to grow and eventually lead to
a struggle for independence. This is why Austria Hungary was very keen to keep Serbia weak and prevent it from gaining
access to the sea or winning over more territory as being the most nationalist and separatist one, its maintenance was crucial
to prevent the domino effect of countries breaking away from Austria-Hungary. On the other hand, the inhabitants of these
satellite states of Austria Hungary were slaves and were hence related to Russians. These in general pushed forward the idea of
protecting their fellow brothers, and supporting them in their movement toward liberation whether this interest is genuine in
the case of the so called pan-slaves or solely pretence for gaining access to the Mediterranean.

Unfortunately, to make the situation even more complex, the country which previously held the Balkans, and could have
possibly maintained the balance of power, the so called Ottoman Empire, was by the height of the conflict over the Balkans too
weak to play a significant role and hence once its influence subsided, both the Russians and the Austria Hungarians tried to
exploit the situation to their own advantage. This resulted in a volatile situation where the Ottoman Empire was at turns
supported by one or the other of the powers to make sure the other did not gain, or attacked when it sided with the current
opponent. For example, in 1903, Russia and Austria Hungary signed an agreement to maintain the status quo in the Balkans
for a five-year period. Nonetheless, not only did neither intend to adhere to this agreement but both intended to use the
situation of the Ottoman Empire. In 1881 the Austrians received a secret agreement from Russia and Germany that they could
permanently keep the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina which previously belonged to Turkey. By 1908, when the Turkish
Emperor was forced to accept a constitutional government, which aimed to revive the Ottoman Empire, The Austrians decided
to act and proposed the Russians a revision of the Straits convention which would Grant Russia a passage right through the
straits in exchange for them not opposing the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This treaty was secret, and agreed between
the prime ministers, so when , Austria Hungary moved in and annexed Bosnia Herzegovina before the Russian minister was
able to get the revision of the Straits convention ratified by all of the powers, the latter was forced not to act by the
circumstances. Not only he could not receive a revision of the straits convention as the other powers only agreed to support the
organisation of an international conference, which was declined by Austria Hungary, at the time backed by Germany but he
could also not support the Serbs against this annexation as Russia was not ready for a war. Hence, the situation greatly
angered all of the powers. The British did not want the Ottoman Empire to be weakened as they wanted to prevent Russian
influence in the Mediterranean and hence the middle East, the Germans could not get the Russians to support the Berlin-
Baghdad railway unless they supported Russian influence in the Straits by which they would further antagonise the British as
well as have to withdraw their promise of support to Austria Hungary and finally the Ottoman Empire which was compensated
for the territorial loss economically by Austria/ Hungary. Consequently, Serbia officially recognised the annexation and
promised to behave as a “good neighbour” but the government did not outlaw the many terrorist organisations that were
founded but was unsure of its position as Russia failed to support it. Russia was humiliated and gained nothing but was
determined never to back down again. The ottoman Empire was angered at both powers, at Austria Hungary for seizing its
territory, and at Russia for wanting to seize the straits. Finally, Great Britain and Germany acted more as reconciliators and
exploited the situation to gain concessions from Russia and Austria Hungary by supporting both. ( i.e: Germany supported
Austria Hungary but accepted the Russian claims to the straits provided that they received compensation.)

Therefore, this first major Balkan crisis made the relations of the Great powers even more complex as they were all forced to
make concessions in return for other concessions or support and the inconsistency of their foreign policies increased tensions
and anxiety. The alliances and allegiances became arbitrary when it came to the Balkan states ( i.e: Austria Hungary
quarantees Bulgarian independence to avoid trouble, but it is the Russians who help the Bulgarian government pay the
compensation to Turkey, so helping Bulgaria become independent had the adverse effect that Austria Hungary intended).

I have choses top concentrate mainly on the first Balkanian crisis rather then the Balkan wars, because The Balkan wars really
stem from the state of events that I described above.

In the aftermath of the Bosnian Crises, the Russians tried to exploit the situation to their own advantage by supporting the
creation of an alliance between Bulgaria and Serbia, which could be used as an ally both against Turkey and Austria Hungary
should either attempt to seize more of the Balkan territory. Interestingly enough, this turned against Russia as Serbia, Bulgaria,
Montenegro and Greece decided to form an alliance hostile both to the Ottoman Empire and the Great Powers, so Russia lost
influence in the region rather then gained it. Given the likelihood of this Balkan league declaring war on Turkey, the Great
powers urged the league not to act bluntly but this advise was not followed and the rioting in Macedonia was used as a pretext
by the League to declare war on Turkey. The latter was weakened by a brief conflict with Italy and lost, which enabled the
powers in the League to divide the territory of what was European Turkey among themselves.
However, the Great Powers were not going to stay aside when the territory was being divided and imposed the terms of the
Treaty of London, which dealt with granting Albania independence so that Serbia lost access to the Adriatic as well as reducing
the amount of territory to be gained by Bulgaria. This resulted in a general dissatisfaction at the terms as none of the
combatants or the Great Powers got what they wanted. ( Russia and Austria Hungary lost influence in the region, Serbia lost
access to the sea and France and Great Britain was disappointed that it was weakened, Bulgsaria was furious about the small
territorial gains it was allowed to have etc.)

By the 29th of June 1913, the second Balkan war broke out, opposing Bulgaria to the rest of the Balkanian league. Nonetheless,
this did not settle the disagreements, as the only change was that once Bulgaria was defeated most of its territory was divided
among Turkey, Greece and Serbia. Each of the Balkan powers gained both territory and prestige which threatened the integrity
of Austria Hungary but also the plans of both Russia and Austria Hungary to spread influence if not conquer parts of the
Balkans. Moreover, Serbia had to leave Albania after a brief occupation and was still seeking access to the sea, in which it was
partially supported by France and Great Britain. The Germans decided to support the Ottoman Empire in an attempt to
guarantee the Russians would not gain influence in the region but were forced to back down following French and Russian
protests.

It might seem, that I have chosen to give a factual account of the events, rather then analyse how far these contributed to the
outbreak of the war, but these are merely necessary illustrations of the few notations I have made earlier. They show how far
the events in the Balkans can be considered as the spark which set of the fire by 1914. The constant struggle for influence in
the Balkans and the diplomacy employed created an atmosphere of suspicion and anxiety as none of the powers pursued a
consistent foreign policy concerning this region and used any conflict between any of the powers to try and make gains, even at
the cost of supporting two antagonised countries, or turning their back on allies. Given that by the end of the second Balkan
war, none of the Great powers or the remaining members of the Balkan league saw the settlement as final, and had a lot to be
angry about, it was sure that any new conflict would result in all of them doing practically anything to advance their own
interests. Hence, it does not come as a surprise that the First World War started over the aggression of Serbia, because even
though the assassination of the archduke was just a pretext, even though there were many other short term as well as long
term causes for the war, even though the system of alliances, the arms race, the naval and colonial rivalry all played their role,
the Austrians went into war over the Balkans, and generally speaking so did the Russians.