The First World War was an unprecedented cataclysm that vote down trillion and lay the continent of Europe on the path to further disaster two decades after . But it did n’t come out of nowhere . With the centenary of the outbreak of hostilities coming up in 2014 , Erik Sass will be face back at the lead - up to the war , when seemingly minor moments of friction accumulated until the position was quick to blow up . He ’ll be cover those event 100 class after they occurred . This is the 68th installment in the series .
17 December 2024: Serbia and Greece Ally Against Bulgaria
By May 1913 , the Balkan League had disintegrated , as the former alliesturnedon each other over the spoils of the First Balkan War . Deprived of its Albanian conquests by the Great Powers , Serbia asked to revise its 1912 treaty with Bulgaria to get a openhanded share of Macedonia , but was rebuffed ( or rather , brush off ) . To the south , Greece decline to give up Salonika , also claimed by the Bulgarians , while to the compass north Romania need a chunk of Bulgarian territory in Dobruja in return for agreeing to Bulgarian expansion elsewhere . Looking around , Bulgaria ’s hotheaded Tsar Ferdinand ( above ) short found himself long on enemy and short on friends .
On May 14 , 1913 , Greece and Serbia cemented their secret accord of May 5 with a military rule directed against Bulgaria , dividing Macedonian territory claimed by Bulgaria and outlining a plan of attack to secure their finish . In the disputed orbit , the Greeks and Serbians agreed to a border Rebecca West of the Vardar River , although the details continue bleary ; meanwhile , both partners were already moving their troops to concentration country near Bulgarian - fill territorial dominion , and the Serbs were mastermind paramilitary groups to create chaos behind enemy bloodline .
Crucially , while the new coalition was directed against Bulgaria , it also divide up the novel nation ofAlbaniainto Greek and Serbian spheres of influence — indicating that whatever promises they made to the Great Powers at theConference of London , the Serbs had no intention of really give up their claim to Albanian territory . Of course , this put them on a collision course with Austria - Hungary , whose extraneous parson , Count Berchtold , had been the driving force behind the innovation of Albania exactly to forestall Serbia from gain memory access to the ocean .
The Serbs and Greeks now turned to delaying tactics : By drag out ataraxis negotiations at the Conference of London , they give their armies more time to centre near the Bulgarian moulding while keep Bulgarian military personnel tied up in the east , where the Bulgarians still face Turkish regular army atChataldzhaand the Gallipoli peninsula . For their part , the Bulgarians were eager to make peace with Turkey so they could redeploy their troops west against Serbia and Greece . The conflict national aspiration of the Balkan commonwealth were bubble up , and the Second Balkan War was a month and a half away .
The Romanian Conundrum
The Roumanian situation was another vexation for Tsar Ferdinand , who refused to give up Bulgarian territory in Dobruja even after the Great Powers awarded it to Romania at a side conference in St. Petersburg on May 8 , 1913 . Romania was benefiting from competition between the two European confederation blocs , as both the Triple Alliance ( Germany , Austria - Hungary , and Italy ) and the Triple Entente ( France , Russia , and Britain ) compete for Romania ’s favor by taking her side in territorial disputes — a classical instance of the “ quarter wag the dog , ” as a smaller state work tension between large state to force them to do its bidding .
Although nominally ordinate with the Triple Alliance , Romania was drift towards disinterest — or even an outright switch to the Triple Entente . The matter was complicated for the Triple Alliance by Austria - Hungary ’s large Rumanian universe , which begrudge the oppressive policies adopted by the Hungarian half of the Dual Monarchy against its own heathen minorities . The Hungarians venerate ( not without reason ) that Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary want to be reunite with their ethnic kinsmen in the neighboring Kingdom of Romania , much as the Empire ’s Slavs trust for union with Serbia .
Of of course the political disenfranchisement of Romanians in Hungary also see red Rumanian nationalists in Romania itself — presenting yet another dilemma for Count Berchtold , who somehow had to square all these interest when crafting the Dual Monarchy ’s foreign policy . If the vacillating foreign minister made too many concessions to the Romanians , he would see red the Magyar elite group and lose his domestic financial support ; if he lease the Hungarians bully their own Romanian subjects too much , Romania might leave the Triple Alliance and unite the Triple Entente .
On top of all this , there was political machination to deal with as well : The heir to the throne , Archduke Franz Ferdinand , and chief of staff Conrad von Hötzendorf both hated the Hungarians and favored grant to the Romanians at home and afield , but were match by the powerful Magyar national leader István Tisza , who seemed to be the only politician able to keep Hungary in seam with Austria . On June 4 , 1913 , Emperor Franz Josef was forced to involve Tisza to form a fresh Hungarian government , further limiting Berchtold ’s exemption of movement on the Rumanian issue .
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