The Balkans Between the Great Powers 1878--1914

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THE EXPLOSIVE SITUATION IN THE BALKANS (1908-1914)

By the beginning of the 20^th century, the unstable Balkan peninsula had become a jousting field for Austria-Hungary and Russia, who confronted each other through the Bulgarians and the Serbs. Meanwhile, many ambitions were aroused by the progressive vulnerability of the Turkish Empire still controlling the Christian populations of Macedonia, Thrace and Albania. These were to flare up violently in the years preceding World War I.

The Macedonian Problem

The Congress of Berlin had left Macedonia to the Turks, to the great disappointment of the Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians, each of whom claimed legitimate rights to the territory. Before the Turkish conquest, the area belonged to the Byzantine Empire and was frequently under Bulgarian and Serbian attack. By the early 20^th century, Macedonians numbered about three million, living in the Vardar Valley and the surrounding mountainous regions. They were divided into three main nationalities: a Greek majority lived on the Aegean coast with the port city Salonika, with islands of Turks and Bulgarians; Serbs were present throughout the interior of the country, with a high concentration around Skopje, but were usually a minority in the interior compared to the Bulgarian population; Bulgarian influence was great, and strengthened noticeably with the creation of an independent Bulgarian exarchate in 1870, with jurisdiction over all of Macedonia. Besides these three major nationalities making up roughly four-fifths of the population, there were a multitude of other ethnic groups: Albanians and Vlachs in the mountainous regions, and Turks, Armenians and Jews in the cities.

The liberation of Bulgaria in l885 raised great hopes in Macedonia at a time when local intellectual circles were becoming more and more conscious of a "Macedonian" entity. Bulgarian influence grew even stronger with the formation in 1893 at Salonika of IMRO, the Interior Macedonian Revolutionary Organization. IMRO organized sporadic terrorist attacks and assaulted Turkish authorities. As the century opened, the entire interior was ripe for insurrection. On August 2, 1903, IMRO launched a massive uprising known as the Saint Elias' Day (Ilinden) rebellion. It involved all of

Macedonia and extended into Thrace. The Turks reacted with brutality, and thousands of Macedonians fled into Bulgaria. The Great Powers were divided on the Macedonian question: Great Britain wanted to see major reforms in Macedonia; Austria-Hungary and Russia, who were attempting to mend their relationship, agreed at Murzteg not to intervene but to ask the sultan for a few token reforms. Bulgarian neutrality on this matter led to dissent within the IMRO and a splintering along ethnic lines. Some of the Macedonian revolutionaries turned toward Belgrade, and in 1910 at Skopje founded a Macedonian socialist group advocating a Balkan federation with room for an independent Macedonian republic. Others remained faithful to Bulgaria, making the Macedonian question yet another subject of contention between Serbia and Bulgaria.

The 1908 Crisis in Bosnia

Since 1878, Austria-Hungary had governed Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as the sanjak of Novi Pazar in the name of the sultan. The half-civilian, half-military administration was competent and efficient; roads and railroads had been built, but there had been no changes in the social structures inherited from the Turks. The Austro-Hungarian government depended on the Catholics and Moslems to reinforce its authority, while the Orthodox followers remained openly sympathetic to Serbia.

In early 1908, in order to demonstrate its intention to remain in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary arranged with the sultan to construct a railroad between Bosnia and Macedonia. When the project was announced, Russia and its Serbian allies were highly suspicious, and considered intervening with France on the side of the Macedonians. In the Ottoman Empire, the reaction was a heightened nationalism. The "Young Turks, " hostile to any concession made to the Great Powers, staged a revolution in July, 1908, and forced a liberal constitution on Sultan Abdul-Hamid. The Young Turk revolution, further weakening the Ottoman Empire, brought a new wave of hope to Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.

To prevent Serbia from taking advantage of the situation and re-questioning the status of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary simply annexed the province on October 5, 1908, leaving Novi Pazar to the Turks. Serbia protested vigorously, but like Russia, whose army was still reorganizing after the Russo-Japanese war, was not able to intervene militarily and had to accept the new situation. Austria had earned the bitter resentment of the Serbs, a fact demonstrated in Bosnia-Herzegovina with the proliferation of secret pro-Serbian societies financed and supported by Serbian military circles and by a flurry of anti-Austrian propaganda.