Within the Balkan peninsula every economic need which has determined the foreign policy of the several states is related to a given feature of the land. The seaward thrust of Serbia towards the Adriatic is naturally directed along the narrow Drin valley, cutting across the long chain of the Dinaric Alps. But the country’s efforts to obtain mastery of this important gap were blocked by the creation of an independent Albania. Bulgaria’s trade and industrial development is likewise hampered by the lack of a favorable issue towards southern seas. At present the connection between the east-west mountainous country formed by the Balkan ranges and the lowland extending to the Ægean involves the climbing of steep slopes. Bulgarians therefore naturally coveted the Struma valley which runs in Greek territory to the west of the Chalcidic peninsula. The Montenegrins living in a rocky land which cannot support its inhabitants look covetously on the narrow defiles which lead towards the Adriatic and their longing for Scutari is merely for the possession of agricultural lands. War with the Turks once forced them to retreat into their mountains. Now that that danger is over they are coming out of their fastnesses and endeavoring to resume intercourse with the outside world. Geography is therefore stamping its impress on the political status of the modern inhabitants of the Balkan peninsula. We have just seen how this region forms a section of a great international commercial route. Coupling this fact with industrial requirements which find expression in the demand for unhampered right of way for products of toil and thought in transit to market, it can be understood how great European powers keenly desire to secure control, or at least maintenance of equal rights of passage, over an avenue so happily situated. The matter is vital because it is based on economic grounds. Continued operation of many Old World factories, or their shut-down, often depends on conditions prevailing on the site of that battle royal of diplomacy known as the Eastern Question. The matter of Serbia’s access to the Adriatic or the withholding of Austria’s acquiescence to Montenegrin occupation of Scutari must, therefore, be ultimately explained by the geographical causes which have converted the peninsula into a highway of such importance that the paramount influence of a single nation over its extension cannot be tolerated by the others. A clear view of this fundamental principle leads us to realize that the presentation of an ultimatum to Serbia by Austria on July 23, 1914, was the preliminary step toward opening a pathway for Germany and Austria to Salonica and Constantinople. Then, as soon as Austro-German power should be solidly established athwart the Bosporus, the intention was to secure control of the land routes to Egypt, the Persian Gulf and India.