The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 21: The Recent Days (1910-1914)
History
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 21: The Recent Days (1910-1914)
World history
The ambassadorial conference at London then directed its attention
exclusively to settling the status of Albania. After more than a month
of acrimonious discussion a settlement was reached on March 26th in
which the principle of nationality which had been invoked to justify
the creation of an independent Albania was quietly ignored. The
conference agreed upon the northern and northeastern boundaries of
Albania. In order to carry her point that Scutari must be Albanian,
Austria-Hungary agreed that the almost exclusively Albanian towns of
Ipek, Djakova, Prizrend, and Dibra should go to the Serbs. On April 1st
King Nicholas was notified that the powers had unanimously agreed to
blockade his coast if he did not raise the siege of Scutari. His answer
was that the proposed action of the powers was a breach of neutrality
and that Montenegro would not alter her attitude until she had signed a
treaty of peace. At once the warships of all the powers save Russia
(which had none in the Mediterranean) engaged in the blockade. On April
15th, owing to the pressure of the powers and to the strained relations
that had arisen between Servia and Bulgaria, the Servian troops were
recalled from Scutari. Nevertheless the Montenegrins persisted alone
and Scutari fell April 22, 1913. Two days later the Austro-Hungarian
government demanded that vigorous action be undertaken by the powers to
put independent Albania in possession of Scutari according to the
agreement of March 26th. At once the greatest excitement prevailed
throughout Russia. Street demonstrations against the Austro-Hungarian
policy were held in many of the large cities. In Austria-Hungary
military preparations became active on a large scale, and on May 1st
the Dual Monarchy gave notice that it would undertake individual action
should Montenegro not agree to the ultimatum. Italy, which is
determined never to permit the Dual Monarchy individual action in
Albania, announced that she would support her ally. As the result of
all the pressure brought to bear upon him, on May 5th, King Nicholas
yielded and placed Scutari in the hands of the powers, just in time, as
Sir Edward Grey informed the English House of Commons, to prevent an
outbreak of hostilities between Austria-Hungary and Russia.
While the chancelleries of the great powers were thus straining every
nerve to agree upon the status of Albania and thereby to prevent a
conflict between the two powers most vitally interested, the war
between the allies and Turkey was prosecuted during March with greater
vigor and with more definite results. On March 5th, Janina surrendered
to the Greeks and on March 26th Adrianople fell. The powers had already
offered to mediate between the belligerents, and their good offices had
been accepted by both sides. The allies at first insisted upon the
Rodosto-Malatra line as the western boundary of Turkey, but were
informed that the powers would not consent to giving Bulgaria a
foothold on the Dardanelles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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