The World War and What was Behind It; Or, The Story of the Map of EuropeBénézet, Louis Paul
History
The World War and What was Behind It; Or, The Story of the Map of Europe
Bénézet, Louis Paul
Europe -- History; World War, 1914-1918 -- Causes
In the meantime, the Balkans again became the seat of trouble.
You will recall that Bulgaria, who had grown proud because of her
victory over Turkey in the war of 1912, was too grasping when it
came to a division of the conquered territory. Thus she brought
on a second war, in the course of which Greece and Serbia
defeated her, while Roumania took a slice of her territory and
the Turks recaptured the city of Adrianople. The czar of Russia
had done his best to prevent this second Balkan war, even sending
a personal telegram to Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria and to King
Peter of Serbia, begging them for the sake of the Slavic race,
not to let their quarrels come to blows. Bulgaria, confident of
her ability to defeat Greece and Serbia, had disregarded the
Russians’ pleadings, and as a result Russia did not interfere to
save her when her neighbors were robbing her of part of the land
which she had taken from Turkey.
It will be recalled that Macedonia was the country which Bulgaria had
felt most sorry to lose, as its inhabitants were largely Bulgarian in
their blood, although many Greeks and Serbs were among them. Therefore,
just as Italy strove by war and diplomacy to add Trentino to her
nation, so Bulgaria now saw her chance to gain Macedonia from Serbia.
Accordingly, she asked the four great powers what they would give her
in case she entered the war on their side, and attacked Turkey by way
of Constantinople, while the French and English were hammering at the
forts along the Dardanelles.[7]
[7] England and France needed wheat, which Russia had in great
quantities at her ports on the Black Sea. On the other hand France and
England, by supplying Russia with rifles and ammunition, could strike
a hard blow at Germany.
The four powers, after much persuasion and brow-beating, finally
induced Serbia to agree to give up part of Serbian Macedonia to
Bulgaria. They further promised Bulgaria to give her the city of
Adrianople and the territory around it which Turkey had
reconquered. But Bulgaria was not easily satisfied. She wanted
more than Serbia was willing to give; she wanted, too, the port
of Kavala, which Greece had taken from her. This the allies could
not promise.
In the meantime, Bulgaria was bargaining with Austria, Germany,
and Turkey. France, England, and Russia were ready to pay back
Serbia for the loss of Macedonia, by promising her Bosnia and
Herzegovina in case they won the war from Austria. In like
fashion, Austria and Germany promised Bulgaria some Turkish
territory and also the southern part of the present kingdom of
Serbia, in case she entered the war on their side.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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