Why Was Is Possible in 1879 to Settle the Affairs of the Balkans Without Recource to A

”Why was is possible in 1879 to settle the affairs of the Balkans without recource to a major European war”

One of the main objectives in Bismarck’s foreign policy was to maintain peace and equilibrium in Europe. This included the maintenance of good relations between Russia and Austria.

The Austro-Russian rivalry in the Balkans had started already with the Crimean war. But Russia had advanced in the Far East for a long time, so during that time, it had no interest in the Balkan affairs.

By the 1870’s the Russian ruler, Alexander II, had become a supporter of Pan-Slavism (a mission to bring together all the Slavs of Europe, freeing the Slavs of the Ottoman Empire, Hungary and Austria and unifying them with Russia), so the Russian government started to focus on south-eastern Europe again. At the same time, there was a growing unrest among the Slavs of the Ottoman Empire and Austria. Together with the Pan-Slavism in Russia, this was a huge threat to the Balkan stability and the relations between Austria and Russia.

In 1875 the serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina revolted against the Turkish regime, the semi- independent states of Serbia and Montenegro wanted to support their fellow-serbs and declared war against Turkey, and the revolt spread to Bulgaria. Russia and Austria still agreed on some territorial changes if Serbia and Montenegro won. Serbia was defeated by Turky.

Russia supported the rebels because of Pan-Slavism, Austria didn’t want increased Russian influence in the Balkan states and therefore believed in a maintenance of the Turkish rule. Austria hoped that the Turks would manage to defeat the rebellions quickly and without help. The Balkan issues had now become very interesting to Bismarck because the Austro-Russian relations were seriously threatened, Bismarck wanted to prevent a conflict between the two countries since he wanted to preserve the Three Emperors League. Britain on the other hand, didn’d quite know how to approach the Balkan issue but the British prime minister (Benjamin Disraeli) refused to back up Bismark and the Three Emperors League because it didn’t support the balance of powers, but Britain stayed uninvolved.

The Russo-Turkish War (1877)

When the Pan-Slavism was most hysteric, Alexander II desided to intervene. He made an agreement with Austria that no large state would be created in the Balkans, and that Austria would be rewarded with Bosnia and Herzegovina if she stayed neutral. Russia declared war against Turky in April 1877 and was joined by Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria. But the Turkish troops weren’t easy to defeat; they held out for five months. The delay resulted in the British public opinion to shift into anti-Russian and starting to admire the Turkish troops. When the Russian troops finally broke through, the British fleet was moved closer to warn off the Russians. Supported by an equally worried Austria, the British government demanded Russia to end the war. Russia was hardly in the position to continue war against Turkey neither could it risk to take on more enemies. The Treaty of San Stefano (1878)

Russia imposed the Treaty of San Stefano upon Turkey: Serbia, Montenegro and Romania got independent; Russia gained Black Sea territories; Austria was given a protectorate (”guardianship”) over Bosnia and Herzegovina; a large autonomous state of Bulgaria was created. The new Bulgarian state became the largest state in the Balkans and cutted the Turkish empire in two.

The Treaty of Berlin (1878)

Both Britain and Austria objected the ’big Bulgaria’, they feared that Russia would use it to dominate all south-eastern Europe. The British prime minister, Disraeli, wanted to change the Treaty, so he moved ships and troops to Malta as a clear warning. At this point, Bismarck decided to no longer stand aside. Since he didn’t want a major European war to break out and wanted to retain the Austrian friendship, he called the powers to discuss the crisis at a conference in Berlin. Russia, Turkey, Austria, Britain, France, Germany and Italy attended at The Congress of Berlin. The most essential change was that Bulgaria now was divided into three. Austria was allowed to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina and also a territory separating Serbia and Montenegro. Britain got the island Cyprys as payment for the commitment to defend Turky (the Ottoman Empire) against Russia.

The picture illustrates the Balkan countries. The ’A’ part shows how the Treaty of San Stefano changed the size of the countries. Part ’B’, on the other side, shows how the result of the Treaty of Berlin. One can clearly see the changes in the Bulgarian area and how the ’big Bulgary’ cutted the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire in two.

Why was it possible to maintain peace

The Balkan affairs being; the revolutions, Russia intervening, which lead to Austria and Britain getting worried, Britain threating Russia and then the San Stefano Treaty. The consequences of the San Stefano Treaty (e.g. ’big Bulgaria’ ) upsetted Britain even more and could have lead to a war, where Austria would have supported Britain, if Bismarck wouldn’t have intervened and called for a congress in Berlin to settle the affairs. It was possible to settle the Balkan affairs without drifting towards a major European war because Bismarck intervened at the right moment; since he remained neutral and didn’t intervene earlier he could easily maintain the good relations with Austria (which lead to the Dual Alliance later), if he wouldn’t have intervened then the conflicts could have recourced towards a major European war. Now the affairs were settled peacefully even tough the treaty left several problems but it still lead to a period of peace.