1. THE ROAD TO WAR Tension In the BALKANS

2. The Balkan Region

3. Russian Interest in The Balkans After being humiliated in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 they refocused attention to Europe Special interest in Balkans (Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria and Part of Greece) Feuded with Turkey and Austria Hungary, who had similar interests

4. Austria-Hungarian Interest In 1908 Austria- Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina from Turkey

5. Serbia’a Response They were upset for two reasons: –1) There were many Serbs in the area –2) It cut Serbia off from the Adriatic Sea They hoped that Russia would intervene, but Russia were reluctant in fear of a German attack.

6. Heightening Conflict in the Region 1912: Formation of The Balkan League under Serbian leadership Declared War on Turkey and defeated them Pushed Turkish influence out of the region

7. Serbia -vs- Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary worried about Serbia’s growing power Serbia doubled in size after another war in 1913

8. Russia Officially Enters into the Conflict Serbia was weary of eminent aggression from Austria-Hungary They turned to their ally Russia for protection

9. Look at what we then had…. Austria-Hungary -vs- Russia That means their allies are behind them Austria-Hungary ~ Germany and Italy (Triple Alliance) Russia ~ Britain and France (Triple Entente)

10. RECAP Let’s take another look at the major European Powers at the time of The Balkan Crisis

11. BRITAIN Major industrial power (behind US and Germany) Wanted to maintain status quo as major colonial power

12. GERMANY Major industrial power under authoritarian monarch Challenge existing order of powers and wanted to flex its muscle in doing so

13. RUSSIA 4th largest industrial power (but mostly in food and textiles rather than equipment and arms) Mostly a peasant, agricultural society HUGE army (1.3 million troops; 5 million reserves

14. FRANCE 5th leading industrial power Slow growing population (especially compared to Germany)