Chapter 725 - 336: The Balkan Crisis

The seemingly calm European situation is not really calm; any slight interference from a force could completely disrupt Europe’s tranquillity.

It proves that the title of the Balkan Peninsula as a powder keg is not exaggerated. Carlo originally thought the European situation would maintain a brief peace, but unexpectedly, a small incident on the Balkan Peninsula almost triggered a war between two major powers.

The matter had to start from the previous Russian-Turkish War. Although the Russians won the war, Austria-Hungary and the United Kingdom intervened, successfully replacing Russia as the beneficiary of the war.

This left Emperor Alexander III of Russia quite aggrieved. His meticulously planned war not only didn’t bring Russia a large amount of territory and population but also failed Russia’s expansion on the Balkan Peninsula.

This war obviously destroyed the originally good relationship between Russia and Austria-Hungary, turning the two neighboring countries from friendly neighbors into mortal enemies.

Since this war, Russia temporarily halted its territorial expansion. But in the Balkan Peninsula, Russian activities have never stopped.

Although Russia didn’t gain any land from the Balkan Peninsula, as the most powerful Slavic nation, Russia still has a close relationship with these Slavic nations on the Balkan Peninsula.

Russians can also be called Eastern Slavs, and the Balkan Peninsula similarly has a large number of Yugoslav nations. Serbia, which is already independent, and Bulgaria, which has gained autonomy, are both Slavs. These nations naturally have a close relationship with Russia, which is also Russia’s advantage in expanding its influence on the Balkan Peninsula compared to Austria-Hungary.

Here, Serbia must be mentioned, a country with profound future influence on the European situation. Although the Balkan Peninsula countries are neither large in area nor population, their military strength is commendable.

Due to long-term resistance against Ottoman rule and subsequent independence followed by various internal conflicts and wars on the Balkan Peninsula, these countries’ military forces have become quite formidable.

Serbia serves as a typical example among them, holding its own political aspirations. Just like the unification ideas of the German Region and Italian Region, there are also unification ideas for Yugoslav people in the Yugoslav Region.

Serbia, as the strongest among the Yugoslav nations, naturally stands out as the supporter and propagator of such ideas.

Coincidentally, the spoils obtained by Austria-Hungary through forced intervention, Bosnia and Herzegovina, happen to be considered by Serbia as an important step towards unifying Yugoslav people.

This essentially represents an irreconcilable conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Also being Slavs, Serbia gains Russia’s support. This makes it very difficult for Austria-Hungary to resolve the immediate trouble posed by Serbia, and the competition with Serbia severely damaging the relationship between Austria-Hungary and Russia.

The current situation between Austria-Hungary and Russia is that Russia cannot abandon support for Serbia, doing so would dissolve Russia’s dominant Slavic status on the Balkan Peninsula and allow Austria-Hungary to expand recklessly on the Balkan Peninsula.

Austria-Hungary also cannot relinquish Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina is Austria-Hungary’s foothold for expansion on the Balkan Peninsula, and whether it is the pride of a great power nation or its future strategic planning expectations, Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be given up to Russia or Serbia.

With both sides unable to retreat, conflict on the Balkan Peninsula is only a matter of time.

The location of this conflict is at the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, the sides being Austria-Hungary’s army and Serbia’s border defense forces.

Austria-Hungary has occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina for nearly ten years but has not announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina within that time.

The main reason is the resistance of the residents against Austria-Hungary rule, and the support these resisters receive from Serbia and Russia behind Serbia.

Because the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbians are both Yugoslavs, their relationship is quite close.

With support from the Serbian government, Bosnia and Herzegovina established a resistance army against Austria-Hungary rule, gaining much support from the local populace.

This is unacceptable to Austria-Hungary, which subsequently dispatched massive troops to suppress local resistance forces and restore order in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Under Austria-Hungary’s heavy pressure, the local resistance forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina couldn’t withstand it. Some high-ranking resistance leaders chose to flee to Serbia, seeking protection from the Serbian military.

And behind these resistance leaders, were the Austria-Hungary troops chased until the border region.

Austria-Hungary would not easily let go of these high-ranking resistance leaders; even seeing them flee to the Serbian frontier, Austria-Hungary troops still demanded the Serbian military hand over these resistance leaders to them, taking them back to Bosnia and Herzegovina for judgment and disposition.

Facing demands from Austria-Hungary troops, Serbia’s side was unlikely to agree. Serbia continued to promote its theories of Yugoslav unification and Great Serbia; if Serbia itself couldn’t protect the compatriots fleeing to its borders, who would believe in the various theories Serbia advocates?