ch self-interest
had suppressed long enough to enable the Balkan Allies to make
European Turkey their own, burst forth with redoubled violence under
the stimulus of the imperious demand which the occasion now made
upon them all for an equitable distribution of the conquered
territory. For ages the fatal vice of the Balkan nations has been
the immoderate and intolerant assertion by each of its own claims
coupled with contemptuous disregard of the rights of others.
ALBANIA A CAUSE OF FRICTION
There were also external causes which contributed to the deepening
tragedy in the Balkans. Undoubtedly the most potent was the
dislocation of the plans of the Allies by the creation of an
independent Albania. This new kingdom was called into being by the
voice of the European concert at the demand of Austria-Hungary
supported by Italy.
The controlling force in politics, though not the only force, is
self-interest. Austria-Hungary had long sought an outlet through
Macedonia to the Aegean by way of Saloniki. It was also the aim of
Servia to reach the Adriatic. But the foreign policy of
Austria-Hungary, which has millions of Serbs under its dominion, has
steadily opposed the aggrandizement of Servia. And now that Servia
and her allies had taken possession of Macedonia and blocked the
path of Austria-Hungary to Saloniki, it was not merely revenge, it
was self-interest pursuing a consistent foreign policy, which moved
the Dual Monarchy to make the cardinal feature of its Balkan
programme the exclusion of Servia from access to the Adriatic Sea.
Before the first Balkan war began the Adriatic littoral was under
the dominion of Austria-Hungary and Italy, for though Montenegro and
European Turkey were their maritime neighbors neither of them had
any naval strength. Naturally these two dominant powers desired that
after the close of the Balkan war they should not be in a worse
position in the Adriatic than heretofore. But if Servia were allowed
to expand westward to the Adriatic, their supremacy might in the
future be challenged. For Servia might enter into special relations
with her great sister Slav state, Russia, or a confederation might
be formed embracing all the Balkan states between the Black Sea and
the Adriatic: and, in either event, Austria-Hungary and Italy would
no longer enjoy the unchallenged supremacy on the Adriatic coasts
which was theirs so long as Turkey held dominion over the maritime
country lying between Greece a
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