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ore Austria-Hungary withdrew from the international concert and devoted itself to its internal difficulties which seemed to increase in frequency and violence as the years passed by. It was not until the summer of 1912 that it again became active in connection with foreign politics. Then, when the Balkan question had become acute, the Austrian Foreign Minister, Count Berchtold, suggested to the other powers that they combine for the purpose of settling the Balkan disputes. The suggestion was accepted and although it did not succeed in avoiding war between the different Balkan States themselves, it, at least, localized this war and kept the rest of Europe out of it. Of course, Austrian diplomats were busily occupied throughout this entire period in guarding their country's interests, and Constantinople especially was the scene of many a diplomatic battle between Austria-Hungary and the other powers. From time to time relations with Russia became somewhat strained on account of the conflicting interests of the two countries in the Balkans. But in spite of this conditions were friendly enough to permit an arrangement between these two powers in March, 1913, whereby they agreed on the demobilization of their respective forces along the Russo-Austrian border. The murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne, and his wife during a visit at Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, however, changed immediately Austria-Hungary's attitude toward Serbia. Like one man the country rose and demanded the punishment of the murderers and of the nation which, it was claimed, had planned and financed the murder, Serbia. Racial differences and dissensions of long standing were forgotten and forgiven over night, as it were, and a country, more solidified than at any other period in its history, stood behind its Emperor Francis Joseph, a man who throughout his life of more than eighty years--of which more than three-fourths were spent on the throne--had suffered all the disappointments and sorrows that can come to a man, but had never lost the trust and love of his subjects. CHAPTER III RUSSIA In the middle of the nineteenth century the Russian Empire, in spite of its vast extent and resources, played a comparatively negligible part in international politics. To a certain extent this was the result of the Crimean War. But still more was it due to the internal difficulties which were so many and so serious that they k
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