Europe 1850-1914 by Jonathan Sperber

Author:Jonathan Sperber [Sperber, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Balkans in 1878

Source: From THE MAKING OF THE WEST 3E by Lynn Hunt et al., Copyright © 2009 by Bedford/St. Martin’s. Reproduced by permission of Bedford/St. Martin’s.

The work of the Congress preserved the peace of the European continent and shored up the tottering existence of the Ottoman Empire. The new settlement pacified, temporarily, the Balkans (actually, it took several years of fighting insurgents in the mountains before Austrian rule over Bosnia was secured) and remained in place for the next two decades, the one change being territorial expansion of Bulgaria in 1885–86. On the other hand, the Congress also involved a degree of frustration among the victorious powers. The United Principalities had helped the Russians win the war, and received honorary distinctions – a new name, de jure as well as de facto sovereignty – and material disadvantages, in the loss of Bessarabia and the very considerable interference of the Great Powers in its internal affairs. As a small country, this outcome had only domestic ramifications – the coming to power of the liberals on a wave of nationalist resentment. By contrast, the victorious Great Power, the Russian Empire, had seen its victory largely annulled by the other powers. Long-term feelings of ill will against Great Britain increased; Russian resentment against Germany and especially Austria-Hungary grew. If these developments would lead to conflicts in the long run, in the short-term a reconciliation with Germany and even Austria-Hungary, in the form of the Three Emperors’ Alliance of 1881, proved possible. France continued to be diplomatically isolated – Bismarck’s main concern in the whole affair.

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