Serbia and Austria
The Second Balkan War intensified the antagonism between Austria and Serbia. In the Peace Conference of Bucharest, Serbia once again wanted to get at least part f Albania so that she could have an outlet toe the Adriatic Sea. Austria, however defeated Serbia’s attempt. In the conference, Austria repeated stressed the importance of retaining the integrity of Albania. This infuriated Serbia. However, Serbia had still enlarged herself and was proud of her overwhelming victory. Form now on, she would no longer tolerated the advancement of Austria in the Balkans and would try to seek a chance to free the Slavs in Bosnia-Herzegovina from alien control. Serbia had won the war and now had the confidence to challenge Austria in the Balkan peninsula. She began encouraging and financing anti-Austrian actives, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Her plan was fro the people there to overthrow the Austrian administration. The plan backfired, however, with the Sarajevo assassination and the outbreak of the first world war in 1914.
Bulgaria, Austria and Germany
As the only defeated country, Bulgaria was the loser of the Second Balkan War, From this war, she learned the lesson that she should never attempt to fight alone. She then gradually tried to side with Austria and Germany because when she was forced to give up the gain that she had got in the First Balkan War in he Bucharest Conference, Russia did not help her. The occasion clearly manifested the Russian support of Serbia. Tough Germany had also not helped Bulgaria in the war because of the German linked with turkey, Romania and Greece, Germany did help prevent the others to take advantage from her during and after the war. Bulgaria also considered Austria to be a friendly state because Austria had appealed to Germany for a joint intervention on the Bulgarian side during the war, though it was turned down by Germany. As a result,, Bulgaria began to look to Germany and Austria for support after the Second Balkan War and Germany helped her to reform that further consolidated their friendship,
Turkey and Germany
Other than Bulgaria, Turkey also gradually looked to Germany for support. This is because during the Peace conference of Bucharest when Turkey tired to get back some of the land from Austria, Germany secretly supported her. Furthermore, Germany was the only European power that had not taken advantage of Turkey’s decline. Though Britain might have also proved to be good friend, she was too far away and was currently practicing a policy of isolation. As a result of being isolated by the newly independent Balkan states and the other European powers,, Turkey shifted away from Russia and chose to side with Germany. In return, Germany stimulated the military reforms of Turkey to hasten her recovery. This also, however, made Turkey more dependent on Germany.
Britain and the Balkans
The situation now in the Balkans became more complicated than ever. Internally, there were boundary conflicts among the newly independent states and struggles for independence of those states which had not yet got their self governments. Externally, there were Russia advancement in the Balkan peninsula and the growing ambitions of Germany and Austria over the area . Up till then, only Britain was not directly involved in the Balkans. Since Russian expansion in the Balkans seemed impossible to be checked, the direction of British diplomacy over the area was to try her best to keep those independent Balkan states out of the reach of Russia. In the eyes of Britain, the threat and ambition of Austria in the Balkans was much less than Russia’s. She decided, then to support the Austria expansion in the Balkan Peninsula in order to stop the Russian advancement there, hoping to create a new balance of power in the Balkans. The only reservation of this diplomacy was the attitude of Germany towards the Eastern Question. Anyway, it seemed to be the only thing that she could do if she wanted to continue her splendid isolation.
Conclusion
The situation in the Balkan peninsula after the Second Balkan War was now very clear, though it was quite complex. Russia helped Serbia’ Austria created and supported Albania; Germany seized the friendship of Bulgaria and Turkey ; and Serbia and Austria were deadlocked enemies. According to these relationships, once conflicts occurred, it was very likely that Russia and Germany would come in and with their intervention, the problem would most likely escalate. Since Serbia and Austria were likely to have an armed showdown , and since Russia and Germany were their close allies, a local war between the former two would invite the coming of the latter. The local war would then become a European war and Britain. France and Italy would all be forced to join in.
