The collapse of the Ottoman Empire was also at the roots of tensions that threatened peace in the Balkans, again alongside the interests of the major powers. This crisis was caused by the Sultan, whose promises to reform had proved worthless; his rule was harsh and victimised his Christian subjects, much to the indignation of the major powers. Following a bad harvest in 1874, the serb peasants of Bosnia and Herzogovina , where living conditions were particularly cruel, broke out in revolt against the Turks in July 1875. Thus began the first Balkan Crisis.
Regarding the European powers, it could be argued that the major countries took advantage of the growth of nationalism, and sometimes caused it (mark Austria and Russia). Indeed, almost all the major powers experienced tensions and, in the case of Austria, nearly broke out in war over them. The key problem overshadowing all events in the Balkans lay in the fact that, whereas Russia wanted influence over the Balkans -having Panslavism engrained into their identity- over Serbia and Bulgaria (who in turn wanted freedom from the Ottoman Empire) Austria had opposing concerns. Historian John Lowe writes that Russia’s policy “was not only a threat to the integrity of the Ottoman empire, in whose survival Austria has a vested interest, but it also threatened the stability of the multi-national Hapsburg Empire”. The way this threatened peace was self-explanatory, and in turn this affected the interests of the other major powers. Germany, for example, was uninterested in the Balkans themselves, with Bismarck deeming them unworthy of ‘the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian musketeer’, but was forced to get involved in order to keep Russia and Austria in check. He called this the ‘balancing of discontents’. This union was established in the Three Emperor’s Agreement of 1873 and, despite valiant attempts to juggle the two countries, conflict still found a way through, such as in negotiations in 1887, when Austria only agreed to remain neutral if their Balkan interests were fully respected (a term it was inevitable for Russia to infringe). Of course, Germany employed the use of other countries to help her in this ‘balancing’ task, e.g. Britain and Italy. Germany appealed to Britain to play a leading role in opposing Russia, which they accepted, already suspicious by tradition of Russian interests in the Balkans. This is an example of how other countries were drawn in by the major powers’ interests in the Balkans, and the Balkan and Bulgarian Crisis demonstrate how such involvement could fuel further rebellion, and therefore further threaten the peace.
The Balkan Crisis of 1875-78 and the Bulgarian Crisis of 1885-87 are clearly linked, both chronologically, and also with regards to Russian influence/impact. In this way, both are linked to Panslavism, i.e. nationalism, and could be argued to be a release of pent-up tensions, to have had underlying reasons, and also to have been a clash of conflicts between the major powers.
The Crisis of 1875 began when the states of Bosnia and Herzogovina revolted against Turkish rule. In the following year, Serbia and Montenegro also declared war on Turkey, and there were revolts in Bulgaria. This was triggered by nationalism and oppressive Turkish rule.To put things into context; nationalism and the fall of the empire. There were several attempts to quell the situation and force reforms upon the Sultan, including the Andrassy Note, but instead the rebellion spread and the instinctive response of the empire was to squash it, and in doing so commit the ‘Bulgarian Atrocities’, which provided an opening for the great powers with the indignant and outraged response of Europe. In February 1877, Turkey and Serbia made peace and the great powers again tried to coerce Turkey into reform, however, when Turkey refused, Russia once more got involved. She declared war on Turkey, was highly successful in this, and the provocative Treaty of San Stefano was signed in March 1878. The impact of this was another demonstration of the extent to which the great powers got involved in Europe, and they all viewed the subsequent Treaty of Berlin in different ways; Britain saw the outcome as a personal triumph, whereas many of the Balkan states were dissatisfied with the results, as well as Russia, who felt they had done badly out of it. The first Crisis then, brought about greater rivalry between Austria and Russia, who both felt they had something to protect (Bosnia and Herzogovina, and Bulgaria, respectively). There was also continued unrest among the Balkan states, e.g. Serbia and Montenegro disliked the large number of Slavs under Austrian control.
As this was a release of long-term tensions, but a fairly short-term factor, likewise was the second Bulgarian Crisis which began in 1885. However, this was more of a hybrid between nationalism and the intervention of the major powers, primarily Russia. Caused by the previous Crisis, this was hardly the major factor threatening peace in the Balkans, more of a reaction to other underlying and greater spanning reasons. It was spurred by further conflict when Bulgaria came under Russian influence and the trouble between Bulgarian officials and Russian advisors. When, in November 1885, Serbia declared war on Bulgaria, relations between Russia and Austria further deteriorated as the Serbs were defeated and a complete takeover of Serbia was only prevented with Austria’s ultimatum to Alexander warning him to turn back. In fact, there was danger of war at the end of 1886 and in 1887, due to Russian dissatisfaction, and this crisis was only solved peacefully due to the efforts of Bismarck (perhaps the only positive, peaceful influence a major power managed to have in the Balkans).
It is misleading then, to claim the Bulgarian Crisis is the biggest threat to peace in the Balkans; the previous Balkan Crisis was just as destructive and involved massive atrocities with the Bulgarian massacres.
However, in conclusion, it is still more accurate to put the threatened peace in the Balkans down to several factors of equal importance. Firstly, nationalism was a long-term factor within the Ottoman Empire, inevitably, being precariously made up of so many different nationalities. However, the major powers helped to stir up and abuse such feelings, especially the foreign policies of Russia and Austria-Hungary. Had Russia not stirred up Panslavism, there may not have been as ferocious a rebellion and consequent quashing of one and the great powers needn’t have got involved. Austria too, naturally wanting to preserve her own multi-national empire wouldn’t have had to oppose Russian designs. In this aspect then, the biggest factors threatening peace in the Balkans were the major powers’ mishandling and own self-interests in the Balkans and the nationalism causing such unrest in the first place.
