The Balkans have fierce hatreds and have been the site of sudden
historic wars. At the time of the declaration of the World War, the
Balkan nations were living under the provisions of the Treaty of
Bucharest, dated August 10, 1913. Greece, Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia and
Montenegro were signers, and Turkey acquiesced in its provisions.
[Illustration: PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY OF BUCHAREST, 1913. (Map showing
the Adriatic on the West, the Black Sea on the East, Roumania on the
North and Crete on the South. Cross hatching show land allocations
among Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria and Roumania.)]
The assassination at Sarajevo had sent a convulsive shudder throughout
the Balkans. The reason lay in the century-old antagonism between the
Slav and the Teuton. Serbia, Montenegro and Russia had never forgiven
Austria for seizing Bosnia and Herzegovina and making these Slavic
people subjects of the Austrian crown. Bulgaria, Roumania and Turkey
remained cold at the news of the assassination. German diplomacy was in
the ascendant at these courts and the prospect of war with Germany as
their great ally presented no terrors for them. The sympathies of the
people of Greece were with Serbia, but the Grecian Court, because the
Queen of Greece was the only sister of the German Kaiser, was whole
heartedly with Austria.
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