ABSTRACT
The bloody fighting that ravaged Europe for four years seemed to V. I. Lenin, as he observed it from neutral Switzerland, to be the predictable outcome of the world's imperial rivalries. In the case of Russia, the forceful reaffirmation of her importance in international affairs had to be postponed for several years after the defeat by Japan and the revolution at home. Since 1897 Russia and Austria had collaborated to maintain the status quo in south-eastern Europe, keeping their antagonisms in check and their interests in balance. The Sanjak railroad project, opposed by Russia as a violation of the status which both powers were pledged to uphold, demonstrated Austria's determination to stave off the disintegration of her disparate lands. The circumstances of Russia's involvement in the war and the fact that she would fight it alongside the Western democracies helped to win acceptance for it in broad circles of Russian society.
