ABSTRACT
Austria-Hungary and Turkey might have agreed to a proposed railway line running through Serbia between Vienna-Budapest and Constantinople-Salonica, had the empires been granted full control of the entire route. However, both of them were concerned about rising Serb nationalism, which sought to unite and liberate all the southern Slavs. In 1878, the Great Powers were in a hurry to connect Central Europe to Constantinople. Decided under pressure exerted by Vienna, the creation of Albania thwarted Serbia's access to the Adriatic. A dispute arose among Serbs regarding the route of the Adriatic line. For some Serbs, it was essential that Belgrade have direct sea access by rail. The supporters of the Adriatic line proposed to link the narrow gauge network of western Serbia to Bosnia-Herzegovina by building a short link between Uice and Vardite, which would give Belgrade access to the sea via the Neretva River.
