ABSTRACT
No single event influenced the outbreak of war in 1914 more than the Balkan War of 1912. Other incidents, such as Algeciras, Bosnia or Agadir, disturbed the situation because they affected the Balance of Power in the future. But the overthrow of the Turk caused an immediate danger, for it affected the Balance of Power then and there. Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Rumania were revealed as conquering military states. The Turkish army—trained by Germany as a potential ally—was utterly beaten. Serbia added a million to her population, erased the humiliations of the Bosnian annexation, and triumphantly asserted her prestige in an outburst of Pan-Serb and Yugoslav enthusiasm, which swept Dalmatia and Bosnia like a prairie fire. Serbia, hitherto rebuffed and discredited, appeared armed, victorious and triumphant. As Italy had arisen from Piedmont so a united Yugoslavia was to arise from Serbia. The prestige gained by Greece and Rumania was only second to that of Serbia. All three states now looked forward to a time when each flag would cover all their kinsmen, whether to be freed from Austro-Hungarian or Turkish rule; a greater Greece, a greater Rumania, a greater Serbia. A perpetually increasing nationalist agitation in Austria-Hungary and Turkey, where such agitation was so dangerous, simultaneously arose.
