A few days later the Ottoman Empire was admitted to the Triple Alliance—with the consent of Austria, but without even the knowledge of Italy. The die was cast for Turkey’s participation in the War of the Nations![40]
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
[1] Statement of Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg to the Reichstag, December 10, 1910, in Stenographische Berichte, XII Legislaturperiode, 2 Session, Volume 262, pp. 3561b et seq. Cf., also, The Annual Register, 1910, pp. 314–315, 335–336; Shuster, op. cit., pp. 225 et seq. The informal agreement reached at Potsdam was confirmed by a treaty of August 19, 1911. The Annual Register, 1911, pp. 357–358. For the diplomatic correspondence arising out of the Potsdam Agreement cf. de Siebert, op. cit., Chapter IX.
[2] Korff, op. cit., pp. 163–164. Baron Korff believes, also, that the Potsdam Agreement was forced upon the weak and vacillating Nicholas II by the unscrupulous and bullying William II.
[3] Supra, pp. 65–66, 147–153. For German estimates of the importance of the Potsdam Agreement see a reasoned and temperate speech by Dr. Spahn, of the Catholic Centre, and an impassioned and boisterous speech by Herr Bassermann, of the National Liberals. Stenographische Berichte, XII Legislaturperiode, 2 Session, Volume 266 (1911), PP. 5973 et seq., 5984 et seq.
[4] The Times, January 18, 1911.
[5] Quoted by W. M. Fullerton, Problems of Power (new and revised edition, New York, 1915), p. 171.
[6] Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, fifth series, Volume 21 (1911), pp. 241–244.
[7] Journal Officiel, Débats parlementaires, Chambre des Députés, January 13, 1911, pp. 33–34. M. Jaurès was one of the Frenchmen who felt that their Government never should have opposed the Bagdad Railway in the first instance.
[8] Ibid., January 16, pp. 64 et seq.; Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, Volume 21 (1911), pp. 82 et seq., 243–244; The Times, January 17 and 19, 1911.