1. What were the plans of the English regarding Africa?
  2. How did Major Marchand threaten the peace of Europe?
  3. Why was Germany ready to help France?
  4. Why did Delcassé desire to keep peace with England?
  5. Why was England suspicious of Russia?
  6. Why did Germany cultivate the friendship of the Turks?
  7. Why did not the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria start a general European war?
  8. Why did England and Russia become friendly?
  9. Why did not the Agadir incident bring about a war?

Chapter XV.
The Sowing of the Dragon’s Teeth

The growth of German trade.—Balkan hatreds.—The wonderful alliance against Turkey.—The sympathies of the big nations.—Their interference and its results.—A new kingdom.—The second war.—The work of diplomacy.—The wrongs and grievances of Bulgaria.

Germany’s position in Europe was not favorable to her trade. Her ships, in order to carry on commerce with the peoples of the Mediterranean, had to go a great deal farther than those of France or England. As a result, the Germans had been looking toward Constantinople and southwestern Asia as the part of the world with which their commerce ought to grow. It was Germany’s plan to control the Balkan countries and thus have a solid strip of territory, including Germany, Austria, the Balkan states, and Turkey through which her trade might pass to Asia Minor, Persia, and India.

The feelings of the Balkan peoples for each other has already been explained. The Bulgarians hated the Serbians, with whom they had fought a bloody war in 1885. The Serbians despised the Bulgarians. The Albanians had no love for either nation, while the Greeks looked down on all the others. Montenegro and Serbia were friends, naturally, since they were inhabited by the same kind of people and had once been parts of the original kingdom of Serbia.

Turkey As the Four Balkan Allies intended to divide it. (1912-13)

Bulgaria in 1909 announced to the world that she would pay no more tribute to Turkey, and after this was to be counted one of the independent nations of Europe. The Bulgarians had grown so strong and the Turks so weak, that Turkey did not dare go to war, so permitted the matter to go unnoticed. The only thing on which all the Balkan nations and Greece could agree was their bitter hatred of the Turks, who had oppressed and wronged them cruelly for the last three hundred and fifty years.

Russia, always plotting to overthrow Turkey, at last accomplished a wonderful bit of diplomacy. She encouraged Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece to forget their old time dislike of each other, for the time being, and declare war jointly on Turkey. In order that there should not be any quarreling over the spoils when the war was over, the four little nations agreed, in a secret treaty, that when they got through with Turkey, they would divide up the carcass as shown in the opposite map. The head, including Constantinople, was to be left for Russia, of course. Bulgaria was to take the back and the great part of the body, Greece was to annex the drumsticks and the second joint. The rest of the body was to go to Serbia with the exception of the very tail, including the city of Scutari, which was to be given to Montenegro. Serbia was at last to have a seacoast and a chance to trade with other nations than Austria. The Serbs had a grudge against the Austrians, for the latter, taking advantage of the fact that all Serbian trade with Europe had to go through their country, had charged them exorbitant prices for manufactured goods and paid them very little for their own products in return. Bulgaria was to have Kavala (kȧ va′lȧ) as a seaport on the Aegean and all the coast of that sea as far as the Gallipoli (găl ĭ′po li) peninsula. Greece was to have the important city of Salonika (sȧlōni′kȧ), southern Macedonia, and southern Albania.