state was placed under the guarantee liberating powers, France, Russia, and Britain, and in 1833 Otto, the son of th of Bavaria, was placed on the throne first ruler of the Hellenic Kingdom.

The Rumanians are a mixed race, cor of Slavic, Gothic, Tartar, and Latin ele They are proud of the name Ruman (R and claim to be descendants of colonists north of the Danube (Dacia) by the 1 emperors. By the treaty of Adrianop provinces Moldavia and Wallachia (no mania) were practically, though not nom taken out from under the control of 1 and placed under the protection of Russi the close of the Crimean War, in which was defeated by France and England, had to give up her protectorate over the provinces and agree, by the treaty of (1856), that thenceforth they should be pendent under the suzerainty of the Po This arrangment, however, was not sa tory to the Rumanians, who wanted th provinces united into one nation and to tirely free from Turkish control. In 185 davia and Wallachia each elected the sam as prince and so virtually became one pri ity. "Later the two assemblies were m into one, and in 1862 the Sultan recognized changes."5

* Hazen, 615.

5 Ibid., 618.

In 1876 the Christians in the province of Bulgaria revolted against the Ottoman officials and put some of them to death. The Turks in their effort to put down the revolt committed awful atrocities. Their acts of savage cruelty aroused public sentiment all over Europe. Even in England, the traditional friend of the Porte, sentiment was so strong that the Disraeli ministry could do nothing in support of the Ottoman Government. Mr. Gladstone, then in retirement, "urged that the Turks be expelled from Europe 'bag and baggage.'"' 6 Serbia and Montenegro joined the Bulgarians and declared war on Turkey.

The Russian people sympathized warmly with their kinsmen and co-religionists of the Balkans, and many of them enlisted in the army as volunteers against the Turk. Pressure was thus being brought to bear on Alexander II to intervene. He did not want war, declaring that he had no intention or desire to take Constantinople, but felt that Europe ought to put a stop to the Balkan troubles. He also said that he would have to undertake the task singlehanded if the other nations would not join him. Finally, after long delays and fruitless diplomatic negotiations, Russia issued a declaration of war against Turkey on April 24, 1877. After the defeat of Turkey, the treaty of San Stefano 6 Ibid., 622.

was signed in 1878. By this treaty Serbia, Montenegro, and Rumania were declared independent; Bulgaria became an autonomous state with a good deal of territory, Eastern Rumelia and most of Macedonia being given to her; and Turkey retained in Europe "only a narrow broken strip across the peninsula from Constantinople west to the Adriatic.""

All the countries interested except Russia and Bulgaria were dissatisfied with the treaty. Both Serbia and Greece wanted a part of the Macedonian territory that had been given Bulgaria. But the most effective opposition came from the great powers. Great Britain and Austria-Hungary contended that Russia could not change the Balkan map without the consent of the other powers, and Germany supported this contention. Austria-Hungary had an ambition to expand toward the Ægean, and both she and Great Britain were afraid that Russia would become too powerful in the Balkans and extend her authority to the Mediterranean. By a threat of war, Russia was frightened into yielding, and a conference of the powers was held at Berlin. The treaty of Berlin (signed July, 1878) was thus substituted for that of San Stefano (signed March, 1878). By the treaty of Berlin, Montenegro, Serbia, and Rumania became independent; Bul

7 Hazen, 624.

garia was made an autonomous principality tributary to Turkey. Eastern Rumelia and Macedonia were, however, left out of Bulgaria, Macedonia being restored to Turkey and Eastern Rumelia being made an autonomous state under Turkish control. Bosnia and Herzegovina were turned over to Austria-Hungary to be administered by her, though they were still to be nominally a part of the Ottoman Empire. It is needless to say that the Bulgars were dissatisfied with this arrangement and were determined to modify it as soon as they could with safety. This they did in 1885 when Eastern Rumelia was united with Bulgaria.o

These important changes had all been made in southeastern Europe without any serious menace to the general peace. But early in the twentieth century the Balkans gave promise of trouble between the rival groups. By this time Germany and Austria-Hungary had entered upon a policy of economic and political expansion toward the Ægean and had an ambition to bring the Ottoman Empire within their sphere of influence. These efforts had been rewarded with considerable success. Serbia had been under the tutelage of Austria-Hungary from 1878 to 1903, when King Alexander was assassinated and a new ruler, who was friendly to Russia, was placed on the Serbian

8 Hazen, 620-27.

throne. The rulers of Bulgaria and Rumania were Germans and the crown prince of Greece was a brother-in-law of the Kaiser, William II. Germany had obtained from Rumania an important railroad concession and from Turkey the right to build a railroad to Bagdad and the Persian Gulf. German officers went to Turkey to train her soldiers, and the Teutonic powers showed that they intended to bolster up Turkey and support her against her enemies. Germany had thus supplanted Great Britain as the protector of the Ottoman dominions. Out of this policy there had grown up in the Balkans a serious rivalry between Russia and the Teutonic powers.

This rivalry reached the danger point in October, 1908, when Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Turkish provinces which she had been administering since 1878. It was a favorable time for such an act of aggression, for conditions in the Ottoman Empire were unsettled as a result of a revolution that had been carried out in the previous summer. At about the same time, Bulgaria severed the weak bond that held her to the Turkish Empire by declaring her absolute independence. Both of these acts were a clear violation of the treaty of Berlin, but Turkey, conscious of her weakness, was induced to acquiesce in this loss of territory,