He further offered a trade-off: recognition of Russia's
rights of passage through the Dardanelles. The Russians accepted
only to be abandoned by the Austrians in the crucial vote. Austria
annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina unilaterally - but Russia was still
prevented from crossing into the warm waters, its ambition and
obsession. Russia learned a lesson: always back your client
(Serbia), never back down.
Elsewhere, tensions between the Big Powers were growing and eroded
their capability to institute a system of efficacious self-
regulation. Armed conflict erupted between Germany and France in
Morocco more than once. Britain and Germany were engaged in a naval
arms race which depleted the coffers and the social cohesion of
both. Italy declared war on Turkey in 1911 and even invaded the
Dardanelles. Serbia and Bulgaria struck a bargain to expel the
Ottomans from Europe (see above, the Balkan Wars). Thus, with the
field narrowing and getting more crowded, an Austrian-Serb
Armageddon was all but inevitable.
The irony of it all is that Austria presented the only viable
solution to the problem of multi-ethnicity and muti-culturalism. The
history of the Balkans in the 20th century can be effectively summed
up in terms of the contest between the Serb and Hungarian model of
co-existence and its Austrian anathema.
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