II.

Background

At the close of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, the Treaty of Berlin, signed on July 13, 1878, provided for an autonomous principality of Bulgaria. The remaining Bulgarian province, called Eastern Rumelia, was placed under the control of the Ottoman Turks. In 1885 a rebellion broke out in Eastern Rumelia, and the province was joined to Bulgaria proper. This annexation was opposed by Russia, and led to the withdrawal of Russian officers then serving in the Bulgarian army. King Milan of Serbia took advantage of the situation to realize his territorial aspirations, and on November 14, 1885, Serbia declared war on Bulgaria. In a campaign that lasted less than five months, Serbia was defeated but was saved from absolute destruction by the intervention of Austria. A series of conspiracies followed. The Bulgarian ruler, Prince Alexander I of Battenberg, was abducted by Russian and Bulgarian conspirators but was recaptured a few days later. He was forced to abdicate and left the country in September 1886. Prince Ferdinand I of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (later King of Bulgaria) succeeded Alexander as ruler a year later.

Austria played a conspicuous role in these Balkan disturbances. The Austrian foreign ministers tried to establish internal discord between the Slav countries (Bulgaria and Serbia) and the non-Slav ones (Greece and Romania). War almost broke out again in 1908 when Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, a step bitterly resented by Serbia.