Diplomatic History of Europe 1500 - 2000 | Balkan Instability (Lecture 24)

Lecture 24: This lecture, covering the years from 1900 to 1913—the very eve of the First World War—returns to the long-standing Eastern Question concerning the future of the Ottoman territories now that the Turkish realm was seen by contemporaries as being in terminal decline. The Eastern Question now reached a critical stage. We observe the growing tension in southeastern Europe, fueled by the flaring up of local Balkan nationalisms, the Bosnian Crisis of 1908 (which seemed to take Europe to the brink of war), Great Power rivalries and colonial disputes, and then the sudden outbreak of the two Balkan Wars of 1912–1913.

Essential Reading:
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy, pp. 195–200.

Supplementary Reading:
Mark Mazower, The Balkans: A Short History.