Franz Joseph Annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina

Now came trouble between Russia and Germany's ally, Austria-Hungary. Both Russia and Austria-Hungary were church sponsored monarchies based on divine right. Both were empires and opposed to nationalism -- the Russians opposed to the nationalism of Poles and Ukrainians among others. Conservative Russia and Austria-Hungary had been cooperating in matters concerning the Balkans, but this changed in 1908. That year, Franz Joseph shocked Europe by annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina, violating the agreement made in Berlin in 1878. The Serbs had been hoping for eventual freedom for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the annexation angered them. A wave of indignation swept across Russia. The Russians saw themselves as the protectors of their Slavic, Orthodox Christians in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Serbia.

Turkey, still nominally the ruler of Bosnia and Herzegovina, protested Franz Joseph's annexation, and Turkey offered the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina representation in a new Turkish parliament. Serbia called up its reservists, and it refused to recognize the annexation. Austria-Hungary declared that unless Serbia recognized the annexation there would be war. Russia supported Serbia. Germany did its duty regarding its alliance and massed its troops on Russia's border -- to demonstrate its support for Austria-Hungary and to discourage a Russian invasion against its ally. Russia felt unprepared for war and did not want to fight. Wilhelm also did not want war, and he convinced Austria-Hungary to hold back from war against Serbia.

There was no Great War in Europe in 1908. But Russia's long-standing agreement with Austria-Hungary concerning the Balkans was at an end. And despite Wilhelm's efforts at peace, the nearness of war led some Russians in high places to begin viewing Germany as an enemy. And Russia began increasing its defense expenditures.

Meanwhile, two days after the annexation a secret society had formed in Serbia. It was called Narodna Oderana (National Defense) -- also known as the Black Hand. It was dedicated to the liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from Habsburg rule. The annexation had also altered the attitude of young Serbians within Bosnia. Before the annexation, Bosnian students had been influenced by the Czech nationalist intellectual, Thomas Masaryk, whose strategy for liberation from Habsburg rule was gradualist and peaceful. With the annexation, Bosnian students rejected Masaryk's approach as too slow. Secret groups were forming among them dedicated to national independence by violence if necessary. Eastern Orthodox Bosnians had a tradition derived from their struggle against the invasion of Turks. They worshiped those who had martyred themselves trying to assassinate enemy conquerors. In Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, youths were beginning to consider assassination as one of the tools for liberation.

to "World War and Rebellion to 1919"

Additional Online Reading

Victorian History -- the British Empire, an Overview,
http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/history/empire/empireov.html

Modern History Sourcebook
Gustave Freensen, "In the German South African Army, 1903-1904,"
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1904freesen.html

British Report (Roger Casement) on the Congo, 1903,
http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob73.html

Books

The Road to Sarajevo, by Vladimir Dedijer, Simon & Schuster Inc., 1966.

Kaiser Wilhelm II, by Christopher M. Clark, 2000.

The Proud Tower, by Barbara Tuchman, MacMillan, 1966.

A History of Africa, by J.D. Fage, 1996 (prehistory to post-independence).

Africa, by Sanford J. Ungar, Simon & Schuster Inc., 1986.