Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 34. (1981)
BRIDGE, Francis Roy: Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire in the Twentieth Century
258 Francis Roy Bridge Not that there could be any more question of Austria-Hungary’s coming to Turkey’s assistance in the Balkan wars than in the Tripoli war. Here again, her attitude was determined, not so much by the state of Austro-Turkish relations, indifferent as they were, as by considerations of allied solidarity and Austria-Hungary’s Balkan, as opposed to Turkish, interests. Quite apart from the fact that Turkey was still at war with Austria-Hungary’s ally, intervention to help Turkey would have been the very thing to unite the whole of the Christian Balkans against the Monarchy. That had been the problem since the 1870s. Berchtold himself had in any case become as disillusioned with the Turks as his predecessors: ‘Wir sind seit Dezennien turcophil und haben nichts davon’12s). He was soon resigned to their disappearance from Europe and, first of all the statesmen of the Great Powers, formally recognised, at the end of October, that the Ottoman empire’s territorial base in Europe was shattered beyond repair1253). He then concentrated his efforts on securing Austrian interests in areas in which it was now accepted that Turkey must cease to rule. Turkish interests were very much a secondary consideration. The Austrians had no hesitation, for instance, in joining the other powers in their efforts to force the Turks to evacuate Adrianople — efforts that destroyed the Liberal government at Constantinople and brought the Young Turks back to power in January 1913. Indeed, in the Second Balkan War Berchtold held out almost single-handed for the retention of Adrianople by the Bulgarians. For him, it was of overriding importance to bolster a potential Balkan ally - even though Adrianople was a rare instance in which the Turks had the better case in terms of self-determination125 126). Without German support, his efforts proved futile; but they had not gone unnoticed at Constantinople. By 2 September Pallavicini was lamenting: ‘Das prononcierte Auftreten unserer Politik zugunsten Bulgariens in der Adrianopler Frage hat hier eine Mißstimmung gezeitigt, die sich für einige Zeit wenigstens . . . geltend machen, dürfte’ in all manner of questions of detail127). Already the Turks were discriminating against Austrians and Hungarians in filling the new advisory posts they were creating in Constantinople and the pro125) Löding Balkanpolitik 18. 125 a) OUA 4 No. 4780. 126) Austrian Red Cross observers who had witnessed the Bulgarian occupation of Adrianople (March-August 1913) were quite clear about this: ‘Es sei von Funktionären und Offizieren, ja selbst von Generälen auf das schamloseste geraubt und gestohlen worden . . . Die bulgarische Wirtschaft in Adrianopel ... sei eine derartige gewesen, daß man nach Evakuierung der Bulgaren und Einmarsch der türkischen Truppen allgemein das subjektive Empfinden gehabt habe, als sei mit den letzteren Ordnung in ein wüdes Land eingezogen. Dieser Einzug sei denn auch von der gesamten Bevölkerung Adrianopels, und zwar nicht nur von den Mohammedanern, sondern auch von den Christen, mit einstimmigem Jubel wie die Erlösung von schwerer Not begrüßt worden’: PA XII 206: Pallavicini to Berchtold, No. 43D, 2 August 1913. 127) PA XII 464: Pallavicini to Berchtold, No. 50C, 2 September 1913.
