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Austria The Eastern Question
Having reconciled itself to exclusion from Germany and Italy,
Austria-Hungary turned to the east, where declining Turkish power
made the Balkans the focus of international rivalries. Foreign
Minister Andrássy was opposed to any annexation of Balkan
territories because that would have increased the empire's Slavic
population. Ideally, he favored maintenance of Turkish authority
in order to check the expansion of Russian influence. This
option, however, was not viable. To prevent either Russia from
replacing Turkey as the dominant power in the region or the
already independent Balkan states (Serbia, Montenegro, Greece,
and Romania) from dividing up the remaining Turkish territory,
Austria-Hungary was forced to seek a partition of the Balkans
with Russia.
Because Germany was aligned with both Russia and
Austria-Hungary, it acted as a moderating force on Russia to
prevent war between its partners in the 1870s. So successful was
Germany at limiting Russian gains after the costly Russo-Turkish
War (1877-78), that Russia's relations with Germany cooled
considerably. With Germany's support, Austria-Hungary acquired
Bosnia and Hercegovina as part of the settlement to that war.
Andrássy, however, did not directly annex Bosnia and Hercegovina
but obtained the right of an Austro-Hungarian occupation, while
Turkey retained sovereignty.
With relations strained between Russia and Germany,
Austria-Hungary exploited Germany's need to strengthen its
position against France and obtained an anti-Russian alliance.
Under the resulting Dual Alliance, Austria-Hungary and Germany
pledged to help defend the other against an attack by Russia. In
the event of war between Germany and France, however,
Austria-Hungary promised nothing more than neutrality unless
Russia were also involved. As favorable as the Dual Alliance
appeared, it drew Austria-Hungary into Otto von Bismarck's web of
alliances and diplomatic maneuverings. Austria-Hungary thus
became party to conflicts with France and Britain, countries with
which it had no directly conflicting interests. The Triple
Alliance signed by Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary in 1882,
for example, mainly protected Italian and German interests
against France and did nothing to resolve outstanding issues
between Austria-Hungary and Italy.
Great-power tensions in the Balkans eased in the 1890s, as
Africa and the colonial territories in the Far East became the
focus of competition among European powers. Although
Austria-Hungary was not involved in this colonial competition,
Russia was. Its interests in the Far East paved the way for an
accommodation with Austria-Hungary to maintain the status quo in
the Balkans. In 1903, however, Serbia, a Balkan country that
European powers had assigned to the Austro-Hungarian sphere of
influence, launched an expansionistic program directed against
Austria-Hungary. Without Russian support, however, Serbia's
threat was not a major concern.
Data as of December 1993
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