1912
 1914 Imperialism from USMA
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Feb. 8 - Haldane mission to Berlin failed to stop the German naval race, despite British offer to support German colonial claims in Africa. Britain refused German proposal for 3:2 ratio of capital ships that would leave Britain with a larger fleet but allow Germany to build more ships.
Mar. 13 - Serbia-Bulgaria treaty of alliance was sponsored by Russia to strengthen the border and the pan-Slavic movement against Austria and protect Russia's interests in the Dardanelles
Mar. 30 - Treaty of Fez gave Morocco to France.
July 22 - Secret naval agreement allowed Britain to withdraw fleet from Mediterranean, and the French to withdraw from the North Sea.
Oct. 8 - Balkan Wars began, 1st from 1912-13, 2nd from June-July 1913. Bulgaria declared independence from Ottomans Oct. 5, 1908. In 1910 Eleptherios Venizelos became PM of Greece, and promoted his "Great Idea" of a renewed Greek empire, proposed a Balkan League to expel Ottomans from Europe. In 1912, the Balkan League signed a series of military alliances between Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Montenegro. The first Balkan War began Oct. 8, 1912 with Montenegro's attack on Turkey. Turkey could not match the huge peasant armies fielded by the Balkan League, were outnumbered 2-1, and lost the war. Turkey signed the Treaty of London May 30, 1913, at the urging of Britain and Germany, but the Balkan League did not gain much territory, and dissatisfaction would lead to the 2nd Balkan War. Austria feared a resurgent Serbia and in Oct. mobilized 200,000 army reservists, but Russia on Nov. 22 partially mobilized to defend Serbia, and the two armies faced each other in Galicia from Nov. 1912 to March 1913. Kaiser Wilhelm held a "war council" on Dec. 8, 1912, with his General Staff to decide what Germany's policy would be in the crisis between Austria and Russia, concluding that Germany was not yet ready for war. The Kaiser persuaded Austria to back down and withdraw from the Galicia front. The London Ambassadors Conference that ended the 1st Balkan war established an independent Albania in 1913. This was a success for Austrian diplomacy because it denied Serbia and Russia a naval base on the Adriatic. Serbia and Montenegro refused to remove troops from Albanian territory, until doing so in late 1913 under German pressure. The 2nd Balkan War began in June 1913 with the Bulgarian attack on former allies Serbia and Greece, seeking more territory in Macedonia. Austria prepared widen the war against Serbia, but Germany intervened to support the army of Romania that joined the Serbs and Greeks, keeping Austria out of the conflict. Bulgaria was defeated, and in 1914 would join the Central Powers to again wage war on Serbia. The Treaty of Bucharest in August 1913 ended the 2nd Balkan War, giving northern Macedonia to Serbia and southern Macedonia to Greece, and southern Dobrudja to Romania. Serbia emerged as the big winner from the Balkan Wars, doubling its territory and increasing its population to 4.4 million.
Nov. 5 - Woodrow Wilson won the presidential election over William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt.
Links:
Sources:
- Hale, Oron J. The Great Illusion, 1900-1914. New York: Harper & Row, 1971. 361 p.
- Joll, James. The Origins of the First World War. 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 1992. 264 p.
- Stone, Norman. Europe Transformed, 1878-1919. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1999. 339 p.
- Taylor, A. J. P. The Struggle for Mastery in Europe, 1848-1918. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954. 638 p