Page - 18 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

18 On the Eve permitted to station troops in the area of occupation (and to enlist soldiers for military service in Bosnia and Herzegovina), as well as to make administrative adjustments and expand transport routes, while in all other matters, nominal control remained with the Sultan. However, Austria-Hungary regarded the two provinces as a type of replacement colony, and was already highly experienced in ‘Europeanising’ areas of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The structures of the Habsburg multinational empire were also extended to the occupied area. In 1907, work was begun on building a railway line from Vienna to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and from there onwards to Mitrovica in the Sanjak. On completion of the project, it would then have been possible to construct a railway connection beyond Serbia to Salonika. The project provoked outrage in Serbia, since Belgrade feared that Austria-Hungary intended to consolidate its rule in the occupied territory, in which Serbia also had an interest. In this, Serbia was supported by Russia. While construction work on the railway line did begin, the project was soon abandoned. The railway project was a further obstacle to an understanding between Serbia and the Danube Monarchy, and from then on, anyone in Serbia seeking rapprochement was accused of ingratiation. Vienna was only able to breathe more freely in 1903, when the news of the murder of the Serbian king Alexander and his wife and the massacre conducted by a group of officers was greeted with horror, and the press, including in western European countries, concluded that Serbia had no place among the civilised states of Europe. In the words of one British newspaper : ‚ The appropriate place for such a brutal, premeditated murder of a king would be a Central Asian khanate, but not a city in Europe ‘14. The rebels went on to form the core of the secret organisation ‘The Black Hand’. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/1905, there were fears in the Russian capi- tal St. Petersburg as well as in Belgrade, that Austria-Hungary would exploit the situa- tion and annex the occupied territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, in Vienna, no serious consideration was given to this possibility. The Foreign Minister, Count Gołuchowski, had other concerns and priorities. Matters changed when his successor, Aehrenthal, again brought forward the subject of the Sanjak railway project, which he regarded as an important preliminary to full annexation. He secured the agreement of the Turks and then informed the Russian Foreign Minister, Count Alexander Izvolsky, of Austria’s aspirations. While Russia did not demur, it was intent on pursuing its own goals, and was keen to retrain its focus, interrupted by the war in the Far East, on rela- tions with Europe. It did so by taking the initiative on the issue of the Turkish Straits and pursuing the old Russian dream of control of the Bosphorous and the Dardanelles. Soundings were taken in St. Petersburg and support was requested from Austria-Hun- gary. At the same time, the Young Turk revolution broke out in the Ottoman Empire. A new constitution was introduced there, and it appeared likely that the Sultan would