The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

IX THE ASPIRATIONS OF THE SOUTHERN SLAVS

WE trust that in the preceding chapters the reader may find enough historico-political material to form a fair opinion as to what was the position of the Southern Slavs on the eve of the present World War, and why their country and people have been exposed to the first and most tremendous blow of the Germans and their allies: the Hapsburg dynasty, the Magyar oligarchy, and the predatory Bulgars. The strategic and economic importance of the provinces inhabited by the Serbo-Croats and the Slovenes has now become so obvious that we think it unnecessary to dwell further upon it. But it is * necessary to remind the reader of one fact. In the course of the War, the Germans, convinced of the impossibility of realising at present all their ambitions in Europe, have announced in the Reichstag, last October, that France can achieve without any further bloodshed the evacuation of her territory and of Belgium, provided, of course, that the Germans are left in the possession of Serbia and remain the indisputable masters of the Balkans. It is obvious, though her thrust against France and Belgium was

200