The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

every point and went further than any independent State had ever gone before, in her wish to spare herself and the world from the awful ordeal of our days. In vain Sir Edward Grey exerted himself in proposing means for a peaceful settlement; nothing was of avail. At the last moment when Vienna, appalled by the inevitable consequences, showed some signs of hesitation and wavering, Berlin and Budapest joined hands and forced upon Europe the day for which they had yearned so long and so ardently.

Serbia was not the cause of the war, but she was a cause of the war, for Serbia and AustriaHungary are two beings not only different but naturally antagonistic and representing two conflicting principles : that of democracy and nationality, and that of rule by divine right, so that war between them was only a question of time. The existence of Serbia meant for Austria the negation of her position as a Great Power and a stumbling-block in the way of her expansion.

Serbia, however small and weak, had a great mission to fulfil, 7.e. to liberate and unite in a free community her nation enslaved in AustriaHungary. That mission was the raison @étre of Serbia. She had either to fulfil it or perish, and since the fulfilment of her task could only be achieved at the expense of Austria-Hungary, no wonder that there was no love lost between them. They were two beings mutually excluding each other. But it is necessary to keep in mind that

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