The two provinces were inhabited largely by Serbs, and all Serbia had looked forward to the day when they should once more be joined to herself.  These states, like Montenegro, had been part of the ancient kingdom of Serbia.  As long as they were in dispute between Austria and Turkey, Serbia had hopes of regaining them, but when Austria thus forcibly annexed them, it seemed to the Serbs that they were lost forever.

Serbia appealed to Russia, for as was said, all the Slavic states look upon Russia as their big brother.  The Russians were highly indignant at this breaking of her promises by Austria, and the czar talked of war.  His generals and war ministers, however, dissuaded him.  “Oh, no, your majesty,” said they, “we are in no shape to fight Austria and Germany.  Our army was badly disorganized in the Japanese war three years ago, and we shall not be ready for another fight for some time to come.”  Russia protested, but the German emperor notified her that he stood by Austria, and asked Russia if she was ready to fight.  Russia and France were not ready, and so they were obliged to back down, but did so with a bitter feeling toward the “central empires,” as Germany and Austria are called.

It has already been shown that England for a long time had been suspicious of Russia, fearing that the northern power was aiming at control of India.  Of late this hostile feeling had been dying out, especially as the friendship between France and Great Britain grew stronger.  It was impossible for Russia, France’s partner in the Dual Alliance, to remain unfriendly to England, France’s ally in the “Entente Cordiale.”  Both England and Russia felt that the growth of Germany and the ambition of her war chiefs threatened them more than they had ever threatened each other.

In 1907 Russia and England reached an understanding by which they marked off two great parts of Persia for trading purposes, each agreeing to stay in her own portion, and not disturb the traders of the other country in theirs.  After this Russia, England, and France were usually found acting together in European diplomacy, under the name of the “Triple Entente.”  The “balance of power” had been leaning toward Germany and her allies, but the English navy, added to the scales on the other side, more than balanced the advantage in land forces of the Triple Alliance.

Three years later, Morocco again gave trouble, and France, with England’s backing and Spain’s friendship, sent her troops among the Moors to enforce law and order.  Any one could see that with Tunis and Algeria already in French hands, it was only a question of a little while before Morocco would be theirs also.

This time Germany rushed her warship Panther to the Moorish port of Agadir.  This was a threat against France, and the French appealed to England to know whether they could look to her for support.  Russia was now in much better shape for war than she had been three years before, and notified France that she was ready to give her support.  Therefore, when Mr. Lloyd-George, the little Welshman who was really the leader of the British government, stood up before a big crowd of English bankers and told the world that “to the last ship, the last man, the last penny,” England would support France, it was plain that somebody would have to back down or else start a tremendous European war.