The crisis of 1908-9 revealed in a startling manner the weakness of international law in a case where the stronger States were determined to have their way.  It therefore tended to discourage the peace propaganda and the social movement in Great Britain and France.  The increased speed of German naval construction alarmed the British people, who demanded precautionary measures[527].  France and Russia also improved their armaments, for it was clear that Austria, as well as Germany, intended to pursue an active foreign policy which would inflict other rebuffs on neighbours who were unprepared.  Further, the Triple Entente had proved far too weak for the occasion.  True, France and England loyally supported Russia in a matter which chiefly concerned her and Servia, and her sudden retreat before the Kaiser’s menace left them in the lurch.  Consequently, the relations between the Western Powers and Russia were decidedly cool during the years 1909-10, especially in and after November 1910, when the Tsar met Kaiser William at Potsdam, and framed an agreement, both as to their general relations and the railways then under construction towards Persia.  On the other hand, the rapid advance of Germany and Austria alarmed Italy, who, in order to safeguard her interests in the Balkans (especially Albania), came to an understanding with Russia for the support of their claims.  The details are not known, neither are the agreements of Austria with Bulgaria and Roumania, though it seems probable that they were framed with the two kings rather than with the Governments of Sofia and Bukharest.  Those sovereigns were German princes, and the events of 1908-9 naturally attracted them towards the Central Powers.

[Footnote 527:  Annoyance had been caused by the Kaiser’s letter of Feb. 18, 1908, to Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of the Admiralty, advising (though in friendly terms) the cessation of suspicion towards Germany’s naval construction.  It was held to be an attempt to put us off our guard.]

In 1909-10 France and England also lost ground in Turkey.  There the Young Turks, who seized power in July 1908, were overthrown in April 1909, when Abdul Hamid II. was deposed.  He was succeeded by his weakly complaisant brother, Mohammed V. This change, however, did not promote the cause of reform.  The Turkish Parliament became a bear-garden, and the reformers the tools of reaction.  In the four years 1908-12 there were seven Ministries and countless ministerial crises, and the Young Turks, copying the forms and killing the spirit of English Liberalism, soon became the most intolerant oppressors of their non-Moslem subjects.  In administrative matters they acted on the old Turkish proverb—­“The Sultan’s treasure is a sea, and he who does not draw from it is a pig.”  Germany found means to satisfy these dominating and acquisitive instincts, and thus regained power at the Sublime Porte.  The Ottoman Empire therefore remained the despair of patriotic reformers, a hunting-ground for Teutonic concessionnaires, a Hell for its Christian subjects, and the chief storm-centre of Europe[528].