The Austrian-Hungarian Veto Against a Serbian Port on the Albanian Seaside, November 1912

Abstract

This paper treats the Austro-Hungarian veto against a Serbian port in Adriatic Seaside. The aim of Serbia during the Balkan war was to widen its territories in Albanian land. This aim was against the traditional policy of Vienna in Adriatic. It destroys the balance of power in this sea and makes Serbia a seaside power and indirectly a Russian base in these costs. The Austrian Hungarian foreign policy did not want to allow this happen and they took all the diplomatic and military measure to stop Serbia to realize this goal. The occupation of seaside city of Durres from Serbia obliged Vienna to mobilize the army for an eventual war against Serbia. The intervention of other Great Powers avoided a world conflict and the Conference of London definitively decided to do not allow Serbia have any port in Albanian seaside. The paper is based in archival facts of Austria-Hungarian archive and also in the diplomatic papers of the chancelleries of Great Powers. The method of work is based in representing and analyzing the historical facts.