The Fall Of Adrianople.

New York Times 100 years ago today, March 27, 1913:
    The fall of Adrianople brings peace in the Balkans within sight. While it will tend to stiffen the necks of the Bulgarians, it will leave the control of the situation more definitely in the hands of the European Powers, with whom the Balkan Allies will now have directly to deal.
    The speech of Sir Edward Grey in the House of Commons, with the equally firm and confident statement of the British Premier, shows the spirit in which the task will be met.
    The Balkan Allies may persist in the demand for an indemnity. It will hardly be conceded. For one reason, because there is no precedent for a defeated Government giving an indemnity and surrounding territory not yet conquered. And, for a second reason, because the holdings of French and English and German banks in the Turkish debt would practically be wiped out by the addition of an indemnity.
    With a settlement in the Balkans, general peace may be regarded as reasonably secure. The chief difficulty, of course, is the peculiar situation and the peculiar temper of the ruling class of Germany. No doubt it seems to the German Government that the vital interests of the nation are gravely menaced by the changes of the last six months. There has grown up in the Balkans a serious military power the future affiliations of which it is impossible to predict. It is possible — some German publicists think it certain — that this power will act with Russia, and that, with or without Greece, there will be formed a strong Slav alliance which will complete the circle of probably hostile nations with which Germany will have to fight for its very existence. Against such a combination the Triple Alliance would be weakened in Austria-Hungary by the large and more or less discontented Slav element in its population. It might be further weakened by the indifference of Italy, with its new empire on the south coast of the Mediterranean to defend, to the larger needs of the Alliance. In such a situation Germany would be left with far the heaviest burden on her own shoulders, with the Triple Entente arrayed against her and with her partners crippled, or worse. This is the reason for the desperate measures of preparation for war on which Germany is embarking.
    But reasoning of much the same sort was frequently used a month ago as to the course of Russia and Austria. It was said that the interests of Austria were so deeply involved in preventing the Balkan Allies, and especially Servia, from gaining a foothold on the Adriatic, that she would fight to gain that end, and that as soon as Austria took up arms Russia was bound to do the same. Nothing of the sort has happened. Servia has withdrawn her claims under the advice and even pressure of Russia. The two great Powers have halted on the very brink of a conflict that threatened a general war. It is not unreasonable to hope that Germany and Russia and Great Britain and France will find a means for a like understanding. And the nearer Europe gets to actual fighting the more likely it seems that an agreement of some workable sort will be reached.