The Balkan Muddle.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 14, 1913:
    The collapse of Bulgaria, whether followed by an insurrection at home or not, leaves the situation in the Balkans more confused than ever, but two things at least may be accepted as fairly certain. One is, of course, that the Balkan Confederation, with its great possibilities of either peaceful or military development, has quite hopelessly been shattered. The threat of a new and strong military power on the flank of Austria, able practically to command the highway from the Danube to Salonika, to hold in check any Power that sought to seize that highway or to revive Turkish rule in Europe, the threat which avowedly was the occasion of an immense added military effort in Germany, France, and Russia, has been deprived of its terror. Unfortunately, the promise which the Balkan League involved, of possible peaceful development, of the creation of a wide area of free exchange, of a Zollverein among the members and wide commercial treaties with their neighbors of Austria and Russia, a promise rich in advantage for all concerned, has also been blasted.
    On the other hand, Bulgaria having staked everything on a struggle to attain unquestioned chiefship in the Balkan region, there is little prospect that either Servia or Greece will be able to seize what Bulgaria has lost. All three of these nations are terribly exhausted. They have lost great numbers of their young men; they have emptied their treasuries and incurred a crushing burden of debt; their industries are almost paralyzed and they are relatively helpless, from a military point of view, for either good or evil. They must, as The London Statist pointed out on Saturday, for a long time be suppliants for loans, not dictators of policy to the great Powers. The problem of the immediate future passes in great measure from the Chancelleries and the Boards of War to the credit market. Europe, which since last Autumn has been torn with anxiety as to the possible effect of a powerful and victorious Balkan League, will now have to deal with three exhausted nations. It is to be hoped but not confidently expected that the opportunity will be taken to deal with them in a humane, enlightened and constructive fashion.