Excerpt from Austria-Hungary and the War Back of the activities Of Russian diplomacy in the Balkan Peninsula is her legitimate desire to se cure the opening Of the straits Of Constantinople, closed to her by treaties, and thus to obtain a free outlet from the Black Sea for her commerce and her crops, and the unhampered passage Of her fleet to the Mediterranean. In the pursuit Of these Oh jects the statecraft Of St. Petersburg has sought to control the Balkan states and to prevent any of them, especially a vigorous and progressive Bul garia, from occupying Constantinople, the key to the Dardanelles. In her endeavors to establish and maintain such a hegemony in Balkan affairs, Russia inevitably has menaced the vital commercial inter ests Of austria-hungary. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.