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i io
i io THE BALKAN WAR, 1912 [chap. ix.
more pronounced in Serbia. The Serbians had to
make fresh sacrifices in men and money for an object
to which they were supremely indifferent—for the siege
of Adrianople. The Bulgarians had hardly any heavy
artillery; the Serbians, on the contrary, owing to the
wise foresight of M. Pachitch, were fairly well supplied.
The Bulgarians could not even think of taking
Adrianople without the help of Serbian artillery, and
without the co-operation of their troops, because the
Bulgarian Army was scattered between the positions
of Chataldja, Bulair, and the numerous garrisons in
Southern Macedonia, where they had to oppose the
Greek allies. Also, before the armistice the Serbians
had placed at the disposition of the Bulgarians before
Adrianople about 100 of their big Creusot guns and
two divisions of infantry, which held the trench against
the bastions north of the town, which were by far the
strongest of the whole defences. With the resumption
of hostilities, the question naturally arose as to whether
the Serbians would leave these forces before Adrianople.
At this moment the Serbians could realise clearly
that the outlet to the Adriatic would be barred to them
by the irreconcilable opposition of Austria-Hungary.
Russian diplomacy, which for a long time had
supported the legitimate aspirations of the Serbians, and
at the London conferences had upheld Serbia’s right
to an outlet on the Adriatic, was forced at last to give
in to the hostile mood not only of Austria-Hungary,
but also of Germany. M. Sazonoff evidently did not
wish for a repetition of 1909, when a thinly-veiled
ultimatum from Berlin forced us to change our course
abruptly, and to recognise Austrian claims. In the
person of our Ambassador in London, Count
Bencken-dorf, Russia possessed a plenipotentiary who was
energetic as well as extremely well-informed. At the
conferences of the Ambassadors, for a long time the
Count stubbornly upheld the vital interests of Serbia;
but when he saw that affairs were taking an acute turn,
and that the Cabinet of Mr. Asquith and Sir Edward
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