Serbian-Albanian conflict 1913–1914: perception in the Russian press

Abstract

The article examines the Russian monthly and weekly periodicals’ perception of the fighting between Serbia and Albania between the end of the Second Balkan War (August 1913) and the beginning of the First World War (July 1914). These military clashes, known to contemporaries as the undeclared “Third Balkan War”, caused diplomatic complications and in November 1913 could have led to the outbreak of a major war in Europe. Throughout a year, the great powers with difficulty extinguished the conflict, that became the result of peace treaties imposed by them to the Balkan countries. In the paper, for the first time, the reaction of the Russian reviewers towards the Albanian crisis of 1913–1914 and the military operations in the region, the degree of awareness of the reading public in Russia about the situation in Albania and around it are examined. On the example of Pan-Slavist newspapers “Slavyanskie Izvestia” and “Dym Otechectva”, the liberal magazines “Vestnik Evropy”, “Ogonek”, “Russkoe Bogatstvo” and “Russkaya Mysl’” as well as opinions of Russian travelers, the growing awareness of Russian public about Albania and Albanians is shown.