Timeline of Events: 1914, January-March
January 1st: With the conclusion of the Second Balkan War, the Great Powers once again take up the matter of Albania. While Serbian and Greek troops have evacuated from the Principiality since the Treaty of London, the boundaries of the new country have not yet been determined. Reeling from their loss to Bulgaria, both Serbia and Greece are pressing for the partition of the country. While the Entente powers have agreed to Austria's condition that Serbia will not be allowed to gain a port on the Adriatic, the matter of Epirus and Northeastern Albania is not yet settled. Austria is open to the cession of most of Epirus, but wishes to avoid the cession of additional territory to Serbia.
January 2nd: The Federal Bank Reform Act narrowly fails to pass the Senate. It returns to committee, which works to find a compromise that will satisfy both Bryan and a majority of the Senators.
January 3rd: Military trials begin for Adolf von Reuter and Second Lieutenant Schadt, charged with unlawfully appropriating authority from the civilian police during Alsatian protests.
January 4th: In response to America being iced out of Balkan negotiations, planned toll rates for the use of the Panama Canal are hiked up considerably. In the coming months, many Latin and South American countries will receive "subsidies" which bring their canal tolls more in line with the initial ones, making clear that the real targets of the policy are the European powers.
January 6th: The Rice Affair. It is leaked that the British Ambassador Cecil Spring Rice has been dining privately with Theodore Roosevelt and a coterie of other Republican rivals to William Jennings Bryan. Bryan denounces "British interference" with the American political system. Despite continuing approval for Roosevelt, polls show the public is broadly sympathetic to Bryan.
January 8th: The Military Courts acquit Adolf von Reuter and Second Lieutenant Schadt. Sporadic protests erupt in German cities in response to the news, and more intense, concentrated ones in Strausbourg and Metz.
January 9th: Britain refuses to recall Cecil Spring Rice, further straining relations between the two countries.
January 10th: The "Movement for the Protection of National Minorities" is chartered as a non-profit organization, with the stated goal of "organizing for the amieloration of the plight of national minorities within the German Reich". On its coordinating committee are novelist Heinrich Mann, protestant theologian Friedrich Neumann, economist Alfred Weber, law professor Hugo Preub, philosopher Ernst Kassirer, Social-Democratic publicist Philip Scheidemann, and Catholic Centre Party deputy Matthias Erzberger. Among its first members is the 35 year old physicist Albert Einstein, in the process of moving back to Berlin from Switzerland. The rather bourgeois cast of the groups founding members, along with their professional-political connections, make it unsavory for the German Empire to attempt suppressing it.
Notably absent is the sociologist Max Weber, who cites "personal differences" with certain members of the organization, leading some within the academic community to speculate on his relationship with his brother who sits on the coordinating committee. Another family member is also absent: Thomas Mann, the novelist and Hanseatic Mandarin. The splits within German bourgeoisie families over the "Zabern Affair" are a precursor of things to come, with some French commentators comparing it to the Dreyfus Affair.
January 12th: President Bryan makes offhand remarks at a press conference praising the courage of Pancho Villa's soldiers, who have won a series of victories in Northern Mexico against Federal Soldiers. The remarks are criticized for violating Bryan's stated policy of neutrality toward the parties of the Mexican Revolution.
January 13th: At a meeting with Congressional Democrats, Bryan expresses impatience with the slow progress of the Federal Banking Reform Act and sets an April dead-line for the drafting of legislation acceptable to both him and the Senate.
January 15th: More information leaks about the Rice Affair, indicating that Rice was hoping to use Republican Senators to pressure Bryan over the Panama Canal fees. Roosevelt gives a speech defending his actions, declaring that he was simply acting as a "private citizen in the national interest of the United States". Polling indicates that though many voters disapprove of Roosevelt's behavior, few have their overall opinion of the man changed by it.
January 19th: In a major diplomatic coup, the United States and Germany work out an arbitration agreement similar to the ones already signed with France and Britain. With grain harvests soaring, Bryan hopes to persuade European countries to lower tariffs on American exports to avoid the depression of grain prices in domestic markets.
January 21st: The British government begins pressuring Russia to accept to Austrian demands over Albania. The British Liberal Government, particularly its radical members, are increasingly dissatisfied with the entente's growing ties to Serbia and wish to see a depolarization of the Balkans.
January 23rd: Russian intransigence over the British request further strengthens the radicals in the government, with many more moderate members starting to agree that Britain has provided too much support for Russia's Balkan policy.
January 24th: The beginning of the Albanian crisis. 500 Ottoman soldiers take control of the city of Vlore, the seat of the headquarters for the International Commission of Control, and declare Ahmed Izzet Pasha the Monarch of Albania. The International Comission, a governing body of officials from the six European powers intended to keep order in the country until its political institutions stabilize, lacks power outside of Vlore, and the strike on the city effectively paralyzes it. The Prime Minister of Albania shortly thereafter declares his recognition of the Monarch, hoping to leverage support from the Young Turks to avoid the partition of the country by Serbia and Greece. Many ethnically Albanian civil authorities will follow suit in the coming days, even those ostensibly affiliated with the "control commission".
January 25th: Roughly a third of Romania's army modernization has been completed. American military attaches believe that within six months, the Romanian force will be able to win a direct conflict with the Bulgarian Army.
January 26th: An attempt of the Albanian Commission of Control to declare martial law throws the Albanian peasantry into revolt. Russia charges that the Ottoman Empire, with the backing of Germany and Austria-Hungary, is subverting the attempt to peaceably settle the Albanian question. Germany vigorously denies involvement in the plot, a claim later historians have verified.
In a call that evening, the German Foreign Minister excoriates Enver Pasha, threatening to withdraw the German guarantee if Ottoman troops are not evacuated from Albania. The Ottomans hold firm, calling the German bluff.
January 27th: American attempts to mediate the Albanian crisis are accepted by the Ottomans, who intend to use Carnegie as diplomatic cover. The Control Commission refuses the attempt at mediation.
January 28th: The German Government meets to discuss the Albanian Crisis. Bethmann Hollweg, the Kaiser, Gottlieb von Jagow, Falkenhayn and Tirpitz are all in attendance. Bethmann Hollweg favors coordinating a response with Britain to force the Ottomans out of Albania, but the Kaiser and military refuse to take actions that could alienate their newfound ally. Von Jagow worries that making enemies of the Ottomans could lead to a Serbo-Greek-Ottoman Anti-Bulgarian axis.
January 29th: Bulgaria begins offering Albanian partisans in Macedonia free transport into Albania and Kosovo, pleased to be rid of the volatile element.
January 30th: Elbasan falls to a mixture Ottoman troops and pro-Ottoman Albanian militias. Much of the country lacks any form of central authority, particularly in its hinterlands.
February 2nd: Informal talks between the German and British governments fail to make progress. The British government considers unilaterally committing more troops to the control commission or imposing a naval blockade, but radicals fear that an attack against the Ottomans could spiral into a broader European war.
February 4th: The battle of Tirana begins. Many of the gendarmerie of the city, unsure of the international situation, refuse to fight. The city falls within two hours.
February 5th: Ivan Goremykin is appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation by Nicholas II, a rebuke of Vladimir Kokovtsov's more cautious Balkan policy.
February 6th: Greece and Serbia mobilize against Albania, declaring that they intend simply to "secure order and return land to the rightful authority of the Control Commission".
February 7th: The "Law of the Jungle" speech. William Jennings Bryan delivers a weekly address warning that Europe is "Falling into the law of Darwin, the law of the jungle where man is degraded to a beast of the wild, and all his higher sensibilities are muzzled by mute and unthinking violence". In the speech, he reveals that the "Mohammedens" of the Ottoman Empire had more interest in "the maintenance of peace and civilization" than "all the European powers which we are told daily are the pinnacles of our modern civilization, yet in truth have begun to descend into a barbarity more savage and decadent than any imaginable by the primitive peoples of this earth".
February 8th: British pleas for the two countries to halt their mobilization orders fall on deaf ears following the imposition of the "loafers" peace. Bulgaria, which has demobilized following the end of the 2nd Balkan War, refuses Austrian requests to mobilize against Serbia and Greece to deter them from attacking Albania. British attempts to force Russia into making Serbia stand down are unsuccessful, widening the rift between the two ostensible allies.
February 10th: International newspapers report the beginning of the "Third Balkan War" as Serbia and Albania begin to move troops into border regions. Numerous columnists observe that at the current pace, the Balkans may experience more wars by 1920 than the entirety of Europe had in the 19th century following the Congress of Vienna.
February 12th: Advance Greek units begin moving into Southern Epirus with little resistance.
February 13th: Germany and Austria announce that they are withdrawing their troops from the International Control Commission, a move treated by some in the Entente as proof that they are conspiring with the Ottomans.
February 14th: Rosa Luxembourg, at the time a socialist anti-war activist, stands on trial for anti-war speeches.
February 16th: Facing little opposition besides roving bands of peasant militias, the Serbian Army advances into Kukes, moving in a column down to the city of Tirana. They intend to force a
fait accompli upon their great power sponsors, forcing them to cede Albanian border-lands in return for transferring Tirana and other Albanian cities back to the control commission. At this point, it is only the mountainous terrain that slows them down.
February 17th: Citing the "illegal Serbian and Greek incursions" into sovereign Albanian territory, the Ottomans begin shipping more troops into Albania.
February 18th: Gjirokaster and Korce fall to Greek troops. Despite their rapid success, the Greeks do not push significantly further, wanting to avoid a broader war. The Ottoman forces are largely to the North, preparing to defend against the Serbian advance.
February 19th: In the midst of increasing tensions between the Ottomans and Russia, the Turks withdraw from the Armenian reform talks, further angering nationalistic elements in the Russian government.
February 20th: A sympathetic crowd gathers outside the courthouse in which Rosa Luxembourg is being tried, chanting slogans against Prussian militarism. Police attempts to disperse the crowd lead to several injuries.
February 21st: The Kosovo Revolt: Ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo region begin partisan activities against the Serbians, straining their logistics. In Albania proper, Serbian forces also struggle with partisan activity in the mountain passes stretching toward Tirana.
February 23rd: The Alsatian Citizens Organization narrowly votes to endorse protests at the courthouse. A group of Alsatian citizens begins the journey to the inner Reich.
Parliementary elections in Bulgaria return an absolute majority for the Liberal Concentration for the first time. Widely viewed as incumbents, the Liberal parties have benefited from the slate of new territories recently won by Bulgaria and the Liberal slant of most voters in Salonica.
February 24th: The Albanian genocide begins as Albanian men in Serbian-controlled territory are subjected to mass executions. The resistance to the Serbian advance toward Tirana grows increasingly fanatical, but is still mostly composed of partisan militias which are not capable of direct battle with the Serbian Army.
February 26th: The Alsatian Citizens Organization peacefully protests outside of Luxembourg's courthouse, calling for an end to the prosecution of anti-war activists. An image soon spreads across the Liberal German press of an elderly Alsatian bourgeois gentle-man bearing a sign reading "Better to associate with a Socialist who will steal from you than a Junker who will shoot you".
William Jennings Bryan refuses the request of the Governor of Texas to order American troops to retrieve the body of a deceased American rancher in Mexico, believing that it would constitute an act of war. It is thought that the rancher was killed by Federal soldiers in Mexico.
February 29th: Greece and the Ottomans sign an informal armistice, outraging some Greek nationalists. Nonetheless, the Greeks have managed to secure much of Epirus for themselves, along with a few small Islands in the Aegean Sea. The Ottomans have no desire to face off against the Greek Navy with their logistical route into Albania already incapable of supporting an army large enough to beat back the Serbian advance.
February 30th: The Albanian-majority towns of Pristina, Prizren, Ferizaj, Gjilan grow increasingly restive as news spreads of Serbian atrocities.
March 1st: The Serbs reach and begin assaulting the city of Tirana. Ruptures continue emerging in the Entente as the United Kingdom insists on putting more pressure on the Serbs to pause their advance, while the Russians wish to see the Ottomans expelled for good from Albania.
March 2nd: British pressure manages to stop the Russians from sending warships through the Dardanelles, a move intended to provoke the Turks.
March 3rd: The overstretched Serbian army has trouble completely surrounding Tirana, and supplies continue to find their way into the city. They have been forced to send only a third of their battered army into Albania by the threat of Bulgarian remobilization and Austrian intervention. Still, they remain an overmatch for the mixture of poorly supplied Ottoman troops and Albanian peasants.
March 6th: Tirana is finally surrounded by the Serbian Army. The city cannot be subjected to artillery bombardment due to a shortage of Serbian shells at the front.
March 7th: The logistical situation of Serbian troops around Tirana grows more desparate as an Albanian uprising in Prizren paralyzes the key Serbian logistical hub. Running out of ammunition, the siege is lifted once again, allowing more supplies to stream into the city.
March 9th: The Prizren massacre. Half of the pre-war population of Prizren is killed over the course of three days. 15,000 civilians, overwhelmingly ethnic Albanians, will be killed by Serbian troops. Unlike previous killings, in this one little distinction is made between women, children, and adult men.
March 10th: Ivan Goremykin is appointed Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, in a rebuke of Vladimir Kokovtsov's more cautious Balkan policy.
March 11th: Images from the Prizren massacre appear in the radical Liberal newspaper
The Daily Chronicle, courtesy of British war correspondent Alexander Devine. Despite efforts from the British Government, they will soon appear across most British newspapers. Out-rage against the massacres galvanizes opinion in Britain and further strengthens the position of the Radicals in the British Government; many citizens begin to question the nation's alignment with Russia.
March 12th: As the supply situation of the Serbian Army improves, Tirana is once again encircled. Within two days, the shelling of its defences will commence.
March 14th: The Federal Reserve Reform Act is vetoed by President Bryan, who says that he will not "Sign over control of the nation's finances to private banks uninterested in the welfare of the average American, anymore than I would sign away my land to a man who holds a grudge against my family". The vetoed bill had significant concessions to the banking industry, and though it offered private banks less leeway over the planned Federal reserve system than the initial draft of the law in the house, it was still seen as unacceptable by Bryan. For the time being, the project of establishing a Federal banking system is dead in the water.
March 15th: Congressional Democrats meet with Bryan to consider their next piece of of legislation. Though Bryan has wanted major legislation to limit the power of trusts and enhance the bargaining power of labor unions, Congressional Democrats believe it is imperative that they achieve a legislative victory quickly, before the mid-terms. They propose that the nation's budget surplus be used to create a social insurance system. Bryan agrees, so long as the legislation can be passed over the next few months.
March 17th: Tirana falls to Serbian troops. Ottoman and Albanian prisoners of war are executed outside the city.
March 18th: Congress begins drafting the "Old Age and Unemployment Relief Act", which will establish a national social security system and unemployment benefits.
March 20th: In a public statement, Austrian Foreign Minister Graf von Berchtold Leopold declares that a Serbian advance to coastal Albania would constitute a "vital threat to Austria's security". The statement is widely understood to mean that a declaration of war would shortly follow the Serbian capture of an Albanian port.
March 22st: On a phone call between Edward Grey and Sergey Sazanov, Grey makes clear that Britain will not back Russia in the event of a war caused by a Serbian thrust to the coast. When the French learn of this, they also make clear to Russia that its misbehaving client state needs to be restrained.
March 24th: Diplomatically isolated, Russia informs Serbia that they will not guarantee their independence in the event of an Austrian declaration of war.
March 25th: The Ottomans begin trying to negotiate Bulgarian entry into the war. Negotiations founder when the Bulgarians request the return of territory lost in the Second Balkan War, or failing that, a protectorate in Albania. Neither of these is acceptable to the Ottoman leadership at the moment.
March 27th: The Serbian Army begins to march south, intentionally avoiding a thrust to the coast. Only the intervention of Franz Ferdinand prevents an Austrian War mobilization, urged on by the Austrian Chief of Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, who has used the past dozen meetings with Franz Joseph to urge a declaration of war on Serbia.
March 28th: The Liberal Manchester Guardian features several columns calling for an "Anglo-German" reapprochment and the end of the "unnatural alliance with Asiatic Despotism".
March 30th: The Old Age and Unemployment Relief Act makes it out of committee, and debate begins on the floor of the House.
March 31st: Serbian forces approach the outskirts of Elbasan.
