The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1918. THE JUGOSLAVS

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13887, 12 October 1918, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1918. THE JUGOSLAVS

The Balkan States have for years been more or less a mystery to historians and students of national evolution and development, but the great war, which lias forced practically every country in the world to declare itself either on the side of Prussianism or freedom, has revealed much that was but little, if at all, known of the south-eastern corner of the Continent of Europe. One fact has become clear—Germany was the unseen director of not a little of the discontent that seemed to defy settlement. Her Mittel Europa scheme was not generally thought by the world to be more than the dream of visionaries, and little did the rest of Europe think that she was exerting a malign influence over the mixed nationalities and helping to set one against the other. The Turk was a very suitable subject for the development of Prussianism, and the Greek and Bulgarian Kings have shown that their sympathies witti the Kaiser were very strong. The Germans have, with the Magyars, exercised considerable influence over the Balkans through channels which would not be suspected by the peoples concerned or by the nations outside the Central Alliance. But much as they Jiave endeavoured to pave the way for their aggressive policy, they have failed to subdue the spirit of the Jugoslavs and Czeeho-Slovaks. Austria, supported by Germany, managed to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina a few years ago. and sought to extend her boundary further southward at Serbia's expense, but Serbia, knowing how the plan had been worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and realising that their Slavic, comrades in those Stales had been virtually reduced to slavery, resisted the Austrian demands of July, 1914, which were designed with the idea of peaceful penetration and gradual annexation, and from that resistance arose the present war. The Turks had, during the long years of domination in the Balkans, shattered every effort of the States to make progress and to develop as Western nations had done, but the wrenching from the Turks of the greater part of Europe which they invaded did not leave the Balkan peoples free. The Magyars and Germans steppe:! in and effectively prevented the union of the Jugoslav people. Within the Austrian Empire the Jugoslavs have never been treated properly; civil and political rights denied them, and everything done to keep them in bondage, it is a wonder that they still show a national spirit and offer resistance to their enemies. Serbia alone has been able to have a measure of self-government, but her difficulties since she became a kingdom in 1882 have been many. Her sufferings during the war at the hands of the Austrians and Bulgarians have been terrible, and from the report that, a tpjarter of her population has been destroyed it is clear that the brutal enemies have done all in their power to annihilate her. However, the gallant Serbian army am! its Allies have succeeded in forcing Bulgaria to surrender, and a large part, if not all, of Serbia will be almosl immediately liberated. The moral effect, especially upon the scattered communities >f Jugoslavs, will lie enormous, but union yet remains to be done. Austria must j be made fo release her grip over the unfortunate peoples living within her borders, and though that may imply the dismemberment of her Empire, the Allies are pledged to win independence for the oppressed nationalities. Wh-n that has been accomplished one may expect a peaceful atmosphere in the Balkans and Hie growlh of a strung and progressive Jugoslae kingdom, free to develop along lines that will suit its people. There is every hope thai after the war a spirit of friendship and mutual trust will take the pl.ee ol naM bitterness and jealousy anion;; the Balkan States.