Great Britain, the albanian question and the concert of Europe, 1911-1914

Abstract

Despite minimal economic or political interests in the insignificant Ottoman
province of Albania, British political leaders gradually took a lively
interest in it between 1911 and 1914 .The Albanian Question was closely linked
to the dissolution or survival of the wider Ottoman Empire. Moreover.
Albania became a region of intense international rivalry between Great and
small powers alike. As such, Albania assumed an increasingly important role
in the calculations of the British Foreign Office and the foreign secretary,
Sir Edward Grey. The article reinforces R. J. Crampton’s view of the “hollow”
nature of détente between the Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. It also emphasises
that the machinery of the Concert of Europe, pursued by the British
with vigour, had clearly broken down by 1914.