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1912] ITALO-TURKISH WAR
37
Of course, neither of the two interested parties had
realised the importance and significance of their conflict
for the world at large. Anxious to secure to the
restored Ottoman Empire its complete independence of
the Powers up till then arbiters of its fate, the
Young-Turkish Government had selected Italy as being the
least dangerous of the Great Powers on which to impose
its claims. It felt certain, moreover, that Germany
would intervene at the crucial moment to prevent an
armed contest. In reasoning thus it had lost sight of
Italy’s privileged situation among the rival Powers, and
of the fact that Italian action in the East would not
arouse exaggerated fears or inclinations to interfere in
either of the two camps. As to Italy, she hoped that
her energetic attitude would ensure the immediate
success of her cause. Rome had not reckoned with the
slowness of a war in the desert, in which, as far as Italy
was concerned, everything had yet to be organised,
whereas the Turks should come off fairly well with a
small array of forces, and a ready-made system of
guerilla warfare.
By lasting for more than a year, the Italo-Turkish
War doubtless contributed to the ripening of the Balkan
events of 1912 and 1913. And these most certainly
hastened, and up to a point prepared, the explosion of
the terrible World War.
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