Otto von Bismarck,

Reputedly predicted in 1898 that if a general war were to erupt in Europe,

it would come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans.

In 1912, the Italo-Ottoman war ended with what might generously be described as a marginal Italian

victory. The benefits to Italy proved to be elusive at best. De Jure a semi-sovereignty, where she had

already had de facto sovereignty, being beaten to a draw by the failing Ottoman Empire? A handful of islands in the Aegean?

Hardly worth the huge debt the Italian government had incurred,

which was far in excess of what had been expected,

since warfare in 1912 is way more costly than it had been even a couple of decades ago,

which we have already seen, but which

was a lesson the nations of that era have not yet learned.

And that's without considering the biggest cost of all, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

For half a century, the great powers have propped up the Ottoman Empire against the day when she might fall

and the whirlwind strike southeastern Europe. Has that day arrived? Welcome to the history

of the 20th century.

Music Episode 69, Some Damned Silly Thing

In episode 66, we followed the course of the Italo-Othoman War of 1911 and 1912.

Let's review a couple of key points about that war.

There were two things pushing the Italian government into war with the Ottoman Empire.

The more pragmatic of the two, if I can put it that way, was the Italian desire to take control of Libya.

Italy has been coveting Libya for a long time.

She had largely missed the scramble for territory

...