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| 1908, Jan. 27 |
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| Count Alois Aehrenthal (Austrian foreign minister since Oct. 1906) announced the intention of the Austrian government to build a railway through the Sanjak of Novi Bazar toward Saloniki. The purpose of this was to drive a wedge between Serbia and Montenegro, where anti-Austrian agitation had grown rapidly since the advent of the Karageorgevich dynasty (1903; Serbian-Austrian tariff war, 1906–11). The Austrian move was much resented by Izvolski, who claimed it was a violation of the spirit of the Austro-Russian entente of 1897. He brought forward a rival scheme for a railroad from the Danube to the Adriatic. The British were also much concerned about the Austrian step, which they regarded as a bribe by the Ottoman Empire to Austria to induce the latter to oppose further reforms in Macedonia. | 1 |
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| March |
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| Grey put forward a scheme of reform for Macedonia, which would have given the three provinces virtual autonomy. | 2 |
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| April 23 |
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| The Baltic and North Sea conventions, the first involving Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Russia, the second involving Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden. They provided for the maintenance of the status quo on the shores of the two seas and for consultation among the signatories in case the status quo was threatened. | 3 |
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| Sept. 16 |
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| BUCHLAU CONFERENCE between Aehrenthal and Izvolski. After long discussion an informal agreement was reached: Russia was not to oppose the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria, and Austria was not to oppose the opening of the Straits to Russian warships, under certain conditions. An international conference was to put the stamp upon these arrangements and other minor modifications of the Berlin treaty. | 4 |
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| Sept. 25 |
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| Casablanca affair. Three German deserters from the French foreign legion were taken by force from a German consular official. Acute tension in Franco-German relations. | 5 |
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| Oct. 6 |
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| PROCLAMATION OF THE ANNEXATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA BY AUSTRIA, which gave up the right to occupy the Sanjak militarily. Rage in Serbia (See 1908–9) and Montenegro, where the two annexed provinces had long since been looked upon as a future legacy. Military preparations were at once begun, and negotiations were initiated looking toward an Ottoman-Serbian-Montenegrin-Greek alliance against Austria. In Russia the event caused hardly less consternation in nationalist circles, where nothing was known of Izvolski's bargain with Aehrenthal. The prime minister, Count Peter Stolypin, at once wrote to Izvolski, instructing him to oppose the Austrian action, and it was this primarily that obliged Izvolski to repudiate his agreement, declare that he had been duped, and take the lead in championing the Serbian claims. The Germans supported Austria loyally in order to uphold the alliance. The French and British, though they resented Izvolski's underhanded negotiation with Austria, supported Russia and demanded the convocation of an international conference to consider the Austrian action. | 6 |
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| Oct. 7 |
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| Crete proclaimed union with Greece, thereby adding to the crisis. | 7 |
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| Oct. 28 |
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| The Daily Telegraph affair. The publication of the indiscreet utterances of Emperor William to a British nobleman served to create a crisis in Germany and at the same time to accentuate the Anglo-German antagonism. | 8 |
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| Nov. 10 |
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| Germany and France agreed to submit the Casablanca affair to an arbitral board, which rendered a report on May 22, 1909. | 9 |
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| Dec. 4 |
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| LONDON NAVAL CONFERENCE (See Dec. 4). | 10 |
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