| Why? |
...also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
was the so-called Eastern Question. The Ottoman Empire, then known as the "sick man of Europe," was rapidly disintegrating, and it remained to be seen which European power would succeed it. When the self-annihilation of World War I finally arrived, it was no coincidence that it emanated from the Balkans ‐ the geopolitical playground for the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires.