Four nations were watching the Balkans and waited on the opportunity to conquer land and influence on the Turkish empire. The opportunity came in 1908 when there was an revolution in Turkey that resultet in a new and more democratic constitution. Bulgaria declared its independence and Crete used the opportunity to join with Greece. Emperor <l:ep_franz_joseph> of Austria-Hungaria had the largest advantage taking over both Bosnia and Hercegovina.
The revolution made Turkey weaker. In 1911 <l:el_italy> declared war on Turkey and was victorious. This made Turkey even weaker and the countries in the Balkans now had a chance to throw Turkey out of Europe. The war was cruel and more than 500.000 soldiers on both sides fought. In fifty days Turkey surrendered and had to leave Europe. Due to the wars that Turkey had fought they were very veak in beginning of World War I.
