Italian alliance with Austria and Germany counterbalanced each other.
This triumph was however far more than counterbalanced by the complete defeat of the army, led by Count Louis of Nassau, at Mookerheide near Nijmwegen (14th March).
This was partially remedied after the Bulgarian annexation of Eastern Rumelia, in 1885, had driven the Moslems of that country to emigrate in like manner to Adrianople; but the advantage was counterbalanced by the establishment of hostile Bulgarian tariffs.
In Bonghis mordant phrase, the foreign policy of Italy during this period may be said to have been characterized by enormous intellectual impotence counterbalanced by equal moral feebleness.
Owing to the existence of a strong Mussulman minority among its inhabitants, the warlike character of the natives, and the mountainous configuration of the country, which enabled a portion of the Christian population to maintain itself in a state of partial independence, the island has constantly been the scene of prolonged and sanguinary struggles in which the numerical superiority of the Christians was counterbalanced by the aid rendered to the Moslems by the Ottoman troops.
