Austro-Serbian alliance of 1881

The Austro-Serbian Convention was a secret treaty signed on June 28, 1881, in Belgrade by Gabriel Freiherr Herbert-Rathkeal for Austria-Hungary and Cedomilj Mijatovic for the Principality of Serbia. Austria-Hungary agreed to support the Obrenovic dynasty and recognize Serbian territorial ambitions to the south, while Serbia agreed not to permit agitation or military activity against Austro-Hungarian interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Sanjak of Novi Pazar, and to seek the approval of Vienna before concluding any foreign treaty. Coming after an 1881 railway convention and trade treaty had already made Austria-Hungary the dominant economic partner of Serbia, the agreement effectively turned Serbia into an Austrian protectorate and later helped secure Austrian backing for Serbia in the Serbo-Bulgarian War.