The Bosnian Crisis of 1908, the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 and the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 significantly increased tensions in Europe, which saw the dismemberment of large swaths of the Ottoman Empire. These conflicts provided the background for a major naval expansion program in Austria-Hungary, which received broad support in the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments. Admiral Anton Haus, then the Commanders-in-Chief of the Navy (German: "Marinekommandant") used the growing risk of war with Austria-Hungary's nominal ally, Italy, to push his construction program. On 5 October 1913, Haus presented a new five-year construction program which called for four superdreadnoughts to replace the aging s, as well as three scout cruisers, six destroyers, two river monitors, and one supply ship. The scout cruisers in this plan would eventually form the design of the "Ersatz Zenta"-class cruiser. Haus estimated the cost of this program to be over 420 million krone. As part of its construction program, the navy projected to build three cruisers, and adopted a secret construction schedule on 12 January 1914, which called for the first vessel to be laid down on 1 July 1914, followed by the other two on 1 July 1915. The first ship was projected to be completed by 31 December 1917, with the second and third following on 31 December 1918. By 1919, all three ships were expected to be complete and commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy.