The Young Turk Revolution ushered a period of instability in the region. Seizing the opportunity, Bulgaria unilaterally declared its full independence, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, angering the Serbs and Russians, while Crete also declared its union ("enosis") with Greece, although the latter was not formalized. Initially, the liberal promises of the Young Turks caused much enthusiasm both inside the Empire and in the Balkan states, but they gradually adopted a policy of forced "Ottomanisation", which, coupled with the parallel rise of Albanian nationalism, threatened the interests of the other Balkan states. Italy too, in search of a colonial empire, took advantage of the turmoil in the Ottoman Empire, attacking Libya and seizing the Dodecanese islands during the Italo-Turkish War. The Italians promised to cede the Greek-inhabited Dodecanese islands to Greece, but in the end kept them. This aroused indignation in Greece. Coupled with Bulgarian aspirations for Macedonia and Austrian designs on Thessaloniki, it made clear that, if Greece did not want to be left out of the Ottoman spoils, it had to act. Nevertheless, the new Greek Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos, hesitated to act alone, not only because of the bitter memories of the disastrous war of 1897, but also because the large Greek populations inside Ottoman territory might be exposed to reprisals.