The Balkan Wars were two major Balkan conflicts which were fought from 8 October 1912 to 18 July 1913. The context of Balkan Wars originated with the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, which destabilized the Ottoman Empire's Balkan possessions and enabled the increasingly-powerful Balkan nations of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, and Romania to devour what remained of Ottoman Europe. The First Balkan War, fought from 1912 to 1913, was Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro conquer all of Turkey's territory west of the Maritsa River, leading to a mass exodus of 2.5 million Turks from the Balkans to Turkey. The Second Balkan War began in 1913 when Serbia and Greece decided not to comply with the first war's peace agreement, keeping Turkish lands in Macedonia which were supposed to be ceded to Bulgaria; when Bulgaria declared war on Greece and Serbia, Montenegro and Romania joined the other Balkan states in defeating Bulgaria. The conflicts involving the Balkan states and their imperial neighbors, the Ottoman Turks, Austria-Hungary, and the Russian Empire - would ultimately lead to the start of World War I in 1914.
Background[]
The decline of the Ottoman Empire accelerated during the 19th century as its peoples struggled for independence and Russian influence rose across the Balkans. The Ottoman empire lost its first European domains in 1817, when Serbia gained autonomy. Then in 1821 the Greeks revolted. Pro-Ottoman Egyptian forces retook the country in 1825, but when the Ottomans rejected mediation with Russia in 1827, Britain and France sent a combined fleet that destroyed the Egyptian navy at Navarino. The Greeks gained their independence in 1832. Tension between an expansionist Russia and the Ottoman empire led to the outbreak of war in 1853. Britain and France supported the Ottomans and attacked Russian-held Crimea. The war ended in 1856 with an Ottoman victory, but it was only a temporary reprieve.
History[]
Growing nationalism and a desire for independence led to uprisings against Ottoman rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1875 and Bulgaria in 1876. The Ottoman response in Bulgaria was brutal. Its "Bulgarian atrocities" outraged European opinion and gave Russia the excuse to declare war on behalf of its fellow Orthodox Christians in July 1877. Russian and Romanian armies marched south to besiege Nicopol. A Turkish force led by General Osman Pasha marched north to reinforce and defend the town, but on learning that the town had been bombed into submission before it could be relieved, he occupied the Bulgarian town of Plevna in July and quickly increased its fortifications by setting up gun emplacements for his modern Krupp artillery. General Schuldner's Russian army was unaware of what Pasha was doing and when the Russians were ordered to occupy the city, they were not in a position to do so. A lengthy siege began, the 400,000-strong Ottoman army surrounded by 100,000 Russians. After many unsuccessful assaults, Russian reinforcements eventually tipped the balance, and Pasha surrendered in December. Russian forces then headed for Constantinople, causing the Ottoman sultan to sue for peace.
Greater Bulgaria[]
The peace treaty was signed at San Stefano, outside the Ottoman capital, in March 1878. Its terms created a large, autonomous Bulgaria, although the country was to be occupied by Russian troops for two years, with an outlet through Macedonia to the Aegean Sea. Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania received their independence, while Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted self-rule, and Russia gained territory on both sides of the Black Sea. The Ottoman empire was all but expelled from Europe. News of this treaty caused concern among the major European powers, as it created a large pro-Russian state at the heart of the Balkans, giving Russia huge influence throughout the region. European diplomats hurriedly met in Berlin and in July enforced a new settlement. Under the revised agreement Bulgaria was reduced in size and divided into three separate regions, Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia handed over its gains on the western shore of the Black Sea to Romania, and in a secret clause Britain occupied Cyprus. The Ottoman empire retained control over Macedonia and Albania.
The outcome was to have long-lasting effects, for the Ottoman empire was severely weakened and Bulgaria was embittered at losing so much territory. Slowly but surely, Ottoman power and influence began to evaporate. Greece took the province of Thessaly in 1881, while the island of Crete, though effectively under Greek control, became self-ruled in 1898. In 1908 the Young Turks reform movement - a group of exiled liberals - took power in the Ottoman empire after widespread army mutinies and forced the sultan to reintroduce the liberal constitution of 1876 and convene parliament. With the empire in turmoil as liberal reformers and traditional Islamic leaders tussled for power, its enemies pounced. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, while Bulgaria, having already recovered part of its lost San Stefano lands, now declared full independence.
The final decline[]
In 1909 hardline Islamic elements staged a coup in support of the sultan. It was crushed by the Young Turks, who then deposed the sultan. When Albania rose up in revolt in 1911, Italy took the opportunity to seize Libya in North Africa, bombarding Tripoli and other coastal ports and defeating Ottoman armies at Derna and Sidi Bilal in 1912. Targets were also bombed from the air for the first time when an Italian pilot dropped grenades from his aircraft onto the Ottoman camp near the Taguira oasis. The Italian navy then threatened Constantinople before withdrawing to seize the Dodecanese Islands, including Rhodes, in the Aegean.
The war with Italy gave Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece the opportunity to form an alliance and, in October 1912, attack Ottoman-controlled Macedonia. The Allies were able to muster approximately 340,000 troops, with a similar number in reserve, and had the advantage of Greek naval control in the Aegean Sea, which prevented the movement of Ottoman soldiers to the Balkans. They also had the benefit of superior leadership, although 240,000 Ottoman troops matched them in courage and stamina.
As the Greek army moved north, defeating the Turks at Venije in November, the Serbs moved south, forcing the Ottomans to evacuate the Macedon capital of Skopje and retreat to the heights of Monastir. Here, on 5 November, the Serbs attacked the recently reinforced Ottoman army but were repelled with great losses. However, the Turkish center was so weak that a renewed Serbian frontal attack broke through. As the Greeks approached from the south, Ottoman resistance collapsed and nearly 20,000 soldiers were killed or captured. Four days later the strategic Ottoman garrison of Salonika surrendered to the Greeks. To the east the Bulgarians moved into Thrace and besieged Constantinople, while a joint Bulgarian and Serbia force seized Adrianople. By the provisional Treaty of London, signed in May 1913, the Ottoman empire lost all its European possessions to the four victors except for a narrow strip of land alongside the Turkish Straits, and Albania, which was declared an independent state.
Bulgaria, however, felt aggrieved about its limited gains in Macedonia and in July attacked Serbia and Greece. To its surprise, it was then attacked by Romania and the Ottomans. The Romanians advanced towards Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, while the Ottomans regained Adrianople in Thrace, thus preserving a foothold in Europe. Bulgarian resistance quickly collapsed, and by the Treaty of Bucharest, signed in August, it had lost most of its Macedonian gains of the first war as well as some territory to Romania.
Aftermath[]
The effect of the first and second Balkan Wars was felt almost immediately, as the wars soon turned global. Serb nationalists had opposed the Austrian takeover of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1878 and sought to incorporate the province into a greater Serbia. On 28 June 1914, Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated the heir to the Austrian throne in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. The Austrians blamed the Serb government and declared war at the end of July. The Third Balkan War soon became global, as European alliances cameto their allies' support, which resulted in World War I.
The Ottoman empire entered World War I alongside Germany and Austria against Russia, in the hope of regaining some Of its lost territories. Bulgaria, too, joined on the same side with the same hope. Although successful in repelling an Anglo-French attack at Gallipoli in 1915, the Ottomans were weakened by the Arab Revolt in 1916 and by British advances through Mesopotamia and Palestine, finally asking for peace in the last weeks of the war. The Ottoman empire collapsed in 1922 and a Turkish republic was established in 1923.