Montenegro never signed a pact with the Turks.[14]. Venizelos persuaded king George I to revise the constitution and asked the League to disband in favor of a National Assembly. Facing the danger of encirclement, Constantine realized that his army could no longer continue hostilities. In any case, on 16 June the Bulgarian high command, under the direct control of Tsar Ferdinand and without notifying the government,[citation needed] ordered Bulgarian troops to start a surprise attack simultaneously against both the Serbian and Greek positions without declaring war and to dismiss any orders contradicting the attack order. ", Boeckh, Katrin, and Sabine Rutar. It has a large influence on the consequent world order.[10]. [33] The fighting began on 29–30 June 1913, between the 4th Bulgarian Army and the 1st and 3rd Serbian armies, first along the Zletovska and then after a Bulgarian retreat, along the Bregalnica. [43], In August, Ottoman forces established a provisional government of Western Thrace at Komotini to pressure Bulgaria to make peace. "[18] Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was already angry with Bulgaria because of the latter's refusal to honor its recently signed agreement with Romania over Silistra, which had been the result of Russian arbitration. [45], The Montenegrins at Bucharest were primarily interested in obtaining a favourable concession from Serbia in the former Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The defeat of the 2nd Army by the Greeks was the most serious military disaster suffered by the Bulgarians in the Second Balkan War. Bulgaria was already on the track to war, since a new cabinet had been formed in Bulgaria where the pacifist Geshov was replaced by the hardliner and head of a Russophile party, Dr. Danev, as premier. Greece had also allowed the Bulgarians to control the stretch of the Thessaloniki-Constantinople railroad that lay in Greek-occupied territory, since Bulgaria controlled the largest part of this railroad towards Thrace. In the Kresna straits, the Greeks were ambushed by the Bulgarian 2nd and 1st Armies, newly arrived from the Serbian front, that had already taken defensive positions there following the Bulgarian victory at Kalimanci. The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War. On 14 November 1913 Greece and the Ottomans signed a treaty in Athens bringing to a formal end the hostilities between them. ", Howard, Harry N. "The Balkan Wars in perspective: their significance for Turkey. [36], The Serbian front had become static. [39], The Greek army was exhausted and faced logistical difficulties, but resisted strenuously and launched local counter-attacks. [2] On the night of 14–15 July, the Danube Army under Prince Ferdinand crossed into Bulgaria at Oryahovo, Gigen and Nikopol. [13] The plan was for a concentrated attack against the Serbian army across the Vardar plain to neutralize it and to capture northern Macedonia, together with a less concentrated one against the Greek army near Thessaloniki, which had approximately half the size of the Serbian army, in order to capture the city and south Macedonia. At the strong insistence of Austria-Hungary and Italy, both hoping to control for themselves the state and thus the Otranto Straits in Adriatic, Albania acquired officially its independence according to the terms of the Treaty of London. Representing the Great Powers were Britain, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. Italy's primary aim at the time seems to have been the denial of access to the Adriatic Sea to another major sea power. Four Balkan states defeated the Ottoman Empire in the First Balkan War. In the pass of Kresna (Battle of Kresna Gorge), the Greeks were ambushed by the Bulgarian 2nd and 4th Army which had newly arrived from the Serbian front and had taken defensive positions there. [28] On 28 June, the retreating Bulgarian army and irregulars burned down the major city of Serres (a predominantly Greek town surrounded by both Bulgarian-to the north and west-and Greek-to the east and south-villages[29]), and the towns of Nigrita, Doxato and Demir Hisar,[30] ostensibly as a retaliation for the burning of the Bulgarian town of Kilkis by the Greeks, which had taken place after the named battle, as well as the destruction of many Bulgarian villages in the region. Consequently, although the Bulgarian Army had a total of 599,878 men[21][22] mobilized in the beginning of the First Balkan War, there were only 9 organizational divisions, giving a divisional strength closer to an Army Corps than to a Division. A gentlemen's agreement with Greece was reached soon after, as mentioned before. Erickson the Greek Navy also played a crucial, albeit indirect role, in the Thracian campaign by neutralizing no less than three Thracian Corps (see First Balkan War, the Bulgarian theater of operations), a significant portion of the Ottoman Army there, in the all-important opening round of the war. As a result of Bulgarian dissatisfaction with the de facto military division of Macedonia, the Second Balkan War broke out between the combatants on 16 June 1913. Hopes were raised among the Balkan ethnicities of reforms and autonomy, and elections were held to form a representative, multi-ethnic, Ottoman parliament. The background to the wars lies in the incomplete emergence of nation-states on the European territory of the Ottoman Empire during the second half of the 19th century. Italy used the excuse of the Balkan wars to keep the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean which it had occupied during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 over Libya, despite the agreement that ended that war in 1912. If Adrianople is in the possession of the Turks, they shall get it too."[46]. The retreat from the areas that had to be ceded to Bulgaria, together with the loss of Northern Epirus to Albania, was not well received in Greece; from the areas occupied during the war, Greece succeeded in gaining only the territories of Serres and Kavala after diplomatic support from Germany. The conflicts ended catastrophically for the Ottoman Empire, which lost the bulk of its territory in Europe. The 2nd Army under general Nikola Ivanov was detailed against the Greek army. The Second Balkan War left Serbia as the most militarily powerful state south of the Danube. The German Empire, in turn, under the "Drang nach Osten" policy, aspired to turn the Ottoman Empire into its own de facto colony, and thus supported its integrity. Serbian and Greek armies repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked, entering Bulgaria. From east to west it was followed by the 2nd Army, 3rd Army and 4th Army, which was stationed at Gelibolu. The resulting agreement was a compromise between the Romanian demands for the entire southern Dobruja and the Bulgarian refusal to accept any cession of its territory. The Bulgarians also held some advantages, controlling internal communication and supply lines.[24]. Part proceeded east and occupied Western Thrace. Britain wished to deny Russia access to the "warm waters" and supported the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, although it also supported a limited expansion of Greece as a backup plan in case integrity of the Ottoman Empire was no longer possible. The Bulgarian forces were forced to withdraw from their positions north of Thessaloniki (except the isolated battalion stationed in the city itself which was quickly overrun) to defensive positions between Kilkis and Struma river. [24] All modern historians agree that Ivanov underestimated the number of his soldiers but the Greek army still had a numerical superiority. a treaty or peace without a clear result, status quo ante bellum, result of civil or internal conflict, result unknown or indecisive) [43], Bulgaria had agreed to cede Southern Dobruja to Romania as early as 19 July. [10] During the invasion and in the aftermath of the conquest, the Ottoman forces carried out atrocities against the Bulgarians in Eastern Thrace and expelled nearly all of them, as recounted in the 1918 book the Destruction of the Thracian Bulgarians in 1913. On the eastern flank, the Greek army launched a counterattack towards Mehomia through the Predela pass. T. Werner Laurie LTD, p. 336. [28] The Greek army was exhausted and faced logistical difficulties. [26][better source needed] Following the capture of Kilkis, the Greek army's pace was not quick enough to prevent the retaliatory destruction of Nigrita, Serres, and Doxato and massacres of non-combatant Greek inhabitants at Sidirokastro and Doxato by the Bulgarian army. Then, the Greek army counter-attacked and defeated the Bulgarians at Kilkis (Kukush), after which the mostly Bulgarian town was plundered and burnt and part of its mostly Bulgarian population massacred by the Greek army. With Bulgaria also having previously engaged in territorial disputes with Romania[11] and the bulk of Bulgarian forces engaged in the south, the prospect of an easy victory incited Romanian intervention against Bulgaria. Wars were raging, one after another in the beginning of the 20th Century, when one brave girl from village Koprivnica near Raška, traded her female garments for a Serbian combatant uniform and cut her long locks. Much of Macedonia became annexed or incorporated into Serbia, becoming known as Southern Serbia (Juzna Srbija). At Kilkis the Bulgarians had constructed strong defenses, including captured Ottoman guns which dominated the plain below. "Ottoman diplomacy, the Balkan Wars and the Great Powers". However, following the Sultan's attempted counter-coup, the liberal element of the Young Turks was sidelined and the nationalist element became dominant. [30] Montenegro gained the western half of the Sanjak of Novi-Bazar and secured the borders with Serbia. By contrast, the Greek Army of Macedonia had also 9 divisions, but the total number of men under arms was only 118,000. More specifically, Bulgaria would gain all the territories eastern of Rodopi Mountains and River Strimona, while Serbia would annex the territories northern and western of Mount Skardu.[6]. Its nominal commander-in-chief was King Peter I, with Radomir Putnik as his chief of staff and effective field commander. From now on, the Great Powers had the right of decision on the territorial adjustments that had to be made, which even led to the creation of an independent Albania. On 13 July 1913, General Mihail Savov assumed control of the 4th and 5th Bulgarian armies. [14] After this Treaty of Constantinople, 30 September 1913, Bulgaria sought an alliance with the Ottoman Empire against Greece and Serbia (in support of their claims to Macedonia). [44] Greece increased her population from 2.7 to 4.4 million and her territory by 68 percent. Furthermore, all European territory of the Ottoman Empire west of the Enos-Midia (Enez-Midye) line, was ceded to the Balkan League, but the division of the territory among the League was not to be decided by the Treaty itself. Before the Greeks entered the city, a German warship whisked the former sultan Abdul Hamid II out of Thessaloniki to continue his exile, across the Bosporus from Constantinople. As a result, any possible preventive effect of the common official warning was cancelled by the mixed unofficial signals, and failed to prevent or to stop the war: The Second Balkan war was a catastrophic blow to Russian policies in the Balkans, which for centuries had focused on access to the "warm seas". The resulting enormous sacrifices during World War I and renewed defeat caused Bulgaria a national trauma and new territorial losses. (1962) "The diplomacy of the Great Powers and the Balkan States, 1908-1914. This act prompted the tsar of Bulgaria to invade his allies. When the revolt broke out, it was supported by intellectuals, the army, and almost all the ethnic minorities of the Empire, and forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to re-adopt the long-defunct Ottoman constitution of 1876 and parliament. 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