Balkan Wars
For the articles examining each war individually, see First Balkan War and Second Balkan War |
The outcome as of April 1913 |
 |
Boundaries on the Balkans after the First and the Second Balkan War (1912-1913) |
 |
Distribution of ethnic groups in the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor in 1923, Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, New York (The map does not reflect the results of the 1923 population transfer between Greece and Turkey) |
The
Balkan Wars were two wars in South-eastern Europe in
1912-
1913 in the course of which the
Balkan League (
Bulgaria,
Montenegro,
Greece, and
Serbia) first conquered
Ottoman-held
Macedonia,
Albania and most of
Thrace and then fell out over the division of the spoils.
The background to the wars lies in the incomplete emergence of nation-states on the fringes of the Ottoman Empire during the nineteenth century. Serbians had gained substantial territory during the
Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78, while Greece acquired
Thessaly in 1881 (although it lost a small area to the Ottoman Empire in 1897) and Bulgaria (an autonomous
principality since
1878) incorporated the formerly distinct province of
Eastern Rumelia (
1885). All
three as well as tiny Montenegro sought additional territories within the large Ottoman-ruled regions known as Roumelia, comprising Eastern Roumelia, Albania, Macedonia, and Thrace (
see map).
Tensions among the Balkan states over their rival aspirations in Macedonia and Thrace subsided somewhat following intervention by the
great Powers in the mid-1800s aimed at securing both fuller protection for the province's Christian majority and protection of the status quo. The question of Ottoman rule's viability revived, however, after the
Young Turk revolution of July 1908 compelled the Sultan to restore the suspended Ottoman constitution.
While Austria-Hungary seized the opportunity of the resulting Ottoman political uncertainty to annex the officially Ottoman province of
Bosnia-Herzegovina, which it had occupied since 1878, Bulgaria declared itself a fully independent kingdom (October 1908) and the Greeks of
Crete proclaimed unification with Greece, though the opposition of the great powers prevented the latter action from taking practical effect.
Frustrated in the north by Austria-Hungary's incorporation of Bosnia with its 825,000 Orthodox
Serbs (and many more Serbs and Serb-sympathizers of other faiths), and forced (March 1909) to accept the annexation and restrain anti-Habsburg agitation among Serbian nationalist groups, the Serbian government looked to formerly Serb territories in the south, notably "Old Serbia" (the
Sanjak of Novi Pazar and the province of
Kosovo).
On
August 28,
1909, a group of demonstrating Greek officers (Stratiotikos Syndesmos) urging constitutional revision, removal of the royal family from the leadership of the armed forces and a more nationalist foreign policy secured the appointment of a more sympathetic government which they hoped would resolve the Cretan issue in Greece's favour and reverse the defeat of 1897. Bulgaria, which had secured Ottoman recognition of her independence in April 1909 and enjoyed the friendship of Russia, also looked to districts of Ottoman
Thrace and Macedonia for expansion. In March 1910, an Albanian insurrection broke out in Kosovo which was covertly supported by the young Turks. In August 1910 Montenegro followed Bulgaria's precedent by becoming a kingdom.
It was during the Balkan Wars when an
aerial bombardment, the first one in history, was carried out. On October 16, 1912 a Bulgarian military airplane flew on a reconnaissance mission over the Turkish army's positions in
Edirne. During the flight, the pilot and observer dropped bombs placed in specially designed compartments outside the airplane. The bombs were dropped over a Turkish military base.
Initially under the encouragement of Russian agents, a series of agreements were concluded: between Serbia and Bulgaria in March 1912 and between Greece and Bulgaria in May 1912. Montenegro subsequently concluded agreements between Serbia and Bulgaria respectively in October 1912. The First Balkan War immediately followed.
The wars were an important precursor to
World War I, to the extent that
Austria-Hungary took alarm at the great increase in Serbia's territory and regional status. This concern was shared by
Germany, which saw Serbia as a satellite of
Russia. Serbia's rise in power thus contributed to the two
Central Powers' willingness to risk war following the
assassination in Sarajevo of the
Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in June 1914.
Then the Austro-Hungarian Army had a 3-year struggle to annex Serbia and Montenegro. This was accomplished when Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria joined the central powers along with Germany.
Urlanis estimated in
Voini I Narodo-Nacelenie Europi (1960) that in the first and second Balkan war there were 122,000 killed in action, 20,000 dead of wounds, and 82,000 dead of disease.
| Ethnic exchanges & expulsions between 1912 and 1915 |
| Ottomans | Greeks | Bulgarians |
| Greek Macedonia | 100,000 | | 50,000 |
| Greek+Serbian Macedonia | | 100,000 |
| Thrace | 150,000-160,000 |
| Eastern section of Thrace | 51,000 |
| Western section of Thrace | 40,000-50,000 |
| Bulgaria-Ottoman Empire Border | 47,000 | 49,000 |
| Totals | 190,000-200,000 | 150,000-160,000 | 250,000 |
Since the area has been referred to as the
Balkans, notable conflicts have included:
*The History of
Ottoman Empire.
*The
Serbo-Bulgarian War (
1885)
*The
Balkan campaigns of
World War I (1914–1918)
*The
Balkan campaigns of
World War II (1940–1945)
*The
Yugoslav wars (1991–1999)
*
Macedonia and the First Balkan War, by Carl K. Savich*
US Library of Congress in the Balkan Wars*
"The Balkan crises, 1903 - 1914"*
Military uniforms and insignia of the Balkan Wars*
Information and links on the Third Balkan War (1991-2001)
