The Balkan Wars (1911 -1913)

The Region

Balkan is a Turkish word meaning mountain. The

Balkan mountains form part of the border between Bulgaria and Macedonia.
These mountains run through the center of Bulgaria stretching (uzanmak) to the
Black Sea. This word has been associated (birleşmek) with the region since the
early 19th century. The peninsula (yarımada) was split into two main sects
(mezhep). The Slav countries of Bulgaria and Serbia and the non-Slav countries of
Greece and Romania. In the Balkans, Christians were of Eastern Orthodox faith
(inanç) and greatly were in fear of domination (egemenlik) by Catholics.

The Rule

The Balkans were lands that had been part of the

Roman Empire ruled (yönetmek) by Constatinople. At the end of the 14th century
Ottoman Turks invaded (istila etmek) the Balkans and ruled for 500 years.The
Treaty (antlaşma) of Berlin, which ended the Russo-Turkish War in 1878, made
Serbia, Montenegro (Karadağ), and Romania independent. The principality
(prenslik) of Bulgaria was created as well. Austria-Hungary kept control of both
Slovenia and Croatia.

The Beginning

In 1908-1909, Turkey was engaged in (meşgul olmak)

what is known as the Young Turks Revolution (Jön Türkler Devrimi), a
revolution fought to regain (yeniden elde etmek) democracy in the Ottoman
Empire. On the curtails of this revolution, in 1908, Russia secretly granted
(bahşetmek) Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austria. This almost erupted (patlak
vermek) in war with Serbia and nearly began the first World War.With the Italo-
Turkish War occurring during 1911-1912 over possession (egemenlik) of Tripoli,
the Balkan states became restless. Seeing the annexation (ilhak) of Bosnia and
Herzegovina only strengthened Serbia's nationalism and the first World War was
downcast (aşağıya yönelmiş) to tensions that would remain high in the Balkans
and eventually lead to a large scale war.

First Balkan War

While the revolution in Turkey and the Italo-Turkish war

fed the Balkans need to retaliate (misilleme yapmak) against the Turks. The first
World War was downcast to tensions that would remain high in the Balkans and
eventually lead to a large scale war all the while leading into the First Balkan War.
The Italo-Turkish War had encouraged the Balkans to expand their territory (alan).
An alliance (ittifak) made up of Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, and Montenegro was
formed to serve as "a response to the repressive (baskıcı) policies of the Young
Turks."

Serbia and Bulgaria signed a treaty on March 13, 1912

which split (paylaşmak) Macedonia in half giving both countries equal portions.
With the aid of Russian secret diplomacy, this treaty divided all their possible
conquests (fetih) and provided joint (müşterek) military action. Source
Montenegro entered the so called alliance through an informal arrangement with
Greece and Bulgaria which turned into a treaty with Serbia in September of 1912.
Earlier in May, Greece and Bulgaria allied by signing a treaty similar to the one
between Serbia and Bulgaria.

"On October 8, 1912, Montenegro declared war against

the Turks , and 10 days later the allies (müttefik ülke) entered the war."The Turks
were quickly driven from Eastern Turkey and remained only in Constantinople.
Forces captured western Macedonia and Kosovo while Serbia moved through
Albania to secure a port on the Adriatic Sea at Durazzo. Serbia had intentions of
annexing a great deal of Albania to secure their port. Neither Austria nor Italy liked
the thought of a Serbian sea port on the Adriatic. They were fearful that this port
would become a Russian port.

The Turks sued (dava açmak) for an armistice

(ateşkes) in late November and by December 3 the agreement had been signed
by all the Balkan allies except Greece. Greece continued its actions against the
Turks. Later in December, the European powers met in London to decide what
needed to be done in the Balkans. With the capture of a sea port by Serbia on the
Adriatic in Albania, Austria-Hungary immediately convinced the powers that Albania
should be granted its independence. Albania was indeed (hakikaten) awarded its
independence and Serbia was forced to remove its troops from the country. An
overthrow (yıkılma) of the government in Constantinople occurred which broke up
these negotiations (görüşme). The men who took over power in Constantinople
were bent on resistance (direnme). The peace conditions that were decided at in
the conference in London were rejected by the Turks and, unfortunately, fighting
resumed in a week, the conference ended and no end of the war had been found.

Finally, on May 20 the conference in London resumed .

On May 30, by the Treaty of London, the First Balkan War ended. The Turks were
forced to give up Crete to Greece .They were also forced to give up lands to
Europe around the Aegean Sea. The Treaty awarded Serbia almost all that
remained in Europe of the Ottoman lands. The war had resulted in the liberation of
the Old Serbia region. Possession of Albania and the Aegean Islands remained
unclear and instead these lands were referred to an international commission.
Macedonia was split between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia. "The Treaty followed
with a quarrel (anlaşmazlık) over the spoils of war" and leads into the Second
Balkan War."

Second Balkan War

Conflict (çatışma) began immediately over how
Macedonia was divided. Neither Greece nor Serbia nor Bulgaria was in possession
of the section of Macedonia that they wanted. Greece was in possession of
Salonika which Bulgaria wanted while Serbia was in possession of Monastir which
Bulgaria claimed as its own. The three countries remained at odds until the Czar of
All the Russias stepped in. The Czar offered to act as the arbitrator (tarafsız
aracı) in their disputes (anlaşmazlık) and the countries submitted (kabul etmek)
to the arbitration (arabulucu kararıyla halletme).
 Greece and Serbia, however, allied against Bulgaria on
June 1, 1913. On June 29, a Bulgarian general, acting without orders, led an attack
on Serbian defensive positions.Bulgaria, of course, did not claim responsibility for
the attack so, Serbia and Greece declared war on July 8. Montenegro, Romania,
and the Ottoman Empire all entered the war against Bulgaria within weeks of its
beginning. Bulgaria was defeated. "On July 30, Bulgaria, unable to withstand
(direnmek) this coalition, asked for and received an armistice. "

The peace agreement was signed in Bucharest on

August 10. Bulgarian land possessions were scattered (dağıtmak) away to
different countries. Romania received one of the largest portions measuring almost
3000 square miles. Macedonia, for the most part, was awarded to Serbia and
Greece. The Turks, having taken advantage of Bulgaria’s situation, recovered
Adrianople and was awarded other large territories. This defeat (bozgun) of
Bulgaria assured that it had no possibility of participating in a South Slav state.

The Second Balkan War left Serbia on somewhat of an

ego trip. Serbia doubled in size due to Montenegro now being considered a
common frontier (sınır). Now full of confidence, it was driven by a desire to annex
parts of Austria-Hungary. However, the wars had weakened the country.
Macedonian and Albanian minorities (azınlık) were left with bitter (sert)
resentment (kızgınlık) towards Serbia, and an anti-Serbian sentiment (duygu)
was held by Austria-Hungary. Serbia’s hope for an outlet (çıkış yeri) to the sea
was demolished when Greece obtained (almak) coastal Macedonia.

Aftermath (Kötü sonuç)

What had begun in a few short wars fought over 1912-1913, lead to a War of the
Worlds no one would soon forget. "Ethnic hatred (nefret), religious rivalry,
language barriers (engel), and cultural conflicts" plague (sıkmak) the kingdom to
this day. These Balkan Wars were only the beginning of decades of wars that
would echo (tekrarlamak) throughout the Balkans.

Taken from “World Civilization Modern” by Gemma Hale

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