In 1912 and 1913, the Balkans were torn apart
by not one, but two wars that radically changed the map, nearly dragged Europe into a general
war, caused untold suffering, and helped set the stage for the First World War. The armies of the Balkan League marched together
against the ailing Ottoman Empire, only for alliances to change and all turn against one
– it’s the Balkan Wars. For centuries the Ottoman Empire controlled
the multi-ethnic and multi-religious Balkan peninsula, but the 19th century brought dramatic
change. As the Empire grew weaker and nationalism
among the Balkan peoples grew stronger, new states emerged: Montenegro, Greece, Serbia,
Romania, and Bulgaria gained first informal, and later formal independence. This did not happen without bloodshed, including
uprisings, Ottoman repression, independence wars, and Great Power intervention to protect
their own interests. The decisive Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish
War of 1877-78 ensured the independence of the Balkan states, but also provoked the suspicions
of the other powers by creating a large Russian-friendly Bulgaria. A concerned Austria-Hungary occupied Ottoman
Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar in 1878, and Britain worried Russia
might get too close to the Straits. So the Powers met in Berlin to modify the
borders of the preliminary peace of San Stefano to limit Russian influence. They returned most of Macedonia to the Ottomans,
which angered Bulgarian leaders like Ivan Geshov:
“When we read […] the agreement in which a short-sighted diplomacy in Berlin partitioned
our homeland, we were left crushed and thunderstruck. Was such an injustice possible? Could such an injustice be reversed?” (Hall) The peace of 1878 did not stabilize the region,
as no state was satisfied with the resulting borders. Serbia and Bulgaria even fought a brief war
in 1885, as did Greece and the Ottomans in 1897. By the start of the 20th century, local and
Great Power tensions in the Balkans were running high. The new states hoped to expand their territory
at the expense of the Ottomans and each other, and the Great Powers were still nervous about
the balance of power in the region. Austria-Hungary worried that Serbia was a
danger since some in Serbia also wanted closer ties with their fellow Serbs and other south
Slavs in the Dual Monarchy, and Serbia had close relations with Russia. Russia was glad to have new allies in the
Balkans, and wanted access to the Turkish Straits – but worried that someone else
might get their hands on Constantinople if the Ottomans collapsed completely. The Ottoman Empire was in a state of crisis
externally and internally. Its defeats had cost it much of its European
lands, and brought violent instability at home. 1908 though, would be a decisive year. The Young Turk revolution in July brought
a fresh constitution and a desire to modernize the empire and army, create a stronger Ottoman
identity, and preserve Ottoman territories – in particular Macedonia. But in October, Austria-Hungary shook the
Balkans and Europe by annexing Bosnia after 30 years of occupation, and withdrawing from
Novi Pazar. Russia was outraged, and Bulgaria used the
opportunity to sever all formal ties to the Ottomans. The result was more international tension,
and more chaos in Constantinople. Conservative forces tried to overthrow the
new Ottoman constitution in 1909, which led to a counter-coup, yet another constitution,
and a new sultan, Mehmet V. The next year even formal control of Crete
was lost, and Albanians revolted in favour of more autonomy, with Montenegrin support. The Balkan states also had their share of
problems, with Serbia and Greece suffering coups of their own and all nations having
difficulty exerting political control over their influential and nationalistic military
leadership. While the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire were
in turmoil, in 1911 Italy decided the time was right to expand its empire. Traditionally Britain, France, and more recently
Germany, had supported the Ottoman Empire to prevent a total collapse, but now they
allowed Italy to attack and occupy Ottoman Libya and the Dodecanese islands. The Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12 ended with
defeat for the Ottomans, who tried to limit their losses at the negotiating table. But the Balkan states had been watching closely,
and planned to take advantage of Ottoman troubles – with Russian encouragement. The Serbian and Bulgarian governments began
alliance talks in fall 1911 just after the Italo-Turkish War began, and in March 1912,
they agreed on a defensive alliance – which changed to an offensive alliance in May. Soon after, Montenegro and Greece joined with
separate agreements, and the Balkan League was born. The League resolved to make war on the Ottoman
Empire to gain what they felt were lands that belonged to their peoples, but they had conflicting
claims they all said dated back to medieval times. Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece wanted Macedonia,
while Bulgaria and Greece both wanted Thrace. Montenegro and Serbia wanted the Sanjak of
Novi Pazar, the area around the port of Scutari on the Adriatic, and Kosovo. The Albanians hoped for autonomy which would
include Scutari and Kosovo. In most of these regions, the mix of nationalities
and religions did not align with political plans: Turks, Albanians, Bulgarians, Serbs,
Montenegrins, Greeks, Jews, and other groups lived in communities that overlapped over
the centuries. The League wanted to take territory from the
Ottomans, but made few formal agreements on how it would be divided. Serbia and Bulgaria agreed on how to divide
part of Macedonia, but part was considered a disputed zone that could be assigned after
the war with Russian arbitration. So the Balkan League determined to make war
on the Ottomans without a clear post-war plan to divide the spoils. But first, they would have to defeat the Ottoman
army just as the Italians had done. The First Balkan War began on October 8, 1912,
when Montenegro attacked the Ottomans ahead of schedule to get the jump on rival Serbia. The rest of the Balkan League members quickly
gave the Ottomans a pro forma ultimatum. Hard pressed Ottoman Grand Vizier Muhtar wanted
to save the peace, and even demobilized part of the Ottoman 3rd Army in Thrace, but the
influential Young Turk party called the Committee for Union and Progress wanted to fight. The Empire was again on the brink of civil
war but declared war on the Balkan League October 16. Most European observers expected the Ottomans
would win. The Empire’s population of 24 million was
more than twice the League’s combined 10 million, and on paper the Ottomans could field
600,000 men. The regular troops also gained experience
fighting the Italians and rebels in Albania and Macedonia. But the Ottomans also faced problems: many
of their best officers, like Mustafa Kemal and Enver Bey were stuck in Libya, and the
reserve troops were badly trained, and equipped with a mishmash of weaponry. The Ottoman navy was weak, and the army only
had 315,000 men in Europe. The Balkan League could count on 825,000 soldiers:
350,000 Bulgarians, 230,000 Serbs, 200,000 Greeks, and 45,000 Montenegrins. Most of the soldiers were peasant conscripts,
equipped with a variety of European weapons, including French and German artillery and
a few observation aircraft. The Greek navy, with 16 destroyers and an
armoured cruiser, ensured control of the Aegean sea. (McMeekin) When the Great Powers issued a
statement on October 10 saying they wanted to keep the territorial status quo if it came
to war, what they really meant was they would not allow the Ottomans to expand if they won. All over the Balkans, families saw their young
men off to the front, including Bulgarian Nedko Kableshkov’s 21-year-old-son Anton:
‘By noon, [Anton’s] chest was overflowing with flowers [from well-wishers], and we sent
him off to the train station. On the way, we ran into a crippled Greek. This meeting was a bad omen - I feared that
my son would also be crippled; I wanted us to go back. But I didn't want to discourage him, so we
continued on towards the station." https://bulgarianhistory.shop/product/-poslednata-krepost/4/241 In Eastern Thrace three Bulgarian Armies faced
the Ottoman 1st Army. The Ottomans thought the Bulgarians would
move on Macedonia, so that’s where they had most of their troops – but the Bulgarians
send the bulk of their units towards the fortress towns of Edirne and Kirikkilise, aka Adrianople
and Lozengrad, on the road to Constantinople. Bulgarian troops surrounded the Ottoman garrison
at Edirne, and Deputy commander in Chief Mihail Savov said that he was ready to sacrifice
100,000 men to storm it. The Bulgarians did not storm the fortress,
but young Anton Kableshkov was killed just outside its walls. East of Edirne, Ottoman 1st Army commander
Abdullah Pasha thought he outnumbered the enemy, so he sent his troops forward in a
hasty advance on October 21. At the Battle of Kirk Kilise, the outnumbered
Ottomans fought for three days before the Bulgarians break their lines. The Bulgarians could probably have completely
smashed the Ottoman army if they had pursued, but instead they rested while the Ottomans
rushed in reinforcements, and restored discipline. Ottoman senior officer Muhtar Pasha reflected
on the disaster: “The causes of our defeat are to be found
in our bad military organization, and in the lack of discipline of our reservists, but
the principle cause was the rain, which had continued for a week, completely destroying
the moral of our army, and for 3 days, rendering impassable the roads and fields to our
trains and artillery.” Hall 27
On the 29th, the Bulgarians attacked the fresh Ottoman defensive positions at Lyule Burgas. At first the Ottomans were able to hold the
line, but when their logistics couldn’t furnish the guns with enough shells, the Bulgarians
again defeat them thanks to determined infantry attacks and superior artillery. Each side suffered 20,000 killed and wounded
in the largest battle in Europe between 1871 and 1914. On November 2, reeling Ottoman forces retreated
to the Catalca line, just 30 km from the imperial capital of Constantinople. The Ottoman government requested an armistice,
but Tsar Ferdinand refused and did not inform his allies. On November 17, the Bulgarians tried to break
through the Catalca line and fulfil Tsar Ferdinand’s dream of reaching the old Byzantine capital,
but fierce Ottoman resistance, stretched logistics, and a cholera outbreak stopped them. Still, with Bulgarian advance on land and
the Greek navy off the coast, Ottoman forces in the rest of the Balkans had been cut off. Some of the towns and villages captured by
Bulgarian troops in Thrace were populated by Bulgarians, many of whom considered themselves
liberated. Elena Bizeva later recalled when Bulgarian
irregulars, among them poet Peyo Yavorov, entered her town:
“When the people entered the church, they took off their fezzes and held them in their
hands, and Yavorov sat on the [priest's] chair and began speaking. He said we were free, and that we needn’t
fear Turkish prisons anymore. Then he asked “What will you do with those
fezzes?” And they all tossed them to the ground and
trampled them. It was like they were taking out all their
anger at the Turks on those fezzes.” (Ilinchev,)
Meanwhile in Macedonia, Serbian forces came up against Ottoman resistance quicker than
General Putnik expected at Kumanovo. The Serbs outnumbered the Ottoman Vardar Army
100,000 to 58,000, but the Ottomans under Zeki Pasha launched the first attacks on October
23. In the driving rain and mud, the Serbs counterattacked
at great cost that observers compared to the Japanese attacks in the Russo-Japanese War
– but the firepower of modern artillery and machine guns meant soldiers dig trenches
and foxholes to keep out of harm’s way. Serbian medic Dragoljub Radojković was in
the midst of the fighting: “I look out of the trench and see a wounded
man on the parapet […] I shout to him, but he doesn’t hear me. He’s hit again and faints. Some men carry him in, and blood is gushing
from his neck. I wrap one bandage, then another. We get him onto a stretcher, but the man dies.” (Paunic)
In the end the Serbian artillery carried the day and the Serbs won the Battle of Kumanovo. The victory earned Putnik the title Vojvoda,
left the Serbs in possession of the part of Macedonia disputed with the Bulgarians, and
routed the Ottomans, who fled south. Another result was chaos amongst the local
Muslim population, and many dead and wounded on both sides. Radojković was at the train station a day
after the battle: “In the morning […] we went down to the
train station in Kumanovo. Captured Turks, the Turkish people, - women,
children, everything was crowded there. The trains were not running. One train, freight wagons, a train full of
wounded, bot moving, a train full of dead Turks. Blood dripped from the wagon onto the rails.” (Paunic)
The Serbs pursued and pushed the Ottomans back at the Battles of Prilep and Bitola,
while the Ottomans withdrew to southern Albania. They also move forces west towards Scutari
and the Adriatic coast, where they join Montenegrin forces besieging the town. In the north, the Serbs also capture the Sanjak
of Novi Pazar and the town of Prizren, which the Montenegrins had wanted. Serbian troops also entered Kosovo, but faced
resistance from local Albanians. In the south, the Greek Army of Thessaly made
straight for Salonika. Greece was also interested in Macedonia, but
they prioritized the drive for Salonika to reach it before the Bulgarians could. Greek troops pushed the Ottomans aside at
Sarantaporos Pass and with more difficulty at Yanitsa. The way to Salonika was open, and the Greek
army surrounded the city on November 7. A Bulgarian division rushed south, and the
commander sent a message ahead asking the Ottomans to surrender to him instead of to
the Greeks, but it was too late. The Ottoman commander replied that he only
had one Salonika, and he had surrendered it to the Greeks on November 8. This was a critical League victory as Ottoman
forces were now completely cut off from any hope of reinforcement. It was also a personal tragedy for Ottoman
officer Mustafa Kemal, as it was his home town, and fueled his anger at Constantinople:
“Then one day I heard, my homeland [Salonika], my mother, my sister, my relatives and acquaintances,
were handed over to the enemy, by the very [Ottoman leadership] who expelled me for unveiling
the truth about them.” (Kemal 121) Kemal also said he would have
every Ottoman officer above the rank of major fired. After taking Salonica, Greek and Bulgarian
troops began an uneasy joint presence in the city. In the west, Greek troops also made progress
and besieged the Ottoman fortress at Yanina. As the Balkan League armies advanced, the
Christian and Muslim civilian population suffered from atrocities committed by all sides. This was made worse by the presence of irregular
forces of locals who supported their countrymen’s armies, but also blurred the line between
soldiers and non-combatants for enemy soldiers. Some Christians turned on Muslim officials
who had repressed them in the past, or on Muslim - and sometimes Christian – landowners
before seizing their lands. A British journalist with the Bulgarian army
reported: “The track of the Bulgarian army [in Thrace] is marked by 80 miles of ruined
villages.” (Mcmeekin 72)
Greek commander Crown Prince Constantine ordered Muslim villages destroyed since he claimed
Muslims were shooting at his troops, and Greek soldier Stratis Myrivilis later included his
experience in his writing: “All male prisoners [in the village] were
to be executed. I was opposite an old [Turk]. His grandfatherly face was bruised, he whispered
prayers, and his silky beard moved in the wind. […] I pulled the trigger and he fell into
the mud like he was struck by lightning. [After the executions we set the village on
fire]. Suddenly, a frenzied crowd rushed over, children
and women freed from the mosque [where we had imprisoned them]. They run to the corpses screaming, to look
for their loved ones. [This memory] lives and circulates inside
me like an anguished virus.” Myrivilis 26-27
Constantinople was filled with hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, with the old
city turned into a camp, including the famous Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sofia mosque turned
into a cholera hospital. The British consul at Salonika was blunt:
“The result of the massacre of Muslims at the beginning of the war, of the looting of
their goods in the ensuing months, of the settling of Christians in their villages,
of their persecution by Christian neighbours, of their torture and beating by Greek troops,
has been the creation of a state of terror among the Islamic population. Their one desire is to escape from Macedonia
and to be again in a free land.” (Ungor 82) The Powers sent warships to Constantinople,
to protect the city’s Christian population from what they feared might be revenge killings
by Muslims. In just a few weeks, the Balkan League had
put together a string of decisive victories. Nearly all of Ottoman Europe was now under
their control, except for the fortresses of Edirne, Yanina, and Scutari. As a result of the Ottoman collapse, an Albanian
group, supported by Austria and Italy, declared independence on November 28, 1912. On December 3, the Ottomans signed an armistice
with Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia - but Greek military operations continued. So the Balkan League was victorious on all
fronts – but despite the armistice the war was not over, and the Great Powers were on
the cusp of getting involved. Even though the Ottoman armies were beaten
in the field, and the fleet bottled up by the Greek navy, militarily the Empire might
have had a chance to recover. It still held important fortresses, it was
holding on the Catalca line, had more reserves in Asia, and the Balkan League was divided
over the possible spoils. But the Ottomans had no allies. This time, the Great Powers would not support
the Empire as they had in the past, and even Germany, declared the war was a “free fight
with no favor.” The Powers now said that they would go back
on their declaration about the territorial status quo and accept border changes in favour
of the League. Even Austro-Hungarian foreign minister Leopold
von Berchtold said Vienna would not oppose Serbian expansion except for an Adriatic port. Russia was now worried the Bulgarians might
actually get to Constantinople before them, and they urged restraint. The events in the Balkans had also pushed
Europe to the brink of war. On November 21, Austria-Hungary acted to,
in its view, prevent Serbia from permanently occupying the Adriatic coast. Vienna mobilized 6 army corps – three facing
the Balkans and three facing Russia. Kaiser Wilhelm secretly assured the Austrians
that if Russia mobilized, Germany would support Austria – just as he would do again in July
1914. In response to Austrian moves, the Tsar held
a meeting with his war council, and the army drew up plans for a partial mobilization. But the council decided not to mobilize, partly
out of fear of provoking Germany, and partly because some ministers didn’t want to risk
war over Serbian access to the sea. The German government did not know how close
the Russians had come to mobilizing when they held their own infamous war council meeting
December 8. Chief of the General Staff von Moltke felt
that Germany should declare war now, before Russia got any stronger, but in the end the
council decided against it. Following the war scare and December armistice,
two parallel conferences took place in London on December 16 and 17, 1912. At the first conference, Ottoman delegate
Reshid Pasha said that his government would give up Macedonia and Salonica, but not Edirne,
Eastern Thrace, or the four islands at the mouth of the Dardanelles that Greece was demanding. The Ottomans also insisted on an independent
Albania rather than it being split between the Serbs, Montenegrins, and Greeks. The Bulgarians made a new demand for Edirne,
to compensate for lands they might lose to the Serbs, but this was a particular sticking
point because the fortress city was important for the safety of Constantinople. Reshid Pasha put it simply to the Bulgarian
representative: “[Edirne] is a window into our harem.” (Mcmeekin 76) The Greeks and Bulgarians argued
over who would get Salonika, while the Serbs and Bulgarians argued over Macedonia. Meanwhile at the separate Great Powers’
conference, the main topic was the borders of a Albania, of critical importance for Austria-Hungary
to limit Serbian power. But events in Constantinople overtook diplomacy. On January 23, 1913 a Young Turk government
took power again after yet another coup and the murder of War Minister Nazim Pasha. Supported by influential Turkish officers
like Enver Bey, many of whom came from the Balkan lands that were now lost, they decided
to continue the war to prevent the loss of Thrace. New Ottoman Foreign Minister Noradounghian
Effendi was defiant: “If Adrianople continues to resist, we shall fight to relieve her. If Adrianople falls, we shall fight to retake
her.” Hall 80 Ottoman troops including Mustafa Kemal landed
at Gallipoli on February 7, and at first they pushed the Bulgarians back around Bulair. But the Bulgarians rallied and the Ottoman
attack failed with the loss of 6000 dead to just 114 Bulgarians. Elsewhere, the Greeks took Yanina on March
6, and the Bulgarians and Serbians finally capture Edirne on March 26. French journalist Gustave Cirilli described
the state of the people in the starving city: “It was like a scene out of a fantastical
tale […] to see these human rags, with protruding teeth, devouring a sort of [bread] - black
lava in which the barely ground seeds fell out in yellow spots. Those who did not get their share of the fought-over
morsels watched the others savour them with envious tears in their eyes.” (Scott 49) At Scutari, Serbian troops arrived to help
the Montenegrins, who ignored warnings from the Great Powers and assaulted the city. A combined fleet of the Powers blockaded Montenegro,
causing the Serbs to leave, but the Montenegrins managed to take the city April 24 only to
agree to give it up to a future independent Albania just days later. The Ottomans had no choice but to accept a
peace deal, and the belligerents sign the Treaty of London on May 30, 1913, which reduced
Ottoman Europe to a small strip of land outside of Constantinople and created the Principality
of Albania. The First Balkan War came to an end in May
1913, and the Ottoman Empire in Europe seemed to be a thing of the past. But the borders between the victorious Balkan
League members are another matter altogether. Even before the First Balkan War had come
to an end, further conflict was brewing. Not only did the Balkan League members dispute
where the new borders would be, but Romania had also begun to make demands for Southern
Dobrudja, which was part of Bulgaria. In May 1913, the Powers awarded the town of
Silistra to Romania, which angered both sides, and made some Bulgarians doubt Russia as a
reliable ally. Bulgarians were also frustrated because in
their view, they had won the strategically important Thrace battles, but the Serbs were
left in possession of most of Macedonia and didn’t want to honour the pre-war agreement. Bulgaria and Greece were also still in conflict
over Salonika. Russia tried to mediate between Serbia and
Bulgaria, but the two rivals could not agree, and the Russians were still nervous about
Bulgarian troops so close to Constantinople. The Bulgarian army was in a fragile state,
as many soldiers were exhausted from the war, and some were willing to split Macedonia with
their allies if it meant peace. General Savov told the government to either
send the men home or go to war now. Without strong Russian backing, Sofia feared
it might lose Macedonia for good, so the Tsar ordered an attack against Serbia and Greece
on June 29 – although it’s not clear how much the government knew about this before
the shooting started. The Second Balkan War had begun. The Bulgarian Prime Minister tried to stop
the fighting in Macedonia, but it was too late. The Greeks and Serbs could claim Bulgaria
was the aggressor and agreed to divide Macedonia between them. Montenegro joined to stay in Serbia’s good
graces. On the Bulgarian side, the sudden attack had
confused communication and hampered operations. Their attack was uncoordinated and the Serbs
eventually stopped it, and defeated the Bulgarians at Bregalnitsa by July 8. The Greeks defeated a smaller Bulgarian army
around Kilkis and Doiran at around the same time, and eliminated isolated Bulgarian units
at Salonika. Bulgarian Mihail Madjarov’s son was killed
in the fighting: “I lost my very last hope. From that moment forth I became a man haunted
by grief. All around me seemed to go dark. All the misery and all the sorrow of Bulgaria
appeared to me to be twice as great. Each and every object in my home served as
a reminder to me of my lost happiness.” (Kolev 117) On July 11, Greek and Serb forces met and
the front stabilized. Retreating Bulgarians attacked Greek, Turkish,
and Serbian civilians, and advancing Greek and Serbian troops committed atrocities against
Bulgarian civilians, again after claims of attacks against their troops. Turkish civilian Ibosh Agha felt empathy for
Bulgarian refugees: “A Bulgarian peasant was leading a scrawny donkey on the wooden
saddle of which sat a child, her bare legs dangling on one side. […] The misery, the look of a dread and
utter agony in the small blinking eyes of the pockmarked face with the yellow straggly
beard were the very embodiment of human fear and despair. No, not human. It was the animal dread of cattle at the slaughterhouse,
the wild glassy stare of terror in a cornered animal. It was a look which, once perceived, made
one cringe with shame and humiliation, the shame of its having been in a human eye.” (Kolev 119) Meanwhile, Romania saw its chance and entered
the war on July 10 to take all of Southern Dobrudja. A quarter of a million Romanian troops of
the Army of the Danube entered Bulgaria and moved towards Sofia. The Bulgarians decided not to offer organized
resistance. Advancing Romanian troops, however, rode straight
into a cholera epidemic due to unsanitary conditions. Chaplain Dumitru Brumușescu complained bitterly
about the army’s lack of medical care: “In the hospital, there are no beds, so
the men lie on the floor in their uniforms. They’ve barely the strength to moan or ask
for water. Some are delirious, with spasmodic movements
of their arms and hands, some vomit onto the floor while others relieve themselves where
they lay. […] The lack of furniture, dishes, linens,
medical devices, medicine, and antiseptic rendered the presence of army doctors useless. I’ve seen a lot of messes, but this one
topped them all.” (Vada 305) About 2700 Romanian soldiers died
of cholera in summer 1913. The Ottomans saw their opportunity to recover
parts of Thrace, so crossed the Catalca line on July 12. The few Bulgarian troops left in the area
could offer only token resistance, and the Ottomans re-captured the fortress without
firing a shot on July 23. Many Bulgarian civilians fled, creating a
new wave of refugees, and another outbreak of cholera killed 4000 Ottoman troops. As Romanian troops got closer to Sofia and
Russia refused to intervene to help Bulgaria, the pro-Russian Bulgarian government resigned. It was replaced by a pro-German government
under Vasil Radoslavov, but fighting continued. Bulgarian forces recovered to win a defensive
battle against the Serbs and Montenegrins at Kalimantsi, and a successful counterattack
against the Greeks at Kresna Gorge. The Greeks asked for an armistice, and Sofia
ordered a stop to operations since even a Bulgarian victory could not reverse the tide
of the war. The peace treaties signed in August and September
1913 ended the Second Balkan War and redrew the map of the Balkans yet again, this time
to Bulgaria’s disadvantage. Romania got Southern Dobrudja. Austria-Hungary and Russia refused to support
Serbian maximalist demands in Macedonia so they could retain some influence with Bulgaria. Serbia did get most of Macedonia, but Bulgaria
kept a part and Greece kept Salonica. The Ottomans regained Eastern Thrace despite
their defeat in the first war. The Balkan Wars left a lasting impact on the
region and Europe as a whole. The fighting and the cholera were deadly:
125,000 Ottoman soldiers died, along with 65,000 Bulgarians, 36,000 Serbs, 9500 Greeks,
and 3000 Montenegrins. After more than 600 years, the Ottoman presence
in the Balkans was nearly gone. Albania was independent but its neighbours
claimed its territory. Many Balkan Christians saw the change as the
end of foreign domination and oppression. For more than 300,000 Balkan Muslims, the
changes meant expulsion from their homes and an uncertain future in Anatolia – and for
some Young Turks, radicalization against Christians still in the empire. Enver Pasha, who hailed from the Balkans and
would later play a key role in the Armenian genocide and killing of Ottoman Greeks in
the First World War, shared his anger: “How could anyone forget the plains, the
meadows, watered with the blood of our forefathers; abandon those places where Turkish raiders
had stalled their steeds for a full four hundred years, with our mosques, our tombs, our dervish
lodges, our bridges and our castles, to leave them to our slaves, to be driven out of [the
Balkans] to Anatolia: this is beyond a man’s endurance. I am prepared to sacrifice gladly the remaining
years of my life to take revenge on the Bulgarians, the Greeks and the Montenegrins.” (Ungor 85) The events of 1912-13 helped to create the
conditions for the catastrophe of 1914 as well. Bulgarian resentment at the lack of support
from Russia caused it to drift closer to Austria-Hungary and Germany. Tensions between Austria-Hungary and a much
larger Serbia increased. With Serbia as Russia’s only remaining Balkan
ally, Russia would be under more pressure to support Serbia in future conflicts. And in October 1913, Austria issued an ultimatum
to Serbia, with German support, to force Belgrade to remove its troops from northern Albania. A similar ultimatum in 1914 would transform
the Third Balkan War into the Great War. The complex tragedy of the Balkan Wars is
just one of the conflicts that we think it’s important to cover in our documentaries. We also made an epic documentary about the
Battle of Berlin in 1945 called 16 Days in Berlin – it's 4.5 hours long over 18 episodes,
taking you through the battle day-by-day. It features original film footage from Soviet
cameramen, never before seen photos of the battle, detailed maps and animations and expert
interviews with David Willey from the Tank Museum, Ian from Forgotten Weapons and more. Unfortunately, we can’t upload this series
to YouTube because it shows the grim reality of the 2nd World War – and that would get
as demonetized or worse. So where can you watch 16 Days in Berlin in
4k resolution? On Nebula, a streaming service we built together
with other creators and where we can upload We want to thank Dimitrije Petrović, Plamen
Ganev, Murat Dogan, Vasilis Athanasiou, and the Serbian State Archive for their help with
this episode. As usual, you can find all our sources for
this episode in the video description. I’m Jesse Alexander and this is The Great
War, a production of Real Time History and the only Youtube history channel that is still
tongue-tied after filming this episode.
