First Balkan War - Background

Background

Tensions among the Balkan states over their rival aspirations to the provinces of Ottoman-controlled Rumelia, namely Eastern Rumelia, Thrace and Macedonia, subsided somewhat following intervention by the Great Powers in the mid-19th century, aimed at securing both more complete protection for the provinces' Christian majority and protection of the status quo. By 1867, Serbia and Montenegro had both secured their independence, which was confirmed by the Treaty of Berlin a decade later. But the question of the viability of Ottoman rule was revived after the Young Turk Revolution of July 1908, which compelled the Sultan to restore the suspended Ottoman constitution, and the significant developments in the years 1909–11.

Serbia's aspirations towards Bosnia and Herzegovina were thwarted by the Austrian annexation of the province in October 1908, whereupon the Serbs focused their expansionist attentions to the south. Following the annexation, the Young Turks tried to induce the Muslim population of Bosnia to emigrate to the Ottoman Empire. Those who took up the offer were settled by the Ottoman authorities in those districts of northern Macedonia where the Muslim population was weak. The experiment proved to be a catastrophe for the Empire since the immigrants readily united with the existing population of Albanian Muslims in the series of Albanian uprisings before and during the spring of 1912. Some government troops who were ethnic Albanians switched sides, joining with the revolutionaries. In May 1912, after driving the Ottomans out of Skopje, the Albanian revolutionaries pressed south towards Manastir (present day Bitola), forcing the Ottomans to grant effective autonomy over large regions in June 1912. Serbia, which had helped arm the Albanian rebels and sent secret agents to some of the prominent leaders, took the revolt as a pretext for war. Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria had all been in talks about possible offensives against the Ottoman Empire before the Albanian revolt of 1912 broke out; a formal agreement between Serbia and Montenegro had been signed on 7 March.

On 18 October 1912, Peter I of Serbia issued a declaration 'To the Serbian People', which appeared to support Albanians as well as Serbs:

The Turkish governments showed no interest in their duties towards their citizens and turned a deaf ear to all complaints and suggestions. Things got so far out of hand that no one was satisfied with the situation in Turkey in Europe. It became unbearable for the Serbs, the Greeks and for the Albanians, too. By the grace of God, I have therefore ordered my brave army to join in the Holy War to free our brethren and to ensure a better future. In Old Serbia, my army will meet not only upon Christian Serbs, but also upon Moslem Serbs, who are equally dear to us, and in addition to them, upon Christian and Moslem Albanians with whom our people have shared joy and sorrow for thirteen centuries now. To all of them we bring freedom, brotherhood and equality.

In a search for allies Serbia was ready to negotiate a contract with Bulgaria. The agreement provided that, in the event of a victorious war against the Ottomans, Bulgaria would receive all of Macedonia south of the Kriva Palanka-Ohrid line. Serbia's expansion was accepted by Bulgaria as being to the North of the Shar Mountains (i.e. Kosovo.) The intervening area was agreed to be "disputed"; it would be arbitrated by the Tsar of Russia in the event of a successful war against the Ottoman Empire. During the course of the war, it was rapidly evident that neither did the Albanians see Serbia as liberators, as suggested by King Peter I, nor were the Serbs prepared to act upon his declaration. Massacres of Albanians took place throughout Kosovo and Northern Macedonia, just as massacres took place of ethnic groups not belonging to the "liberating" armies elsewhere in the conflict areas

After the successful coup d'état for unification with Eastern Rumelia, Bulgaria had started dreaming that its national unification will become true. For that purpose it built a large army, which gave it a self-esteem as the "Prussia of the Balkans." But even so, it was clear that Bulgaria could not win a war against the Ottomans alone.

In Greece, Army officers had revolted in August 1909 and secured the appointment of a progressive government under Eleftherios Venizelos, which they hoped would resolve the Cretan issue in Greece's favour and reverse their defeat of 1897 at the hands of the Ottomans. An emergency military reorganization led by a French military mission had been started for that purpose, but its work was interrupted by the outbreak of war. In the discussions that led Greece to join the League, Bulgaria refused to commit to any agreement on the distribution of territorial gains, unlike the deal with Serbia over Macedonia. Bulgaria's diplomatic policy was to push Serbia into an agreement limiting its access to Macedonia, while at the same time refusing any such agreement with Greece, believing that its army would be able to occupy the larger part of Aegean Macedonia and the important port city of Salonica (Thessaloniki) before the Greeks.

In 1911, Italy had launched an invasion of Tripolitania, which was quickly followed by the occupation of the Dodecanese Islands. The Italians' decisive military victories over the Ottoman Empire greatly influenced the Balkan states towards the possibility of winning a war against the Ottomans. Thus in the spring and summer of 1912 these consultations between the various Christian Balkan nations had resulted in a network of military alliances which became known as the Balkan League.

The Great Powers, most notably France and Austria-Hungary, reacted to this diplomatic grouping by trying to dissuade the League from going to war, but failed. In late September, both the League and the Ottoman Empire mobilized their armies. Montenegro was the first to declare war, on 25 September (O.S.)/8 October. The other three states, after issuing an impossible ultimatum to the Porte on 13 October, declared war on the Empire on 17 October.