History of the Balkans. History of the Balkan countries. Albania and Kosovo

• - Russia and Bulgaria, despite the difficulties in bilateral relations, are successfully implementing joint projects. Most of them relate to nuclear energy, oil refining products, and trade.
• - Balkan-Russian relations in the economic sphere are diverse and heterogeneous. Moscow makes in the XXI century. emphasis on the complete return of control in trade, export and import. In Serbia, Russia has established a monopoly in the oil and gas sector.
• - The Balkan Peninsula was an important sphere of influence for Russia. Alexander III, who became emperor in 1881, could not preserve this tradition. Having supported the independence of a number of Balkan states, he was unable to maintain control over the Bulgarian principality.
• - The Balkan states were at enmity with each other over territories. This threatened a large-scale conflict, which Russia tried to prevent by various means - alliances, diplomatic efforts, threats.
• - Alexander II sought to control the Balkans, therefore he sought support among the peoples of the region. Thanks to the support of Russia, in the nineteenth century. Serbia separated from Turkey, and then Bulgaria proclaimed independence from it.

Executive editor V. N. Vinogradov.

For the first time in Russian historiography, the history of the Balkan peoples in the 18th century is presented in a systematic form in connection with the situation in Europe. Christians became the advancing side, the Muslims the defending and retreating side. The Balkan direction in Russia's foreign policy was born, its decisive role in the process of liberating the region was determined. The book analyzes all the components of the Eastern question, the development of the liberation movement of Christian peoples, the evolution of the policy of the powers. The publication contains a description of the economic, social, political and spiritual development of the peoples of the Balkans.
For historians, political scientists, a wide range of readers.

Foreword (V. N. Vinogradov)

The Ottoman Empire: From Greatness to Decline (V. N. Vinogradov)

Part one.European panorama

The last crusade of Christian Europe (V. N. Vinogradov)

Russia's thorny path to the Black Sea (V. N. Vinogradov)

Tragedy on the Prut River (V. N. Vinogradov)

Prince Eugene of Savoy at the height of his glory (V. N. Vinogradov)

The Balkan question under Peter's closest successors (V. N. Vinogradov)

Elizaveta Petrovna and Maria Theresa on the sharp turns of European politics (V. N. Vinogradov)

Catherine II and Russia's breakthrough to the Balkans (V. N. Vinogradov)

Catherine and Joseph II: from confrontation to cooperation (V. N. Vinogradov)

War of 1787-1791 and the approval of Russia in the Balkans (V. N. Vinogradov)

General Bonaparte's Oriental Romance and Emperor Paul's Balkan Dreams (V. N. Vinogradov)

Part two.Balkan panorama

Danube principalities - autonomous, but under double oppression (V. N. Vinogradov)

Socio-economic development of the Wallachian and Moldavian principalities in the 18th century (L. E. Semenova)

Culture of the Danube Principalities (M.V. Fridman)

Crisis of the Ottoman military-fief system (socio-economic development of the Bulgarian lands in the 18th century (I. F. Makarova)

Towards feudal anarchy (Bulgarians under the rule of the Turkish Sultan) (I. F. Makarova)

At the origins of spiritual revival (Bulgarians under the rule of the Patriarch of Constantinople) (I. F. Makarova)

Serbs amid the rift in the Serbian ethnic space (A. L. Shemyakin)

Montenegro is a Slavic stronghold. Society life, state formation (Yu.P. Anshakov)

Land of three religions - Bosnia and Herzegovina (E. K. Vyazemskaya)

Greece: Aristocracy, Continental People, Islanders and Diaspora (G.L. Arsh)

Greece: Trade. Education. War of 1768-1774 Moray Uprising (G.L. Arsh)

Greece after the Kyuchuk-Kainardzhi peace (G.L. Arsh)

Mysterious Albania (G.L. Arsh)

Albania: Growing separatism of local rulers (G.L. Arsh)

Albania: Mahmoud Bushati and Ali Pasha Tepelena (G.L. Arsh)

The last century of the once glorious Dubrovnik Republic (V. N. Vinogradov)

Russian subjects of the Turkish Sultan (I. F. Makarova)

Conclusion (V. N. Vinogradov)

Terminological dictionary

Font: Less AaMore Aa

Formation and fall of the Western Bulgarian kingdom and the era of Greek rule 963-1186

Since Western Bulgaria was not affected by the hostilities, the Patriarch of Bulgaria Damian went from Silistria (Dorostol) there after the victory of the Greeks, stopping first in Sofia, and then going to Ohrid in Macedonia, which the traitor Shishman made his capital. Western Bulgaria included Macedonia and separate regions of Thessaly, Albania, Southern and Eastern Serbia and the westernmost regions of modern Bulgaria. It was here that numerous anti-Greek uprisings began after the death in 976 of Emperor John I of Tzimiskes. The culmination was the rebellion during the reign of Samuel (977-1014), one of the sons of Shishman. This ruler was gifted and energetic, but at the same time inhuman and unprincipled, as his position demanded. He began by killing all of his relatives and some members of the nobility who did not support his decision to restore absolute monarchy. The Holy See recognized him as king in 981, and he started a war with the Greeks - the only possible occupation for any self-respecting Bulgarian ruler. The emperor at that time was Basil II (976-1025), who was brave and patriotic, but young and inexperienced. During his first campaigns, Samuel achieved everything he wanted: in 985 he conquered Northern Bulgaria, in 986 - Thessaly, and in the same year defeated Basil II near Sofia. He later conquered Albania and the southern regions of Serbia and the present-day territories of Montenegro and Herzegovina. In 996 he began to threaten Thessaloniki, but first decided to put an army on ships and make an expedition against the Peloponnese. Here the Greek (East Roman) commander, following him, unexpectedly attacked and defeated him. Samuel and his son barely escaped.

Happiness began to betray him in 996, the Greeks again occupied Northern Bulgaria in 999 and regained Thessaly and partly Macedonia. Almost every year, Vasily II went to the Bulgarians, the country lay in ruins and could no longer resist. The final catastrophe broke out in 1014, when Vasily II completely defeated his insidious enemy in a mountain pass near Strumica in Macedonia. Samuel fled to Prilep. But when he saw his returning 15 thousand. army, all the soldiers of which, after being taken prisoner, were blinded by the Greeks, he died from a blow. Vasily II, known as the Bolgar fighter, went from victory to victory and, finally, in 1016, occupied the Bulgarian capital Ohrid. Western Bulgaria ended its existence, repeating the fate of Eastern Bulgaria, which fell in 972. The rest of the royal family followed the emperor to the Bosphorus, to an honorable conclusion. The triumph of Constantinople was complete.

Bulgaria, as an independent state, did not exist from 1018 to 1186. Basil II, despite the fact that he was cruel, not in the slightest degree a tyrant against the Bulgarians, and treated the conquered territory more like a protectorate than his own possession. But after his death, Greek rule became more difficult. The Bulgarian Patriarchate (existed since 972 in Ohrid) was reduced to an archbishopric; and in 1025 the see was occupied by the Greeks, who hastened to remove the Bulgarians from all important posts in the diocese. Many noble Bulgarians were sent to Constantinople, where they were given honorary titles, which should have made them forget about further resistance. In the XI century. the Pechenegs and Cumans (Polovtsians) often invaded the Balkan Peninsula, whom both Greeks and Bulgarians called for their help. Their forays did not always benefit the inviting party. Barbarians, as a rule, stayed for a long time and did a lot of damage. Often, some of them settled as unwanted settlers.

Thus, the ethnic map of the Balkan Peninsula became more and more variegated. Colonies of Armenians and Vlachs founded by imperial decrees were added to the nomadic settlers. The final touch was put on the map by the Normans who invaded here in 1081 and the crusaders who followed through the peninsula in 1096. The rampant looting by the latter led to the fact that the inhabitants of the Balkans could hardly have any sympathy for the cause of the participants in the Crusades. One of the consequences of all these turbulent events and the heavy oppression of the Greeks was the rapid spread of the Bogumil heresy. She became a refuge for a sense of patriotism, in which he found his way out. Emperor Alexei I Komnenos (ruled 1081-1118) cruelly persecuted the Bogumils, which only led to the growth of their ranks and the rapid advance of the teachings from their center westward to Serbia.

The reason for the final overthrow of the Bulgarian monarchy was undoubtedly national disunity and the lack of an organizing principle. Lasting success could only be achieved by an extremely gifted ruler who could do away with the centrifugal tendencies of the feudal nobility; Simeon and Samuel were prime examples of this. Another unfavorable factor was the Byzantine influence on the Church and the state, the absence of a permanent large army, the spread of the anarchist Bogumil heresy and, of course, the fact that the majority of the Slavic population did not want to participate in campaigns of conquest and fight for national greatness.

The rise and fall of the second Bulgarian kingdom 1186-1258

From 1186 to 1258 Bulgaria experienced a temporary revival. Its brevity was more than compensated for by the many significant events that happened during this period. The oppression of the Greeks and violent extortions led to the uprising of the Bulgarians, the center of which was Tarnovo on the Yantra River in Northern Bulgaria. It was a natural natural stronghold of strategic importance, which allowed control of several of the most important passes of the Balkan Mountains. This uprising coincided with the growing weakening of the Eastern Roman Empire, which, surrounded on all sides by enemies - Cumans (Cumans), Saracens (Arabs), Turks and Normans, was going through a severe crisis that preceded its collapse. The uprising was led by two brothers who were Wallachian shepherds. The rebels were blessed by Archbishop Vasily, who crowned one of the brothers, Ivan Assen, to reign in Tarnovo in 1186. Their initial actions against the Greeks were not successful. But, having secured themselves the support of the Serbs under the leadership of Stefan Nemani in 1188 and the Crusaders in 1189, they managed to somewhat improve their position. However, the Greeks still had enough strength, and the victories of the Bulgarians alternated with defeats. In 1196, John Asen I was killed, and after lengthy internal strife and a series of murders, his relative Kaloyan, or Ivan the Beautiful, succeeded him. This cruel and unprincipled, albeit decisive ruler soon put an end to all enemies inside the country and in eight years achieved such successes in foreign policy that Bulgaria almost restored its former borders. Moreover, he restored relations with Rome, much to the displeasure of the Greeks, and as a result of negotiations, Pope Innocent III recognized Kaloyan as king of the Bulgarians and Vlachs (according to Villardouin), and Basil as the church head of the country. In 1204, the celebrations of the coronation of Kaloyan and the consecration of Vasily to the papal legate took place in Tarnovo. The French, who settled in Constantinople during the 4th Crusade, recklessly, instead of becoming allies, became Kaloyan's enemies, and with the help of the Cumans (Polovtsy) he inflicted several defeats on them, capturing Baldwin I and brutally dealing with him. But in 1207 Kaloyan's life was cut short - he was killed during the siege of Thessaloniki by one of his generals, who was in close relationship with his wife. After 11 years of anarchy, Ioann Asen P. became king. During his reign, which lasted from 1218 to 1241, Bulgaria reached the peak of its power. He was the most enlightened of all the rulers of the country, and he waged not only successful wars with its external enemies, but also put an end to strife in the country itself. The prerequisites for the development of agriculture and trade appeared again. The king encouraged the founding of numerous schools and monasteries. He adhered to the traditions of his family and therefore made Tarnovo the capital of his country, which under him grew and was adorned with new buildings.

Constantinople was at this time famous for three Greek emperors and one French. First of all, John Asen II got rid of one of them - Theodore, who proclaimed himself a Basileus in 1223 in Ohrid. Following this, he annexed all of Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly and Epirus to his dominions and made his brother Manuel, who married one of his daughters, a co-ruler with a residence in Thessaloniki. His other daughter married Stephen Vladislav, who was king of Serbia in 1233-1243, and the third in 1235 became the wife of Theodore, the son of Emperor John III, who ruled in Nicaea. Earlier, the hand of this daughter was sought by the emperor Baldwin II the Younger, and even French feudal lords arrived in Constantinople after her, but the preference was still given to the daughter of the king of Jerusalem. John Asen II was deeply hurt by the refusal, which prompted him to come closer to the Greeks, with whom he entered into an alliance in 1234. John Asen II and his ally, Emperor John III, were, however, utterly defeated by the French under the walls of Constantinople in 1236, and the Bulgarian ruler, who did not want to see the Greeks re-establish their power in Constantinople, began to doubt his decision to conclude an alliance with them. ... Other Bulgarian kings were also unprincipled, but the entire foreign policy of this king was based on treason. John Asen II betrayed the Greeks and made an alliance in 1237 with the French. Pope Gregory IX, a great Grekophobe, threatened him with excommunication. The Bulgarian king forced his daughter to leave her Greek husband. The next year he again went over to the Greeks; then fear of the pope and his brother-in-law the king of Hungary pushed him to go over to the side of Baldwin II, to whom he came to help in the fight against the Greeks with a large army in 1239 in Thrace. Waging a war with the Greeks there with varying success, he learned about the death of his wife and eldest son from the plague and immediately returned to Tarnovo, ending the war and returning his daughter to her lonely husband. This monarch, easily adapting to a changing environment, died a natural death in 1241. Three rulers from his family, who occupied the throne after his death and whose reigns fell during the period 1241-1258, contrived to destroy everything that had been done by their predecessor. One after another, provinces were lost, internal anarchy grew. This famous dynasty came to an inglorious end in 1258, when its last representative was assassinated by his nobility, and from that time Bulgaria was only a shadow of itself.

Serbian rule and the final collapse of 1258-1393

We can say that starting from 1258 Bulgaria continued to fade away until it finally ceased to exist as a state in 1393. Throughout this period, Bulgaria never had a voice in deciding the fate of the Balkan Peninsula. Due to the fact that no ruler was able to restore order in the disintegrating country, there was a constant rivalry between local princes, an incessant series of marriages concluded for political reasons, and murders, conspiracies and rebellions of the feudal nobility. In addition, the borders of the country were repeatedly redrawn by warring principalities, which tore apart the fabric of the Bulgarian state. From the point of view of foreign politicians, a characteristic feature of this period is the actual disappearance of Bulgaria's independence for the benefit of the surrounding states, which alternately exerted their influence on the country. It is especially worth paying attention to the dominant position at this time on the Balkan Peninsula of Serbia.

Serbian Constantine, whose grandfather was Stefan Nemanja, occupied the Bulgarian throne from 1258 to 1277; he was married to the granddaughter of John Asen P. After the fall of the Latin Empire in Constantinople in 1261, the Hungarians, who became masters of Transylvania, entered into an alliance with the Greeks against Constantine; the latter called for help from the Tatars from the southern Russian steppes, who were at the peak of their power, and won. However, as a result of his diplomacy, the Tatars now played an important role in the Bulgarian civil strife. Then the daughter of the Greek emperor became the second wife of Constantine, and thus Constantinople gained influence on the internal affairs of the Bulgarian state. Constantine was succeeded by upstart rulers, over whom the Serbian king Urosh II (1282-1321) won a number of victories, who conquered Macedonia from the Bulgarians. In 1285 the Tatar-Mongols of the Golden Horde made a devastating raid on Hungary and Bulgaria. But the main danger threatened from the south, where dark clouds gathered, which later fell in a torrential downpour on the peninsula. In 1308 the Turks appeared on the shores of the Sea of \u200b\u200bMarmara, and in 1326 they fortified themselves in Brus (from that time Bursa). From 1295 to 1322 Bulgaria was ruled by Svyatoslav, a nobleman from Vidin. He was not worried about the Greeks, and now he saw the threat from the Turks; he managed to maintain order in the country to which his subjects were not accustomed. After his death in 1322, chaos reigned again. One of the rulers who succeeded him married the daughter of the Serbian king Uroš II, but unexpectedly made an alliance with the Greeks against Stefan Uroš III and sent his wife to Serbia. The Greeks and Bulgarians, unaccustomed allies, were defeated by the Serbs at Kyustendil in Macedonia in 1330.

From 1331 to 1365, Bulgaria was ruled by John Alexander, a noble nobleman of Tatar origin, whose sister became the wife of the greatest ruler of Serbia, Stefan Dusan. Moreover, John Alexander recognized Stephen as his suzerain, and from that time Bulgaria became a vassal of Serbia. Meanwhile, the Turkish storm was gathering strength. In 1354 the son of Osman I Orhan crossed the Hellespont, and in 1366 Murad I made Adrianople, which he captured in 1362, his capital. After the death of John Alexander in 1365, the Hungarians invaded Northern Bulgaria, and the king's successor called for the help of the Turks in the fight against them, as well as the Greeks. It was the beginning of the end. The Serbs, taking advantage of the absence of the Sultan in Asia Minor, launched an offensive, but were defeated near Adrianople in 1371 by the Turks, who in 1382 captured Sofia. In response, the Serbs entered into a large alliance with the southern Slavs, to which Bulgaria refused to join, but after a brief success in the war with the Turks in 1387, the Serbs were defeated by the Turks in the famous battle on the Kosovo field in 1389. Meanwhile, in 1388. the Turks occupied Nikopol on the Danube, and in 1393 destroyed the Bulgarian capital Tarnovo, sending Patriarch Euthymius into exile in Macedonia. So the state of Bulgaria passed into the hands of the Turks, and the Bulgarian Church passed to the Greeks. Many Bulgarians converted to Islam, and their descendants, the Pomaks, or Bulgarian Muslims, live in the country to this day. When Romania was conquered in 1394, and under Nikopol in 1396 the Hungarian king Sigismund was defeated, who hastily assembled an anti-Turkish crusade in Western Europe, the Turkish conquest became complete and final, although the battle of Varna had not yet taken place (in 1444. ) and was not yet captured by Constantinople (in 1453).

Turkish rule and liberation 1393-1878

We can rightfully say that from 1393 to 1877 Bulgaria had no history, but this fact can hardly be called a happy one. National life was completely suppressed, and what was understood in those days by national identity was in oblivion. It is well known, and many people in our time recognize this, that the Turks, among other peoples, have many remarkable qualities, are distinguished by their religious fervor and military passion. At the same time, it cannot be denied that from an aesthetic point of view, one can hardly say much good in praise of Muslim civilization. Who doesn't prefer the minarets of Istanbul and Edirne (the Turkish name for Adrianople) to the architecture of Budapest, the famous ideal of Christian Southeast Europe? However, it cannot be disputed that the Ottoman world brought prosperity to those who fell within its sphere of influence (albeit until their identity was dissolved in the religion of their conquerors).

The peoples conquered by the Turks faced an alternative - slavery or Turkicization. Those who could not accept either one or the other were forced to emigrate or, finding themselves outside the law, go to the mountains as robbers. The Turks dominated the European peoples of the Balkan Peninsula for five centuries, and, from the Turkish point of view, this was undoubtedly a brilliant achievement. This was much more than what the ancient Greeks and Romans achieved; and from a humanistic point of view, there is no doubt that less human blood has been shed during the five centuries of Turkish rule in the Balkan Peninsula than in the five centuries of Christian rule before the Turkish invasion. Indeed, it would be difficult to spill more of it. It is also a pure illusion to think of the Turks exclusively as atrocious and cruel people; they are good-natured and benevolent like other people. It was only when they were seized by military and religious passion that they became more ruthless and ferocious in comparison with others.

However, from the point of view of the Slavs of Bulgaria and Serbia, Turkish rule was synonymous with the notion of strangulation. If the Turks were in reality what their ardent admirers think of them, the history of the Balkan Peninsula in the 19th century. would have developed differently and would have been different from what it was in reality, namely: an endless series of anti-Turkish uprisings.

Of all the Balkan peoples, the Bulgarians experienced the greatest oppression. The Greeks, thanks to their omnipresence, their brains and their money, were soon able to make the Turkish wind spin the wings of their mills; the Romanians were to some extent protected by the Danube and the remoteness from Constantinople; Serbs were also bypassed by Turkish outbursts, and the inaccessibility of most of the country gave them some protection. Bulgaria was completely destroyed, and its population, which was far from homogeneous, was strongly influenced by numerous Turkish and Tatar settlements.

For all these reasons, Bulgaria was the last Balkan state to gain freedom. And for the same reasons, it was the least susceptible to prejudice and lacked what is called national preferences and internal cohesion, and therefore the heterogeneity of the nation made it energetic and enterprising. The attitude of the Turks towards Christians was always the same; generally speaking, it worsened as the sultan's power weakened. In the XV century. Christians were given relative freedom to peacefully practice their religion and practice. But since the 16th century. control by the sultan, like the power of the center, weakened, anarchy intensified in the Ottoman (Ottoman) Empire, and the power of the local rulers became more despotic.

However, the Muslim conquerors were not the only enemies and oppressors of the Bulgarians. The role played by the Greeks in Bulgaria during the Turkish rule was as important as the Turkish factor. The contempt with which the Turks treated Christians and their religion was so great that they prudently left the Church in the direct control of Christians, knowing that they would be mired in endless strife. From 1393 to 1767, the Bulgarians were under the jurisdiction of the Greco-Bulgarian Patriarchate with the center in Ohrid, all positions in which, from the highest to the lowest, were bought from the Turkish administration at exorbitant and constantly growing prices. The Phanariot Greeks (so named because they came from the Phanar quarter in Constantinople) were the only ones who could afford to occupy the highest positions; as a result, the church was controlled by Constantinople. In 1767 the independent patriarchates were abolished, and from that time on, religious control by the Greeks was as pervasive as that of Turkey. The Greeks did everything they could to destroy the last national Bulgarian traits that were preserved in the Church. And this explains the fact, which should never be forgotten and which has its origins in the distant past, but most clearly revealed at that time, that the personal hatred of the Greeks and Bulgarians for each other was always stronger than their collective hatred for the Turks.

Since 1472, when the Russian Tsar John III married Sophia Palaeologus, the niece of the last Greek emperor Constantine XI Palaeologus, Russia began to consider itself the patron saint of Eastern Christians, the defender of the Orthodox Church and the direct heir to the glory and prestige of Constantinople. However, only in the 18th century, when the Russian state became stronger, did the Balkan Christians receive protection and it was necessary to reconsider the role of Constantinople. Russian influence first manifested itself in Romania after the conclusion of the treaty in Kucuk-Kainardzhi in 1774 (which ended the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774). Only the anticipated war with Napoleon in 1812 prevented the Russians from expanding their territory south of the Danube, to which their border had already reached. Serbia became partly free in 1826, and Greece gained full independence in 1830, after Russian troops, defeating the Turks, occupied part of Bulgaria and advanced as far as Adrianople. Located closer to Constantinople and not being oppressed by it as much as before, Bulgaria had to wait in the wings. Attempts to raise an uprising at that time were suppressed in the most bloody manner, which led to the mass emigration of Bulgarians to Bessarabia. The free territories that remained after their departure were occupied by Kurds and Tatars. The Crimean War (1853–1856) and the short-sighted policy of support for Turkey by the Western European powers hindered the achievement of Russia's goals. Moldavia and Wallachia in 1856 came out from under Russian rule in the form of a semi-protectorate, which had been carried out for a long time, and in 1861 united into a single state of Romania. In 1866, the German prince Karl of Hohenzollern arrived in the country and began to rule. This was the first manifestation of German influence in the Middle East, although Romania at this time still recognized the power of the Sultan.

In the first half of the 19th century, an active process of cultural revival took place in Bulgaria, which was supported by the wealthy Bulgarian merchants of Bucharest and Odessa. In 1829, a book about the history of Bulgaria, written by a native of this country, was published in Moscow. In 1835, the first school was organized in Bulgaria, and soon after it others were opened. It should be remembered that at that time not only was nothing known in other countries about Bulgaria and the people inhabiting it, but it was necessary to tell the Bulgarians themselves who they are and what people they represent. The population of Bulgaria was exclusively peasant; in the country there was no upper and middle class, "intelligentsia", representatives of other professions. Enlightened Bulgarians lived in other countries; the church was in the hands of the Greeks, who vied with the Turks in the oppression of the Bulgarian nation.

The two committees in Odessa and Bucharest, which promoted the ideas of enlightenment and liberation of Bulgaria, were different in composition and goals. Members of the former placed greater emphasis on educational and religious reform, intending with its help to achieve a gradual and peaceful restoration of their country. The representatives of the second committee wished for the immediate declaration of independence of Bulgaria, and were ready to resort to violent and even, if necessary, military actions.

The church issue was resolved first. In 1856 Porta (Ottoman Empire) promised to carry out reforms in the church: to allow the supply of Bulgarian bishops and to recognize the Bulgarian language in the church and school. But these promises were not kept, and the Bulgarians took matters into their own hands. In 1860 they refused to further recognize the Patriarch of Constantinople. In the same year, the Bulgarian Church made an attempt to transfer to the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, but due to opposition from Russia, this attempt was unsuccessful. The tension in the church question was growing, and in 1870 the Turks concerned about this allowed the establishment of the Bulgarian Exarchate. The Bulgarian church became independent and national, and the exarch's residence was to be in Constantinople (Bulgaria continued to be a Turkish province). The Greeks, realizing what a blow this would inflict on their supremacy, were able to postpone the ill-fated day for a short time, but in 1872 the exarch triumphantly settled in Constantinople, where he stayed until 1908.

In the meantime, revolutionary uprisings began to grow, but they were always severely suppressed. The most famous uprising broke out in 1875, led by Stambulov, the future dictator. This uprising was organized in support of the uprising in Montenegro, Herzegovina and Bosnia that happened in the same year. As a result, both this performance and the like in 1876 ended with the infamous massacre of the Bulgarians. Indignation arose in Europe, and joint statements were immediately made to Constantinople. Midhat Pasha disarmed his opponents by temporarily adopting the British constitution in Turkey. But needless to say, the situation in Bulgaria has not changed for the better as a result. Russia, however, continued its preparations, and when Turkey refused to cease hostilities against Montenegro, on April 24 (12th O.S.), 1877, Emperor Alexander II, whose patience had run out, announced the beginning of the war. Charles, the ruler of Romania, supported the Russian emperor. Thus, he hoped, his country, still in vassal dependence on Turkey, will achieve final liberation and become a kingdom. The beginning of the war was favorable for the Russians and Romanians, who were soon joined by a large number of Bulgarian insurgents. Turkish forces were scattered throughout the peninsula. The committee in Bucharest was transformed into a provisional government, but the Russians, who intended to liberate their country, naturally had to temporarily concentrate administrative control in their hands, and they did not recognize it. The Turks, alarmed by the first victories of the Russians, placed the best generals and elite troops under their banners and defeated the Russians at Plevna in July. However, in August the Turks did not succeed in driving the Russians out of the important and famous Shipka Pass; the Turks were demoralized and their resistance quickly weakened. The Russians, assisted by the Bulgarians and Romanians, fought all summer with the greatest courage. In December they took Plevna after a three-month siege, in January 1878 they occupied Sofia (December 23, O.S.) and Philippopolis (Plovdiv), and had already approached Constantinople itself.

The Turks were at their last gasp, and in March (February 19, O.S.) 1878 in Adrianople, Ignatiev dictated the terms of the San Stefano peace treaty, according to which the Bulgarian principality was formed, under the nominal suzerainty of the Sultan. It stretched from the Danube to the Aegean Sea and from the Black Sea to Albania, including all of Macedonia. The Turks were left with the territory from Adrianople to Constantinople, Halkidiki and the city of Thessaloniki. Bulgaria was restored within the borders of the state of Tsar Simeon, who ruled 950 years ago.

This treaty, considering the ethnic aspect, was fair enough; however, he worried other powers, especially Great Britain and Germany, which suspected Russia of intending to establish its hegemony in the Balkans. It was believed that if the agreement was adopted, it would cancel out all the plans of Greece and Serbia. Instead, the Treaty of Berlin was signed in July 1878, initiated by Bismarck, who defended the interests of Austria-Hungary (as expected), and Lord Salisbury, the champion of the interests of Turkey (which was short-sighted). According to its terms, Bulgaria was divided into three parts. These were Northern Bulgaria, located between the Danube and the Balkans, which became an autonomous principality dependent on Turkey; Southern Bulgaria, fancifully called Eastern Rumelia (the Turks called the entire Balkan Peninsula Rumelia), became an autonomous province of Turkey under a Christian governor appointed by the Porta (Ottoman Empire); Macedonia and Thrace were left under Turkish rule, and Dobrudja, between the Danube and the Black Sea, was annexed to Romania. Nobody defeated the Russian troops near Plevna. There were unsuccessful attacks by Russian troops on the detachment of Osman Pasha blocked in the Plevna region on July 8 (20), July 18 (30) and August 26–31 (September 7–12). After that, Russian troops (with the participation of the Romanians) began the blockade of Plevna, and after an unsuccessful attempt to break through on November 27-28 (December 9-10), Osman Pasha, together with 43 thousand of his soldiers, surrendered.

Austria-Hungary, which did not participate in the war, received the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Slavic population desperately resisting the new enslavers (it was here, in Sarajevo, on June 28, 1914, that fatal shots were fired, which became the reason for the outbreak of the First World War). Russia returned the southwestern Danube section of Bessarabia (Romania received Dobrudja in return). In Transcaucasia, Russia was assigned Batum, Kara and Ardahan with their districts.

Buy and download for279 ₽ (€ 3,96 )

© "Centerpoligraph", 2018

* * *

Bulgaria and Serbia

Introduction

The mountainous Balkan Peninsula in the north has an approximate border along the Sava and Danube rivers, in the west it goes south along the Adriatic coast past Lake Skutari (Shkoder) and further, following the coastline up to the vicinity of Thessaloniki, and then goes north to the Danube estuary on the coast The Black Sea; in the west, the Balkan Peninsula is washed by the Adriatic and Ionian seas, in the east - by the Aegean, Marmara and Black seas. It is populated mainly by Slavs. These are Bulgarians in the east and center, Serbs and Croats in the west, Slovenes in the extreme northwest, between Trieste and the Sava River. All these peoples represent the South Slavs 1
The author does not distinguish separately the Boshniaks (part of the Serbs who have long converted to Islam) and the Macedonians, who are quite close to the Bulgarians. (Hereinafter, except for those indicated separately, note ed.)

Other inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula, living south of the Slavs: in the western part - Albanians, Greeks - in the center and in the south and Turks in the southeast; and to the north of the Slavs are the Romanians. Separate groups of various numbers of representatives of all these four peoples are interspersed with the Slavic population of the peninsula. But most of them live outside the Slavic territory. In turn, there is a significant Serb population north of the Sava and Danube rivers, in southern Hungary. More details about the ethnic composition and boundaries of residence of various peoples will be discussed later. In the meantime, you can draw the reader's attention to the interesting fact that the name "Macedonia", which is the heart of the Balkan Peninsula, has long been used by French gastronomes to denote a dish, the main feature of which is that its components are mixed into an inseparable whole.

Historically and geographically, of the already mentioned Slavic peoples, Bulgarians, Serbs and Croats occupy a much larger territory than Slovenes. The latter at the beginning of the XX century. there were hardly more than one and a half million, they lived in the Austrian provinces of Carinthia and Carniola and for a long time could not form their independent state 2
It was formed only in 1991 during the collapse of Yugoslavia.

However, with the growth of the port of Trieste and the persistent attempts of Germany to spread its influence, if not subjugate the Adriatic coast, this small people, thanks to its geographical position and anti-German (and anti-Italian) position, gained a certain fame and significance.

About the Bulgarians and Serbs, we can say that at that time the former controlled the eastern part of the peninsula, and the latter, in alliance with the Greeks, controlled the western part of the peninsula.

Always, each of the three peoples strove to dominate this region, which led to endless bloody wars and the waste of large sums of money, resulting in hopeless poverty. Considering the issue from a purely ethnic point of view, Bulgaria should have received the inner regions of Macedonia. Most of the peoples inhabiting it are Bulgarian in spirit, if not in origin, and Bulgaria, in this case, would undoubtedly establish its hegemony on the peninsula. While the center of gravity of the Serbian nation, which is ethnically justified, would shift to the northwest. Political considerations, however, have always been in conflict with such a solution to the issue. Even if he found a solution in this aspect, the problem of the Greek nation remained unresolved. Its presence on the European and Asian coasts of the Aegean Sea would make it absolutely impossible to delimit the borders of the Greek state on a purely ethnic basis. An interesting fact: the Slavs, who dominated the interior of the peninsula and partly on its eastern and western coasts, never tried to seize the Aegean coast and the cities located there. The Adriatic remained the only sea, apart from the Black Sea, on the coast of which the Balkan Slavs settled. In this regard, only the inner parts of the peninsula were Slavic, while the coastal areas were owned by the Greeks, who were equal in number to all three Slavic peoples. It is inevitable that the final solution to the controversial issue and the determination of the borders of states could be sought on the path of a territorial compromise.

Balkan Peninsula in ancient times 400 BC e. - 500 AD e.

In ancient times, the entire eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula between the Danube and the Aegean Sea was called Thrace, the western part (41 ° north latitude) - Illyria; in the lower reaches of the Vardar river (ancient Aksiy) 3
And now this river in the lower reaches and up to the mouth (flowing through the territory of Greece) is called Axios.

Macedonia was located. Preserved data on the names of tribes and personal names of the Illyrians and Thracians. Philip II, king of Macedonia (reigned 359–336 BC), conquered Thrace in the 4th century. BC e. and in 342 BC. e. founded the city of Philippopolis 4
On the site of the city of Eumolpiada that existed here.

The first campaign of Alexander the Great was intended to consolidate dominance on the peninsula, but in the 3rd century the Celts, who had previously passed through Illyria, invaded Thrace from the north and devastated it. The Celts left at the end of the same century, and the geographical names that have survived from that time indicate the path they traveled. The city of Belgrade up to the 7th century. was known by the Celtic name Singidunum. Perhaps, modern Nish, in the past Nais, has a Celtic name at its base. By 230 BC. e. the first contacts of Ancient Rome with Illyria, to which the pirate inclinations of its inhabitants led. But for a long time, Rome controlled only the Dalmatian coast, named after the Illyrian Dalmatian tribe. This was due to the mountainous nature of the Illyrian landscape. Several mountain ranges, almost without interruption, stretched parallel to each other along the entire Adriatic coast, forming a natural obstacle to invasion from the west. The interior of the peninsula gradually began to be conquered by the Romans after they in 146 BC. e. finally conquered Macedonia. Throughout the 1st century. BC e. conflicts flared up with varying success between the conquerors and local tribes occupying the territory from the Adriatic coast to the Danube. They were attacked both from Aquileia from the north and from Macedonia from the south, but only at the very beginning of the 1st century did the Danube become the border of the Roman Empire.

In 6, the city of Moesia, which occupied most of the Serbian kingdom at the beginning of the 20th century and the northern half of the Balkan kingdom, located between the Danube and the Carpathians 5
Captured by Rome in 29-27. BC e. during the campaign of Crassus, in 15 AD. e. provincial government introduced.

(antique Hemus), became a province of the Roman Empire 6
The name of the Carpathians comes from the Indo-European "kar" - "ker", which means "stone", "rocky place", etc. Already in Roman times, the Carpathians were called so. They were also called the Sarmatian mountains.

Twenty years later, Thrace, located between the Carpathians and the Aegean coast, became part of the empire and became a province under the Emperor Claudius in 46. The province of Illyria, also called Dalmatia, stretched from the Sava River to the Adriatic coast, the province of Pannonia was located between the Danube and the Savoy ... In 107, Emperor Trajan finally conquered the Dacians who inhabited the lands in the lower reaches of the Danube, and formed the province of Dacia on an area approximately equal in area to modern Wallachia and Transylvania. The Roman domination of this trans-Danube territory lasted for no more than 150 years, but the entire territory stretching from the Adriatic to the Danube delta, which flows into the Black Sea, was repeatedly Romanized. Emperor Trajan is called by historians "Charlemagne of the Balkan Peninsula"; here everything is reminiscent of him, and his reign marked the zenith of the power of the Roman Empire in this part of the world. The Balkan Peninsula enjoyed the benefits of Roman civilization for three centuries, from the 1st to the 4th century, but starting from the 2nd century, the Romans were much more often on the defensive than on the offensive. The war of the emperor Marcus Aurelius against the Marcomans in the second half of the 2nd century. became a turning point. Rome still won victories, but new territories were no longer annexed to the empire. In the III century. Germanic tribes rushed southward, they came to the place of the Celts. Goths 7
As well as the allied tribes of the Northern Black Sea region, from the Scythians and Sarmatians to the Slavs and others.

They invaded the territory of the peninsula, and in 251 the emperor Decius was killed in a battle with them near Odessa (modern Varna), a city on the Black Sea coast 8
The Battle of Abritta took place further north, in Dobrudja, in a swampy area.

Then the Goths penetrated the vicinity of Thessaloniki, but were defeated by the emperor Claudius at Nais in 269; however, shortly thereafter, the emperor Aurelian was forced to cede Dacia to them. Emperor Diocletian, originally from Dalmatia, who ruled from 284 to 305, carried out a government reform. The boundaries of the provinces were changed, 12 dioceses were formed, which, in turn, were divided into provinces. Under Constantine (reigned 306–337), several dioceses were united into a prefecture (there were 4 prefectures in total). Pannonia and Illyricum (including Dalmatia) went to the prefecture of Italy, Thrace to the prefecture of the East, while the entire central part of the peninsula became part of the prefecture of Illyria with the capital in Thessaloniki. Areas north of the Danube were lost; what is now Western Bulgaria began to be called the diocese of Dacia, and Moesia, the modern kingdom of Bulgaria, shrank in size and became part of the diocese of Thrace. The southern part of Dalmatia, that is, modern Montenegro, was transferred to the Illyrician diocese.

In 325, an important event took place with far-reaching consequences - Constantine the Great founded the capital of the empire on the site of the Greek colony of Byzantium. In the same century, the Huns invaded Europe from Asia. In 375, having crossed the Don River, they defeated first the Alans, and then the Ostrogoths, who settled between the Dnieper and the Dniester, and the Visigoths who inhabited Transylvania and modern Romania, as a result of this event, moved south. Emperor Valens died in 378 in a battle with the Visigoths at Adrianople (a city founded by Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century in Thrace). The emperor of Theodosia, who replaced him, tried to pacify them with gifts and set them as guards on the northern border. But after the death of the emperor in 395, the Goths invaded the Balkan Peninsula and devastated it, after which they went to Italy. After the death of Theodosius, the empire was divided and never became a single whole again. The border between the two parts of the empire passed along the already mentioned border separating the prefecture of Italy and the prefecture of Illyria (on the Balkan Peninsula) and the East (in North Africa - between the diocese of Egypt, which belonged to the prefecture of the East, and the diocese of Africa, which was part of the prefecture of Italy). That is, it began in the south on the coast of the Adriatic Sea near the Bay of Kotor and went north along the Drina valley until the confluence of the latter with the Sava.

In the future, it will become clear that this section had consequences that are tangible up to the present day. In short, the Western Roman Empire was Latin in language and character, while the Eastern was Greek, although due to the military importance of the Danube provinces to Rome and the close relationship between them, Latin influence in them for a long time was stronger than Greek. This influence is confirmed by the example of modern Romania, whose people partially, and the language to a large extent, was formed in opposition to Trajan's Roman legionaries with their Latin language.

Latin influence in shipping, settlement and art on the shores of the Adriatic Sea was overwhelming, and Greek culture dominated the Black Sea coast. Even in the language of the Albanians, descendants of the ancient Illyrians, which is distinguished by a meager vocabulary, up to one quarter of Latin borrowings are found. Despite the fact that the ancestors of the Albanians were pressed from the north by the Romans and from the south by the Greeks, they still live in their mountain strongholds, immune to the influence of other civilizations.

Christianity spread very early on the coasts of the peninsula; Macedonia and Dalmatia were the areas where it was established in the first place. It took some time for him to penetrate deep into the peninsula. During the reign of Diocletian, many Christian martyrs suffered for their faith in the Danube provinces, but with the accession to the throne of Constantine the Great, the persecution ceased. However, as soon as the Christians were left on their own, they began to persecute each other, and in the 4th century the entire peninsula was shaken by the Arian disputes.

In the V century. the Huns moved from the shores of the Black Sea and reached the plains of the Danube and Tisza; they devastated the Balkan Peninsula, despite the payment by Constantinople of the tribute they had imposed on it in exchange for their promise to make peace. In 453, after the death of Attila, the Huns returned to Asia again 9
After a heavy defeat in the battle on the Catalaunian fields (west of the modern city of Troyes in France) in 451, where, according to the Gothic historian of the VI century. Jordan, up to 200 thousand soldiers fell on both sides, Attila's failure in Italy and his absurd death on a marriage bed with his next wife, in 454 the Huns were completely defeated by the Gepids and other peoples who rebelled against their rule, after which they were soon finally destroyed in the Northern Black Sea region, other waves of nomads who invaded here from the East.

And in the second half of this century, the Goths dominated the peninsula. Theodoric captured Singidunum (modern Belgrade) in 471 and, having plundered Macedonia and Greece, in 483 settled in the city of Nova (modern Svishtov in Bulgaria) on the lower Danube, from where he went to Italy ten years later. At the end of the century, the Huns returned to the lower Danube and made several devastating raids on the peninsula, reaching Epirus and Thessaly.

The arrival of the Slavs to the Balkan Peninsula 500-650 years.

The Balkan Peninsula, which during the rule of the Romans achieved unprecedented prosperity and ensured a secure existence for itself, gradually began to plunge into a barbaric state as a result of endless invasions and raids. Cities protected by fortress walls, such as Thessaloniki, Constantinople and others, were the only safe place, and all the lands surrounding them turned into deserted wastelands. This situation persisted for three centuries. Two conclusions could be drawn from this: either these lands had an unprecedented ability to quickly recover, and therefore they were plundered so often, or, which looks more plausible, after a while there simply was nothing left that could be plundered. That is why the reports of the Byzantine chroniclers about the huge number of prisoners and captured trophies are clearly exaggerated.

It is impossible to calculate how many times the waves of invasions swept across the unfortunate peninsula, leaving behind a devastated territory. The emperors and their generals did everything possible in their power: they built defensive structures on the borders, made punitive expeditions, tried to quarrel among themselves the hordes of barbarians. But they had to defend an empire that stretched from Armenia to Spain, and it’s not surprising that, despite their best efforts, they were not always lucky. The growing wealth of Constantinople and Thessaloniki irresistibly attracted wild tribes from the east and north. Unfortunately, Greek citizens tended to waste their energies in theological debates and spend their free time in the circus, rather than defending the country. Only thanks to large monetary payments to the enemies who were ready to invade the country, the Greeks managed to protect their coast from them. The departure of the Huns and the Goths opened the way for new unwanted visitors. In the VI century. for the first time the Slavs appear on the peninsula. They came from their homeland, located north of the Carpathians in Galicia and Poland, and also, possibly, from the territory of modern Hungary. Their path ran south and southeast. Presumably, they visited Dacia in the previous century, in the lands north of the Danube, but the Slavs are first mentioned when they crossed this river during the reign of Emperor Justin I (518–527). These were scattered tribes without any single leader or central authority. Some say that they were driven only by the instinct of anarchy, while others argue that they carried the ideals of democracy. We can only say with confidence that they did not have developed either the institution of leaders or initiative, and there was no cohesion and organization. The Eastern Slavs, the ancestors of the Russians, were only at the stage of formation of their community, while the Scandinavians (Varangians), adventure seekers, relatively fewer came to Kiev and began to rule there. The South Slavs were likewise incapable of forming an independently united community, setting a definite goal for themselves and achieving it. 10
The Slavs had strong tribal associations, there were talented leaders who skillfully led them in battles, well described by East Roman historians (Procopius of Kessaria, Mauritius, Foefilakt Simokatta). The first invasion of the Slavs, who defeated 15 thousand. army of the empire, recorded in 499 in the battle on the river. Tzutra in Thrace, the East Roman army lost 4 thousand soldiers killed and drowned.

The Slavs invaded the Balkan Peninsula not alone, but together with the Avars 11
The Slavs invaded the empire for several decades before the arrival of the Avars.

A terrible, fearsome people who, like the Huns, came from Asia (from the Turks or Mongols). These invasions occurred more and more frequently during the reign of Emperor Justinian I (527-565) and ended in 559 with a large joint offensive of all the tribes under the command of a certain Zabergan against Constantinople. The famous Byzantine commander Belisarius won a brilliant victory over them. The Avars were a nomadic tribe, and the horse was their natural means of transportation. The Slavs went on foot 12
The Slavs were excellent horsemen (as well as infantrymen).

And, apparently, more experienced Asians used them as infantry in their military campaigns. The Avars, whose number was believed to be significantly less than the number of the Slavs, settled in Pannonia, where Attila and the Huns had been for more than a century before. The Avars were located north of the Danube, although they constantly invaded Upper Moesia - modern Serbia. The Slavs, whose number, no doubt, was very significant, gradually settled throughout the territory south of the Danube. The agricultural lands here have become desolate and depopulated as a result of endless invasions. In the second half of the VI century. all military efforts of Constantinople were directed to Persia 13
Until 1935, it was customary to call Iran this way in Western Europe, Russia and the United States. Since 1935, at the request of the Iranian government, the country has been officially called Iran.

So any invader who invaded the Balkan Peninsula had all the advantages. It was during this period that the Avars reached the peak of their power. They became masters of the whole country, up to the walls of Adrianople and Thessaloniki, although they did not settle there. The peninsula appears to have been colonized by the Slavs who also infiltrated Greece. But the Avars all this time were the dominant and guiding force in the political and military fields. During the second Persian war, which broke out in 622, 14
There were many Iranian-Byzantine wars - the war of 502-506; the war of 527-532; repeated clashes in Lazik (Colchis, modern Western Georgia), which ended in "eternal peace" in 562; war 572-591 and, finally, the war 602 (sometimes written 604) - 628, which ended with a peace treaty in 629. During this last war, the parties completely exhausted each other, after which the Arabs entered the historical scene, destroying Iran by 651 and conquering the most valuable lands of the empire in the Middle East and North Africa, which besieged Constantinople three times (in 668-669, 673-678, 717-718).

And entailing the long absence of the emperor in Constantinople, the Avars, not satisfied with the tribute received from the Greeks, entered into an alliance with the Persians. In 626, a large united army of Slavs and Asian tribes attacked Constantinople from sea and land from the European side, while the Persians threatened the city from Asia. But the walls of Constantinople and the ships of the Greeks turned out to be an insurmountable obstacle for the enemy. Dissensions began between the Slavs and Avars, and both of them, saving themselves, turned into a shameful and hasty flight.

After these events, nothing else was heard about the Avars on the Balkan Peninsula, although their power was finally crushed by Charlemagne in 799. In Russia, the fall of the Avars became a proverb: "Aki obre died." But the Slavs remained. During these turbulent years, their penetration deep into the Balkan Peninsula took place gradually, and by the middle of the 7th century. it ended. The main streams of Slavic immigration went in the southern and western directions. The Slavs moving south settled the lands between the Danube and the Balkan Mountains, advanced into Macedonia and penetrated into Greece. The resettlement affected southern Thrace in the east and Albania in the west to a small extent, and in these areas the local population remained. The Greeks retained control over the coast of the Aegean Sea and the major cities on or near it, and those Slavs who ended up in Greece were soon assimilated by the local population. A more powerful stream of Slavs, which moved westward and then northwestward, passed through the entire country, reached the shores of the Adriatic Sea and deeper into the Alps, reaching the sources of the Sava and Drava. From this point in the west to the shores of the Black Sea in the east, the entire territory was inhabited by Slavs, a similar situation has survived to this day. Small groups of Slavs who ended up in Dacia, north of the Danube, were gradually assimilated by the local population of this province, who were the descendants of Roman soldiers and colonists and the ancestors of modern Romanians. The fact that the influence of the Slavs here was significant proves the presence of many Slavic words in the Romanian language.

Geographical names are reliable proof of the deep influence of Slavic immigration. The Greek and Roman names of places along the entire coast from the mouth of the Danube and on the Adriatic were given their own names by Slavic settlers. The smallest Slavic geographical names were found in Thrace, especially in its southeastern part, and in Albania. In Macedonia and Lower Moesia (Bulgaria), very few names from ancient times have survived, while in Upper Moesia (Serbia) and the interior regions of Dalmatia (Bosnia, Herzegovina and Montenegro) they have completely disappeared. Slavs, although their tribal names were known, the Greeks up to the IX century. usually called by the common name "sklaviny" (Greek. "Whining").

In the 7th century, starting with the defeat of the Slavs and Avars under the walls of Constantinople in 626 and the final victory of the emperor over the Persians in 628, the influence and power of the Greeks began to revive throughout the peninsula and up to the Danube. This process coincided with the decline of the former power of the Avars.

It was the custom of insidious Byzantine diplomacy to speak of the lands seized by various barbarian tribes as a gift bestowed on them thanks to the generosity of the emperor; the leaders of these tribes were awarded magnificent titles and provided them with large incomes, inciting envy between them for each other; also detachments of Slavic mercenaries were accepted into the imperial army. The supremacy of Constantinople was re-established in a more effective manner than if it had been conquered all this time by force.

In contact with

The cause of the war was the desire of Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Greece to expand their territories. The war ended with the London Peace Treaty.

The first period of the war (October - December 1912) was characterized by a large-scale offensive by the troops of the Balkan Union. During the armistice, Turkey, Serbia and Bulgaria stopped fighting, but Greece and Montenegro continued the war. The second period of the war (February - May 1913) was distinguished by positional warfare, not counting the storming of Adrianople (Odrina). At the end of the First Balkan War, the countries participating in the Balkan Union were not satisfied with the London Peace Treaty, which led to the Second Balkan War.

The reasons

Historical background. Great power politics

In the 15th century, the Turks, having occupied Asia Minor, began to conquer the Balkan Peninsula, the Middle East and North Africa. After the conquest of Constantinople, the formed Ottoman Empire began to include huge territories in the east of the Mediterranean, in the Black Sea region and in the west of Asia. Many peoples lived on these lands, differing from the Turks in religion, nationality and worldview. Up to 15 peoples already lived on the Balkan Peninsula, even before it was included in the empire.

Repeatedly against the rule of Turkey on the peninsula there were uprisings that ended in the defeat of the rebels. In the 19th century, in the wake of anti-colonial wars and uprisings, a series of liberation wars took place in the region. States such as Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania appeared. Despite this, the Albanians did not achieve self-determination, and the territories still controlled by the Turkish government were inhabited by several million Bulgarians (which meant mainly the groups now known as Macedonians), about a million Serbs and half a million Greeks. Also, these lands were historically considered parts of the newly formed Balkan states.

After the Italo-Turkish War, the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, opponents of the Ottoman Empire, realized the need for consolidation. The uniting factors were both common goals and common features of the peoples - Serbs, Montenegrins and Bulgarians were Orthodox Slavs. The Greeks were also Orthodox. The Russian Empire, which competed with Austria-Hungary in the Balkans, played an important role in the region, and it needed to establish itself in this part of Europe.

It was on her initiative that on March 13, 1912, an agreement was signed between Serbia and Bulgaria on the creation of a defensive alliance. On May 12, relations between the countries were strengthened. On May 29, Greece joined the union, which did not want to be left without territorial gains at the expense of Turkey, but Serbia and Bulgaria were extremely interested in the participation of the Greek fleet in hostilities in order to block Turkish communications with Asia Minor and the Middle East. Later, the union treaty was signed by Montenegro and Bulgaria. Thus, as the Russian government intended, a powerful alliance was formed on the peninsula, directed against Austria-Hungary. It is worth noting that further events did not develop according to Russia's plan, since the Balkan alliance, instead of confronting Austria-Hungary, began preparations for war with its old enemy, the Ottoman Empire. Since the union was headed by Bulgaria and Serbia, they decided to satisfy their territorial claims with the help of the allies.

Irredentism in the Balkans

At the beginning of the 20th century, the situation on the Balkan Peninsula changed dramatically. The once mighty Ottoman Empire, which included Serbia, Greece, Romania, Montenegro and Bulgaria, dictated its terms to the entire region. The emergence of new states in the Balkans was due to Pan-Slavism, Pan-Romanism and various nationalist ideas. When these countries arose, the peoples living in them were divided. Some of them still lived in Turkey.

Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece wanted to include in their composition the lands inhabited by these peoples and, moreover, to achieve the greatest expansion of the borders of their powers. This meant that the Greeks were striving for the idea of \u200b\u200bMagna Graecia, after the First World War, for the embodiment of the Great Idea of \u200b\u200bVenizelos, the Bulgarians - for Greater Bulgaria, the Serbs - for the maximum expansion of their borders from the Danube to the Adriatic Sea and Greece. But the "great" states could not coexist with each other, since their territorial claims overlapped. Thus, Bulgaria and Greece jointly claimed Thrace; Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria - to Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia - to the Adriatic ports.

Therefore, it was decided to first defeat Turkey and then solve territorial problems. After the war, Bulgaria and Serbia wanted to divide Macedonia among themselves by a demarcation line. The Bulgarians sought to gain access to the Aegean Sea by annexing Thessaloniki and Western Thrace. Serbia and Greece wanted to divide Albania among themselves, as Serbia sought to gain access to the Adriatic Sea. After the end of the First Balkan War, the Second Balkan War began, the reasons for which were the Balkan countries, dissatisfied with the London Peace Treaty, which lost a common enemy - Turkey, after which they began to translate "great power" ideas into life through mutual destruction.

Preparing for war

Ottoman Empire

Plan

On October 13, 1912, Bulgaria delivered an ultimatum to the Turkish government demanding autonomy for Macedonia and the non-Turkish peoples of the Balkans, as well as creating schools for Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs and demobilizing a large part of the army in the region. The autonomous regions were to be led by Belgian or Swiss governors; in total, the Balkan Union allotted six months to carry out reforms. The Ottoman Empire categorically refused to accept the terms of the ultimatum. Sultan Mehmed V sent a note of protest to the Bulgarian embassy in Istanbul and addressed his people with a speech, which spoke about the tolerance of the Turks towards the national minorities of the empire and its neighbors.

Realizing that war was inevitable, the Turks developed their own military plan. The principles by which it was developed were correct, however, despite this, the plan was unrealistic. Its creator was Colmar von der Goltz, who also trained the Turkish army in the Balkans back in 1910, in preparation for war. But it was only after the Bulgarian ultimatum on October 14 that the Turks in the Balkans announced mobilization. The situation in the army was aggravated by the ongoing military reforms, which, according to the Sultan's plan, were to end in 1915. Therefore, by October 17, the day the war began, the mobilization had not yet been completed. The Turkish troops were located along the line Kirklareli - Yenice - Edirne. The commander of the Eastern Army was Abdullah Pasha, his headquarters was at Kavakli.

It was planned for the first month of the war to conduct positional combat operations, during which time the Turkish army would have time to mobilize and cross from Asia to the Balkans. Then the Turks were to undertake a general offensive on the border with Bulgaria, push back the Bulgarian troops to the north and strike at Serbia, reaching the Serbo-Bulgarian border. It was planned to strike Sofia from the Serbo-Bulgarian border and from South Bulgaria and persuade the Bulgarians to peace. Since it was Bulgaria that bore the brunt of the war in the Balkan Union, the further defeat of the armies of Serbia, Greece and Montenegro did not present any particular difficulties.

Forces

From Asia Minor to the beginning of hostilities, two divisions arrived in the Eastern Army, which defended the railway to Thessaloniki and the approaches to the Dardanelles. The 5th, 6th and 9th divisions, which had low combat effectiveness, arrived on the peninsula across the Black Sea. 40 cavalry squadrons were stationed nearby. Of the corps already in Thrace, the 1st corps was located at Yenidzhe, the 2nd at Kavakli in reserve behind the 3rd, which was located on the Kirklareli-Kuyun-Guyar sector. The 4th corps stretched from Edirne to Yenige, two of its divisions withdrew to the reserve. Engineering structures and fortifications in the fortified areas had not yet been completed, which exacerbated the situation.

By the beginning of the war with Bulgaria, the Western army under the command of Ali Ryzy Pasha was in a worse position than the Eastern one. Already on October 6, 11 days before the start of hostilities in the eastern Balkans, the Montenegrin army spontaneously launched an offensive. The Turks lost the 24th division, since most of it surrendered (7,000 people and 22 guns) and the 21st. By the first days of October, the Western army grouped around Shkoder (Skutari) for its defense. The 20th Division covered Pristina and Mitrovica. In the south, on the border with Greece, the 23rd and 21st divisions were grouped near Ioannina.

In general, the Turkish army was not ready for the start of the war. Her forces did not have time to mobilize, reserve units did not manage to arrive from Asia Minor. In the fortified areas, the fortifications were unfinished. The Allies managed to catch the Ottoman Empire by surprise by launching a preemptive attack.

Balkan Union

Forces and plans

First of all, the Allied command took advantage of the slow mobilization of Turkish troops. Montenegro unexpectedly attacked Turkish positions in Albania on September 25, while the other allies were still concentrating their armies. The premature attack of the Montenegrins was due to the spontaneity of mobilization, that is, people themselves went into the army without receiving summons. Of the 50,000 soldiers in Montenegro, 10,000 were volunteers.

The location of the allied troops and their further actions were dictated by the interests of the Balkan powers. Bulgaria, which possessed the largest army of the Balkan Union countries, was going to attack Thrace and Istanbul in the first place. Montenegro wanted to get the north of Albania, Greece and Serbia were preparing to attack Macedonia. In addition, the Greek fleet had to cut off the connection of the Western army of the Turks from Asia Minor, blocking the sea route through the Aegean Sea. Fearing an attack from Austria-Hungary, the Serbian and Bulgarian authorities sent separate units to the Danube to guard the borders.

Bulgaria, on which the allies had the greatest responsibility, prepared for war thoroughly. The government of the country freed Muslims from the draft, thereby strengthening its army. The core of the army was made up of the militias of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Later, they were joined by mobilized soldiers and militias, and a pro-Bulgarian people's militia appeared in Macedonia. The mobilization on September 30 was successful, and those called up for service came even from abroad. On October 17, the army was fully prepared for the outbreak of war.

Armament

Greece and Bulgaria bought all their artillery from France. European artillery was significantly superior in quality to Turkish, and the number of artillery pieces in the Balkan Union exceeded the number of artillery in the Ottoman Empire. However, it should be noted that Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, unlike the Turks, did not have mountain artillery, which subsequently affected the viability of their armies in the Balkan mountains. Greece was the only country in the Balkan Union to have a fleet in the Mediterranean. It consisted of the newest armored cruiser Georgios Averof, built in Italy, three old but modernized coastal defense battleships Hydra, Spetses and Psara, 13 destroyers built in Germany and England, two French submarines the buildings. With the outbreak of war, the Greek government requisitioned nine commercial ships from the owners and armed them for use as auxiliary cruisers.

By the beginning of the First Balkan War, Bulgaria had a full-fledged military aviation. The first air force units appeared in 1906. By the beginning of the war, Bulgaria had a Sophia-1 balloon and one Godard-type balloon. In addition, the Bulgarians bought 14 airplanes from the Russian Empire, another 9 were bought in Western Europe. Due to the fact that there were no professional pilots in the country at all, volunteer pilots arrived from Russia along with airplanes. Thus, the Bulgarian command decided to form military aviation units. In order not to depend on Russian pilots, 13 Bulgarian pilots, 6 mechanics and 2 ballonists were sent to the countries of Western Europe for training.

The training lasted a long time, and by the beginning of the First Balkan War, none of the aviation units had been formed. Despite this, the Bulgarian airplanes took part in large-scale military actions and operations. 1st AO (aviation education) was formed only in the first months of the war. This division included foreign aircraft of the Albatros brands (3 pieces), Farman (4 pieces), Voisin (1 piece), Somer (1 piece), Sikorsky (1 piece), Bristol (1 piece), Nieuport (2 pieces) and Blerio (10 pieces). Throughout the Balkan Peninsula, only Bulgaria had an air force equipped with aircraft of the latest models. Neither other countries of the Balkan Union, nor Turkey could afford such a number of aircraft.

Fighting

The first months of the war

From border fighting to large-scale war

On September 25 (October 8) 1912, when the Russian Foreign Minister S. D. Sazonov was in Berlin, making statements about "ensuring peace in the Balkans", the official representative of Montenegro Plamenac informed the Turkish Foreign Minister that Montenegro was declaring war on the Porte, after which he left Constantinople.

The early start of the war against Turkey by Montenegro was explained by the spontaneity of mobilization and the presence of volunteers in the army. Since October 4, small clashes took place on the border of Turkey and Montenegro, on October 8 these clashes escalated into major battles, and on October 9, the Montenegrins crossed the border in three columns. The war has begun officially. Turkish soldiers were unable to prevent the enemy's advance. A column of Montenegrin troops under the command of General Vukotic moved to the city of Berane, two more detachments went to Bijelo Pol, Plava and Gusin. In these cities there were 4 divisions of the Turks and another 9000 Arnauts. On October 10, another 2,000 Ottoman Arnauts arrived in the region and tried to push the Montenegrins back to their original positions, but the maneuver failed. On October 11, the column of the prince Danilo took by storm the border heights of Dedich and Shinshanik. From the guns abandoned by the retreating Turks, the Montenegrins opened fire in the enemy's back. At the same time, on October 14, an incident occurred on the Serbian-Turkish border. Serbia and the Ottoman Empire were not yet at war when a small Turkish force crossed the border and attacked the advancing Serb forces. They quickly reacted and drove the enemy detachment out of Serbia. It is still not clear why the unit went on the attack without notifying the higher command. It was suggested that this was an unauthorized decision by the detachment commander.

On October 15, the Montenegrin troops of Danilo, after a three-day siege, took the city of Tuzi. Nurri Bey, the city's commandant, surrendered it after the Montenegrins occupied the surrounding heights and opened fire on the city. At the same time, Vukotic and his detachment, despite the artillery shelling of the enemy, swam across the Lim River and took Obrovo and Bijelo Pole on the move. On October 16, the Montenegrins concentrated their forces on the direction to Berane and stormed the city on the same day. The next day they captured Plava and Gusinje. Under pressure from the enemy, Turkish troops withdrew to Ipek, leaving Rugova.

On October 5 (18), 1912, Serbia and Bulgaria declared war on Turkey, the next day - Greece. Serbian troops, concentrated on the border line from Vranja to Uzhitsa, went on the offensive. On October 19, Bulgaria began active hostilities. Before 100,000 Bulgarian soldiers entered the enemy's territory, a manifesto on the declaration of war was read out to them word for word and a brief account of the unsuccessful mobilization in the Ottoman Empire. This information fell into the hands of the Bulgarian command from the Slavic refugees from Thrace, who had fled to Bulgaria before the war. The plight of the Turks was indeed disastrous. All fortifications at the strategically important Kirklareli were unfinished, the army on the border with Bulgaria was only 45,000 people, and reinforcements from Asia Minor were delayed.

On the same day, the 2nd Bulgarian Army captured the strategically important fortified point of Kurt-Kale and occupied a small border settlement without a fight. During the retreat, the Turks did not blow up the bridge over the Maritsa in the city and did not destroy the railway, which was their strategic mistake. The Bulgarians immediately began to transfer troops to Edirne.

On October 20, in Brederev, taken the day before by Montenegrin troops, the armies of Montenegro and Serbia united in a consolidated detachment and then moved to Ipek. By October 21, the 1st Serbian army fought near Kumanovo, the 2nd Serbian army was at Ovche Pole, the 3rd army of Jankovic stormed Pristina, the 4th army of Zivkovic, together with the Montenegrin army of Danilo, occupied Novopazar Sandzak. On October 22, the 1st and 3rd Bulgarian armies met with the Turkish army at Erekler. The Turks lined up on the dominant heights, but this did not stop the Bulgarians. First, the Turkish army underwent heavy artillery fire, then the Bulgarian troops rushed into hand-to-hand combat and forced the enemy to retreat to Kirklareli. On the same day, the 2nd Bulgarian Army blockaded Edirne.

Battle of Kumanov

While the Montenegrin, Serbian and Bulgarian troops were advancing in all directions, the 1st Serb Army under the command of Prince Alexander, approaching Kumanov, unexpectedly collided with the Western Army of the Turks. The Turks had 180,000 soldiers, the Serbs 120,000. Another 40,000 Turkish soldiers were stationed nearby, in the Ovche field. Reinforcements were approaching Alexander's army past the same field - the 3rd army, which had already occupied Pristina.

In such a situation, Alexander decided to wait for reinforcements for another three days. The commander of the Western Army, Ottoman Zekki Pasha, decided on the contrary - to attack while the Turkish troops outnumber the enemy. From October 21 to October 22, the enemy armies stood against each other, until the Turks went on the attack on October 23.

The battle began at ten o'clock in the morning with the advance of the Turkish infantry on the Serbian cavalry division on the left flank. Later, the Turks attacked on the left flank both the Danube division and the Moravian division in the center. The attackers caught the Serbs by surprise, moreover, they did not know the exact size of the Turkish army, suggesting that the enemy's forces were several times smaller than their own. Therefore, to repel the attack, the Serbs deployed small parts of the infantry, which by two o'clock in the afternoon was completely destroyed. Realizing that there were many more Turks, the Serbs sent three infantry divisions and one cavalry division into battle. Two more divisions remained in reserve. To cover the enemy from the flanks, the Turks took advantage of their numerical superiority and entered from the sides. In response, the Serbs stretched out their troops. As a result, the length of the front was 30 kilometers.

It was raining and foggy that day, making it extremely difficult for the Serbian gunners to locate the enemy. The Turks knew about this, so until noon they undertook major attacks on the left flank and center of the enemy. At the same moment, another Turkish corps made a maneuver, bypassing the Serbs from the right flank. However, at 3 pm on the left flank, the situation began to change. Now in some places the Serbs were on the offensive. A Turkish corps was also found advancing to the rear of Alexander's 1st Army. His road was blocked, and the corps was forced to retreat. At 6 pm the battle ended. The Turks, who had the initiative at the beginning of the battle, retreated.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the clouds cleared, the battlefield was lit up by the moon. The Turks took advantage of this, attempting to take revenge: the Danube Division was again attacked on the left flank. Now that there was no fog, the Turks opened targeted artillery fire. After the shelling, the infantry attacked, the Serbs opened weapons and artillery fire. The night battle of the Serbs with the Turks was much more bloody than the day, since the sides resorted to artillery assistance. At 11 pm, the Turks retreated again, in turn, the Serbs managed to take some enemy positions. At night, Serb soldiers began to prepare for a general offensive on the thirty-kilometer front.

In the early morning of October 24, the Serbs suddenly opened artillery fire on Turkish positions, after which the enemy was attacked by infantry. The Turks did not expect an early attack and everyone was in the trenches, so the Serbs saved bullets and took the enemy to the knife. At 11 o'clock in the afternoon, the Turkish positions were completely occupied by the Serbian army, local battles continued in places. At 2 pm, the battle ended, the Turks retreated to Skopje. They threw most of their artillery at Kumanovo - 156 guns. The Serbs captured 2,000 Turkish soldiers and about 100 officers.

Lozenrad operation

Kirk-Kilis (Lozengrad) was the key city on the way to the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople. In order to cut off the Western Turkish army from the eastern and then invade Thrace, the Bulgarian troops needed to occupy the city and hold it, for which the Lozengrad operation was developed, which was led by Radko-Dmitriev. The latter believed that the success of the operation depends on the speed of the offensive. The Turks would not have had time to pull up reinforcements and finish building fortifications to repel the attack. For the capture of Kirk-Kilis, it was decided to equip the 1st and 3rd armies.

However, the roads were washed away by heavy rainstorms for many days, the fields were completely flooded with water. The Turks assumed that this would delay the enemy and allow them to better prepare for defense. However, the Bulgarians continued to advance towards the city. To increase the speed of movement, they unloaded the carts, and carried ammunition and provisions in their hands. The same was done with the artillery, which was dragged by several horses at once, and sometimes by several people. Thus, the Bulgarians managed to approach Kirk-Kilis in time.

By that time, the Turks had occupied the heights surrounding the city, having installed their artillery on them. Kirk Kilis itself was never properly fortified, but the mountainous terrain allowed the Turks to greatly strengthen their positions. The number of troops amounted to 45,000 people, they were commanded by Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha. The commander-in-chief of the Eastern Army considered Kirk-Kilis a powerfully fortified city, and the position of the local troops was quite successful. Reinforcements of up to 30,000 men were approaching the Turkish garrison in the city.

Before the start of the battle, von der Goltz, an instructor of the Turkish troops, stated: "It will take three months of time to capture Kyrklareli, and an army that is three times larger than the Bulgarian one both in number and quality."... On October 22, all the lagging units of the 1st and 3rd armies of Bulgaria pulled up to the city and turned around. On the same day, a battle began, during which the Turks abandoned all forward positions in front of Kirklareli. The next day, 23 October, the Bulgarians attacked the city proper. Due to the pouring rain and poor visibility, the artillery was not involved in the battle.

The Bulgarians bypassed the right flank of the enemy troops near the village of Kaivy by nightfall, which led to panic in the ranks of the Turks. All the troops of the Ottoman Empire from the right flank disappeared into the city. Following them, the rest of the Turks left their positions, leaving behind weapons, ammunition, and guns. Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha was one of the first to leave Kirklareli. On the morning of October 24, the Bulgarians occupied the deserted city without a fight.

After the defeat at Kirk Kilis, Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha telegraphed to Constantinople about the poor training of the troops and their cowardice: “These are not troops, but bastards! The soldiers think only of how to get to Istanbul as soon as possible, where they are attracted by the smell of Constantinople cuisine. It is impossible to defend successfully with such troops ... "... In turn, Metropolitan Methodius of Staraya Zagora met the next day with the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand. Regarding the capture of Kirklareli, he made a speech in which he mentioned the Whole Bulgaria and the Bulgarian emperor.

When the Russian ambassador asked about “Whole Bulgaria,” the Metropolitan replied that this was only inspired by the victory at Kirklareli and was not a serious intention of the country. In turn, the Russian ambassador expressed hopes that Bulgaria will show restraint in the Balkans and will not seek to establish its hegemony in the region.

The defeat of the Turkish troops. Deadlock situation

Defeat of the Eastern Army

After the Lozengrad operation, the spontaneous retreat of the Turkish troops continued. The 16th Corps, which was marching to the front, also succumbed to panic, and on October 24, too, began a retreat. Nobody pursued the Turks, the Bulgarians remained in the captured Kirklareli, completely losing their strategically advantageous contact with the enemy. On October 27, Turkish soldiers who left the front gathered in the city of Arkadiopol (Luleburgaz). In just three days, the retreating army covered 60 kilometers.

Following the soldiers, Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha arrived in the city. He managed to stop the spontaneous retreat of the army and form new units. By that time, reinforcements had arrived from Istanbul. A total of 120,000 troops have accumulated in the region. Abdullah Pasha, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Army, decided to take revenge. He wanted to stop the advance of the Bulgarians in the swampy area near the Karagach River, and then launch a counteroffensive. Already on October 27, the Turks were completely ready for battle, and Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha sent his troops to Bunar-Gissar. In this region, the Turks were opposed by three enemy divisions under the command of Radko Dmitriev. The 1st Army of Bulgaria hurried to his aid, intending to take Luleburgaz on the move.

Thus, a new Yani front appeared - Arcadiopol. On October 29, the fighting became more and more fierce, and the 1st Army of the Bulgarians was delayed because of the roads washed out by rain. On October 30, the Turks attempted an offensive. Three divisions defending the area from Yani to Luleburgaz were ordered by the Bulgarian command "Die in your positions, but don't give them up"... On October 31, the Turks tried to seize the right flank of the Bulgarians, the attack was repulsed with heavy losses. On November 1, the 1st army of the Bulgarians approached Luleburgaz, and in the evening of the same day the situation was reversed in favor of Bulgaria. The 4th Infantry Division of the Bulgarians broke through the Turkish defenses in the center and launched an offensive near Karagach. On November 2, the Eastern Turkish Army again retreated along the entire front, de facto ceasing to exist. Its remnants went to the Chatalja defensive line. The Bulgarians captured 3,000 soldiers and officers and captured 4 enemy banners, 50 artillery pieces and 100 boxes of artillery ammunition.

Defeat of the Western Army

On October 25, the day after the Battle of Kumanovo, the retreating Turks began to approach Skopje. Along with them, refugees from the north of Macedonia flocked to the city, only 150,000. As a rule, they were Muslims, fearing the offensive of Orthodox Serbs and Bulgarians. Some of the troops of the Ottoman Empire remained in Skopje, others deserted. In total, 40,000 soldiers have accumulated in the city.

Zekki Pasha also arrived in Skopje. From the city, he sent a telegram to the commander of the Western Army in Thessaloniki. Zekki Pasha announced that he was going to reorganize the army and prepare for the defense of Skoplje "to the last drop of blood." In fact, this was impossible, since the Turkish troops were demoralized after the battle, and all the weapons and ammunition remained in Kumanovo. The notables and the commandant of the city realized that another battle could end in the defeat of Turkey, and the bombing of the city by the Serbs would lead to the deaths of thousands of refugees, and dissuaded the commander from his plans. On October 26, Zekki Pasha secretly left the city. The remaining troops, having lost their command, went home. The city authorities turned to the Russian Consul General Kalmykov with a proposal to mediate in negotiations with Serbia in order to surrender Skopje to it in order to avoid anarchy.

On the same day, the 16th regiment of the 1st army entered the city under the command of the prince Alexander Karageorgievich. The remnants of the Turkish Western Army continued their retreat. From Skoplje, they went to the valley of the Vardara River and began moving along it up to Veles. In Veles, they did not stay long, leaving the city to the opponents and going to Manastir (Bitola) through the city of Prilep. In Manastir, a reserve awaited them, which had not yet been in battle.

The Serbs understood the tactics of the Turks, and Alexander's army tried to intercept the enemy at Prilep. For this, the army was divided into two parts, each of which went to the city in its own way: the first - along a straight road from Veles to Prilep, the second - along the road that ran through Krivolak. In Prilep, the troops had to unite, since only one road led from it to Manastir.

On November 2, the 2nd Bulgarian army occupied Nevrokop, thus starting the isolation of Macedonia from the rest of Turkey. On the same day, on the way to Prilep, the first column of Serbian troops reached the Babinet-Planina pass. There she faced a Turkish army of up to 20,000 men with mountain artillery. There were 40,000 Serbs, but because of the mountains their army could not deploy. In addition, the Serbian troops had only field artillery, unable to fire in the mountains. In such a situation, the Serbs lined up in ranks of three companies and attacked the Turks with a solid wall. The fighting also went on for the heights surrounding the pass, and on November 5, Turkish troops, despite their technical and tactical superiority over the enemy, lost the battle and retreated to Manastir. Another battle took place near the city, during which 50,000 Turks voluntarily surrendered to Serbian troops. Even before the surrender of the army, Ali-Riza Pasha and Zekki Pasha fled from the city. The latter managed to break out of the encirclement with 30,000 soldiers and retreat to Florina. In Florin, they faced the Greek army, which was hurrying to Manastir to help the Serbian allies. During the battle with the Greeks, Zekki Pasha died. Javid Pasha with the remnants of the army withdrew to Ioannina and defended the city for several more days. Thus, the entire Western army of the Ottoman Empire was destroyed.

Later on November 22, the Bulgarians entered Gumuldzhin, where a long artillery exchange of fire with the Turks ensued. On November 26, the remnants of the Eastern Turkish army began negotiations on a peaceful outcome of the battle, and on November 27 they surrendered on favorable terms for the Bulgarians. As a result, Bulgaria captured the chief of the detachment, Mehmet-Yamer-Pasha, and 265 officers, as well as 12,000 soldiers. In addition, the Bulgarians got 8 mountain artillery guns, 2 machine guns and 1,500 horses.

Actions of the Greek troops

The Greek army began the war by crossing the border and advancing deep into Turkey at the same time as the other allies. Having passed with a fight from Thessaly to Macedonia, through the north-western passage (Battle of Sarantaporo), the Greek army liberated the city of Kozani on October 12 (25). The commander of the Greek army, Crown Prince Constantine I, intended to continue the offensive to the north-west, to the city of Manastir (Bitola), which in those years had a significant Greek population, but at the insistence of Prime Minister Venizelos, he deployed the army to the east, to the capital of Macedonia. the city of Thessaloniki. On October 20 (November 2), the Greek army took the city of Yannitsa (Battle of Yannitsa) with a battle and thereby opened the road to Thessaloniki. On the morning of October 25 (November 7), the Greek army approached Thessaloniki. The city was a commercial port with many foreign consuls. Upon learning of the approach of the Greek army, they asked the commandant of the city to surrender without a fight, as they feared the destruction and plunder of Thessaloniki. On the same day, at 11 pm, Thessaloniki surrendered. 25 thousand Turkish soldiers were sent unarmed to the barracks until the end of the war. At the same time, both Greeks and Turks showed respect for each other. On November 8, the city was liberated by the Greek army. The attempt of the belated Bulgarian army to establish a dual power in the city by imposing the re-signing of the surrender on the Turkish commander, now before the Bulgarians, was not crowned with success. The Turkish commander Takhshin Pasha refused to do this. The city became Greek again. Having established control over Thessaloniki, the Greek army again sent its main forces to West Macedonia. The 4th division of the Greek army, on November 6 (19), liberated the city of Florina and headed for Manastir, but Serbian troops preceded it. Simultaneously, after the liberation of Thessaloniki, the Greek command was able to begin the transfer of forces by sea to the province of Epirus. Here, the heroic, so-called Epirus front, which in reality represented the 1st division, from the very beginning of the war and in violation of the defensive tasks given to it, conducted offensive actions, but was unable to overcome the Turkish defense on the approaches to the capital of Epirus, the city of Ioannina. By the beginning of 1913 and after the transfer of troops, the Epirus front will become the main one for the Greek army (Battle of Bizani). The participation of the Greek fleet in the war was of great importance for the Allies, since it completely disrupted the sea communications of the Ottomans in the Aegean Sea. On December 3, the battle of Ellie near the Dardanelles took place between the Greek and Turkish navies. The battle was won by the Greeks, the Turkish fleet was forced to leave the Aegean Sea. As a result, the Greek fleet began to control the entire water area between the western coast of the Ottoman Empire and the eastern coast of Greece. The Turks decided to turn the tide in their favor, and for this reason, on January 18, 1913, the battle took place at Fr. Lemnos. The battle was again won by the Greeks, and the Turkish ships withdrew to the Dardanelles, under the cover of coastal batteries.

The beginning of the blockade of Adrianople

At the very beginning of the war, the 2nd Army of the Bulgarians received an order to go to Adrianople (Odrin) and take it by storm. The city had a strategic position: it was crossed by railway lines connecting the west and east of the Balkan Peninsula; through Adrianople of the Western army of the Turks, ammunition, provisions and reinforcements were brought. At the beginning of the siege, there were 70,000 Turkish soldiers in the city. The city was divided by rivers into four sectors: northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast. There was a fortress in the city, at a distance of several kilometers around it there were fortified areas. They connected with each other by good roads, which made it possible to deliver unexpected blows to the enemy in any place.

The detachments of the Balkan Union that approached the fortress met stubborn resistance from the Turks, which lasted until November 3, when the city was taken into a tight ring. To curry favor with the command, the blockade was reported back on October 29.

After the blockade of the city, the Turks set themselves the goal of pushing the front as far as possible from the city fortress. In turn, the allies sought to "drive" the Turkish troops into the fort, from where they could not leave. After that, the Turks could be starved to death, but they could not prevent the movement of troops on the railways.

During the long blockade, the forces of the Balkan Union in the city changed several times. So, the 3rd division left the 2nd army of the Bulgarians for the Chataldzhin front, it was replaced by two divisions of the Serbs. She later returned, but her roster was completely renewed after the bloody battles for Chatalja. The Kardzhali detachment also arrived with her. In general, the fighting continued right up to the armistice. During the truce in the besieged city, provisions ran out, since according to the treaty the Turks had no right to supply ammunition, provisions, weapons, reinforcements, etc. to their besieged cities.

Chatalja battle

On November 2, both Turkish armies de facto ceased to exist: the Western, also called Macedonian, and the Eastern. Despite this, the fighting continued. In particular, the remnants of the Eastern Turkish army fled to Chatalca, where there were fortified positions. There the soldiers hoped to stop the advance of the Bulgarians.

The Chatalja fortified line was built even before the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. It stretched along the eastern bank of the Karasu River from the Black Sea to the Sea of \u200b\u200bMarmara. The line was designed according to the plan of the Belgian engineer Brialmont, then it was completed and refurbished by Bloom Pasha. There were 27 forts and batteries, 16 field fortifications, 16 redoubts (8 in the south, 8 in the north). Each fort housed a garrison: 4 long-range guns and 2 companies. They were protected by land mines, barbed wire and numerous ditches. In strategically important forts there were powerful gun mounts, shells to which were automatically fed from casemates. In addition, after the recent Italo-Turkish war, the Turks brought huge coastal guns from the Dardanelles and electric searchlights to the Chatalja line.

Fortified bunkers and casemates were built underground for the soldiers. All of them were connected by telegraph and telephone communications, and for movement along them there were special passages hidden from enemy fire. The northern edge of the line rested against the Black Sea coast, and the southern one - the Marmara Sea. The depth of the seas in these places was such that warships could come directly to the coast and fire at the enemy. Because of this, the line could not be bypassed. With the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul, the Chataldzhin line was connected by two highways and one railroad, which made it possible to replenish losses in manpower and deliver ammunition in a short time. The headquarters of the command of the line defense was at the Khadem Kioy railway station. In total, up to 125,000 Turkish soldiers were on the line at the beginning of the battle.

The offensive of the 1st and 3rd Bulgarian armies stopped at this line. Their positions ran over difficult terrain - from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea there were many mountains and swamps. By that time, reinforcements had arrived at the Bulgarians - the 3rd division and part of the 9th division of the 2nd army, which had been besieging Edirne before. As a result, the strength of the Bulgarians equaled the strength of the Turks: 125,000 men and 208 artillery pieces. But the army was tired and demoralized after the recent battles with the Turks, so only 1/3 of the troops were ready for battle. The Turks also had problems: cholera began in their army.

Despite the obvious superiority of the enemy and powerful fortifications on the way to Istanbul, General Radko Dmitriev did not wait for the arrival of siege weapons from Bulgaria and decided to take the first line of fortifications on the move. The commander wanted to speed up the course of events, not realizing that the Turkish troops were slightly superior to the Bulgarian ones, and the Chatalja line could withstand the attack of the tired Bulgarian armies. The order was given "Attack the redoubts at the heights south of Lake Derkos", which was essentially a mistake.

In the early morning of November 17, after the shelling of the redoubts near Derkos, the Bulgarians launched an offensive. On the right flank near the village of Yezetin, the 1st, 6th and 10th divisions of the 1st army were attacking. At 9 o'clock in the morning, the Bulgarians managed to enter several local villages, and the 9th and 4th divisions lost their artillery support and dug in a kilometer from two Turkish redoubts. By noon, Turkish battleships approached the Black Sea coast, which began shelling the Bulgarian troops. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the 1st Army of Bulgaria dug in half a kilometer from the enemy's redoubts, and at 9 o'clock in the evening the Bulgarians occupied three enemy redoubts, cutting off all their defenders. In turn, the Turks launched an evening counterattack, but the 1st Army held its ground and repulsed the attack. On November 18, due to large losses, the Bulgarians still retreated to their original positions. During the attack, the Bulgarian army irrevocably lost 10,000 people, another 20,000 were wounded.

On November 19, the 1st and 3rd Bulgarian armies began to build fortifications and dig trenches to wage trench warfare. By that time, cholera and typhus had begun in the Bulgarian troops, which reduced the soldiers' efficiency. In such conditions, after several days of positional battles, the belligerents began to think about a truce. Negotiations began.

Aviation in the First Balkan War

On October 16, 1912, the lieutenants of the Bulgarian military aviation Radul Milkov and Prodan Tarakchiev made the first combat flight in the Balkans, in which they conducted reconnaissance and threw several hand grenades. On this day, the military air balloon "Sofia-1" provided the first ever interaction of aeronautical and aviation facilities. On October 17, 1912, Lieutenant Hristo Toprakchiev and Russian pilot Timofey Efimov dropped leaflets on enemy positions on the Bleriot XI aircraft for the first time. Italian volunteer pilot Giovani Sabeli and Bulgarian observer V. Zlatarov carried out the first aerial bombardment in the Balkans. October 30, 1912 on an airplane piloted by second lieutenant St. Kalinov, for the first time in world history, a woman flew on a military aircraft, carrying out a combat mission - it was an observer Raina Kasabova. On November 12, 1912, the first group combat mission in world history took place - lieutenants R. Milkov, N. Bogdanov, St. Kalinov and Russian pilot N. Kostin attacked the Karaagach railway station in Edirne, approaching it from different sides. On January 26, 1913, Lieutenant P. Popkrastev and the Italian J. Sabeli made the first combat flight over the Sea of \u200b\u200bMarmara and for the first time in history attacked an enemy ship from the air, dropping bombs on the battleship Hayreddin Barbarosa Combat flight of Greek pilots Moraitinis, Aristidis and Mutusis, Mikhail over The Dardanelles on January 24 / February 5, 1913 and the attack of the Ottoman ships on the Maurice Farman MF.7 aircraft converted into a seaplane marked the beginning of the history of world naval aviation.

Truce

Signing a truce

After the offensive of the Bulgarians on Chataldja was choked, the siege of Edirne dragged on, the Montenegrins unsuccessfully besieged Shkoder, and the Turks feared the approach of the Bulgarians to Istanbul, negotiations on an armistice began. The negotiations were approved by the countries of Europe, which were afraid of the entry of new countries into the war. By that time, a dangerous situation had developed in Europe, since Austria-Hungary was ready to enter the war on the side of Turkey for fear of strengthening the pro-Russian Balkan Union. The Austro-Hungarian Empire could involve new European states in the conflict, which threatened a pan-European war.

The Bulgarian army needed to rest and replenish the stock of provisions and ammunition, and the Turkish one suffered significant losses in all theaters of the war, so the parties were in no hurry to sign an agreement and dragged out negotiations. At first, the Balkan Union demanded the surrender of Edirne and the Chatalja positions, these demands were soon rejected, but this time the Bulgarians demanded the withdrawal of Turkish troops to San Stefano. All this time there was a trench warfare near Shkoder, Edirne and Chataldja.

On the evening of December 2, a peace treaty was signed. Only Greece did not sign it, arguing that if the Greek fleet ends the blockade of Turkish ports, Turkish ships will be able to freely bring infantry to Macedonia. Despite the fact that Greece did not sign the treaty, later, her delegation still went to London for a peace conference. According to the armistice agreement, it was established:

1. The troops of both belligerents remain at the positions in which they were before the signing of the treaty.
2. The besieged Turkish cities will not receive provisions, ammunition, medicines, etc.
3. The forces of the Balkan Union, which are at the front, can be supplied with everything they need along the lines of communication they control and along the Black Sea, where the Turkish fleet was located.
4. On December 26 of the same year, peace talks are to begin in London.

Failure of negotiations

On December 26, 1912, in the British capital - London - peace negotiations began between Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia on the one hand and the Ottoman Empire on the other. Regarding the agreement that was unfavorable for the Turks, the authorized representative of Turkey, Osman Nizami Pasha, directly stated: "We did not come to sign peace, but to prove that Turkey is strong enough to continue the war.".

Due to Turkey's disagreement with its territorial losses, negotiations dragged on until January 1913. To speed up the process, on January 27, the great powers Great Britain, the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, France, the Russian Empire and Italy signed a collective appeal to the Ottoman government. It spoke of the inadmissibility of the spread of hostilities to Asia Minor in connection with the approach of the Bulgarians to Istanbul. In this regard, the great powers asked Turkey to conclude a peace treaty, in exchange they promised to help in rebuilding the country after the war.

On January 22, all members of the Turkish government were called to a council. The collective appeal of the great powers to Turkey was discussed. It was decided to make peace in view of the fact that "The renewal of the war would expose the empire to great dangers and that under the given circumstances it is necessary to follow the advice of the powerful European cabinets".

However, there was a surprise that could not have been foreseen by Turkey's opponents, who wanted an early signing of the treaty. On January 23, the day after the council was convened, members of the Unity and Progress Party and their supporters (including officers and soldiers), led by Enver Pasha, burst into the meeting room where the members of the government were. In the course of the clash in the hall, several ministers were killed, in particular the vizier and the minister of war. In addition, the soldiers beat the ministers of foreign affairs and communications who were Christians. Enver Pasha, in his address to those in the hall, said: "Since you stand for a shameful peace with a concession to Edirne and almost all European possessions, and a nation ready to go to death demands war, on behalf of the whole country and the army I propose that the cabinet resign immediately.".

The Cabinet, as suggested by Enver Pasha, resigned. In turn, power in the Ottoman Empire passed into the hands of the Young Turks. In this situation, on January 28, the Balkan Union sent a note to the new Turkish government: "The recent events in Istanbul, apparently, have eliminated any hope for a peace, which is why the allies, to their extreme regret, are forced to declare the negotiations, which began in London on December 3 last year, terminated."... On the same day, the commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian troops telegraphed the Turkish command that the war would begin on February 3 at 7 pm. During the negotiations, Bulgaria fully prepared for war.

Second period of the war

Renewal of hostilities

The 3rd Army of the Bulgarians, entrenched in front of the Chatalja line at the end of November 1912, did not retreat to the resumption of hostilities. On the contrary, while the negotiations were going on, the Bulgarians strengthened their positions more strongly, and their soldiers were able to rest after large-scale autumn battles. Allied tactics were limited only to trench warfare in order to wear down the enemy and prevent him from liberating the occupied territories.

On February 3, the war officially resumed, and the Turks at Chataldja launched an offensive. The Bulgarians were able to repel this attack. Near Kovazh, on another sector of the front, the Bulgarians even managed to go over to the offensive. The Turks retreated behind the Bulair fortified line, which the 1st and the newly formed 4th Bulgarian armies intended to storm. The Bulgarians and Greeks needed to storm the line in order to reach the Dardanelles, destroy the coastal batteries of the Turks, after which the Greek fleet would enter the Sea of \u200b\u200bMarmara. Under the threat of bombing Constantinople, the Balkan Union would force Turkey to peace.

The assault on Adrianople

The siege of Adrianople, which began in the first phase of the war, continued. Information came from the fortress that provisions remained in it for a few more days and Adrianople was about to fall. As it turned out later, this was misinformation: in fact, Adrianople was able to hold out for another two months, since the Turks managed to find grain reserves back in December 1912. Shukri Pasha, the commandant of the fortress, established a strict ration in November 1912. Each resident of the city was given 800 grams of meat, 800 grams of bread and a head of cheese. In February 1913, the amount of cheese decreased significantly, bread was given 300 grams, meat was also 300 grams.

At first, the Bulgarians wanted to force the Turks to surrender the fortress with the help of a blockade, but then the Bulgarian command began to develop a plan to storm the fortress. It was planned to deliver the main blow to the northwestern part of the city, past which the railway passed. It was here that the Bulgarians had the opportunity to transport heavy artillery pieces by train. There was also a backup plan, according to which the strike should be made from the east. The Turks did not expect such a turn of events, since in the east of the city there were no high-quality roads and railways along which ammunition and reinforcements could be delivered. The Bulgarians decided to use buffaloes for the delivery of ammunition.

At 1 pm on March 11 (24), the Bulgarians began a general shelling of the city from all positions. At 8 pm it stopped in the south of the city, at midnight - in the north. The Turks, accustomed to the many days of shelling at Edirne, decided that this was just a break before the next bombing and relaxed. At 2 am on March 12 (25), the bombing resumed with renewed vigor, and at 5 am the Bulgarians were fully prepared to storm the city. The Turks did not notice this because of the powerful shelling of the city by enemy artillery.

The Bulgarians took the Turks by surprise. The advanced positions of the Turkish troops were located on the outskirts of the city outside the fortress. Bulgarian soldiers, under the roar of artillery guns, imperceptibly crept up to the enemy's trenches, having settled down from them at a distance of 50 steps. After that, the Bulgarians suddenly rushed at the Turks in the trenches, shouting. Before the Turkish infantry could recover, the Bulgarians had already descended into the trenches and began hand-to-hand combat. Half an hour later, all the advanced Turkish positions were occupied by the 2nd Bulgarian Army. Of the captured 8 machine guns and 20 guns, the Bulgarians opened fire in the backs of the Turks running towards the fortress. Now the Turks were blocked in the Adrianople fortress.

Following this, the Bulgarians launched an offensive from the south. During the day of fighting, March 13 (26), the fortress fell. The Turkish garrison capitulated together with the commandant Shukri Pasha. The Serbs, in turn, dissatisfied with the fact that Shukri Pasha surrendered to the Bulgarians, and not to them, sent out a message that the commandant had fallen into their hands. The Bulgarians have denied this information. The storming of Edirne was the last major battle in the war between Bulgaria and Turkey. The war developed into a positional war.

Blockade of Shkoder

Encouraged by their first successes, the Montenegrins tried to take the fortified settlement of Skutari (Shkoder) back in 1912. Danilo's army blocked the city from the east, Martinovic's army arrived in time and surrounded the city from the west. At the first attempt to storm the city, the Montenegrins suffered huge losses. The siege of Scutari, garrisoned by Hussein Riza Pasha, was the most successful battle of the Turks in the entire First Balkan War.

Realizing that it was impossible to take Shkoder by storm, King Nicholas decided to completely blockade the city. On December 4, the Balkan Union agreed on an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, but the siege of Shkoder continued anyway. In Montenegro, Great Britain, not interested in weakening Turkey, sent an ultimatum demanding to lift the blockade of the city. The Montenegrins did not obey the will of London, and an international squadron under the command of Cecil Bernie entered the Adriatic Sea on April 4, 1913. The squadron was stationed near the Montenegrin coast. Great Britain, Italy, Austria-Hungary and the German Empire agreed on an indefinite blockade of Montenegro. Despite the blockade, the Montenegrins did not abandon their plans, since the international squadron did not pose any threat to Montenegro, which did not have its own fleet. After a while, a detachment of Serbs with artillery came to the aid of the Montenegrins. Great Britain demanded that Serbia withdraw the detachment from Shkoder, which she did. However, the Serbian artillery remained to the Montenegrins. At the same time, the mysterious murder of Hussein Riza Pasha took place in the besieged city, and the command of the garrison passed into the hands of Essad Pasha. The new commander immediately entered into negotiations with the king of Montenegro on the surrender of the fortress, but they were unsuccessful. In early April, the Montenegrins stormed Oblik and Brdice. Upon learning of the capture of these key positions by the enemy, Essad Pasha resumed negotiations, and on April 23 the entire Turkish garrison left the city.

Shkoder went to Montenegro. King Nicholas raised the Montenegrin flag over the fortress of the city with his own hand. The Austro-Hungarian authorities reacted violently to the capture of Shkoder. They said that if the Montenegrins did not hand over the city to the international contingent, the Austro-Hungarian troops would directly intervene in the conflict. The rest of the European powers, realizing that this threatened a pan-European war, decided to support Austria-Hungary. In response, Nikolai sent a telegram to London: “My government, in its April 30 note, set out the reasons for its behavior in the scutarian question. This communication is inspired by unshakable principles of law. I and my people declare once again that the right consecrated by the accomplished conquest, my dignity and the dignity of my people do not allow me to submit to isolated demands, and therefore I transfer the fate of the city of Scutari to the hands of the great powers ”... After the surrender of Shkodra, Turkey and Montenegro signed a peace treaty on May 30, 1913, which marked the end of the war.

Effects

London Peace Treaty

In the First Balkan War, weapons were used that had never previously been used in Europe or in the world in general. In particular, for the first time after the Italian-Turkish war, aviation was used for hostilities and bombing the enemy. In the First Balkan War, weapons were tested, later massively used in the First World War.

On May 30, 1913, after a month of trench warfare, the Ottoman Empire on the one hand and Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro on the other signed a peace treaty in London. In fact, nothing has changed much since the failed truce, only Edirne fell, and now Turkey could not claim him. According to the contract:

1. From the moment of the signing of the treaty between the Balkan Union and the Ottoman Empire, "peace for eternity" was established.
2. The Ottoman Empire gave almost all of its European possessions under the control of the Balkan Union (except for Albania, whose status was later agreed upon, Istanbul and its environs).
3. The great powers were supposed to start negotiations on the status of Albania and ensure its security.
4. The Ottoman Empire abandoned Crete in favor of the Balkan Union.
5. The great powers were to start guardianship over the Turks living on the islands of the Aegean Sea and its coasts (except for Crete and the vicinity of Mount Athos).
6. A special commission was convened in Paris to settle the economic consequences of the war.
7. The rest of the post-war issues (about prisoners of war, trade, relations, and others) should be settled in separate, more specialized agreements.

Although the Ottoman Empire gave up most of its dominions in Europe in favor of the Balkan Union, one caveat remained. The member countries of the union had to themselves, without foreign mediation, divide the conquered territories. This was problematic, since the Greeks wanted to unite all the coasts of the Aegean Sea into a single Greece, the Bulgarian government wanted to create Great Bulgaria, the Serbs - access to the Adriatic Sea and the greatest expansion of the borders of their country, the Montenegrins - the accession of the north of Albania to the Kingdom of Montenegro. Thus, a dispute arose between the allies about the ownership of Macedonia, Thrace, northern Albania. None of the founding states of the Balkan Union were fully satisfied with the London Treaty and the result of the war. Serbia did not gain access to the Adriatic due to the formation of the new state of Albania, Montenegro did not occupy Shkoder, Greece did not annex Thrace. Bulgaria was unhappy with the Serbs' claims to Macedonia, and a few months after the signing of peace with Turkey, the Second Balkan War began, the results of which became one of the causes of the First World War.

Albania and Kosovo

Even during the war on November 28, 1912, in Vlora during the Albanian uprising, the independence of Albania was proclaimed. Under the London Peace Treaty, negotiations have begun on the status of the region. During the negotiations, the independence of Albania, the new Balkan state, was recognized. The great powers actually proclaimed their protectorate over the newly created state.

Under the same London Treaty, the borders of the Albanian state were strictly specified. Serbia annexed Kosovo, which was one of the Albanian vilayets in the Ottoman Empire, and the northwestern part of Macedonia, also inhabited by Albanians, so these regions were not included in Albania. Before World War II, the Albanian borders were not revised. During the Second World War, the so-called Great Albania emerged, over which an Italian protectorate was established. After the defeat of the Axis countries, the borders were re-established under the London Peace Treaty, and were never revised again. Despite this, the Albanian population remained in Yugoslavia outside Albania.

In the second half of the 20th century, the Kosovar Albanians attempted to expand the region's autonomy. With the collapse of Yugoslavia in Kosovo, the conflict between Serbs and Albanians escalated, leading to the NATO war against Yugoslavia and the proclamation of Kosovo's independence. There was also conflict in northwestern Macedonia in 2001. Thus, the First Balkan War has far-reaching consequences.

Photo gallery

Useful information

First Balkan War
known as the Balkan War in Bulgaria
wed Prvi balkanski rat

Outcome

• Balkan Union victory
• signing of the London Peace Treaty
• Changes in the Ottoman Empire in Europe, except for Constantinople and its environs, came under the control of the Balkan Union
• negotiations on the status and independence of Albania

Opponents

• Ottoman Empire
• Balkans: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia

Commanders

• Ottoman Empire: Abdullah Pasha Ali Ryza Pasha Zekki Pasha Mukhtar Pasha
• Balkans: Nikola Ivanov (Bulgarian Nikola Ivanov) Ivan Fichev Vasily Kutinchev (Bulgarian Vasil Kutinchev) Radko-Dmitriev Constantine I Alexander I Radomir Putnik Petar Boyovich Stepa Stepanovich Bozidar Yankovich Nikola I

Forces of the parties

• Ottoman Empire: 475,000
• Balkans: 632,000

Losses

• Ottoman Empire: 30,000 killed
• Balkans: 55,000 killed

In culture

The first works devoted to the theme of the First Balkan War began to appear in its first months. Yaroslav Veshin was the first Bulgarian battle painter. He began painting military-themed paintings even before the Balkan Wars, but his most famous works were inspired by the First Balkan War. So, in the years 1912-1913, a series of paintings was painted on this war. It includes the canvases "On the knife", "Attack", "Wagon train at the Erkene River", "Retreat of the Turks at Luleburgaz". Simultaneously with the artist, the Joki Bogdanovic film studio worked in Serbia, where short documentaries were filmed about events at the front and in the rear. Joke was assisted by Russian photographer Samson Chernov, with whom a series of films about the First Balkan War were shot. Currently, these films are stored in the Serbian State Archives, as they are of cultural and historical value. European film crews also worked in Montenegro, filming the war against Turkey. Particular attention was paid to the battles of Shkoder and the blockade of this city. After the First Balkan War, the films were sent to European countries, where they made several newsreels dedicated to the First Balkan War.

The march "Farewell of a Slav" was written in the Russian Empire by the composer and conductor Vasily Ivanovich Agapkin. V. Agapkin, inspired by the events in the Balkans, wrote this march in 1912. The composer dedicated his work to all the Slavic women of the Balkans, whose relatives went to the front.

Literary works written during the First Balkan War were later used by Bulgarian and Serbian radicals and nationalists in the Second Balkan War and the First World War, but already for confrontation with each other. Thus, Ivan Vazov, a Bulgarian poet, after the Balkan Wars in 1914 and 1916, published the collections Under the Thunder of Victories and Songs about Macedonia. During the First World War, the Bulgarian authorities used these verses as a means in the ideological struggle against the Serbs. Later, Vazov himself condemned his works.