Armament and form of the countries participating in the Balkan wars. Balkan Wars (1912–1913)

First Balkan War. End of the war

After the Bulgarian offensive on Chataldzha bogged down, the siege of Edirne dragged on, the Montenegrins unsuccessfully besieged Shkoder, and the Turks feared the Bulgarians were approaching Istanbul, negotiations began on a truce. The negotiations were approved by the countries of Europe, who feared the entry into the war of new countries. 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 new all-European war.

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

On the evening of December 2, a peace treaty was signed. Only Greece did not sign it, arguing that if the Greek fleet stops the blockade of Turkish ports, Turkish ships will be able to transport infantry to Macedonia without hindrance. Despite the fact that Greece did not sign the treaty, later its delegation still went to London for a peace conference. According to the armistice agreement:

1. The troops of both belligerents remain in 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, located at the front, can be supplied with everything necessary along the lines of communication controlled by them and along the Black Sea, where the Turkish fleet was located

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 treaty unfavorable to the Turks, Osman Nizami Pasha, authorized from Turkey, 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 about 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 rebuild 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 resumption of the war would expose the empire to great dangers and that under the circumstances it is necessary to follow the advice of powerful European cabinets."

However, there was a surprise that Turkey's opponents, who wanted to sign the treaty as soon as possible, could not have foreseen. On January 23, the day after the council was convened, the Young Turk Revolution began. Members of the Unity and Progress party and their supporters (including officers and soldiers), led by Enver Pasha, broke into the meeting room where the members of the government were. During 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, then on behalf of the whole country and the army I suggest that the cabinet immediately submit to resignation."

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 of concluding peace, why the allies, to their extreme regret, are forced to declare the negotiations that 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 was fully prepared for war.

Resumption of hostilities

The 3rd Army of the Bulgarians, which dug in in front of the Chataldzha line at the end of November 1912, did not retreat anywhere by the resumption of hostilities. On the contrary, while negotiations were going on, the Bulgarians strengthened their positions more strongly, and their soldiers were able to rest after large-scale autumn battles. The tactics of the allies was reduced only to a positional war 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 under Chataldzha went on the offensive. The Bulgarians were able to repel this attack. Near Kovazh, on another sector of the front, the Bulgarians even managed to go on the offensive. The Turks retreated behind the Bulair fortified line. By that time, the 4th Bulgarian army had been formed, which, together with the 1st, was supposed to storm the Bulair fortified line. The Bulgarians and Greeks needed to storm the line in order to reach the Dardanelles, destroy the Turkish coastal batteries, after which the Greek fleet would enter the Sea of Marmara. Under the threat of bombing Istanbul, the Balkan Union would force Turkey to peace.

Assault on Edirne

The siege of Edirne, which began in the first phase of the war, continued. Information came from the fortress that provisions were left in it for a few more days and Edirne was about to fall. As it turned out later, this was misinformation. In fact, Edirne was able to hold out for another two months, as the Turks managed to find grain reserves as early as December 1912. Shukri Pasha, the commandant of the fortress, in November 1912 established a strict ration. Each inhabitant 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 was significantly reduced, 300 grams of bread were given out, and 300 grams of meat, too.

The Bulgarians were not happy with the situation. They wanted to force the Turks to surrender the fortress with the help of a blockade, but nothing came of it. The Bulgarian command began to develop a plan to storm the city. 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 bring artillery pieces and infantry by train. There was also a backup plan, according to which the strike should be carried out on the eastern part of the city. 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 to transport ammunition.

At 1 pm on March 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 many days of shelling Edirne, decided that this was just a break before the next bombardment and relaxed. At 2 am on March 25, the bombardment 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 on the outskirts of the city outside the fortress. Bulgarian soldiers, under the roar of artillery guns, quietly crept up to the enemy's trenches, positioning themselves at a distance of 50 steps. After that, the Bulgarians suddenly rushed to the Turks in the trenches with shouts. Before the Turkish infantry could recover, the Bulgarians had already descended into the trenches and started hand-to-hand combat. Half an hour later, all 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 back on the Turks running towards the fortress, as the Montenegrins did when crossing the Turkish border at the very beginning of the war. Now the Turks were blocked in the Adrianople fortress.

Following this, the Bulgarians went on the offensive from the south. In one day of fighting, on March 26, the fortress fell. The Turkish garrison capitulated along with the commandant Shukri Pasha. The Serbs, in turn, dissatisfied with the fact that Shukri Pasha had surrendered to the Bulgarians, and not to them, sent out a message that the commandant had allegedly fallen into their hands. The Bulgarians denied this information. The assault on Edirne was the last major battle in the war between Bulgaria and Turkey, no more major incidents occurred. The war turned into a positional one.

Blockade of Shkodra

Encouraged by their first successes, the Montenegrins, back in 1912, tried to take the fortified settlement of Shkoder (Scutari). Danilo's army blockaded the city from the east, and Martinovich's army, which arrived in time, surrounded the city from the west. At the first attempt to storm the city, the Montenegrins suffered huge losses. The siege of Shkoder, 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 block the city. On December 4, the Balkan Union agreed on a truce with the Ottoman Empire, but the siege of Shkodra continued anyway. Great Britain, not interested in weakening Turkey, sent an ultimatum to Montenegro with demands to lift the blockade of the city. The Montenegrins did not obey the will of London, and on April 4, 1913, an international squadron entered the Adriatic Sea under the command of Cecil Burney. The squadron stood 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 some time, a detachment of Serbs with artillery came to the aid of the Montenegrins. Great Britain demanded that Serbia withdraw the detachment from Shkodra, which she did. However, the Serbian artillery remained with 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 himself raised the Montenegrin flag over the fortress of the city. The authorities of Austria-Hungary reacted violently to the capture of Shkodra. They declared that if the Montenegrins did not transfer the city into the hands of an international contingent, the Austro-Hungarian troops would directly intervene in the conflict. The rest of the European powers, realizing that this threatens a pan-European war, decided to support Austria-Hungary. In response, Nicholas sent a telegram to London: “My government, in its note on April 30, outlined the grounds for its behavior in the Scutari issue. This communication is inspired by the unshakable principles of law. I once again declare with my people that the right sanctified by the conquest, my dignity and the dignity of my people do not allow me to submit to the isolated demands of [Austria], and therefore I transfer the fate of the city of Scutari to the hands of the great powers. After the surrender of Shkoder, Turkey and Montenegro finally signed a peace treaty on May 30, 1913, which marked the end of the war.

Effects

In the First Balkan War, weapons were used that had never before been used in Europe and in the world in general. These were airplanes, balloons, armored cars. Aviation was first used for military operations and enemy bombing. In the First Balkan War, weapons were tested, which were 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 much has changed since the failed truce, only Edirne fell and now Turkey could not claim it. According to the contract:

1. From the moment of signing the treaty between the Balkan Union and the Ottoman Empire, "peace for all time" was established.

2. The Ottoman Empire gave almost all of its European possessions under the control of the Balkan Union (except for Albania, the status of which was negotiated later, 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 supposed to start guardianship over the Turks living on the islands of the Aegean Sea and its coasts (except for Crete and the environs of Mount Athos).

6. A special commission was convened in Paris to deal with the economic consequences of the war.

7. Other post-war issues (about prisoners of war, trade, relations, etc.) should be settled by separate, more specialized treaties.

Although the Ottoman Empire gave up most of its possessions in Europe in favor of the Balkan Union, one nuance remained. The member countries of the union had to divide the conquered territories themselves, without foreign mediation. This was problematic, since the Greeks wanted to unite all the coasts of the Aegean into a single Greece, the Bulgarian government wanted to create Great Bulgaria, the Serbs wanted access to the Adriatic Sea and the greatest expansion of the borders of their country, the Montenegrins wanted to join the north of Albania to the Kingdom of Montenegro. Thus, a dispute arose between the allies about the ownership of Macedonia, Thrace, the north of Albania. None of the founding states of the Balkan Union was fully satisfied with the London Treaty and the outcome 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 dissatisfied with the claims of the Serbs 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.

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

According to the same London treaty, the borders of the Albanian state were strictly stipulated. Serbia annexed Kosovo, which was one of the Albanian vilayats in the Ottoman Empire, and the northwestern part of Macedonia, also inhabited by Albanians, so these regions did not become part of Albania. Before World War II, Albanian borders were not revised. During World War II, the so-called Great Albania arose, over which an Italian protectorate was established. After the defeat of the Axis, the borders were again fixed by the Treaty of London, and were never revised again. Despite this, there was still an Albanian population outside of Albania in Yugoslavia.

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

Plan
Introduction
1 Reasons
1.1 Historical background. Great Power Politics
1.2 Irredentism in the Balkans

2 Preparing for war
2.1 Ottoman Empire
2.1.1 Plan
2.1.2 Forces

2.2 Balkan Union
2.2.1 Forces and plans
2.2.2 Armament

3 Combat
3.1 First months of the war
3.1.1 From border fighting to full-scale war
3.1.2 Battle of Kumanovo
3.1.3 Lozengrad operation

3.2 The defeat of the Turkish troops. Deadlock
3.2.1 Defeat of the Eastern Army
3.2.2 Defeat of the Western Army
3.2.3 The actions of the Greek troops
3.2.4 Beginning of the blockade of Adrianople
3.2.5 Battle of Chataldzha

3.3 Truce
3.3.1 Signing of the armistice
3.3.2 Failure of negotiations

3.4 Second period of the war
3.4.1 Resumption of hostilities
3.4.2 Storming of Adrianople
3.4.3 Siege of Shkodra

4 Consequences
4.1 London Peace Treaty
4.2 Albania and Kosovo

5 In culture
Bibliography

First Balkan War

Introduction

The First Balkan War (in Bulgaria it is known as the Balkan War) - the war of the Balkan Union (Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro) against the Ottoman Empire from September 25 (October 8), 1912 to May 17 (30), 1913. The reason for 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 truce, Turkey, Serbia and Bulgaria stopped hostilities, but Greece and Montenegro continued the war. The second period of the war (February - May 1913) distinguished itself by positional warfare, not counting the assault on Adrianople (Odrin). At the end of the First Balkan War, the participating countries of the Balkan Union were not satisfied with the London Peace Treaty, which led to the Second Balkan War.

1. Reasons

1.1. Historical background. Great Power Politics

In the XV century, the Turks, having occupied Asia Minor, began the conquest of the Balkan Peninsula, the Middle East and North Africa. After the conquest of Constantinople, the formed Ottoman Empire began to include vast territories in the east of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and western 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, ending 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. There were such states as Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania. Despite this, the Albanians did not achieve self-determination, and the territories still controlled by the Turkish government were inhabited by several million Bulgarians (by which they meant mainly 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 unifying 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.

Political map of the Balkan Peninsula before the First Balkan War

It was on her initiative that on March 13, 1912, an agreement was signed between Serbia and Bulgaria on the formation of a defensive alliance. On May 12, relations between the countries were expanded. On May 29, Greece joined the alliance, not wanting to be left without territorial gains at the expense of Turkey. But both 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. However, further events did not develop according to Russia's plan. The Balkan Union, 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.

1.2. Irredentism in the Balkans

Ferdinand I, Tsar of Bulgaria, who ruled the country during the Balkan Wars and during the First World War

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 Great Greece, after the First World War to the embodiment of the Great Idea of Venizelos, the Bulgarians - for Great 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 intersected. Thus, Bulgaria and Greece jointly laid claim to Macedonia and 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 the territorial problems. After the war, Bulgaria and Serbia wanted to divide Macedonia between them 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 between them, 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 - the Balkan countries, dissatisfied with the London Peace Treaty, lost their common enemy - Turkey - and began to translate "great-power" ideas into reality through mutual destruction.

2. Preparation for war

2.1. Ottoman Empire

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 the creation of schools for Greeks, Bulgarians, Serbs and the demobilization of a large part of the army in the region. Autonomous regions were to be headed by Belgian or Swiss governors, in total, the Balkan Union set aside six months for 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 about the tolerance of the Turks towards the national minorities of the empire and its neighbors.

Colmar von der Goltz, Vice Chairman of the Turkish Supreme Military Council. Shortly before the start of the Balkan Wars, he retired

Realizing that war was inevitable, the Turks developed their military plan. The principles on which it was designed 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 as early as 1910 in preparation for war. But only after the Bulgarian ultimatum on October 14, the Turks in the Balkans announced mobilization. The situation in the army was aggravated by the ongoing military reforms, which, according to the plan of the Sultan, were to end in 1915. Therefore, by October 17, the day the war began, mobilization had not yet been completed. The Turkish troops were located along the Kirklareli↔Yenidzhe↔Edirne line. Abdullah Pasha commanded the Eastern Army, his headquarters was at Kavakli.

It was planned to conduct positional combat operations for the first month of the war, during which time the Turkish army would have time to mobilize and cross from Asia to the Balkans. Then the Turks were to launch a general offensive on the border with Bulgaria, push back the Bulgarian troops to the north and strike at Serbia, reaching the Serbian-Bulgarian border. From the Serbian-Bulgarian border and from southern Bulgaria, it was planned to strike at Sofia and persuade the Bulgarians to peace. Since Bulgaria assumed 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.

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 capability, arrived on the peninsula via the Black Sea. Nearby there were 40 squadrons of cavalry. Of the corps already in Thrace, the 1st corps was located near Yenidzhe, the 2nd - at Kavakli in reserve behind the 3rd, which was located in the Kyrklareli ↔ Kuyun-Guyar section. The 4th Corps stretched from Edirne to Yenice, two of its divisions withdrew to the reserve. Engineering structures and fortifications in the fortified areas had not yet been completed by that time, which aggravated the situation.

The Western army under the command of Ali Riza Pasha was in a worse position than the Eastern army at the beginning of the war with Bulgaria. Already on October 6, 11 days before the start of hostilities in the eastern Balkans, the Montenegrin army spontaneously went on the offensive. The Turks lost the 24th division, as most of it surrendered (7,000 men and 22 guns) and the 21st. By the first days of October, the Western army was grouped around Shkoder (Scutari) 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.

Plan
Introduction
1 Reasons
1.1 Historical background. Great Power Politics
1.2 Irredentism in the Balkans

2 Preparing for war
2.1 Ottoman Empire
2.1.1 Plan
2.1.2 Forces

2.2 Balkan Union
2.2.1 Forces and plans
2.2.2 Armament

3 Combat
3.1 First months of the war
3.1.1 From border fighting to full-scale war
3.1.2 Battle of Kumanovo
3.1.3 Lozengrad operation

3.3 Truce
3.3.1 Signing of the armistice
3.3.2 Failure of negotiations

3.4 Second period of the war
3.4.1 Resumption of hostilities
3.4.2 Storming of Adrianople
3.4.3 Siege of Shkodra

4 Consequences
4.1 London Peace Treaty
4.2 Albania and Kosovo

5 In culture
Bibliography

First Balkan War

Introduction

1. Reasons

1.1. Historical background. Great Power Politics

Political map of the Balkan Peninsula before the First Balkan War

1.2. Irredentism in the Balkans

Ferdinand I, Tsar of Bulgaria, who ruled the country during the Balkan Wars and during the First World War

2. Preparation for war

2.1. Ottoman Empire

Colmar von der Goltz, Vice Chairman of the Turkish Supreme Military Council. Shortly before the start of the Balkan Wars, he retired

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 have time to arrive from Asia Minor. In the fortified areas, the fortifications were unfinished. The Allies managed to take the Ottoman Empire by surprise by launching a preemptive attack.

2.2. Balkan Union

Forces and plans

Nikola I Petrovich, King of Montenegro. During the First Balkan War, he personally led the Montenegrin troops and participated in the siege of Shkodra

First of all, the Allied command took advantage of the slowness of the mobilization of Turkish troops. Montenegro unexpectedly attacked Turkish positions in Albania on September 25, while the rest of the allies were still concentrating armies. The premature attack of the Montenegrins was explained by the spontaneity of mobilization, that is, the people themselves went to the army without receiving summons. Of all 50,000 Montenegrin soldiers, 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 had the largest army of the countries of the Balkan Union, was going to attack Thrace and Istanbul first of all. Montenegro wanted to get the north of Albania, Greece and Serbia were preparing to attack Macedonia. In addition, the Greek fleet was supposed 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 placed the greatest responsibility, prepared thoroughly for the war. The government of the country freed Muslims from conscription, which made it possible to strengthen the army. The core of the army was the militias of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. Later, mobilized soldiers and militias joined them, and a pro-Bulgarian people's militia appeared in Macedonia. The mobilization on September 30 was successful; those called up for service even came from abroad. On October 17, the army was fully prepared for the start of the war.

Armament

Greece and Bulgaria bought all their artillery from France. European artillery was far 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, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, unlike the Turks, did not have mountain artillery. Later, this will affect the viability of their armies in the mountains of the Balkans. Greece was the only country in the Balkan Union that had a fleet in the Mediterranean. It included the latest armored cruiser "Georgios Averof", built in Italy, three old, but upgraded coastal defense battleships "Idra", "Spetse" and "Psara", 13 destroyers built in Germany and England, two submarines of the French the buildings. With the outbreak of war, the Greek government requisitioned nine merchant ships from their 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 Sofia-1 balloon and one Godard-type balloon. In addition, the Bulgarians bought 14 airplanes from the Russian Empire, 9 more were bought in Western Europe. Due to the fact that there were no professional pilots at all in the country, 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 balloonists were sent to Western Europe for training.

Constantine I, King of Greece. Led the Macedonian army of Greece during the First Balkan War

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

3. Fighting

3.1. First months of the war

From border battles to large-scale war

On September 25 (October 8), 1912, when the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs 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 Porte, after why he left Constantinople.

The premature start of the war against Turkey by Montenegro was explained by the spontaneity of mobilization and the presence of volunteers in the army. From October 4, small clashes took place on the border between Turkey and Montenegro, on October 8 these clashes escalated into major battles, and on October 9, Montenegrins crossed the border in three columns. The war has officially begun. Turkish soldiers were unable to prevent the advance of the enemy. A column of Montenegrin troops under the command of General Vukotich moved to the city of Berane, two more detachments went to Belopolye, Plav and Gusin. In these cities there were 4 divisions of the Turks and another 9,000 Arnauts. On October 10, another 2,000 Ottoman Arvanites 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 Prince Danilo stormed the border heights of Dedich and Shinshanik. From the guns abandoned by the retreating Turks, the Montenegrins opened fire on the back of the enemy. 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 detachment crossed the border and attacked the advancing Serbian troops. They quickly reacted and ousted the enemy detachment from the territory of Serbia. It is still not clear why the unit went on the attack without notifying the higher command. There were suggestions that this was an unauthorized decision of the detachment commander.

Manifesto declaring war on the Ottoman Empire by Bulgaria, signed by the Bulgarian king Ferdinand I

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

On the same day, the 2nd Bulgarian Army captured the strategically important fortified point 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 was fighting near Kumanov, the 2nd Serbian army was at the Ovche field, the 3rd army of Jankovic stormed Pristina, the 4th army of Zhivkovic, together with the Montenegrin army Danilo, occupied the Novopazar Sanjak. 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 was subjected to 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 Kumanovo

Firing Turkish infantry near 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 nearby, on the Sheep field. Reinforcements were approaching Alexander's army past the same field - the 3rd Army, which had already occupied Pristina.

In this situation, Alexander decided to wait for reinforcements for another three days. The commander of the Western Army, Osman Zekki Pasha, decided the opposite - to attack while the Turkish troops outnumbered the enemy. From October 21 to October 22, the enemy armies stood against each other, until the Turks launched an 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 both the Danube Division and the Moravian Division in the center on the left flank. The attackers took the Serbs by surprise, besides, they did not know the exact size of the Turkish army, assuming that the enemy forces were several times smaller than their own. Therefore, to repel the attack, the Serbs put up small units of infantry, which by two o'clock in the afternoon were all 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. The Turks, in order to cover the enemy from the flanks, took advantage of their numerical superiority and went in from the sides. In response, the Serbs stretched their troops. As a result, the front was 30 kilometers.

That day it was raining and there was fog, so it was extremely difficult for the Serbian artillerymen to calculate the location of the enemy. The Turks knew about this, so until noon they made major attacks on the left flank and center of the enemy. At the same moment, another corps of the Turks made a maneuver, bypassing the Serbs from the right flank. However, at 3 p.m. on the left flank, the situation began to change. Now the Serbs were advancing in places. A Turkish corps was also found advancing to the rear of Alexander's 1st Army. The road was blocked for him, and the corps was forced to retreat. At 6 p.m., the fighting stopped. The Turks, who had the initiative at the beginning of the battle, retreated.

"On the knife" - a painting by Yaroslav Veshin, 1912. Bulgarian infantry hand-to-hand attacks Turkish positions

At 7 pm the clouds dispersed, the battlefield was illuminated by the moon. The Turks took advantage of this by making an attempt to take revenge: the Danube division on the left flank was again attacked. Now that there was no fog, the Turks opened aimed artillery fire. After the shelling, the infantry began to advance, the Serbs opened weapons and artillery fire. The night battle of the Serbs with the Turks was much bloodier than the daytime, because the parties resorted to the help of artillery. At 11 pm, the Turks retreated again, in turn, the Serbs managed to take some enemy positions. At night, Serbian soldiers began to prepare for a general offensive on a 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 stopped, the Turks retreated to Skopje. They abandoned most of their artillery near Kumanovo - 156 guns. The Serbs took 2,000 Turkish soldiers and about 100 officers prisoner.

Losengrad operation

The key city on the way to the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople, was Kirk-Kilis (Lozengrad). In order to cut off the Western Turkish army from the eastern one 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 depended on the speed of the offensive. The Turks would not have had time to bring up reinforcements and complete the construction of fortifications in time 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 out by heavy rains of 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 the defense. However, the Bulgarians continued to advance towards the city. To increase the speed of movement, they unloaded the convoys, and carried ammunition and provisions on their hands. They did the same with artillery, which was pulled by several horses at once, and sometimes by a man. Thus, the Bulgarians managed to approach Kirk-Kilis in time.

By that time, the Turks had occupied the heights surrounding the city, placing their artillery on them. Kirk Kilis itself was never properly fortified, but the mountainous terrain allowed the Turks to heavily fortify their positions. In total, there were up to 45,000 troops, they were commanded by Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha. The commander-in-chief of the Eastern Army considered Kirk-Kilis to be 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.

Radko-Dmitriev. In 1912 he led the Bulgarian troops during the Lozengrad operation

Before the start of the battle, von der Goltz, an instructor for the Turkish troops, stated: “It will take three months to capture Kirklareli and an army three times larger than the Bulgarian one in both numbers 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 left all the advanced positions in front of Kirklareli. The next day, October 23, the Bulgarians attacked the city itself. Due to heavy rain and poor visibility, artillery was not used in the battle.

The Bulgarians bypassed the right flank of the enemy troops near the village of Kaiva by nightfall, which led to panic in the ranks of the Turks. All the troops of the Ottoman Empire from the right flank hid in the city. Following them, the rest of the Turkish forces left their positions, leaving weapons, ammunition, 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 a bastard! The soldiers only think about how to get to Istanbul as soon as possible, where they are attracted by the smell of Constantinople kitchens. It is impossible to defend successfully with such troops ... ". In turn, Metropolitan of Stara Zagora Methodius met with the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand the next day. Regarding the capture of Kirklareli, he made a speech in which he mentioned Whole Bulgaria and the Bulgarian emperor.

To the question of the Russian ambassador about “Whole Bulgaria”, the metropolitan replied that this was only inspired by the victory near Kirklareli and was not a serious intention of the country. In turn, the Russian ambassador expressed hope that Bulgaria would show restraint in the Balkans and would not seek to establish its hegemony in the region.

3.2. Defeat of Turkish troops. Deadlock

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, it also began to 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 accumulated in the city of Arcadiopol (Luleburgaz). In just three days, the retreating army traveled 60 kilometers.

Retreating Turkish soldiers heading for Constantinople

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. In total, 120,000 troops 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 go on the counteroffensive. Already on October 27, the Turks were fully prepared for battle, and Mahmud Mukhtar Pasha sent his troops to Bunar-Hissar. In this region, the Turks were opposed by three enemy divisions under the command of Radko Dmitriev. The 1st Army of Bulgaria hurried to help him, intending to take Luleburgaz on the move.

Thus, a new front Yani↔Arkadiopol appeared. On October 29, the fighting became more and more fierce, and the 1st army of the Bulgarians was delayed due to roads washed out by rain. On October 30, the Turks attempted an offensive. The three divisions defending the area from Yani to Lyuleburgaz were ordered by the Bulgarian command "die in your positions, but don't give them up". On October 31, the Turks tried to capture the right flank of the Bulgarians, the attack was repulsed with heavy losses. On November 1, the 1st army of the Bulgarians approached Lyuleburgaz, and in the evening of the same day the situation turned in favor of Bulgaria. The 4th infantry division of the Bulgarians broke through the defenses of the Turks in the center and went on the offensive near Karagach. On November 2, the Eastern Turkish Army again retreated along the entire front, de facto ceasing to exist. Its remnants retreated to the Chataldzha 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 Kumanov battle, the retreating Turks began to pull up to Skopje. Together with them, refugees from the north of Macedonia flocked to the city, in total 150,000. As a rule, these were Muslims who feared the onset of Orthodox Serbs and Bulgarians. Part of the Ottoman troops remained in Skopje, others deserted. In total, 40,000 soldiers 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 Skopje "to the last drop of blood." In fact, this was impossible, since the Turkish troops were demoralized after the battle, and all 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 bombardment of the city by the Serbs would lead to the death 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 command, went home. The city authorities turned to the Russian Consul General Kalmykov with a proposal to become an intermediary in negotiations with Serbia in order to surrender Skopje to it in order to avoid anarchy.

Alexander I Karageorgievich. During the First Balkan War, being the crown prince, he personally led the 1st Serbian army

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

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 the direct 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 the Monastery.

On November 2, the Bulgarian 2nd Army occupied Nevrokop, thus beginning 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 Babine-Planina pass. There she encountered a Turkish army of up to 20,000 people, who had mountain artillery. There were 40,000 Serbs, but because of the mountains, their army could not turn around. In addition, the Serbian troops had only field artillery, unable to fire in the mountains. In such a situation, the Serbs lined up in rows of three companies and advanced on the Turks with a dense wall. The fighting also went beyond the heights surrounding the pass, and on November 5, the Turkish troops, despite the technical and tactical superiority over the enemy, lost the battle and retreated to the Monastery. Another battle took place near the city, during which 50,000 Turks voluntarily surrendered to the Serbian troops. Even before the surrender of the army, Ali Riza Pasha and Zekki Pasha fled the city. The latter managed to get out of the encirclement with 30,000 soldiers and retreat to Florina. At Florina they encountered the Greek army, which was rushing to the Monastery to help the Serbian allies. During the battle with the Greeks, Zekki Pasha died. Javid Pasha retreated to Yanina with the remnants of the army 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 skirmish 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 capitulated on favorable terms for the Bulgarians. As a result, Bulgaria captured the head 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 1500 horses.

Actions of the Greek troops

Battle of Giannitsa (1912-11-01), First Balkan War, Greece

The Greek army began the war by crossing the border and advancing deep into Turkey at the same time as the rest of the allies. Having passed with a fight from Thessaly to Macedonia, through the northwestern 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 northwest, to the city of Monastir, (Bitola), which in those years had a significant Greek population, but at the insistence of the PM Venizelos deployed the army to the east, to the capital of Macedonia, the city of Thessalonica. On October 20 (November 2), the Greek army took the city of Giannitsa with a fight (Battle of Giannitsa) and thereby opened the road to Thessaloniki. . On the morning of October 25 (November 7), the Greek army approached Thessaloniki. The city was a trading port, there were many foreign consuls in it. 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 looting of Thessaloniki. On the same day, at 11 pm Thessaloniki capitulated. 25 thousand Turkish soldiers were sent unarmed to the barracks before the end of the war. At the same time, both the Greeks and the Turks showed respect for each other. On November 8, the city was liberated by the Greek army. An attempt by the belated Bulgarian army to establish dual power in the city, by forcing the Turkish commander to re-sign capitulation, now before the Bulgarians, was unsuccessful. The Turkish commander Takhshin Pasha refused to do this... The city became Greek again. Having established control over Thessalonica, the Greek army again sent its main forces to Western Macedonia. The 4th division of the Greek army on November 6 (19) liberated the city of Florina and headed for Monastir (Bitola), but Serbian troops were ahead of it. At the same time, 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 was 1 division, from the very beginning of the war and in violation of the defense tasks given to it, conducted offensive operations, but was not able to overcome the Turkish defenses on the outskirts of 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 Bisani). The participation of the Greek fleet in the war was of great importance for the allies, since it completely disrupted the Ottoman sea communications in the Aegean Sea. On December 3, a battle took place between the Greek and Turkish navies at Elli near the Dardanelles. The battle was won by the Greeks, the Turkish fleet was forced to leave the Aegean. 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: the railway lines connecting the west and east of the Balkan Peninsula passed through it; ammunition, provisions and reinforcements were brought through Adrianople of the Western army of the Turks. By the beginning of the siege, there were 70,000 Turkish soldiers in the city. Rivers divided the city into four sectors: northwestern, northeastern, southwestern and southeastern. There was a fortress in the city, fortified areas were located at a distance of several kilometers around it. They communicated with each other by good roads, which made it possible to inflict unexpected blows on the enemy anywhere.

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 29th.

Bulgarian infantry shelling the fortress of the city of Adrianople from the adjacent heights

After the blockade of the city, the Turks set themselves the goal of throwing the front as far as possible from the fortress of the city. In turn, the allies sought to "drive" the Turkish troops into the fort, from where they could not get out. After that, the Turks could be starved to death, in turn they would not be able to prevent the movement of troops by rail.

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 Chataldzha front, it was replaced by two divisions of the Serbs. Later she returned, but her composition was completely updated after the bloody battles for Chataldzha. The Kardzhali detachment also arrived with her. In general, the fighting went on until the truce. During the armistice, the besieged city ran out of provisions, since, according to the agreement, the Turks did not have the right to supply ammunition, provisions, weapons, reinforcements, etc. to their besieged cities.

Chataldzha battle

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

Chataldzhinskaya fortified line was built 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 Marmara. The line was designed according to the plan of the Belgian engineer Brialmont, then it was completed and re-equipped by Bloom Pasha. It had 27 forts and batteries, 16 field fortifications, 16 redoubts (8 in the south, 8 in the north). Each fort had 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 Chataldzha line.

Map of 1912, which shows the Chataldzha fortified line and the main directions of the offensive of the Bulgarian armies

Fortified bunkers and casemates were built underground for 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 on the Black Sea coast, and the southern one - on the Marmara. The depth of the seas in these places was such that warships could approach the shore directly and fire at the enemy. Because of this, the line could not be bypassed. With the capital of the Ottoman Empire - Istanbul - the Chataldzhinskaya line was connected by two highways and one railway, which made it possible to replenish losses in manpower and deliver ammunition in a short time. Line Defense Command was headquartered at Khadem-Kioi railway station. In total, by the beginning of the battle, there were up to 125,000 Turkish soldiers on the line.

At this line, the offensive of the 1st and 3rd Bulgarian armies stopped. Their positions ran through difficult terrain - from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara there were many mountains and marshes. By that time, reinforcements arrived at the Bulgarians - the 3rd division and part of the 9th division of the 2nd army, which had previously besieged Edirne. As a result, the forces of the Bulgarians caught up with the forces of the Turks: 125,000 people and 208 artillery pieces. But the army was tired and demoralized after recent battles with the Turks, so only 1/3 of the troops were ready for battle. The Turks also had problems: cholera broke out 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 Chataldzha line could withstand the attack of the tired Bulgarian armies. An order was given "attack the redoubts on the heights south of Lake Derkosa" which was essentially a mistake.

In the early morning of November 17, after shelling the redoubts at Derkos, the Bulgarians went on the offensive. On the right flank near the village of Ezetin, the 1st, 6th and 10th divisions of the 1st Army were advancing. At 9 o'clock in the morning, the Bulgarians managed to enter several local villages, and the 9th and 4th divisions lost 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 all their defenders. In turn, the Turks launched an evening counterattack, but the 1st Army held its ground and repelled the attack. On November 18, the Bulgarians, due to heavy losses, nevertheless retreated to their original positions. During the attack, the Bulgarian army irretrievably lost 10,000 people, and another 20,000 were wounded.

On November 19, the 1st and 3rd Bulgarian armies began to build fortifications and dig trenches in order to wage a positional war. By that time, cholera and typhus had also begun in the Bulgarian troops, which reduced the efficiency of the soldiers. Under such conditions, after several days of positional fighting, the warring parties began to think about a truce. Negotiations began.

3.3. truce

Armistice signing

Mehmed V, Turkish sultan. Ruled the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars

1. The troops of both belligerents remain in the positions in which they were before the signing of the treaty.

2. The besieged Turkish cities will not receive provisions, ammunition, medicines, etc.

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 treaty unfavorable to the Turks, Osman Nizami Pasha, authorized from Turkey, directly stated: “We did not come to sign peace, but to prove that Turkey is strong enough to continue 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. The decision was made to make peace in view of the fact that "the resumption of the war will expose the empire to great dangers and that under the circumstances it is necessary to follow the advice of powerful European cabinets" .

Photograph of participants in the Young Turk Conference of 1902

However, there was a surprise that Turkey's opponents, who wanted to sign the treaty as soon as possible, could not have foreseen. 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, broke into the meeting room where the members of the government were. During 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 immediately resign” .

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 of concluding peace, which is why the Allies, to their extreme regret, are forced to declare the negotiations that 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 was fully prepared for war.

3.4. Second period of the war

Resumption of hostilities

The sinking of the Turkish battleship Fethi Bulent by a Greek torpedo boat in the port of Thessaloniki. In the corner is a portrait of the captain of the boat Votsis, Nikolaos

On February 3, the war officially resumed, and the Turks under Chataldzha went on the offensive. The Bulgarians were able to repel this attack. Near Kovazh, on another sector of the front, the Bulgarians even managed to go on 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 Turkish coastal batteries, after which the Greek fleet would enter the Sea of Marmara. Under the threat of the bombing of Constantinople, the Balkan Union would force Turkey to peace.

Assault on Adrianople

The siege of Adrianople, which began in the first phase of the war, continued. Information came from the fortress that provisions were left 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, in November 1912 established a strict ration. Each inhabitant 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 was significantly reduced, 300 grams of bread were given out, and 300 grams of meat, too.

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 bring 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 to transport ammunition.

Bulgarian soldiers who died during the storming of Adrianople

At 1 p.m. 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 many days of shelling Edirne, decided that this was just a break before the next bombardment and relaxed. At 2 am on March 12 (25), the bombardment 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 on the outskirts of the city outside the fortress. Bulgarian soldiers, under the roar of artillery guns, quietly crept up to the enemy's trenches, positioning themselves at a distance of 50 steps. After that, the Bulgarians suddenly rushed to the Turks in the trenches with shouts. Before the Turkish infantry could recover, the Bulgarians had already descended into the trenches and started hand-to-hand combat. Half an hour later, all advanced Turkish positions were occupied by the 2nd Bulgarian army. From the captured 8 machine guns and 20 guns, the Bulgarians opened fire in the back to the Turks running towards the fortress. Now the Turks were blocked in the Adrianople fortress.

Following this, the Bulgarians went on the offensive from the south. For a day of fighting, on March 13 (26), the fortress fell. The Turkish garrison capitulated along with the commandant Shukri Pasha. The Serbs, in turn, dissatisfied with the fact that Shukri Pasha had surrendered to the Bulgarians, and not to them, sent out a message that the commandant had allegedly fallen into their hands. The Bulgarians denied this information. The assault on Edirne was the last major battle in the war between Bulgaria and Turkey. The war turned into a positional one.

Blockade of Shkodra

Encouraged by their first successes, the Montenegrins, back in 1912, tried to take the fortified settlement of Scutari (Shkoder). Danilo's army blockaded the city from the east, and Martinovich's army, which arrived in time, 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 Turkish battle in the entire First Balkan War.

Map of Scutari with its surroundings (1904)

Realizing that it was impossible to take Shkoder by storm, King Nicholas decided to completely block the city. On December 4, the Balkan Union agreed on a truce with the Ottoman Empire, but the siege of Shkodra continued anyway. Great Britain, not interested in weakening Turkey, sent an ultimatum to Montenegro with demands to lift the blockade of the city. The Montenegrins did not obey the will of London, and on April 4, 1913, an international squadron entered the Adriatic Sea under the command of Cecil Burney. The squadron stood 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 some time, 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 with 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 himself raised the Montenegrin flag over the fortress of the city. The authorities of Austria-Hungary reacted violently to the capture of Shkodra. They declared that if the Montenegrins did not transfer the city into the hands of an international contingent, the Austro-Hungarian troops would directly intervene in the conflict. The rest of the European powers, realizing that this threatens a pan-European war, decided to support Austria-Hungary. In response, Nicholas sent a telegram to London: “My government, in its note of April 30, set out the reasons for its conduct in the Scutaria question. This communication is inspired by the unshakable principles of law. I once again declare with my people that the right sanctified by the conquest, my dignity and the dignity of my people do not allow me to submit to the isolated demands of [Austria], and therefore I transfer the fate of the city of Scutari to the hands of the great powers. After the surrender of Shkoder, Turkey and Montenegro finally signed a peace treaty on May 30, 1913, which marked the end of the war.

4. Consequences

4.1. London Peace Treaty

Political map of the Balkan Peninsula after the First Balkan War

In the First Balkan War, weapons were used that had never before been used in Europe and in the world in general. In particular, for the first time after the Italo-Turkish war, aviation was used for military operations and bombing of the enemy. In the First Balkan War, weapons were tested, which were 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 much had changed since the failed truce, only Edirne had fallen, and now Turkey could not lay claim to it. According to the contract:

1. From the moment of signing the treaty between the Balkan Union and the Ottoman Empire, "peace for all time" was established.

2. The Ottoman Empire gave almost all of its European possessions under the control of the Balkan Union (except for Albania, the status of which was negotiated later, 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 supposed to start guardianship over the Turks living on the islands of the Aegean Sea and its coasts (except for Crete and the environs of Mount Athos).

6. A special commission was convened in Paris to deal with the economic consequences of the war.

7. Other post-war issues (about prisoners of war, trade, relations, and others) should be settled by separate, more specialized treaties.

4.2. Albania and Kosovo

Ethnographic map of the Balkan Peninsula in 1898. Light blue indicates the area inhabited by Albanians

5. In culture

Poster "Farewell Slav"

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 to paint pictures on military subjects even before the Balkan wars, but he painted his most famous works under the impression of the First Balkan War. So, in 1912 - 1913, a series of paintings dedicated to this war was painted. It included the canvases "On the Knife", "Attack", "Convoy at the Erkene River", "The Retreat of the Turks at Luleburgaz". Simultaneously with the artist, Joka Bogdanovich's film studio worked in Serbia, where documentary short films about events at the front and in the rear were shot. Jocka was assisted by Russian photographer Samson Chernov, with whom a series of films about the First Balkan War was 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, which filmed the war against Turkey. Particular attention was paid to the battles near Shkoder and the blockade of this city. After the First Balkan War, the films reached the countries of Europe, where several film magazines dedicated to the First Balkan War were made from them.

The march "Farewell of the Slav" was written in the Russian Empire by the composer and conductor Vasily Ivanovich Agapkin. Agapkin was inspired by the events in the Balkans, so he 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 World War I, but already to confront each other. So, Ivan Vazov, a Bulgarian poet, already after the Balkan wars in 1914 and 1916 published the collections Under the Thunder of Victories and Songs about Macedonia. The Bulgarian authorities during the First World War used these verses as a tool in the ideological struggle against the Serbs. Later, Vazov himself condemned his works.

Bibliography:

1. The London Peace Treaty did not stipulate territorial changes. The member countries of the Balkan Union privately had to divide the conquered lands among themselves (except for Albania, which gained independence)

2. Secondary Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century.

3. The date is indicated on the day of the declaration of war on the Ottoman Porte by Montenegro.

4. Zadokhin A., Nizovsky A. Powder magazine of Europe. - Moscow: Veche, 2000. - S. 102-112. - ISBN 5-7838-0719-2

5. Ryabinin A. Small wars of the first half of the 20th century. Balkans. - Moscow: LLC Publishing House ACT, 2003. - S. 122-130. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5–17–019625–3

6. Balkan war. 1912-1913 - Moscow: Publication of the Association of Publishing and Book Trade N.I. Pastukhov, 1914. Chapter "The war between Bulgaria and Turkey"

7. Ryabinin A. Small wars of the first half of the 20th century. Balkans. - Moscow: LLC Publishing House ACT, 2003. - S. 131-147. - 5000 copies. - ISBN 5–17–019625–3

8. Zhirokhov M. Bulgarian aviation in the First Balkan War (Russian). Corner of Heaven.

9. Koi prjv from the plane of the cato bomber or a brief history of the Balkan war 1912-1913 (Bulgarian). Bulgarian Aviation.

10.M.A. Taube. Der grossen Katastrophe entgegen. Berlin-Leipzig, 1929, p. 254.

11. "Government Bulletin". September 26 (October 9), 1912, No. 212, p. 4; "Government Bulletin". September 28 (October 11), 1912, No. 213, p. 4.

12. Balkan war. 1912-1913 - Moscow: Publication of the Association of Publishing and Book Trade N.I. Pastukhov, 1914. Chapter "War of Serbia with Turkey"

13. Encyclopedia "Bulgaria". - Sofia: BAN, 1978. - T. I. - S. 190.

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15. Balkan war. 1912-1913 - Moscow: Publication of the Association of Publishing and Book Trade N.I. Pastukhov, 1914. Chapter "War of Greece with Turkey"

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17. Balkan war. 1912-1913 - Moscow: Publication of the Association of Publishing and Book Trade N.I. Pastukhov, 1914. Chapter "Montenegro's War with Turkey"

18. Mogilevich A.A., Airapetyan M.E. On the way to the world war 1914-1918. - Leningrad: 1940. - S. 29-90.

19. Zadokhin A., Nizovsky A. Powder magazine of Europe. - Moscow: Veche, 2000. - S. 112-118. - ISBN 5-7838-0719-2

20. Kosovo: Historical Analogies and Today's Challenges (Russian). Perspectives.

21. Tsoncheva M. Art of Bulgaria.

22. Dejan Kosanovic Serbian Film and Cinematography (1896-1993) (English). Rastko.

23. Ratko Djurovic Montenegrin cinematography (Russian). Montegrin.

24. We went into battle and into exile with this march on dusty lips (Russian). Sunny wind.

25. History of world literature: In 8 volumes / G. P. Berdnikov. - Moscow: Science, 1983-1994. - T. 8. - S. 464.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula had managed to forget what a peaceful life was, and the region had a reputation as "the powder magazine of Europe." The territory of the peninsula was divided by mountain ranges into many unequal parts, which no one, even the Ottoman Empire, could put together. Although just the Turks got their hands on a lot. Slavic peoples and Greeks fought both with the Ottomans and with each other. Uprisings and wars in the region were a continuous succession. It ended up that Montenegro, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania achieved independence.

But about 8 million people who professed Christianity still remained under the rule of the Turks. The politicians of Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece loudly declared that fellow believers needed to be saved from oppression, while each of the countries dreamed of occupying a dominant position in the region. Turkey was demanded reforms aimed at alleviating the situation of the Christian population, and the immediate demobilization of the army. Turkey expectedly rejected these claims. As a result, the smoldering "powder magazine" flared up again with open fire. The first went to the Ottoman Empire.

Four against one

In 1911 war broke out between Italy and Turkey. Turkish troops were defeated, the fleet was forced to take refuge in the Sea of Marmara. The Balkan countries, seeing the weakness of their eternal enemy, decided that the time had come to fulfill their old dream. But even the heavily beaten Ottoman Empire was stronger than any single country in the region. We had to join forces. Serbia and Bulgaria were the first to conclude an agreement on friendship and union, then - Bulgaria and Greece.

The last to join the coalition was Montenegro, which struck the first blow against the Turks on October 9, 1912, unleashing the First Balkan War. Despite their small numbers, the Montenegrin army entered northern Albania and laid siege to the almost impregnable city of Scutari. Having tried to take it by storm, the Montenegrins suffered huge losses and were forced to confine themselves to a siege in the foreseeable future.

The remaining three members of the coalition joined the fighting on 18 October. The Serbs occupied most of Macedonia and entered Albania. In a fierce battle near Kumanovo, Serbian artillery shocked the Turks with their power and accuracy of fire. But the Turkish artillery, on the contrary, fired poorly and often did not even inflict losses on the competently advancing Serbian infantry.

Bulgarian troops quickly mobilized and fell through the impassability of the unprepared Turkish positions. The infantry boldly hit with bayonets. Artillery unleashed a barrage of shells on the Ottomans, putting them to flight. The advancing Bulgarians collected huge trophies. Quick and easy victories so turned the head of the Bulgarian ruling elite that they already dreamed of their own empire.

Map of the fighting of the First Balkan War

As a result, arrogance and contempt for the enemy played a cruel joke on Bulgaria. On the way of her army was a fortified line near Chataldzhi. The Bulgarians were going to take it even without artillery preparation, ignoring the powerful concrete fortifications, wire fences, land mines and searchlights. The flanks of the Chataldzha line ran into the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, it was impossible to bypass it by land. The Turks removed and transferred here coastal guns from the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. It was also important that two highways and a railway led to the positions of the line directly from Constantinople - that is, it was possible to supply the defenders of the line without problems. In addition, the Turkish battleships, although they remained locked in the Sea of Marmara, could successfully support the Chataldzha line with their guns. The frontal attacks of the Bulgarians naturally failed. In addition to everything, their army was tormented by cholera and typhus. The Turks did not dare to go on the counteroffensive.

The warring parties tried to conclude a truce. Negotiations were difficult, and on January 22, 1913, a coup d'état took place in Turkey. The peace supporters in the government were killed, the war resumed. The Bulgarians stormed the long-besieged city of Edirne (Adrianople), and in April Scutari also fell. On May 17, 1913, a completely defeated Turkey signed a peace treaty.

How Europe came to the edge of the abyss

Turkey actually retained only Istanbul and a strip of land near the straits. But none of the winners ever realized their dreams of dominating the region. Moreover, the contradictions between the allies that broke out at the very beginning of the First Balkan War turned out to be insoluble. And neighboring countries poured fuel on the fire from the bottom of their hearts.

Bulgarian army artillery

The situation is like this. Romania, which did not participate in the war, taking a position of "benevolent neutrality", demanded gratitude from Bulgaria for this in the form of the Dobruja region near the Danube. Greece and Bulgaria did not want to concede to each other the large port of Thessaloniki. Serbia wanted to strengthen itself by annexing Albania, but this was so unacceptable to the Austro-Hungarian Empire that it even threatened Serbia with war. Forced to withdraw from Albania, Serbia has its eye on Macedonia, which used to be Turkish and now belonged to Bulgaria. As a result, the peace lasted a little over a month, and then the allies attacked each other. The Second Balkan War began.

On June 29, 1913, without declaring war (this will become a bad tradition in the 20th century), Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece. Fierce and bloody battles began again - by the standards of a society that had not yet gone through two world wars. Bulgarian soldiers, exhausted by the past conflict, poorly supplied and badly managed, fought through force. At first they were even successful, but then the Bulgarians had to retreat.

Suddenly, new opponents entered the arena. Romania moved a 350,000-strong army to the Bulgarian capital, which did not meet resistance on the way. The Turks took advantage of the fact that almost all the Bulgarian troops were busy on other fronts, and also decided to go on the offensive. They regained Edirne and captured Eastern Thrace. In July, realizing the hopelessness of the situation, Bulgaria signed an armistice.

Second Balkan War

The two wars in the Balkans lasted 11 months in total. In this short time, they demonstrated the strength of a prepared defense, the importance of artillery in defending lines and preparing an attack; also in their course appeared the beginnings of a new infantry tactic. The battles in the Balkans earned the reputation of the most brutal in the early twentieth century. And what is the result?

According to legend, after the signing of the peace treaty in Bucharest, the Bulgarian king said: "My revenge will be terrible!"- and headed for rapprochement with the Austro-Hungarians and the Germans. Strengthened Serbia, which prompted Austria-Hungary to seek a pretext for war with her. Among the Serbs, in turn, secret military groups - officer societies - grew and multiplied, and radicalism intensified in the country.

On June 28, 1914, in the city of Sarajevo, pistol shots crackled softly, killing the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It was a match for a powder magazine. A month later, Europe was blown into the air in a new war.

The material was republished from the worldoftanks.ru portal as part of a partnership.

Sources:

Nykiel, P. Some reflections on the effectiveness of the Ottoman Navy in the Balkan Wars 1912–1913. http://www.navyingallipoli.com/ .
Balkan war. 1912–1913 M.: Ed. N. I. Pastukhova, 1914.
Zadokhin A.G., Nizovsky A.Yu. Powder cellar of Europe. Moscow: Veche, 2000.
Izmestiev P.I. A brief guide to elementary and general tactics. Petrograd, 1919.
Korsun N. Balkan Front of World War 1914–1918. M.: Military Publishing House of NPO USSR, 1939.
Small wars of the first half of the 20th century. Balkans. M: ACT; St. Petersburg: Terra Fantastica, 2003.

4. First and second Balkan wars

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was an upsurge in the national liberation movement of the Balkan peoples, and the rivalry between the great powers in the Balkan Peninsula also intensified. The strengthening of national and feudal oppression by Sultan Turkey, the refusal of its government to implement the necessary reforms and grant autonomy to Macedonia and Thrace led to two Balkan wars.

The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913. Waging a liberation struggle, the Balkan peoples sought to eliminate the remnants of Turkish domination on the peninsula. At the same time, the bourgeoisie of each of the Balkan countries aspired to hegemony in the region.

After the defeat in the Italo-Turkish war of 1911-1912. and prolonged uprisings in Albania and Macedonia, Sultan Turkey became increasingly weak and could not control the situation. The countries of the Entente and the Triple Alliance actively intervened in the events in the Balkans, while defending their interests and challenging each other's spheres of influence. In March-October 1912, as a result of lengthy negotiations, the Balkan Union emerged, consisting of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro, directed against Turkey.

The war with Turkey began in October 1912. Within one month, the Serbian army defeated the Turks in Macedonia, Kosovo and Sandzhak, occupied Northern Albania and went to the sea. The Bulgarian army defeated the Turkish troops opposing it, laid siege to Adrianople and reached the approaches to Istanbul. Greek troops occupied Thessaloniki and invaded Albania. On December 3, 1912, at the request of Turkey, hostilities were stopped, and peace negotiations began in London. In February 1913, fighting resumed. But after the fall of Adrianople and Ioannina, Turkey again requested a truce.

On May 29, 1913, a peace treaty was signed in London, according to which Turkey was deprived of all its European possessions, except for a small territory near Istanbul, and the independence of Albania was confirmed (since November 1912). But Serbia did not get the desired access to the Adriatic Sea, and disagreements arose between the former allies due to the partition of Macedonia.

The first Balkan war essentially led to the second, which lasted from June 29, 1913 to August 10, 1913. One of its main reasons was the disagreement between Bulgaria and Serbia on the partition of Macedonia. Chauvinist circles in both countries sought to resolve the dispute by force of arms. Oil was added to the fire by Austro-German diplomacy, which sought to destroy the Balkan Union.

The Second Balkan War began with an attack by Bulgarian troops on the Serbs on the night of June 30th. Soon the Serbian and Greek troops went on the offensive. Romania intervened in the conflict, which occupied Southern Dobruja, and Turkey, which occupied Eastern Thrace. July 29, 1913 Bulgaria capitulated.

Under the Bucharest Peace Treaty of 1913, Bulgaria retained access to the Aegean Sea, but was forced to cede: Turkey - Adrianople, Romania - Southern Dobruja. Serbia and Greece divided Macedonia between them.

The geopolitical situation in the region has changed significantly. The Balkan Union collapsed, the influence of the Entente increased in Serbia, and Bulgaria moved into the camp of the Austro-German bloc. Romania began to draw closer to the Entente, Albania became a bone of contention between Austria-Hungary and Italy, and German influence in Turkey increased. The internal political situation in the South Slavic lands escalated. The results of the Balkan wars brought the beginning of the world war closer.

5. Mexican Revolution 1310-1317

At the beginning of the XX century. Mexico was in a deep political crisis. As in other countries of Latin America, large latifundists (landlords) dominated here, and foreign capital also had a significant influence. This situation did not satisfy the national industrial and commercial bourgeoisie. She aspired to achieve political power. The second acute problem was the agrarian question. The latifundist landowners appropriated communal lands, while the peasants suffered from an extreme shortage of land.

This caused a massive peasant movement. In the north, a popular uprising was led by the future General Pancho Villa (1877-1923).

Villa Francisco (real name Doroteo Arango; also known as Pancho Villa) (1877-1923) - leader of the peasant movement in northern Mexico during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917, participant in the fight against foreign intervention. Killed.

In the south, a partisan army was operating under the leadership of Emilio Zopata. Over time, he, too, was awarded the rank of general of the revolutionary army.

Zapata Emiliano (1879-1919) - the leader of the peasant movement during the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917, one of the authors of the program for the liquidation of large landed property for the redemption and allotment of land to peasants. In December 1914 - July 1915, the detachments of Zapata and Pancho Villa controlled the capital. Treacherously killed.

The peasant movement coincided with the intensification of the actions of the liberal bourgeoisie, which was not satisfied with the reactionary policies of President General Porfirio Diaz, who had been in power since 1876.

The political crisis escalated in 1910 in connection with the conduct of another "election campaign" by Diaz. This time, unlike in previous years, the opposition had its own presidential candidate, Francisco Madero (1873-1913). On the eve of the elections, General Diaz arrested Madero, but he was released on bail and left for the United States. Diaz, of course, "won" the election. Madero published materials abroad about electoral fraud and called on his compatriots to rise in revolt. In response to this call, mass demonstrations began in the country, including in army units. These events marked the beginning of the Mexican Revolution.

June 7, 1911 F. Madero returned to Mexico City. The aged dictator Diaz fled abroad. On October 2 of the same year, Madero was elected president. A bourgeois-landlord bloc of liberal orientation came to power. However, in February 1913, reactionary circles, with outside support, carried out a rebellion, as a result of which General Huerta came to power. The peasants, led by Zapata and Villa, continued to fight against the new dictator.

The new leader of the liberal bourgeoisie, Carranza, led an uprising and called for the restoration of the democratic order. The United States openly intervened in Mexican events, landing troops in Veracruz in April 1914. However, this failed to stop the revolutionary forces. In July 1914 they overthrew the dictatorship, but after that disagreements between the main participants in the struggle escalated. The peasants demanded the abolition of landlordism and the allotment of land on a fair basis. In August, the parties entered into an open conflict, in which Carranza turned out to be the winner. An attempt by the United States to intervene in Mexican events in 1916 failed.

The Legislative Assembly, convened in December 1916, drafted the Mexican Constitution by February 1917. According to the constitution, the land and its subsoil were declared the property of the nation, and the rights of foreigners to use natural resources were sharply limited. The state confiscated all the property of the church. Partial redistribution of landowners' estates, the introduction of an eight-hour working day, the establishment of a minimum wage, the recognition of the right to organize trade unions and strikes were envisaged.

The adoption of the constitution marked the victory of the revolution, which dealt a serious blow to landlordism and the Catholic Church, weakened the position of foreign capital, and created more favorable conditions for the development of market relations in Mexico. However, the revolution did not completely solve the problems existing in the country.

6. Features of the national liberation movement in Africa

By the beginning of the XX century. Europeans conquered and colonized over 90% of Africa. The colonialists were attracted by the possibility of huge profits from the ruthless exploitation of cheap African labor - in the mines and mines where gold and diamonds were mined, as well as in rubber, coffee and citrus plantations.

The colonial policy of the Europeans met with resolute resistance and caused an upsurge in the national liberation struggle.

For over 13 years, the British have been trying to conquer Eastern Sudan. Their troops were surrounded and destroyed in the city of Khartoum by the Sudanese under the leadership of the Mahdi. Only having ensured complete superiority in forces, the British in 1899 defeated the Mahdists.

During 1904-1907. heroic resistance to the German colonialists was provided by the Herero and Hottentot tribes in South-West Africa (present-day Namibia). The Germans brutally dealt with the rebels - out of 300 thousand Hottentots, only 60 thousand survived.

The fate of the Ethiopian people was otherwise. The Italian colonialists suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Adua. Italy was forced to recognize the independence of Ethiopia. But this was an exceptional case. Most of the national liberation movements in what was then Africa were defeated.

His supporters. Without their support, this game would certainly have developed less efficiently. 3. The pre-revolutionary stage of the formation of football in the Stavropol region, with all the problems of its development, has achieved certain success. In general, the activities of football clubs and circles at the beginning of the 20th century were the foundation for modern Stavropol football. Scientific understanding of the results of this stage contributes to ...

Especially intense. And France acquired the main part of its colonial possessions during these years. By the beginning of the XX century. the world is thus divided among the imperialist powers, with the exception of only a few territories. Chapter 2. The foreign policy of France at the end of the 19th century Consideration of the main content of our topic would be logical to begin not directly with the events "...

It can be called the key to the formation of the Greeks as a nation - a phenomenon that was inextricably linked with the formation of the Greek state. The development of self-consciousness and self-identification of the Greeks, the national liberation struggle, the gathering of Greek lands and the emergence of Greek statehood - these are the main facets of this process that in modern times led to the formation of a nation from the once ...

Portal for the student. Self-training

First Balkan War. End of the war

Four against one

How Europe came to the edge of the abyss

Sources:

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