The First Balkan War

[dexter]

Short Summary :

The Balkan allies were soon victorious. In Thrace, the Bulgarians defeated the main Ottoman forces, advancing to the outskirts of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and laying siege to Adrianople (Edirne). In Macedonia, the Serbian army achieved a great victory at Kumanovo that enabled it to capture Bitola and to join forces with the Montenegrins and enter Skopje. The Greeks, meanwhile, occupied Salonika(Thessaloníki) and advanced on Ioánnina. In Albania, the Montenegrins besieged Shkodër, and the Serbs entered Durrës.
The First Balkan War was fought between the members of the Balkan League—Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro—and the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan League was formed under Russian auspices in the spring of 1912 to take Macedonia away from Turkey, which was already involved in a war with Italy. The league was able to field a combined force of 750,000 men. Montenegro opened hostilities by declaring war on Turkey on Oct. 8, 1912, and the other members of the league followed suit 10 days later.
The Balkan allies were soon victorious. In Thrace, the Bulgarians defeated the main Ottoman forces, advancing to the outskirts of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and laying siege to Adrianople (Edirne). In Macedonia, the Serbian army achieved a great victory at Kumanovo that enabled it to capture Bitola and to join forces with the Montenegrins and enter Skopje. The Greeks, meanwhile, occupied Salonika(Thessaloníki) and advanced on Ioánnina. In Albania, the Montenegrins besieged Shkodër, and the Serbs entered Durrës.
The Turkish collapse was so complete that all parties were willing to conclude an armistice on Dec. 3, 1912. A peace conference was begun in London, but after a coup d’état by the Young Turks in Constantinople in January 1913, war with the Ottomans was resumed. Again the allies were victorious: Ioánnina fell to the Greeks and Adrianople to the Bulgarians. Under a peace treaty signed in Londonon May 30, 1913, the Ottoman Empire lost almost all of its remaining European territory, including all of Macedonia and Albania. Albanian independence was insisted upon by the European powers, and Macedonia was to be divided among the Balkan allies.

 

[Nein]

Ottomans could have won this war too bad politics and dumb stupid mistakes got in the way.

Awful how we lost to the countries which we ruled for centuries literally embarassing.

 

[Damir877]

Ottomans could have won this war too bad politics and dumb stupid mistakes got in the way.

Awful how we lost to the countries which we ruled for centuries literally embarassing.

Yeah it was definitely one of the most embarrassing episodes of Ottoman military history,not just because of the loss but of the speed with which it happened.
The Ottoman commanders brought it to themselves though,they did everything opposite of the plans made for war with Balkan countries by Sultan's advisor Von der Goltz.

Interestingly enough in all of the articles about this war you can rarely see a mention of the genocide of Muslim population in the Balkans during and after the war,not just Turks but Bosniaks,Albanians and Pomaks of which hundreds of thousands were killed and over a million expelled.

 

[Nein]

Yeah it was definitely one of the most embarrassing episodes of Ottoman military history,not just because of the loss but of the speed with which it happened.
The Ottoman commanders brought it to themselves though,they did everything opposite of the plans made for war with Balkan countries by Sultan's advisor Von der Goltz.

Interestingly enough in all of the articles about this war you can rarely see a mention of the genocide of Muslim population in the Balkans during and after the war,not just Turks but Bosniaks,Albanians and Pomaks of which hundreds of thousands were killed and over a million expelled.

Ottoman Empire underestimated the Balkan countries the Ottomans thought it would be easy to take them on.

Not realising the Balkan countries were rearming. Greeks and their navy caught the Ottomans off so bad.

Ottoman navy was neglected even their ships were left to rot due to economic reason and political paranoia by Abdulhanid ii.

Internal divide in the Ottoman government did not help at all.

Balkan Wars was just one big embarassment for the Ottomans. Goltz Pasha was a smart man his goal was to trap the Balkan countries into a war of attrition and bait them into a long war but nope the Ottoman higher ups thought the Ottoman army can go on the offensive and take them all out one by one.

I gotta give credit where its due the Balkan countries for once were able to work together and pull off such an operation and take on their former Overlord and beating it.

But short lived as Bulgaria got greedy.

 

[Damir877]

But short lived as Bulgaria got greedy.

To be honest I kinda understand their reasons for starting the second war.They did the most of the heavy fighting against the Ottomans in the first one and suffered far more casualties then all of their allies combined in the process.
On top of that their main reason for entering the first war was the territory of what today is Macedonia,which was taken by the Serbs relatively easily while Bulgarians were doing the heaviest fighting in Thrace.
They probably felt they contributed the most for the victory and therefore deserve the most territories and to their credit they were doing a pretty good job fighting against both Serbia and Greece up until Ottomans and Romanians went on the offensive.

 

[Nein]

To be honest I kinda understand their reasons for starting the second war.They did the most of the heavy fighting against the Ottomans in the first one and suffered far more casualties then all of their allies combined in the process.
On top of that their main reason for entering the first war was the territory of what today is Macedonia,which was taken by the Serbs relatively easily while Bulgarians were doing the heaviest fighting in Thrace.
They probably felt they contributed the most for the victory and therefore deserve the most territories and to their credit they were doing a pretty good job fighting against both Serbia and Greece up until Ottomans and Romanians went on the offensive.

Greeks and their navy should not be ignored because they blocked supplies and troop transport. I dont believe they crippled the Ottoman navy as they make it out to be because Ottoman navy was not the force it once was because the days of Barbrossa Hayreddin was long gone. Ottoman government ignoring the navy for decades was the worst thing they done not just the Balkan wars but in the Italian-Turkish War and in Ww1 just shows how without a navy how vulnerable the Ottoman Empire was. Efforts to rebuild came too late especially when ww1 started.

For Land battles the credit goes to the Bulgarians. At sea the credit goes to the Greeks.Irony is both losers the Ottomans and Bulgarians became allies LOL.

Politics makes for some strange friends.

 

[Kambojaric]

Never really studied this war closely. Shocked at how many men Bulgaria was able to muster! No wonder the Ottomans lost. They were numerically far inferior, overstretched and fighting on several fronts at the same time, all whilst their capital was in serious danger and in close proximity to the fighting (meaning disproportionate resources had to be allocated there).

Ottomans had no chance to put it mildly. Similar to what Pakistan faced in 71. When rebels on their home ground are fighting you, and on top are able to muster greater numbers, its always going to be an uphill battle.

 

[Damir877]

Never really studied this war closely. Shocked at how many men Bulgaria was able to muster! No wonder the Ottomans lost. They were numerically far inferior, overstretched and fighting on several fronts at the same time, all whilst their capital was in serious danger and in close proximity to the fighting (meaning disproportionate resources had to be allocated there).

Ottomans had no chance to put it mildly. Similar to what Pakistan faced in 71. When rebels on their home ground are fighting you, and on top are able to muster greater numbers, its always going to be an uphill battle.

I disagree that Ottomans had no chance,as @Nein correctly pointed out one of the main reasons was underestimation of Balkan armies by the Turks.
Serbia,Bulgaria and Greece have been preparing for a war with Turks since the end of the Berlin congress(Greece even fought and lost a war in 1897),while Turks were too busy fighting rebels in all parts of the crumbling empire and engaged in huge political power struggles among themselves while paying little attention of the massive military buildup going on in the Balkans.

 

[Nein]

I disagree that Ottomans had no chance,as @Nein correctly pointed out one of the main reasons was underestimation of Balkan armies by the Turks.
Serbia,Bulgaria and Greece have been preparing for a war with Turks since the end of the Berlin congress(Greece even fought and lost a war in 1897),while Turks were too busy fighting rebels in all parts of the crumbling empire and engaged in huge political power struggles among themselves while paying little attention of the massive military buildup going on in the Balkans.

Balkan countries played it smart even if the Ottoman Empire was weakened and not the power it once was it would be suicide to face the Ottoman Empire alone just like what happened with Greece in the 1897 war.

Balkan countries were newly independant I think the alliance was their best chance to take on the Ottoman Empire rather than going alone.

Crazy to think how the decline of the Ottoman Empire would lead to World War 1. World war 1 was caused by many many factors which includes the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the power vacuum it created.

Balkan Wars could have maybe even started world war 1 earlier because of Austria-Hungary and Russia clashing over influence over the Balkans while the Ottoman Empire withered away.

Balkan countries should not be blamed for ww1 because the region was just another place where the Great Powers clashed for political interests.

Balkan Wars also signified Russia's abandonment of Bulgaria because they stuck with Serbia for the Bulgarians this felt like a betrayal.

 

[Kambojaric]

I disagree that Ottomans had no chance,as @Nein correctly pointed out one of the main reasons was underestimation of Balkan armies by the Turks.
Serbia,Bulgaria and Greece have been preparing for a war with Turks since the end of the Berlin congress(Greece even fought and lost a war in 1897),while Turks were too busy fighting rebels in all parts of the crumbling empire and engaged in huge political power struggles among themselves while paying little attention of the massive military buildup going on in the Balkans.

With a long term strategy and no under-estimation yes of course the Turks had a chance. However at the outbreak of the war things had gone out of hands. The League had a two times advantage in manpower, were better armed, were fighting on home soil, had safe supply lines, and an attack on Macedonia would cut the Turkish forces in the western part (Kosovo, Albania) from their supply line. With foresight naturally this situation could have been avoided but what I meant was that by 1912 things looked very very bad for the Turks.

Forming a solid defensive line in the Adrianople Vilayet (much like what happened at Çatalca, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Çatalca) till full mobilization had been reached, would have been the best option.

 

[Damir877]

With a long term strategy and no under-estimation yes of course the Turks had a chance. However at the outbreak of the war things had gone out of hands. The League had a two times advantage in manpower, were better armed, were fighting on home soil, had safe supply lines, and an attack on Macedonia would cut the Turkish forces in the western part (Kosovo, Albania) from their supply line. With foresight naturally this situation could have been avoided but what I meant was that by 1912 things looked very very bad for the Turks.

Forming a solid defensive line in the Adrianople Vilayet (much like what happened at Çatalca, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Çatalca) till full mobilization had been reached, would have been the best option.

Seems like I misunderstood you in the previous post.Yeah in 1912 it was definitely too late for preparations although it would be better if they focused on defense instead of going on the offensive like they did in the beginning.

 

[Nein]

Seems like I misunderstood you in the previous post.Yeah in 1912 it was definitely too late for preparations although it would be better if they focused on defense instead of going on the offensive like they did in the beginning.

Thats the problem the Ottomans thought as along as Russia does not intervene the Balkan countries can be taken care of with ease.

Ottoman empire despite losing the Balkans never thought the Balkan countries would be a threat to them as long as they are divided plus a lot of them were newly independant to even threatened the Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman Empire's main threat has always been Russia and to lesser extent the Austrians well Russia replaced the Austrians as the Ottoman Empire's biggest enemy.

Ottomans also relied too much on the Great Powers and the balance of power to protect them. Well that was proven wrong yet again.

Balkan Wars disaster would now prove a catalyst for Ww1. Bismarck was actually right the next biggest war would happen with a stupid thing in the Balkans.

I dont believe the Balkans are to blamed when they were nothing more than a geopolitical arena for the Great Powers namely Austria and Russia who were both backed by many countries.

 

[Damir877]

Thats the problem the Ottomans thought as along as Russia does not intervene the Balkan countries can be taken care of with ease.

Ottoman empire despite losing the Balkans never thought the Balkan countries would be a threat to them as long as they are divided plus a lot of them were newly independant to even threatened the Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman Empire's main threat has always been Russia and to lesser extent the Austrians well Russia replaced the Austrians as the Ottoman Empire's biggest enemy.

Ottomans also relied too much on the Great Powers and the balance of power to protect them. Well that was proven wrong yet again.

Balkan Wars diaster would now prove a catalyst for Ww1. Bismarck was actually right the next bigges war would happen with a stupid thing in the Balkans.

I dont believe the Balkans are to blamed when they were nothing more than a geopolitical arena for the Great Powers namely Austria and Russia who were both backed by many countries.

The funny thing is that by the end of the war Russians were also alarmed by the Balkan League gains especially Bulgaria moving into Thrace towards Istanbul(which Russians have been trying to take for over a century),even though it was them who created and trained Bulgarian army after granting them independence in 1878.

 

[Nein]

The funny thing is that by the end of the war Russians were also alarmed by the Balkan League gains especially Bulgaria moving into Thrace towards Istanbul(which Russians have been trying to take for over a century),even though it was them who created and trained Bulgarian army after granting them independence in 1878.

Political interests collide. Russia wanted to call the shots.

 

[Kambojaric]

The funny thing is that by the end of the war Russians were also alarmed by the Balkan League gains especially Bulgaria moving into Thrace towards Istanbul(which Russians have been trying to take for over a century),even though it was them who created and trained Bulgarian army after granting them independence in 1878.

So much for Orthodox brotherhood