The second Balkan war

Border countries borders before and after the second Balkan war

The war started when the Kingdom of Bulgaria wanted to annex northern Macedonia from the Serbs and southern Macedonia from the Greeks, and it attacked Greece and Serbia without declaring war. Romania declared war on Bulgaria on July 10 and attacked northern Bulgaria. The Ottoman Empire entered the war on July 18, benefiting from it, as it recovered a number of lands lost during the First Balkan War. The war ended with the signing of the Bucharest Agreement on August 10, 1913. One of its results was the direction of the Kingdom of Bulgaria to seek assistance from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the restoration of part of the territories occupied by Serbia in the war - which Bulgaria considered to be its right - so the Austro-Hungarian Empire compelled Serbia to Some lands were returned to Bulgaria, which led to a great hatred of the Serbs towards the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This hatred reached its climax when the Serbian Gavrilo Principe assassinated the heir of the Austrian-Hungarian throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 28, 1914, this event is an event The main one who ignited World War One.

Background

The Balkan alliance (Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece) succeeded in driving the Ottoman Empire out of its European territories (Albania, Macedonia, the Sandzak region and Thrace) during the First Balkan War, leaving only the Ottomans in Eastern Thrace. The London Treaty signed on May 30, 1913, which ended the war recognized the gains of the Balkan countries west of the Enos-Media Line, which runs from Midea on the Black Sea coast to Inos on the Aegean coast, on the basis of the principle of respect for inherited borders, and this created an independent Albania.

However, relations between the victorious Balkan allies soon soured due to the division of the spoils, especially in Macedonia. Serbia and Bulgaria during the pre-war negotiations that resulted in the establishment of the Balkan Alliance secret agreement on March 13, 1912 that defined their future borders, which led to the division of Northern Macedonia between them. The area to the north of the Kriva Palanka-Ohrid line (with both cities going to the hands of Bulgaria) has been designated as a "disputed area" under Russian arbitration in the event of a post-war dispute, and the area south of this line goes to Bulgaria. During the war, the Serbs succeeded in capturing an area south of the agreed border, all the way to the Bitola-Gevgelija line (both in the hands of the Serbs). The Greeks advanced north at the same time and occupied Thessaloniki shortly before the arrival of the Bulgarians, and established a common Greek border with Serbia.

When the Bulgarian delegates in London explicitly warned the Serbs that they should not expect Bulgarian support over their claims regarding the Adriatic region, the Serbs replied angrily that this was a clear withdrawal from the pre-war mutual understanding agreement according to the Kriva Palanka-Adriatic Line of expansion, but the Bulgarians insisted that Vardar Macedon’s part of the agreement is still active from their point of view, and that the Serbs are still obligated to hand over the area as agreed. The Serbs replied by accusing the Bulgarians of extremism, noting that if they lost both Northern Albania and Vardar Macedonia, their participation in the joint war would be almost free.

When Bulgaria called on Serbia to respect the pre-war agreement on northern Macedonia, the Serbs, who were unhappy with the superpowers, demanded that they give up their gains in northern Albania by insisting that any other land be given. The developments mainly led to the end of the Serbian-Bulgarian alliance and made the future war between the two countries inevitable. Shortly thereafter, minor clashes erupted along the borders of the occupied areas between the Bulgarians against the Serbs and the Greeks. In response to the supposed Bulgarian threat, Serbia started negotiations with Greece, which also had reasons to worry about Bulgarian intentions.

On May 19 or June 1 1913 i.e. two days after the signing of the Treaty of London and just 28 days before the Bulgarian attack, Greece and Serbia signed a secret defense alliance confirming the current demarcation line between the two occupied territories as their mutual borders and the conclusion of an alliance in the event of an attack by Bulgaria or Austria and Hungary. Through this agreement, Serbia succeeded in making Greece part of its dispute over Northern Macedonia, as Greece guaranteed the area occupied by Serbia (and disputed) at the time in Macedonia. In an attempt to halt the Serbian-Greek rapprochement, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Geishov signed a protocol with Greece on May 21 and agreed to permanently demarcate the border between their respective forces, with genuine acceptance of Greek control of southern Macedonia. Despite this, his dismissal later ended the diplomatic war against Serbia.

Another point of the conflict arose when Bulgaria refused to abandon Celestra Castle in favor of Romania. When Romania demanded that it be abandoned after the First Balkan War, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister instead offered some minor changes to the border area that excluded Celestra, and guarantees for the rights of Kuzuzu-Flakh in Macedonia. Romania threatened to occupy the Bulgarian lands by force, but the Russian proposal for arbitration prevented the fighting. Bulgaria agreed to abandon Celestra in the Saint Petersburg Protocol on May 8, 1913. The resulting agreement was a compromise between Romanian demands for the entire southern Dubrova region, and the Bulgarians refused to accept any ceding of their lands. But the fact that Russia has failed to protect the territorial integrity of Bulgaria has left the Bulgarians unsure of the reliability of the expected Russian arbitration of the dispute with Serbia. Bulgarian behavior also had a long-term impact on Russian-Bulgarian relations. The rigid Bulgarian position of the reconsideration of the pre-war agreement with Serbia during a second Russian initiative to arbitrate between them has finally pushed Russia to scrap its alliance with Bulgaria. Both actions made conflict with Romania and Serbia inevitable.

Sources:

• wikipedia.org