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Second Balkan War
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The Second Balkan War broke out on 16 June 1913 when Bulgaria attacked its erstwhile allies in the First Balkan War , Serbia and Greece, while Montenegro, Romania and the Ottoman Empire intervened later against Bulgaria. The outcome turned Serbia, an ally of the Russian Empire, into an important regional power, alarming Austria-Hungary and thereby indirectly providing an important cause for World War I.
ng the First Balkan War, the Balkan League, composed of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria, had succeeded in conquering the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire (Albania, Macedonia, the Sandžak and Thrace), leaving the Ottomans with only the Chataldja and Gallipoli peninsulas.
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Encyclopedia
The Second Balkan War broke out on 16 June 1913 when Bulgaria attacked its erstwhile allies in the First Balkan War , Serbia and Greece, while Montenegro, Romania and the Ottoman Empire intervened later against Bulgaria. The outcome turned Serbia, an ally of the Russian Empire, into an important regional power, alarming Austria-Hungary and thereby indirectly providing an important cause for World War I.
Background - The First Balkan War
During the First Balkan War, the Balkan League, composed of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria, had succeeded in conquering the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire (Albania, Macedonia, the Sandžak and Thrace), leaving the Ottomans with only the Chataldja and Gallipoli peninsulas. The Treaty of London, signed on 30 May 1913, which ended the war, acknowledged the Balkan states' gains west of the Enos-Medea line on an uti possedetis basis, and created an independent Albania.
However, the relations between the victorious Balkan allies became quickly strained over the division of the spoils, especially Macedonia. During the negotiations that had led to the establishment of the Balkan League, Serbia and Bulgaria had signed a secret agreement on 13 March 1912 which determined their future boundaries, in effect sharing Macedonia between them along the Kriva Palanka–Ohrid line (with both cities going to the Bulgarians). Bulgaria's policy was to use the agreement to limit Serbia's access to Macedonia, while at the same time denying any such agreement with Greece, believing that its army would be able to occupy the larger part of Macedonia and the important port city of Thessalonica before the Greeks. In the event, during the war, the Serbs succeeded in capturing an area far south to the agreed, down to the Monastir–Gevgelija line (both in Serbian hands). At the same time, the Greeks were able to advance north, occupying Thessalonica shortly before the Bulgarians arrived, and establishing a common border with the Serbs.
Bulgaria felt that it had borne the brunt of the fighting against the Ottomans, but that it had been cheated of its rewards in Macedonia, while Serbia, displeased at being forced to evacuate Albania, adamantly refused to give up any territory. Very soon, minor clashes broke out along the borders of the occupation zones between the Bulgarians and the Serbs and Greeks. Responding to the perceived Bulgarian threat, Serbia started negotiations with Greece, which also had reasons to be concerned about Bulgarian intentions. Only a few years before, Greeks and Bulgarians had fought a vicious guerrilla war in the area, and a Bulgarian regiment, which had been allowed to enter Thessalonica eight months before, ostensibly for recuperation, had remained there ever since. Serbia and Greece settled their mutual differences and signed a military alliance on 1 May 1913, followed by a treaty of "mutual friendship and protection" on 19 May/1 June 1913. On 21 May however, following an initiative of Bulgarian Prime Minister Geshov, the Greeks and Bulgarians also signed a protocol agreeing on a permanent demarcation line between their respective forces.
Another point of friction was Bulgaria's refusal to cede the fortress of Silistra to Romania as promised before the war in exchange for Romanian neutrality. When Romania called on Sofia to hand over the fortress, Bulgaria's foreign minister instead offered some minor border changes, which excluded Silistra, and assurances for the rights of the Kutzovlachs in Macedonia. Romania threatened to occupy Bulgarian territory by force, but a British proposal for arbitration prevented hostilities. In the resulting Protocol of St. Petersburg of 7 May 1913, Bulgaria accepted Romania's demands, but eventually refused to carry it out, making a future war between the two countries inevitable.
Going to war - Bulgarian plans
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