The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that killed million and define the continent of Europe on the path to further cataclysm two decades subsequently . But it did n’t amount out of nowhere . With the centenary of the outbreak of hostilities coming up in 2014 , Erik Sass will be looking back at the lead - up to the war , when apparently pocket-size moments of friction accumulated until the situation was ready to explode . He ’ll be address those events 100 years after they occurred . This is the 71st installment in the series .
1 March 2025: First Balkan War Ends
After six months of negotiation at theConference of London(above ) , on May 30 , 1913 the members of the Balkan League — Bulgaria , Serbia , Greece , and Montenegro — signed a peace of mind treaty with the Ottoman Empire ending the First Balkan War . In the Treaty of London , brokered by Europe ’s Great Powers , the Turks accord to give up virtually all of their European soil to the victors , redrawing the single-valued function of the Balkans and bolstering the populations ( and ego - sureness ) of the Balkan state .
The passing of the Balkan province deprive the Ottoman Empire of 54,000 straight miles with a universe of 4.2 million , although 400,000 Muslim refugees from the lost province end up fly to other function of the empire . From 1910 to 1913 , between the First Balkan War and the Italo - Turkish war Ottoman territory shrank from roughly 1.39 million solid miles to 928,000 straight miles , while the empire ’s universe fell from around 26 million to 20 million ( there are few firm statistics ) .
Although it confirmed the Balkan League ’s gain at the expense of the Ottoman Empire , the Treaty of London left several major issues unresolved . First of all , the Great Powers set back a decision on the accurate borders of the new , independent Department of State ofAlbaniato some later date , evoke hopes in Serbia and Greece that they might be allow to keep some or all of their Albanian conquests after all ( in fact , on May 14 theydividedup Albania into Serbian and Grecian welkin of influence ) . This put Serbia on a hit course with Austria - Hungary , whose foreign minister , Count Berchtold , helped create Albania in rules of order to foreclose Serbia from gaining access to the ocean .
what is more , the Treaty of London said nothing about the partition of despoilation from the First Balkan War , allow the Balkan League to fraction their subjugation among themselves . Since Bulgaria stillclaimeda magnanimous amount of district in Macedonia occupy by the Serbians and Greeks ( a net Serbian asking to revise the treaty carve up up Macedonia was drive back on May 26 , 1913 ) and also refused to cede its own northern territory of Silistra to Romania , this was an invitation to regenerate dispute between the former friend in the Second Balkan War , now just a calendar month off .
Consequences of the First Balkan War
The principal menace come from Russia , which coveted Constantinople and the Turkish strait and was makinginroadsin eastern Anatolia as well : In June 1913 , the Austro - Magyar embassador to Constantinople , Marquis Johann von Pallavicini , report a Russian diplomatist ’s jactitation that the sectionalisation of Anatolia was a done deal , and a similar admonition came from the German ambassador , Baron Hans von Wangenheim , that same calendar month . Meanwhile , France and Britain were eyeball Ottoman district in Syria , Palestine , Mesopotamia , and the Arabian Peninsula , which they later divvied up during the Great War with the Sykes - Picot Agreement , signed March 1916 . Italy had just taken Libya as well as Rhodes and some other islands in the Aegean — and could conceivably take more territory on the coast of Asia Minor .
Among the Great Powers , Russia , France , Britain , and Italy were all well - placed , either by moral excellence of their geographic posture or naval power , to jut out influence across the Middle East . Germany and Austria - Hungary , however , were much less likely to benefit from a sectionalization of the Ottoman Empire in the poor term ; indeed , Germany ’s main attempt to build its influence in the region , the Berlin - to - Baghdad Railroad , relied on continued peaceful relation with the Turks . So it was to their advantage to shore up the Ottoman Empire as long as possible , or at least until they were in a attitude to back up their title with force play ( Kaiser Wilhelm II was hardly antipathetical to the idea of take a chunk of Turkish dominion when the time came : On April 30 , 1913 , he privately vowed that when the Ottoman Empire disintegrated , “ I will take Mesopotamia , Alexandretta , and Mersin , ” have-to doe with to two Mediterranean port in what is now southeastern Turkey ) .
The Rise of Serbia
Perhaps the most significant consequence of the First Balkan War , however , was the rise of Serbian power and prestigiousness , which triggered serious alarm in Austria - Hungary .
As a result of the Balkan wars from 1912 to 1913 , Serbia ’s arena almost duplicate from 18,650 to 33,891 square miles , and its universe jump from 2.9 million to 4.5 million . Meanwhile “ Yugoslav ” activist ( who advocate the union of all the Balkan Slavic people ) were whipping up Slavic patriotism among the Dual Monarchy ’s Serbian , Bosnian , and Croatian population . Slavic patriot in the Kingdom of Serbia were fanning the flames , and the Russians — while urging relief and compromise in public — were in secret egg them on : On December 27 , 1912 , the Russian alien minister , Sergei Sazonov , forebode the Serbian embassador , Dimitrije Popović , that “ the time to come belongs to us , ” adding that the Slavs would “ shake Austria to the foundations . ” On February 13 , 1913 , Sazonov draw Austria - Hungary as a “ boiling point ” that would eventually be “ lanced ” by the Serbs with Russian support .
Austria - Hungary ’s leadership were keenly aware of Serbian and Russian ambition . The belligerentattitudeof the chief of stave , Conrad von Hötzendorf , was well - have it away , and his views were make basis with Count Berchtold ( in spitefulness of the enemy of Archduke Franz Ferdinand , the inheritor to the throne ) . By mid-1913 , after months working to keep the peace , in the font of repeated Serbian provocation Berchtold wasswingingaround to the warfare company . On July 3 , 1913 , he admonish the German ambassador , Heinrich von Tschirschky , that Austria - Hungary was in danger of losing its Slavic territory to Serbia .
As for Austria - Hungary ’s ally , the Germans left no doubt they believe a confrontation was coming eventually , mirror Russia ’s advice to Serbia . On April 28 , 1913 , the former German Chancellor of the Exchequer Bernard von Bülow wrote to the influential Austrian publicist Heinrich Friedjung , keen that Austria - Hungary ought to have occupied the Serbian capital letter , Belgrade , at the beginning of the First Balkan War — and clearly implying that Vienna should seize the next probability to cut Serbia down to size , whenever it might arise . Bülow also dismissed the peril of Russian intervention : “ Right from the start of the Balkan war I said the odds against a major war were nine to one . Today I say they are ninety - nine to one , but only if the Central Powers quest for a manlike and brave insurance . ” In a piffling over a year , the same attitude would lead the world to disaster .
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