The Balkan Wars

(I wrote this on Quora)

The First and Second Balkan Wars took place between 1912- 1913. All in all they were scattered across locales as diverse as Adrianople, the Aegean Sea, Kosovo and the Salonika territory and claimed a casualty statistic of 600,000 troops killed or injured.
By the early 20th century Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia had all broken free of the Ottoman yoke. However there were significant minorities of these ethno-states still living under the banner of Constantinople.
Two of these states - Bulgaria and Serbia - were rivals with one another even though they shared with Russia and Greece the Orthodox faith. It was the Russians, through diplomacy who helped solidify an alliance between the Bulgarians and Serbs to attack Turkey. The intention was to win control over the territory of Macedonia that was still under Ottoman jurisdiction. They were joined by Greece and Montenegro who themselves spearheaded the initial 8th of October 1912 attack on the Turks.
The First Balkan War was divided into three theatres that pitted each of the Bulgarians, Serbs and Greeks respectively against the Ottoman adversary. With few exceptions the Ottomans were heavily defeated in virtually every battle on each front. They had a large population and a great deal of military manpower but failed to co-ordinate their armed strategy. It didn’t help that the Ottoman Turks were struggling at home with political upheaval (including a cop d’etat in January 1913). Bulgarian led forces with Serb support would capture Adrianople after a prolonged five month siege (Siege of Odrin) with Ioannina falling to the Greeks. The Greeks especially enjoyed naval success in the Dardanelles. At the end the Ottomans were at the receiving end of a losing campaign.

Balkan War Map source: Brittanica.com
In May 1913 the First war came to a close with the signing of the Treaty of London (is it my imagination or are there way too many Treaties of London out there that cause more harm than good?) However this was not to be the end. Far from it in fact .
At London the Turks agreed to surrender territory with the understanding that a new state along the coast would be created in Albania. (it would be a predominantly Muslim nation). Both Greece and Serbia were not in favour of this idea. However this biggest point of contention involved the partitioning of Macedonia. Greece and Serbia had planned between the two of them to take the lion’s share of Macedonia largely at the expense of the Bulgarians. This angered the Bulgarians who had suffered 75% of the war’s allied casualties.
On the 29th of June 1913 the Bulgarians launched a two-prong attack against the Greeks and Serbs initiating the Second Balkan War. This may have had some success if it were not for the fact that both the Turks and the Romanians decided to pile in on the Bulgarians as well. Bulgaria was now up against four opponents. Although the Greeks and Serbs were technically still at war with the Ottoman Empire (nobody said this was simple?).
Predictably the Bulgarians were defeated. This time Bucharest was chosen to be the site of the concluding treaty signed in August 1913. The specific treaty with the Ottoman Empire was signed at Constantinople.

Second Balkan War - Focus on Bulgaria. Source: wikipedia
So what then were the results?
Well after initial success in the First Balkan War the Bulgarians lost all their claimed territory in Macedonia and Thrace. This was divided between between Greece and Serbia. In addition the territory of southern Dobrudja was lost to the Johnny-come later-Romanians. Bulgarian bitterness resulting from the War likely played a role in driving Sofia into the Central Power camp during World War One. The same could be said of the Ottomans.
From the perspective of the Ottoman Empire the Wars were a disaster. All European territory to the West of the Maritsa was lost thus defining the Western border of modern Turkey. Nazim Pasha, the Chief of Staff for the Ottoman Forces was forced to bear a great deal of the brunt of the loss. Dissatisfaction with the Empire’s ruling elite escalated. By 1918 the Empire as a political entity would cease to exist. The Turks did however succeed in recapturing Adrianople (Edirne) during the Second Balkan War.
For the Greeks the Wars were looked on very favourably. They captured a great swathe of territory and defeated the better equipped Turkish and later Bulgarian forces. Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos had his golden moment. The Greeks also had control now of Salonica (Thessalonika) , a vital port on the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea.
Serbia itself was duly rewarded. Its territory in conjunction with Montenegro was doubled. As for Albania they would be born as an independent Muslim majority principality in 1914 albeit under a German ruler (Prince Wilhem of Wied).
One issue that was also left to fester in the political mist was the autonomy of Macedonia itself as a distinct entity divorced from either the Ottoman Empire or the Balkan States. I.M.R.O. (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) was founded in 1895 to take up this cause. For much of the 1920s they were engaged in raids and assassinations against Greek and Yugoslav targets before their eventual demise around 1934. Macedonian sovereignty would be renewed after the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s eventually leading to the emergence of an independent Macedonian nation now commonly referred to as Northern Macedonia.
At the end the Balkan Wars produced more instability than it solved. The winners (Serbia, Greece and Romania) took their spoils but this was greatly resented by the losers (Turkey/Bulgaria). This failure to adequately address the lingering Eastern Question would spillover into the First World War, the Second World War and even the Yugoslav War of the 1990s.

Source: 1912 | Bulgarian Aviation During Balkan War. The Balkan Wars were not the first war where Airplane were used. That honour goes to the Italo-Turkish War (1911) but it did play a role in this theatre of war.
Source:

1. The Balkan Wars: 100 Years Later, a History of Violence | TIME.com
2. A DICTIONARY OF MODERN HISTORY 1789- 1945 Paperback – Jan. 1 1972 A.W. Palmer
3. Hall, Richard C. (2000). The Balkan Wars 1912-1913 Prelude to the First World War. London: Routledge.