First I want to start with exactly what went down during the Second Balkan War. This war was a direct result of the First Balkan War. Bulgaria was not happy with what they got out of the first war as far as land received, money, etc. For example, Bulgaria had a previous agreement over the division of the Macedonia region, yet it was not fulfilled. To acquire what they wanted, Bulgaria launched attacks against Serbia and Greece. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia after they refused to give up any more territory. Greece had concerns over the conflicts and was brought in after Serbia requested their help. Soon after, Romania and the Ottoman Empire also joined the fight against Bulgaria, both nations intending to improve their own situations as far as what land they possessed. Bulgaria took a beating and the fighting started to die down, but Greece's King Constantine wanted a decisive victory, so he pressed forward into Bulgaria's capital of Sofia. The Greek armies marched in and were ambushed by the Bulgarian army which had dug in and was ready to defend the land. A stalemate occurred after both sides suffering heavy casualties. Both sides decided they wanted peace and Bulgaria requested an armistice. It was accepted and the spoils were divided up in the Treaty of Bucharest and the Treaty of Constantinople.
i was looking up information on the second balkan war and i came across the same link. it caught my eye by the title "The Effort to Prevent Outbreak of the Second Balkan War". It really shows the extreme measure in which the countries of Europe keep from a world war breaking out. There was so much tension and so many issues but somehow numerous times like this and the first moroccan crisis like i did, they managed to keep peace. This made it seem like imperialism really was a huuge starting in all the war. It reinforces the idea that they were truly expanding out of competition with other nations rather than the interest in expanding their own economies. Every country was land hungry and that resulted in all of the tension. The second balkan war also reminded me in a way of the first moroccan crisis in regards to a treaty being made that didn't really have long term effects. It just temporarily ended the dispute. In regards to the second balkan war this treaty was the treaty of london which settled the border between the Balkan States and Turkey it did not settle all the claims between the two which only increased tension. In the First Moroccan Crisis the Algeciras Conference though solving the moroccan problems it strained the relationship between the triple entente and the triple alliances. -Sarah
Val, your link was very helpful to me. Only the reactionary measures taken by the powers involved are presented, yet this document provided me with new information about their proactive measures. It is evident that the “Concert of Europe” or Congress of Vienna style ideology was present. The powers did the best they could to negotiate, even though they had personal ambitions and tensions amongst each other. They all agreed to submit to Russian arbitration under the Czar and made concessions to avoid conflict. However, as the outbreak of WWI proved, these concessions and peace agreements were impeding on imperialistic desires and caused the formation of secret treaties. Eventually, the option of peace just wasn’t enough.
I can never ever be first on this blog. ugh. Nevertheless, Alex did a great job of outlining the development of the crisis. As he mentioned, it was a result of the First Balkan War in 1812. As a result of that conflict with the Ottoman Empire, four Balkan states -Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece – seized territory from the weakening Ottoman Empire, “the sick man of Europe.” Serbia’s dispute with Bulgaria over territorial gains, specifically the Macedonia region, led to the Second Balkan War. The powers of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Romania, and the Turkey joined to defeat Bulgaria. Many of these nations had alternative motives for entering the conflict; they sought to expand their empires. As Alex mentioned, there was a costly statement that led to Bulgaria asking for an end to the conflict. The Treaty of Bucharest was drawn up and its terms were accepted.
In the end, Bulgaria was defeated and Serbia, backed by Russia, appeared to have won an outlet to the Adriatic Sea. Austria, with the backing of Germany and Italy, intervened and forced the creation of Albania out of former Ottoman lands. The new nation blocked Serbia’s ambitions to access to the Mediterranean Sea. The crisis, in addition to the First Balkan War, brought Russia and Serbia closer together, as the Russians felt compelled to support Serbia more firmly in the future because of its ambitions in the Balkan region. This crisis, without a doubt, increased the tension between the nations of Europe. The animosity of Russia and Serbia for Austria-Hungary was intensified due to the limitations/restrictions it created for both nations in regards to obtaining warm-water ports and access to commercial/trade routes along the water.
However, a major conflict was averted due to the European system put in place after the defeat of Napoleon. The Bulgarians and Greeks realized that the mass loss of life and money they were experiencing and the continuing conflict (with more powers joining as time elapsed) was not worth the potential spoils. The Bulgarians also became acutely aware of how overmatched it was. In order to prevent its own destruction, Bulgaria asked for an armistice. The potential of war erupting between the victors, in regards to Bulgarian land, was also avoided. Also, the Treaty of Bucharest awarded the powers that fought- Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania- with relatively equal portions of land. Bulgaria, which had once been frustrated over the lack of land it received in the culmination of the First Balkan War, received part of Macedonia. Due to the agreement and compromise a world war was avoided over the Balkan region.
Ironically, I also found that the Concert of Europe was one of the main causes of tension and the eruption of WWI. When Serbia won the crisis, the diplomats of Europe were frantically concerned. Serbia would be able to expand territory and Russia would be able to become a dominant power in the Balkan region. This couldn’t happen according to the core tenets of the Congress of Vienna because it meant the emergence of a dominant nation. As a result, the Concert of Europe actually insisted on Austria and Italy setting up Albania. *Read more about the both Balkan Wars and their effects on diplomatic relations! http://historyannex.com/20th-century-Europe/prewwi/second-Balkan.html http://ottomanmilitary.devhub.com/blog/596952-balkan-wars-19121913-i/
The Second Balkan War was casued by a conflict that was due to the dissatisfaction of Bulgaria's outcome of the First Balkan War, and as a result attacked Greece and Serbia. Despite the prewar agreement of the territorial divisions of the region of Macedonia, Serbia refused to give up any more territory after it was forced out of Albania by the Great Powers. This then led Bulgaria to declare war on Serbia, thus causing minor fights to break out along the borders of the area occupied by Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria.Greece and Bulgaria soon joined alliences and repelled the Bulgarian Army,while Romania began to fight against Bulgaria due to their previous territorial boundaries. As if these three countries fighting were not enought, the Ottoman Empire joined in to take advantage of the situaion with the hopes of regaining some of their lost territory from the First Balkan War. Luckily Greece had pushed the Bulgarians to their pre-war borders and cutting them off from the Aegean Sea. Yet King Constantine wanted a clear defeat and ordered his troops to march into Bulgaria, much to his surprise the Bulgarian first and second army where there waiting for the attack, this as a result put Greece and Bulgaria into a Stalemate. Yet in the end, both Greece and Bulgaria wanted peace and to end the fighting. A general Armistance was agreed upon and the territorial boundaries were set in the Treaty of Bucharest and the Treaty of Constantinople; The terms of the treaty were.. 1.Bulgaria acknowledged Ottoman gains of Edirne, Kırklareli and Demotika (Didymoteicho) and the surrounding territory 2.The Ottoman Empire ceded the port of Dedeagach (mod. Alexandroupoli) to Bulgaria 3.The exchange of lands was to be completed within 10 days 4.The armies on the border would be demobilized within three weeks 5.Prisoners of war from both sides would be released 6.Both political and economical ties between the two countries would be reestablished
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzzovODkjjE&feature=related ^ This website i found to be interesting because, it produced opinions from other people and it wasn't just a power point or reading off a paper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSr8dt-Ve0w ^ the second video has great footage from 1895 all the way up to the end of WWII. It gives you a small taste at how things were.
http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/balkan1913.htm ^ this website had the number of forces and military personal who were involved in the second Balkan War. You never really hear about those men who fought during wars not in America, so I thought it was interesting to see the number of people involved in this war, especially since it was a major factor in the tensions of Europe at this time.
Major conflict was averted when Bulgaria decided to back down and requested an armistice. Each of the sides had suffered extreme casualties and it seemed like no one was really getting anywhere. The loss of life was not worth what was being fought for to each side. Greece and Bulgaria both agreed that it was time to end the conflict. Like Steph said, Bulgaria became painfully aware that it was going up against overwhelming odds and the cause was hopeless. The treaties that were signed actually did well to please everyone so the fighting ceased and Bulgaria actually got part of the land they wanted in the first place. Since no one suffered any major land losses and the land was divided as equally as possible, everyone was able to walk away without much resentment.
I felt that Alex, Steph, Val and Mallory all did a great job at explaining the causes and events during the Second Balkan War. I found it interesting that the Second Balkan War was a direct result of the First. Due to the fact that many people were upset with the land partition of Macedonia after the first, tensions continued to rise, and eventually boiled over in the Balkan states. I found this particularly interesting because although it seemed as if the first world war was avoided by all of these mini wars and precautions, it really only pushed it back further. Secret alliances continues to tangle the inter-workings of Europe, which ultimately led to world war one.
To continue with what I was saying, (I didn't mean to post that, it wasn't entirely finished), the Balkan Wars, (both the first and the second) were really just events that led up to the full out world war. Although in some opinions, the world war was avoidable, however, at this rate, (including the secret alliances and underhanded nature of the European powers at the time), it was not. The only way that a world war was avoidable would be to for a country to constantly be completely honest with their plans of action.. . which would probably never occur.
Land, land, land. Was there any other concern for these leaders? It seemed to me land was the only thing that mattered in this time. Of course Bulgaria was not happy with the amount of land they got so they decided to go to war again so they can get what they thought should have been their land. All of these wars to me are pointless and could have been avoided easily. This war for example goes on and on and both sides suffer heavy casualties and in the end they had enough so they stop fighting and sign and armistice. What exactly was the point of going to war then? This, I believe, was the reason that war was eventually going to have to be the answer. No one was happy. All of these wars showed that discontent for the land distribution, money and for the opposing countries. You could cut the tension with a knife as they say and all that was needed was a little push to put all of Europe into a war and eventually drag the United States in as well. There had to be the once and for all moment in history and once Archduke Ferdinand was killed Europe would never be the same.
I found this conflict very interesting. Basically as it was explained Bulgaria was unhappy with the terms of the first bulgarian war and decided to set out and take what they wanted. However they were not prepared for a full on war with the rest of the Balkans. Eventually Bulgaria paid the toll for war and was forced to pull out and go back to their previous borders. However Constantinople seeking to assert the dominance of greece pursued Bulgaria who was prepared for this and fended them off. Eventually a stalemate was the final desicion. I saw this conflict as a prime excample of the greed imperialism was causing throughout europe as bulgaria went in search of more land only to have greece invade them in search of the same thing
First I want to start with exactly what went down during the Second Balkan War. This war was a direct result of the First Balkan War. Bulgaria was not happy with what they got out of the first war as far as land received, money, etc. For example, Bulgaria had a previous agreement over the division of the Macedonia region, yet it was not fulfilled. To acquire what they wanted, Bulgaria launched attacks against Serbia and Greece. Bulgaria declared war on Serbia after they refused to give up any more territory. Greece had concerns over the conflicts and was brought in after Serbia requested their help. Soon after, Romania and the Ottoman Empire also joined the fight against Bulgaria, both nations intending to improve their own situations as far as what land they possessed. Bulgaria took a beating and the fighting started to die down, but Greece's King Constantine wanted a decisive victory, so he pressed forward into Bulgaria's capital of Sofia. The Greek armies marched in and were ambushed by the Bulgarian army which had dug in and was ready to defend the land. A stalemate occurred after both sides suffering heavy casualties. Both sides decided they wanted peace and Bulgaria requested an armistice. It was accepted and the spoils were divided up in the Treaty of Bucharest and the Treaty of Constantinople.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos148.htm
ReplyDeleteThis site lists ways that each of the sides tried to prevent the outbreak of the war
i was looking up information on the second balkan war and i came across the same link. it caught my eye by the title "The Effort to Prevent Outbreak of the Second Balkan War". It really shows the extreme measure in which the countries of Europe keep from a world war breaking out. There was so much tension and so many issues but somehow numerous times like this and the first moroccan crisis like i did, they managed to keep peace. This made it seem like imperialism really was a huuge starting in all the war. It reinforces the idea that they were truly expanding out of competition with other nations rather than the interest in expanding their own economies. Every country was land hungry and that resulted in all of the tension. The second balkan war also reminded me in a way of the first moroccan crisis in regards to a treaty being made that didn't really have long term effects. It just temporarily ended the dispute. In regards to the second balkan war this treaty was the treaty of london which settled the border between the Balkan States and Turkey it did not settle all the claims between the two which only increased tension. In the First Moroccan Crisis the Algeciras Conference though solving the moroccan problems it strained the relationship between the triple entente and the triple alliances.
Delete-Sarah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kn0N6m6a2AGood informitive video on the reasons for first and second balkan war. Love the accent :)
ReplyDeleteVal, your link was very helpful to me. Only the reactionary measures taken by the powers involved are presented, yet this document provided me with new information about their proactive measures. It is evident that the “Concert of Europe” or Congress of Vienna style ideology was present. The powers did the best they could to negotiate, even though they had personal ambitions and tensions amongst each other. They all agreed to submit to Russian arbitration under the Czar and made concessions to avoid conflict. However, as the outbreak of WWI proved, these concessions and peace agreements were impeding on imperialistic desires and caused the formation of secret treaties. Eventually, the option of peace just wasn’t enough.
DeleteI can never ever be first on this blog. ugh.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, Alex did a great job of outlining the development of the crisis. As he mentioned, it was a result of the First Balkan War in 1812. As a result of that conflict with the Ottoman Empire, four Balkan states -Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece – seized territory from the weakening Ottoman Empire, “the sick man of Europe.” Serbia’s dispute with Bulgaria over territorial gains, specifically the Macedonia region, led to the Second Balkan War. The powers of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Romania, and the Turkey joined to defeat Bulgaria. Many of these nations had alternative motives for entering the conflict; they sought to expand their empires. As Alex mentioned, there was a costly statement that led to Bulgaria asking for an end to the conflict. The Treaty of Bucharest was drawn up and its terms were accepted.
In the end, Bulgaria was defeated and Serbia, backed by Russia, appeared to have won an outlet to the Adriatic Sea. Austria, with the backing of Germany and Italy, intervened and forced the creation of Albania out of former Ottoman lands. The new nation blocked Serbia’s ambitions to access to the Mediterranean Sea. The crisis, in addition to the First Balkan War, brought Russia and Serbia closer together, as the Russians felt compelled to support Serbia more firmly in the future because of its ambitions in the Balkan region. This crisis, without a doubt, increased the tension between the nations of Europe. The animosity of Russia and Serbia for Austria-Hungary was intensified due to the limitations/restrictions it created for both nations in regards to obtaining warm-water ports and access to commercial/trade routes along the water.
ReplyDeleteHowever, a major conflict was averted due to the European system put in place after the defeat of Napoleon. The Bulgarians and Greeks realized that the mass loss of life and money they were experiencing and the continuing conflict (with more powers joining as time elapsed) was not worth the potential spoils. The Bulgarians also became acutely aware of how overmatched it was. In order to prevent its own destruction, Bulgaria asked for an armistice. The potential of war erupting between the victors, in regards to Bulgarian land, was also avoided. Also, the Treaty of Bucharest awarded the powers that fought- Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania- with relatively equal portions of land. Bulgaria, which had once been frustrated over the lack of land it received in the culmination of the First Balkan War, received part of Macedonia. Due to the agreement and compromise a world war was avoided over the Balkan region.
ReplyDeleteIronically, I also found that the Concert of Europe was one of the main causes of tension and the eruption of WWI. When Serbia won the crisis, the diplomats of Europe were frantically concerned. Serbia would be able to expand territory and Russia would be able to become a dominant power in the Balkan region. This couldn’t happen according to the core tenets of the Congress of Vienna because it meant the emergence of a dominant nation. As a result, the Concert of Europe actually insisted on Austria and Italy setting up Albania.
ReplyDelete*Read more about the both Balkan Wars and their effects on diplomatic relations!
http://historyannex.com/20th-century-Europe/prewwi/second-Balkan.html
http://ottomanmilitary.devhub.com/blog/596952-balkan-wars-19121913-i/
The Second Balkan War was casued by a conflict that was due to the dissatisfaction of Bulgaria's outcome of the First Balkan War, and as a result attacked Greece and Serbia. Despite the prewar agreement of the territorial divisions of the region of Macedonia, Serbia refused to give up any more territory after it was forced out of Albania by the Great Powers. This then led Bulgaria to declare war on Serbia, thus causing minor fights to break out along the borders of the area occupied by Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria.Greece and Bulgaria soon joined alliences and repelled the Bulgarian Army,while Romania began to fight against Bulgaria due to their previous territorial boundaries. As if these three countries fighting were not enought, the Ottoman Empire joined in to take advantage of the situaion with the hopes of regaining some of their lost territory from the First Balkan War. Luckily Greece had pushed the Bulgarians to their pre-war borders and cutting them off from the Aegean Sea. Yet King Constantine wanted a clear defeat and ordered his troops to march into Bulgaria, much to his surprise the Bulgarian first and second army where there waiting for the attack, this as a result put Greece and Bulgaria into a Stalemate. Yet in the end, both Greece and Bulgaria wanted peace and to end the fighting. A general Armistance was agreed upon and the territorial boundaries were set in the Treaty of Bucharest and the Treaty of Constantinople; The terms of the treaty were..
ReplyDelete1.Bulgaria acknowledged Ottoman gains of Edirne, Kırklareli and Demotika (Didymoteicho) and the surrounding territory
2.The Ottoman Empire ceded the port of Dedeagach (mod. Alexandroupoli) to Bulgaria
3.The exchange of lands was to be completed within 10 days
4.The armies on the border would be demobilized within three weeks
5.Prisoners of war from both sides would be released
6.Both political and economical ties between the two countries would be reestablished
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzzovODkjjE&feature=related
ReplyDelete^ This website i found to be interesting because, it produced opinions from other people and it wasn't just a power point or reading off a paper
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSr8dt-Ve0w
^ the second video has great footage from 1895 all the way up to the end of WWII.
It gives you a small taste at how things were.
http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/balkan1913.htm
ReplyDelete^ this website had the number of forces and military personal who were involved in the second Balkan War. You never really hear about those men who fought during wars not in America, so I thought it was interesting to see the number of people involved in this war, especially since it was a major factor in the tensions of Europe at this time.
Major conflict was averted when Bulgaria decided to back down and requested an armistice. Each of the sides had suffered extreme casualties and it seemed like no one was really getting anywhere. The loss of life was not worth what was being fought for to each side. Greece and Bulgaria both agreed that it was time to end the conflict. Like Steph said, Bulgaria became painfully aware that it was going up against overwhelming odds and the cause was hopeless. The treaties that were signed actually did well to please everyone so the fighting ceased and Bulgaria actually got part of the land they wanted in the first place. Since no one suffered any major land losses and the land was divided as equally as possible, everyone was able to walk away without much resentment.
ReplyDeleteI felt that Alex, Steph, Val and Mallory all did a great job at explaining the causes and events during the Second Balkan War. I found it interesting that the Second Balkan War was a direct result of the First. Due to the fact that many people were upset with the land partition of Macedonia after the first, tensions continued to rise, and eventually boiled over in the Balkan states. I found this particularly interesting because although it seemed as if the first world war was avoided by all of these mini wars and precautions, it really only pushed it back further. Secret alliances continues to tangle the inter-workings of Europe, which ultimately led to world war one.
ReplyDeleteTo continue with what I was saying, (I didn't mean to post that, it wasn't entirely finished), the Balkan Wars, (both the first and the second) were really just events that led up to the full out world war. Although in some opinions, the world war was avoidable, however, at this rate, (including the secret alliances and underhanded nature of the European powers at the time), it was not. The only way that a world war was avoidable would be to for a country to constantly be completely honest with their plans of action.. . which would probably never occur.
DeleteLand, land, land. Was there any other concern for these leaders? It seemed to me land was the only thing that mattered in this time. Of course Bulgaria was not happy with the amount of land they got so they decided to go to war again so they can get what they thought should have been their land. All of these wars to me are pointless and could have been avoided easily. This war for example goes on and on and both sides suffer heavy casualties and in the end they had enough so they stop fighting and sign and armistice. What exactly was the point of going to war then? This, I believe, was the reason that war was eventually going to have to be the answer. No one was happy. All of these wars showed that discontent for the land distribution, money and for the opposing countries. You could cut the tension with a knife as they say and all that was needed was a little push to put all of Europe into a war and eventually drag the United States in as well. There had to be the once and for all moment in history and once Archduke Ferdinand was killed Europe would never be the same.
ReplyDeleteI found this conflict very interesting. Basically as it was explained Bulgaria was unhappy with the terms of the first bulgarian war and decided to set out and take what they wanted. However they were not prepared for a full on war with the rest of the Balkans. Eventually Bulgaria paid the toll for war and was forced to pull out and go back to their previous borders. However Constantinople seeking to assert the dominance of greece pursued Bulgaria who was prepared for this and fended them off. Eventually a stalemate was the final desicion. I saw this conflict as a prime excample of the greed imperialism was causing throughout europe as bulgaria went in search of more land only to have greece invade them in search of the same thing
ReplyDelete