The Treaty of Bucharest.

The Balkan Wars had revealed both the strengths and the limits of Balkan nationalism. Its strength lay in its ferocity. Its weakness was its disunity. The violence of the fighting much impressed the young Trotsky, who witnessed it as a correspondent for the newspaper Kievskaia mysl. Even the peace that followed the Balkan Wars was cruel, in a novel manner that would become a recurrent feature of the twentieth century. It no longer sufficed, in the eyes of nationalists, to acquire foreign territory. Now it was peoples as well as borders that had to move. Sometimes these movements were spontaneous. Muslims fled in the direction of Salonika as the Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians advanced in 1912; Bulgarians fled Macedonia to escape from invading Greek troops in 1913; Greeks chose to leave the Macedonian districts ceded to Bulgaria and Serbia by the Treaty of Bucharest. Sometimes populations were deliberately expelled, as the Greeks were from Western Thrace in 1913 and from parts of Eastern Thrace and Anatolia in 1914. In the wake of the Turkish defeat, there was an agreed population exchange: 48,570 Turks moved one way and 46,764 Bulgarians the other across the new Turkish-Bulgarian border. Such exchanges were designed to transform regions of ethnically mixed settlement into the homogeneous societies that so appealed to the nationalist imagination. The effects on some regions were dramatic. Between 1912 and 1915, the Greek population of (Greek) Macedonia increased by around a third; the Muslim and Bulgarian population declined by z6 and 13 per cent respectively. The Greek population of Western Thrace fell by 80 per cent; the Muslim population of Eastern Thrace rose by a third. The implications were distinctly ominous for the many multi-ethnic communities elsewhere in Europe.

World War One was a war that was initiated because of many small conflicts piling on top of each other. The disagreements between small countries, and their alliances with major powers were the factor that ultimately got so many nations involved in the war. The Treaty of Bucharest signed by the delegates of Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro ended the Second Balkan War,. During the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria was surrounded by its enemies, notably Romania, Greece, Serbia and Turkey. That forced Bulgaria to accept the terms of the Treaty of Bucharest, having no space for negotiation. World War One started less than a year after The Treaty of Bucharest was signed, so it is safe to assume that the Treaty certainly contributed to the start of a world war in some way. How did the Treaty of Bucharest influence Serbia to sparkle World War One?

Both Balkan Wars must be taken into account. The First Balkan War was fought between the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro) and The Ottoman empire, and its cause was to free Macedonia from the Ottoman rule. The League, which was formed with the help of Russia in 1912, managed to come up with a combined force of 750,000 men. Montenegro was the first to attack the Ottomans in October 8, 1912, and the other League countries joined the attack after 10 days.

The Balkan League succeeded in kicking the Ottoman empire out of Macedonia, and almost out of Europe altogether. The Ottomans were in a situation much similar to the one of Germany during World War One, fighting a war on several fronts; Bulgaria was engaged with them in Thrace, and defeated the Ottomans, forcing them back to Constantinople; In Macedonia, Serbia was attacking the Ottomans and achieved a great victory at Kumanovo which enabled it to capture Bitola and join forces with the Montenegro army and enter Skopje; The Greeks and Albanians were also attacking the Ottomans at the same time.

The Ottoman empire collapsed completely. All the parties wanted to conclude an armistice by December 3rd, 1912. A peace conference was started in London, but after a coup d'etat by the Young Turks in Constantinople in 1913, the war was resumed. The effort had little or no effect, since the Balkan League was victorious again, gaining Loaninna for Greece and Adrianople for the Bulgarians. Under the peace treaty signed in London on May 30th, the Ottoman empire lost nearly all its territory in Europe, including all of Macedonia and Albania. Albania became independent, and Macedonia was separated and divided between the Balkan allies. This concluded the first Balkan War with a victory for the Balkan nations. Their confidence was doubtlessly greater than before.

The Second Balkan war started because Bulgaria wasn't pleased with its land gains from the first Balkan war. Bulgaria had planned this war for a long time, so it was natural to be dissatisfied with its gains from it. On June 1st, 1913, Serbia and Greece formed an alliance against Bulgaria, and the second Balkan War started on June 29/30th, 1913, when the Bulgarian king ordered the Bulgarian troops to attack Serbian and Greek forces in Macedonia.

The Second Balkan war ended with Bulgaria being defeated by the Serbs and Greeks. It was a big mistake starting the war, since it forced Bulgaria to lose yet more of its territory and give it to Greece and Serbia. Under the terms of the peace treaty signed between the combatants on Aug 10th, 1913, Greece and Serbia divided most of Macedonia between themselves, leaving Bulgaria with a miniature part of the region.

Several countries benefited from the Balkan wars, most notably Greece and Serbia. Bulgaria, the main planner of the wars, came out with even less than it had before the wars. Greece gained southern Macedonia as well as the island of Crete. Serbia gained the Kosovo region and also northern and central Macedonia. Bulgaria gained so little that it wasn't very relevant.

The Treaty of Bucharest was the treaty that settled matters between the Balkan countries after the second Balkan war. Since Bulgaria was encircled by its enemies, it had to give in to any terms that were imposed upon it, with no chance for negotiations. And the terms were cruel.

Under the treaty, Bulgaria had to give up the territory of northern Dobrudja that was lying north of the Danube river, which stretched from just above Turtukaia to the western shore of the Black Sea. This piece of land was approximately 2,687 square miles, with a population of 286,000, and included the fortress of Silistria and the cities of Turtukaia on Danube and Baltchik on the Black Sea. Bulgaria also had to agree to disarm all her fortresses along the Danube, and to refrain from constructing new ones within 20 miles of Baltchik. The war left Bulgaria with a much smaller territory than before, which was crippling to the country.

Serbia gained a significant portion of land from the war. The lands Serbia gained embraced central Macedonia, including Ochrida, Monastir, Kossovo, Istib, and Kotchana, and the eastern half of the sanjak of Novi-Bazzar. By this, Serbia increased its territory from 18,650 square miles to 33,891 square miles, and its population by more than one and a half million. A significant increase for a small country.

The boundary between Bulgaria and Greece was drawn from the crest of Mount Belashitsa to the mouth of the Mesta river, on the Aegean sea. This territorial gain, contested heavily by Bulgaria, increased Greece's area from 25,014 to 41,933 square miles, and its population from 2,660,000 to 4,363,000. The territory included Epirus, southern Macedonia, Salonika, Kavala, and the Aegean littoral as far east as the Mesta river. Greece also extended her northwest front with the addition of the great fortress of Janina. The island of Crete was also officially given to Greece in December 14th, 1913.

Bulgaria, even though coming out as the country that gained the least, did gain some land as well. Its land gains embraced a part of Macedonia, including the town of Strumnitza, western Thrace, and 70 miles of the Aegean littoral, increasing Bulgaria's total territory by 9,633 square miles, and its population by 129,490.

Looking at the above information, it is obvious that Bulgaria gained the least from the wars. Romania was the country that benefited the most from the treaty when comparing the sacrifices she made during the war.

The terms that were imposed upon Bulgaria were because of its own impatience and intemperate folly. Bulgaria had failed to gain Macedonia, which was what it had vowed for when it started the war; Bulgaria lost Ochrida and Monastir, which were especially valued because of their religious and historical significance for the Bulgarians ; and it was obliged to forfeit its ambition for a Balkan leader.

The problems of the treaty were that the new boundaries drawn by it didn't take into account the nationality of the inhabitants affected. Another problem was that most of the blame was given to Bulgaria. While the other Balkan countries cannot escape some blame, it should not be forgotten that their actions in Bucharest were largely because of the settlement that was enforced on the Balkan states by the greater powers at the London conferences.

This Treaty and this war left the Balkans in a very unstable position, with the Balkan countries almost at each other's throats due to the unsatisfactory gains from the war. Bulgaria was very ambitious and still wanted to take its land back, like parts of Macedonia and Dobrudja that was taken away from it. Austria-Hungary and Russia had conflicts over Serbia's aspirations. The Black Hand, a nationalist group in Serbia, was supporting the independence of Hungarians in Austria-Hungary. In an attempt to further destabilize the situation and hopefully succeed to separate the Hungarian minority and make it independent, the Black Hand assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand the 2nd. The Balkan wars had certainly left the Serbians with a newly found confidence, making them brave enough to actually attempt to pull off a stunt like this. It was this, plus the alliances made between Austria-Hungary and Germany, and between Britain and Russia, that forced everybody to get involved. But firstly it was the dangerous move of Serbia's people that ultimately lit the fuse that led to the chain of events which later on became World War one.

Main source one: http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/balkan1913.htm

This helped me to describe the events of the second Balkan war with greater detail, enabling me to have more material to analyze the events correctly. It is only limited to the Second Balkan War, and doesn't offer any information as to how it relates to other countries/events.

Main Source two:

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos149.htm

This offered a lot of information on the Treaty of Bucharest, including its terms, land gains of each Balkan League member, and the countries' opinions about the terms imposed upon them. It certainly helped me with my analysis.

Bibliography:

(all websites were accessed in the period of Dec 28-Dec 31)

http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm

http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW1/causes.htm

http://www.teacheroz.com/WWIIcauses.htm

http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/bravo/balkan1913.htm

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos149.htm

http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/westn/causeww1.html

http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=513