Balkan League

Balkan League
(1912)
   An alliance of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria against the Ottoman Empire during the First Balkan War. Eleutherios Venizelos, the prime minister of Greece, had pushed for an alliance with Bulgaria early in 1911 to protect oppressed Christian subjects of Ottoman rule in Macedonia. Bulgaria thought Greece was too weak and too close to war with the Porte over Crete. But the weakness of the Ottomans in the Italo-Turkish War resulted in the Balkan states putting aside differences to tackle their irredentist ambitions. In March 1912, a secret bilateral defensive alliance was signed between Serbia and Bulgaria, which a military contract in May expanded. Athens then signed a military alliance with Sofia, and Sofia signed a similar one with Montenegro. Thus Balkan states formed a network of alliances against Constantinople.
   The Great Powers immediately saw a threat to their interests. France feared Russian domination of the Balkans and with Austria-Hungary, itself unwilling to see an expanded Serbia on its southern border, rallied the other powers to caution the Balkan states against a change in the balance of power. But the Balkan League felt strong enough to challenge the Ottoman Empire militarily. On October 8, 1912, Montenegro was the first state to declare war. After issuing an ultimatum to the Porte on October 13, the other three states declared war four days later. The combined Balkan armies effectively destroyed Ottoman power in Europe and carved up Macedonia. But the alliance did not hold. After the successful conclusion of the First Balkan War, differences over the partition of Macedonia surfaced. Bulgaria’s jealousy of Serbia and Greece tore the League apart and led to the Second Balkan War.
   See also <>; <>; <>; <>.
   FURTHER READING:
    Gerolymatos, André. The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution, and Retribution from the Ottoman Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond . New York: Basic Books, 2002;
    Glenny, Misha. The Balkans: Nationalism, War, and the Great Powers, 1804-1999 . New York: Viking, 2000;
    Mazower, Mark. The Balkans: A Short History . New York: Modern Library, 2000.
   ANDREKOS VARNAVA

Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800–1914. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Balkan League — The Balkan League was the alliance of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria against the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan Wars. Its founder was by large the Serbian Prime Minister Milovan Milovanović.After the outbreak of the Italo Turkish War… …   Wikipedia

  • Balkan League — (1912–13) Alliance of Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro, which fought the first Balkan War against the Ottoman empire. Ostensibly created to limit Austrian power in the Balkans, the league was actually formed at the instigation of Russia… …   Universalium

  • Balkan Wars — Infobox Military Conflict conflict=Balkan Wars caption=Boundaries on the Balkans after the First and the Second Balkan War place=Balkan Peninsula date=October 8 1912 July 18 1913 result=Treaty of London, Treaty of Bucharest… …   Wikipedia

  • Balkan Wars — (1912–13) Two military conflicts that deprived the Ottoman Empire of almost all its remaining territory in Europe. In the First Balkan War, the Balkan League defeated the Ottoman Empire, which, under the terms of the peace treaty (1913), lost… …   Universalium

  • Balkan International Basketball League — Infobox sports league title=Balkan International Basketball League current season=BIBL 2008/2009 logo=Balkan international basketball league.jpg pixels=270px caption=BIBL sport=Basketball founded=2008 folded= fame= motto = teams=10… …   Wikipedia

  • Balkan Crisis — (1875–1878, 1908–1913)    A series of ethnic conflicts in southeastern Europe intertwined with imperialist aspirations of the great powers directly involved, that is, Austria Hungary, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire, plus those indirectly… …   Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800–1914

  • Balkan — Balkanite, n., adj. /bawl keuhn/, adj. 1. pertaining to the Balkan States or their inhabitants. 2. pertaining to the Balkan Peninsula. 3. pertaining to the Balkan Mountains. n. 4. the Balkans. See Balkan States. [1825 35] * * * (as used in… …   Universalium

  • Balkan Wars — (1912–1913)    Two wars fought principally over control of the Ottoman provinces in Macedonia and Thrace. The first, from October 1912 to May 1913, brought the states of the Balkan League, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro, together into a …   Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800–1914

  • league — league1 /leeg/, n., v., leagued, leaguing. n. 1. a covenant or compact made between persons, parties, states, etc., for the promotion or maintenance of common interests or for mutual assistance or service. 2. the aggregation of persons, parties,… …   Universalium

  • League of Nations — (English) Société des Nations (French) Sociedad de Naciones (Spanish) International organization …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”