Balkan Struggles: A Century of Civil War, Invasion, Communism and Genocide

By Andrew Rawson

The Balkans witnessed several bloody conflicts during the twentieth century. New nations emerged in 1913, after 500 years of Ottoman rule, only for them to go to war just weeks later. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in June 1914 sparked the series of events that led to the Great War. Most of the belligerents would be drawn into the region, while the post-war border changes created tensions.

Italian designs on the Balkans resulted in the occupation of Albania in March 1939, but it failed to take control of Greece over the winter of 1940-41. A German blitzkrieg quickly defeated both Yugoslavia and Greece in the spring of 1941, and the population of both countries then suffered terribly as the occupying forces encouraged collaboration and punished resistance.

The area was rife with guerrilla activity, as monarchists, nationalists and communists fought each other as often as the occupying troops. This, in turn, led to communism sweeping across most of the region in the post-war years, while Greece was taken over by a fascist regime.

Communism eventually ended, but ethnic troubles resulted in a ten-year conflict across Yugoslavia. It would be divided into Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, at the end of the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Mar 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781526761453

Andrew Rawson

ANDREW RAWSON is a freelance writer who has written several books, covering campaigns from the Napoleonic Wars, World War I and World War II, including the 'British Army Handbook, 1914–1918', 'Vietnam War Handbook' and 'The Third Reich 1919–1939' for The History Press.

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Chapter 1

The Balkans Wars

October 1912 to July 1913

The region had been under control of the Ottoman Empire since the 1450s and 1460s, when the armies of Sultan Mehmed II, known as the Conqueror, swept across Serbia and Bosnia. Conflict in the Balkan region may have culminated with two wars in 1912 and 1913, but their origins dated back over thirty years as the people’s desire for independence from Ottoman rule increased.

Over 450 years of rule had created an ethnically diverse area, where the rule of three great religions of the world met. Roman Catholicism is still dominant in the north-west, in the state now known as Croatia. Islam is the foremost religion in the south-west region, in the area now shared by Albania and Kosovo. Meanwhile, Orthodox Catholicism is the principal one in the north-east and south-east regions, now known as Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece.

Balkans War Timeline

The Revolts against the Ottoman Empire

Bulgaria rebelled against the Ottoman Empire in April 1876, only for the uprising to be savagely put down. Serbia also declared war in June 1876 but its army was small and poorly equipped, so the Ottomans soon defeated it. A peace was negotiated on the basis that there was a resumption of the status quo but Serbia declared war a second time in December 1877.

The Russian Empire wanted to regain the territories it had lost during the Crimean War and it was also hoping to increase its influence around the Black Sea. So it supported the Balkans, their brother Orthodox States. The Great Eastern Crisis lasted only a few weeks but it ended in defeat for the Ottoman Empire. After 500 years of rule, Bulgaria celebrated its independence under the Treaty of San Stefano. The Congress of Berlin gave Russia and Serbia extra territories but the Austro-Hungarian Empire was given control of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Great Britain was also handed control of Cyprus, giving it a base in the Eastern Mediterranean. Greece then acquired Thessaly in 1881, meaning it had doubled the size of its territories in a short space of time.

The Young Turk Revolution and the Balkan League

Many Turks wanted to modernise their country but the upper and lower classes were looking for different concessions from their government. The Union and Progress Committee were pressing for the constitution to be reinstated, after thirty years of autocratic rule under Abdül Hamid II. Members were known as the Young Turks and they demanded reforms and equality for all subjects across the Ottoman Empire.

The Young Turks were also worried that Macedonia could be lost to either the Russian or Austro-Hungarian Empires. So they encouraged officers who supported their cause to march their troops on Constantinople in June 1908. The government’s failure to quell the revolt inspired demonstrations across the Ottoman Empire, forcing Abdül Hamid to reinstate the constitution. However, the Union and Progress Committee failed to win the next election, so members had to try and influence the Empire’s politics from the sidelines. Abdül Hamid’s attempt to seize power again in April 1909 failed and he was deposed by Sultan Mehmed V.

Events across the Ottoman Empire became increasingly volatile over the next three years. Various laws banned any political parties based on ethnicity, which led to the formation of the Liberal Union. Harsh measures were also introduced to stamp out rebellions across the Balkans, stirring up resentment across the region.

Greece was the first to experience problems over its political difficulties and economic woes. The army had been angry since the debacle of the Greco-Turkish War back in 1897 and a secret officers’ group, called the Military League, staged a coup at the Goudi barracks in Athens, in August 1909. It led to the Liberal Party being elected and Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos initiating reforms.

Italy went to war with the Ottoman Empire in September 1911, looking to satisfy promises made following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8. It seized the North African region called Tripolitania Vilayet (now known as Libya) in North Africa and the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea (off the Anatolian coast).

The Young Turks encouraged Bosnian Muslims to move into the Ottoman Empire where they joined the Albanian Revolt in the spring of 1912. The Albanian Hamidian responded by driving the Young Turks out of Skopje, giving Peter I of Serbia the opportunity to make a treaty with Bulgaria. They then declared Holy War in October 1912, with a view to liberating Albania from the Muslims. Only the Albanians did not see Serbia as their liberator and they launched a coup d’état to unify Eastern Rumelia on its southern border.

In all three cases, the Ottoman Empire was powerless to retake control of the areas, giving the Balkan states the motivation to fight for their own independence. The Balkans region was simmering with both ethnic and religious hatred by the turn of the twentieth century, as Serbia, Greece, Albania and Bulgaria all sought their revenge against the Ottoman Empire. The rise in Balkan nationalism resulted in an alliance between Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Greece, which was called the Balkan League. Serbia and Bulgaria were the main protagonists and they were both plotting to drive the Ottomans out of south-east Europe and across the Aegean Sea so they could expand their territories. Serbia wanted control of Albania, to give it access to the Adriatic Sea, while Bulgaria wanted Macedonia.

The Young Turks of the Union and Progress Committee used a combination of intimidation and fraud to win the April 1912 election, which became known as the ‘Election of Clubs’. Meanwhile, the Balkans’ situation was becoming increasingly volatile, as both Macedonia and western Thrace gained their independence. Bulgaria may have had the only large army, while Greece had the only strong navy, but the Ottomans were still demoralised after the conflict with Italy. The Balkan states also knew it would take time to ship troops from Anatolia to the Balkans. So the Balkan League decided to seize the moment and present a united front to drive them out.

The great European powers took different stances during the Balkan conflict, some even supporting different causes to their allies according to their local circumstances. The Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted the Ottoman Empire to continue controlling the Balkans, rather than allowing it to split into small nations. The Germans also supported the Ottoman Empire but it intended to treat the region as a colony. Russia supported the Balkan League because it would counter the threat from the Austro-Hungarian Empire; it also wanted access to the Mediterranean Sea. France refused to support Russia if it went to war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Britain supported the Ottomans because it wanted to block Russian intentions in the Eastern Mediterranean. It had also secretly encouraged the Greeks to join the Balkan League for the same reason.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had the most to consider because it was anxious to stop anyone else increasing their control in the Balkans. However, there were problems. The Slavs were complaining against German-Hungarian control while Serbia was hoping to gain Bosnia. Germany was against a war with the Ottoman Empire, particularly as the Imperial War Council warned that its armies would not be ready until the summer of 1914. But Berlin was anxious for Bulgaria to join the Central Powers, believing it would be able to take over in the Balkans if the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

The First Balkan War

Montenegro was the smallest member of the Balkan League and its declaration of war on 8 October had little effect. But Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece followed suit on 17 October, bringing a combined force of around 750,000 men to bear against the Ottoman Empire. Bulgaria was the most powerful and wanted to advance through eastern Macedonia and Thrace to the Aegean Sea, giving it access to the Mediterranean Sea. Serbia intended to move through western Macedonia to the Aegean, while pinning down Ottoman troops in Epirus on the Adriatic coast.

The Ottomans

By 1912, over half the people living in the European part of the Ottoman Empire were Christians, with the Roman Catholics in the north and the Orthodox Christians in the south. The Empire’s army was being reorganised with German help, while several factions struggled to gain control of it. Around 70,000 troops were dismissed in the summer, leaving only 200,000 to man the border. The Western Army faced the Greeks, Serbs and Montenegrins in Macedonia, while the Eastern Army faced the Bulgarians in Thrace. However, the poor rail network would delay redeployment. Reserves had to be shipped across the Aegean Sea.

British naval officers had been employed to train the Ottoman navy, while there were plans to buy new warships from France and Germany. However, the Turkish admirals were reluctant to change their ways and the navy was short of money after the Young Turk revolution. All it could afford was two pre-dreadnought battleships which joined two aging cruisers.

The Bulgarian Theatre

The majority of the Ottoman troops had been deployed facing the Serbs west of Adrianople, leaving only 130,000 in Thrace to fight the 350,000-strong Bulgarian army. Unfortunately, Abdullah Pasha was unaware that Bulgaria and Serbia had made a deal over Macedonia, leaving his troops at a disadvantage.

The Ottoman East Army deployed one corps on the Gallipoli peninsula, to counter rumours of an amphibious assault which never happened. It left too few troops to stop the Bulgarian onslaught against the Edirne-Kırklareli Line in eastern Thrace. Inaccurate information then led to Kirk Kilisse being abandoned, while Adrianople was under siege.

Greek warships had stopped the Ottoman reserves crossing the Aegean Sea, so the Greeks were able to capture Thessaloniki on the Aegean coast. The Bulgarians had also broken through the Lüleburgaz-Karaaǧaç-Pınarhisar Line. They reached the Sea of Marmara, cutting the Ottoman forces in two only for cholera to ravage the army.

Ottoman reinforcements eventually shored up the Çatalca Line, the final defensive position in front of Constantinople, and they stopped an attack on 17 November 1912. Moscow then told Sofia that Russian troops would attack if Bulgaria captured Constantinople. An armistice was signed on 3 December 1912 but the London peace negotiations were interrupted when the Young Turks deposed Kâmil Pasha’s government on 23 January 1913. Fighting resumed with the Ottomans counter-attacking from the Çatalca Line while landing troops on the Gallipoli peninsula. A lull in the fighting followed a Bulgarian withdrawal because neither side wanted to leave their defensive positions.

A prolonged bombardment of Adrianople was followed by the capture of the 50,000 Ottoman garrison on 11 March. However, there was a quarrel over who had taken the city, resulting in a dispute which resulted in the Bulgarians refusing to support Serbian territorial claims. Further arguments over Macedonia resulted in Serbia ending its alliance with Bulgaria because it believed it had fought for nothing.

The Macedonian and Epirus Fronts

The Greeks had deployed a large army in southern Macedonia and they captured Thessaloniki on 9 November, cutting off the Ottomans’ Vardar army. However, a smaller Greek army was unable to make any progress in Western Macedonia. The Serbians defeated the Ottomans in northern Macedonia and helped the Bulgarians besiege Edirne in eastern Macedonia.

The Greeks redeployed during the winter months and were able to make progress into Epirus in March 1913. However, Greece then suffered a setback after an anarchist called Alexandros Schinas assassinated King George in Thessaloniki. He was succeeded by his son, Constantine I, the popular commander of the Greek army who was pro-German, changing the Greek stance from pro-Entente to neutral. A final Serbian victory at Monastir drove the Ottomans back into Albania.

Aegean Naval Operations

The Greek fleet secured the Aegean islands when war broke out, so they would be ready to attack any ships sailing out of the Dardanelle Straits. They also secured Preveza on the west coast of Greece, securing the entrance to the Ionian Sea. It meant the Greek ships would be able to stop transports crossing either the Aegean or Ionian Seas, leaving 250,000 Ottoman troops unable to join the war in the Balkans.

The situation led to Admiral Tahir Bey replacing Admiral Ramiz Naman Bey and he immediately tried to draw the Greek fleet into a battle. The two fleets eventually clashed at the entrance to the Dardanelle Straits on 16 December and the Greeks won the battle of Elli. A week later a Greek submarine fired torpedoes for the first time in history.

Captain Ramiz Bey planned to attack the Greek anchorage by sending a fast cruiser to draw a Greek blockade away from Lemnos Island early on 14 January 1913. However, Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis correctly assumed the single ship was a decoy and his fleet was able to intercept the Ottoman fleet when it left the Dardanelle Straits four days later. The Ottoman Navy retired to Constantinople harbour and never re-entered the Aegean Sea again. It was, however, targeted during the first ever air raid directed against ships on 5 February.

The Ottoman Defeat and Aftermath

The Ottoman government had gone to war before its armies had mobilised because the War Minister, Nazim Pasha, had incorrectly promised that the armed services were ready to fight. The Treaty of London ended the conflict on 30 May 1913 and most of the Ottoman territories west of Constantinople were divided between the Balkan League nations, as were many of the Aegean islands. Serbia and Greece divided Macedonia, while the new nation of Albania was created on the Adriatic coast. However, Bulgaria was unhappy that it had only received part of Thrace, resulting in Serbia and Greece becoming allies to counter the threat. A second treaty may have been signed but the seeds had been sown for another conflict.

The nations had settled their differences but the people were left with their own decisions to make once the new borders had been decided. People were forced to accept their new nationalities and while many were baptised by the Orthodox Church, those who refused to convert headed for the Ottoman Empire. Ethnic and religious violence followed: people were evicted and their villages were burnt to the ground.

The Second Balkan War

The Balkan League had pushed the Ottoman Empire out of south-east Europe but there were arguments over who would rule Macedonia. Serbia and Bulgaria may have secretly agreed to share northern Macedonia but the Serbs had advanced further south than expected, while the Greeks had taken Thessaloniki. The Serbs refused to withdraw from the captured territory because the creation of Albania would leave them with little territory. Both Serbia and Russia ended their alliance with Bulgaria over the argument about Macedonia. So, the Bulgarians decided to seize what they thought was rightly theirs, only to discover that Serbia and Greece had signed an agreement to protect themselves against just that.

On 16 June 1913, Tsar Ferdinand ordered the mobilisation of Bulgaria’s armed forces, but Prime Minister Stoyan Danev’s government asked General Mihail Savov not to, delaying the invasion of Serbia and Greece. The Tsar replaced him with General Radko Dimitriev, and while there may have been 600,000 troops ready to retake Macedonia, there were only enough rifles to arm half of them.

The Greeks attacked while the Bulgarians procrastinated and they advanced towards Sofia. The Bulgarian offensive eventually started on 26 June, only to be driven back through Dojran by a counter-attack. The Serbs stopped the attack across the River Zletovska on 29 June and drove it back behind the River Bregalnica. One Bulgarian division was even forced to surrender en masse and General Mihail Savov had to personally take command of the front line to stop the Serbs advancing into western Bulgaria.

The Greeks made contact with the Serbs on 11 July and they advanced side-by-side along the River Struma. Amphibious landings by Greek troops then cut off large numbers of Bulgarians from the Aegean Sea. The Serbs stopped advancing when they had taken all the territory they wanted; however, the Greeks continued advancing along the Struma valley. The Bulgarians ambushed them in the Kresna Gorge but they managed to break out and kept heading north, deeper into enemy territory.

Romania declared war on 10 July, leaving the Bulgarians fighting a war on two fronts. Its troops crossed the border and some cut off the north-west corner of the country as they advanced to contact the Serbs. Some Romanian troops were closing in on Sofia when the Ottomans attacked on 29 July, forcing the Bulgaria troops out of Eastern Thrace. Moscow finally decided to intervene and the Russian army prepared to cross the Caucasus Mountains, while its fleet sailed towards Constantinople.

Bulgaria may have felt aggrieved by having to give up so much of Macedonia following the First Balkan War, but attacking Greece and Serbia in the Second Balkan War only made matters worse. Sofia had to announce a truce and ask Russia to arbitrate in the conflict. It then sent representatives to the peace negotiations in the Romanian capital, Bucharest. Neither the Serbs nor the Greeks wanted to talk, but King Carol agreed to stop his Romanian troops from entering Sofia.

Bulgaria signed the Treaty of Bucharest with Serbia, Montenegro, Romania and Greece on 10 August 1913 and was forced to give away large amounts of territory. Serbia extended its border south, to include central Vardar Macedonia. Meanwhile, Bulgaria was given part of Macedonia, Pirin Macedonia and Western Thrace, giving it access to the Aegean Sea. It also had to hand Southern Dobruja, on its north-east border, to Romania. Greece was given parts of Epirus and Macedonia beyond its northern border. Sofia would later agree the Treaty of Constantinople with Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire took control of Eastern Thrace, giving Constantinople a larger foothold in south-east Europe. It also set up a provisional government to control Western Thrace. The Ottomans would also sign treaties with Greece, Serbia and finally a secret treaty with Bulgaria, after the World War broke out.

Serbia gained parts of northern Macedonia making it the most powerful nation south of the River Danube. It had also gained around one and a half million people and they would face oppression, imprisonment, exile and even death. Serbia may have settled its southern border but it now faced arguments with the Austro-Hungarian Empire over its northern