Greece in the Balkan Wars
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The participation of Greece in the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913 is one of the most important episodes in modern Greek history, as it allowed the Greek state to almost double its size and achieve most of its present territorial size. It also served as a catalyst of political developments, as it brought to prominence two personalities, whose relationship would dominate the next decade and have long-lasting repercussions for Greece: the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos, and the Army's commander-in-chief, the Crown Prince and later King, Constantine I.
In the
Although negotiations had started in London in December 1912, the war continued until 30 May [O.S. 17 May] 1913, when the Treaty of London was finally signed. The treaty failed to satisfy any party involved, with the chief point of friction being the partition of Macedonia. In the face of Bulgarian claims, Serbia and Greece formed an alliance, and on the evening of 29 June [O.S. 16 June] 1913, Bulgarian forces launched a surprise attack against their erstwhile allies. The Bulgarian attacks were soon contained, and pushed back. For Greece in particular, the battles of the Second Balkan War were very costly, as the Greek Army pushed its way into Bulgaria. Following the entry of Romania and the Ottoman Empire in the war, the Bulgarian position became hopeless, and an armistice was declared on 30 July. The war was concluded with the Treaty of Bucharest on 10 August 1913, which confirmed the Greek gains of Macedonia, Epirus (without Northern Epirus) and Crete.
Background
The rise of nationalism in the Balkans
The Balkan Wars must be regarded within the context of the rising Balkan nationalisms during the 19th century, which ran counter to the established Ottoman religion-based
The Kingdom of Greece is not Greece. It constitutes only one part, the smallest and feeblest. The name Hellenes describes not only those who live in this kingdom, but also those who live in
Samosand any territory associated with Hellenic history and the Hellenic race. [...] there are two prime cores of Hellenism: Athens, the capital of the Hellenic Kingdom, and the City [Constantinople] the vision and hope of all Hellenes.
Kolettis thus united the nascent Greek state, which initially had hearkened back mostly to the glories of Classical Greece, with the vision of a restored Byzantine Empire. The process of restoring the Byzantine Empire as an integral part of Greek national consciousness, and consequently claiming its cultural and territorial heritage, was carried out by Greece's "national historian", Constantine Paparrigopoulos.[4]
Likewise, Serbia sought to revive the empire of
Macedonia
Macedonia was inhabited by a dense mixture of nationalities, including Greeks,
Bulgarian estimate (1900) | Serbian estimate (1900) | Greek estimate (1904) | Ottoman estimate (1905) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Total population | 2,190,520 | 2,880,420 | 1,711,607 | 1,824,032 |
Bulgarians | 1,179,036 | 57,600 | 332,162 | 352,788 |
Greeks | 225,152 | unknown | 650,709 | 625,889 |
Serbs | 700 | 2,048,320 | unknown | unknown |
Turks (Muslims) | 564,158 | unknown | 634,017 | 745,155 |
In the late 1890s, the antagonism for Macedonia, hitherto mostly confined to a cultural and propaganda war, entered a new phase,
Ottoman instability
The
Creation of the Balkan League
Spurred by the Ottomans' entanglement with Italy, Serbia and Bulgaria accelerated their negotiations for an alliance; however, their differences proved difficult to overcome, and only pressure from the Russian government, which was eager to regain ground in the Balkans, led to the signing of a treaty of alliance on 7 March [O.S. 23 February] 1912. It was ostensibly directed against Austria-Hungary, but it also envisaged a partition of European Turkey: Albania and Kosovo to Serbia, Thrace to Bulgaria; southern Macedonia would be received by Bulgaria, while its northern part would be partitioned between the two under the arbitration of the Russian Tsar.[16] Feelers about a rapprochement and an alliance had also been put forward to Bulgaria by Venizelos in early 1911, but not until after the conclusion of the Serbian-Bulgarian pact did negotiations commence in earnest. Bulgaria, the "Prussia of the Balkans", had the region's strongest army,[17] and in light of the 1897 debacle, the Greek army was held in low esteem. But Greece could offer its navy, which alone could prevent Ottoman reinforcements from being transported from Asia directly to the European fronts. As the Greek ambassador to Sofia noted: "Greece can provide 600,000 men for the war effort. 200,000 men in the field, and the fleet will be able to stop 400,000 men being landed by Turkey between Salonica and Gallipoli."[18] A treaty of defensive alliance was thus signed at Sofia on 29 May [O.S. 16 May] 1912. Unlike the treaty with Serbia, no provisions were made for the division of territory, primarily because the Bulgarians assumed that their army would seize most of its aims before the Greeks got there.[19]
First Balkan War
Opposing forces
The various Balkan armies shared many similarities: they were organized along Western European lines, with a
Greece
Greece had a peacetime army of ca. 25,000 men, which, upon mobilization on 30 September [O.S. 17 September] 1912 grew to an overall strength of 110,000 men.[18] This was divided into two major armies: the Army of Thessaly (Στρατός Θεσσαλίας), commanded by the Crown Prince Constantine, which would strike in the direction of Macedonia, and the Army of Epirus (Στρατός Ηπείρου) under Lieutenant General Konstantinos Sapountzakis, which would strike in the direction of Epirus. The Army of Thessaly comprised seven infantry divisions, four independent Evzones battalions, a cavalry brigade and various support units, as well as four Farman aircraft, a total of 100,000 men, 70 machine guns and 120 artillery pieces, with 80,000 in the field. The Army of Epirus was of divisional strength, being composed of 8 infantry and one Evzones battalions, one cavalry company and 24 field guns, with a total of ca. 10,000 men. It was later reinforced by a Cretan volunteer regiment and by a corps of Garibaldini volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi II, reaching some 13,000 men.
Greek infantry divisions fielded three infantry regiments, one or two artillery battalions, and a cavalry-half-company for reconnaissance duties. Recently reorganized by a French military mission, the army was equipped with the Mannlicher–Schönauer rifle, and French artillery guns, chiefly the Canon de 75 modèle 1897 and the Schneider-Danglis mountain gun.
Ottoman Empire
On the other side of the hill, the Ottomans, reorganized by a German military mission, had won a clear victory over Greece back in 1897.[21] Following the Young Turk Revolution however, the Ottoman army became involved in politics to the detriment of its efficiency.
Gallery
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Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis and the crew of Averof, 1912
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"Greek fleet" by Miltiadis Thon (1912)
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Depiction of the sinking of the "Feth-i Bülend" at the port of Thessaloniki by Admiral Nikolaos Votsis
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The entry of Constantine I of Greece with George I of Greece and the Greek army in Thessaloniki
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Crown Prince Constantine I watching the heavy guns shelling Bizani, by Georges Scott, during the Battle of Bizani
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After the battle of Bizani the Greek Army captured ca. 8,600 POWs.
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The surrender of Ioannina to Constantine
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The union of Samos with the Kingdom of Greece
Second Balkan War
Aftermath - the impact of the wars on Greece
After the wars Greece nearly doubled in territorial holdings; this led to the expansion of the economy using Macedonian industry and resources.
The French military mission proposed additional reforms after studying its performance in the wars notably the creation of five new army corps.
References
- ^ Hall 2000, pp. 1–2
- ^ Koliopoulos & Veremis 2002, p. 250
- ^ Trencsényi & Kopecek 2007, p. 248
- ^ Trencsényi & Kopecek 2007, p. 246; Koliopoulos & Veremis 2002, p. 252
- ^ a b Clogg 1992, p. 67
- ^ Dalègre 2002, p. 205
- ^ Svoronos 1964, pp. 81–82
- ^ Terrades 2005, pp. 102–103
- ^ Vacalopoulos 1975, pp. 200–202
- ^ a b Vacalopoulos 1975, p. 215
- ^ Clogg 1992, p. 73
- ^ Hall 2000, pp. 7–8
- ^ Clogg 1992, p. 77
- ^ Driault & Lheritier 1926, pp. IV.568–569
- ^ Clogg 1992, p. 79
- ^ Hall 2000, pp. 9–11
- ^ Hall 2000, p. 16
- ^ a b Hall 2000, p. 17
- ^ Hall 2000, p. 15
- ^ Hall 2000, pp. 15–16
- ^ Erickson & Bush 2003, pp. 14–15
Sources
General history
- Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate (1998), An Index of events in the military history of the Greek nation, Athens, ISBN 960-7897-27-7)
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Clogg, Richard (1992), A Concise History of Greece, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-37830-3
- Contogeorgis, Georges (1992), Histoire de la Grèce, Nations d'Europe (in French), Hatier, ISBN 2-218-03841-2
- Dalègre, Joëlle (2002), Grecs et Ottomans - 1453-1923, de la chute de Constantinople à la disparition de l'Empire ottoman (in French), L'Harmattan, ISBN 2-7475-2162-1
- Driault, Edouard; Lheritier, Michel (1926), Histoire diplomatique de la Grèce de 1821 à nos jours (in French), vol. IV & V, Paris: PUF
- Svoronos, Nicholas (1964), Histoire de la Grèce moderne, Que Sais-Je? (in French), PUF
- Terrades, Marc (2005), Le Drame de l'hellénisme. Ion Dragoumis (1878-1920) et la question nationale en Grèce au début du XXe siècle (in French), L'Harmattan, ISBN 2-7475-7788-0
- Trencsényi, Balázs; Kopecek, Michal (eds.) (2007), Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe 1770–1945, Vol. II: National Romanticism – The Formation of National Movements, Central European University Press, )
- Koliopoulos, J.S.; Veremis, Thanos M. (2002), Greece, The Modern Sequel: From 1831 to the Present, London: Hurst & Company, ISBN 1-85065-463-8
- Vacalopoulos, Apostolos (1975), Histoire de la Grèce moderne (in French), Horvath, ISBN 2-7171-0057-1
- ISBN 0-571-19794-9
On the Balkan Wars
- Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους, Τόμος ΙΔ': Νεώτερος Ελληνισμός από το 1881 ως το 1913 ("History of the Hellenic Nation, Vol. XIV: Modern Hellenism from 1881 to 1913") (in Greek), Εκδοτική Αθηνών, 1977, pp. 280–354
- Cassavetti, Demetrius John (1914), Hellas and the Balkan Wars, London: T. F. Unwin,
- Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate (1998), A Concise History of the Balkan Wars, 1912-1913, Athens, ISBN 960-7897-07-2)
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Erickson, Edward J.; Bush, Brighton C. (2003), Defeat in Detail: The Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912-1913, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0-275-97888-5
- Hall, Richard C. (2000), The Balkan Wars, 1912-1913: Prelude to the First World War, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-22946-4
- Schurman, Jacob Gould (2004), The Balkan Wars 1912 To 1913, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-4191-5345-5
- Chantepleure, Guy (Jeanne-Caroline Violet-Dussap) (1913), La ville assiégée : Janina. Octobre 1912-mars 1913. (in French), Calmann-Lévy
Articles
- Kaldis, William Peter (June 1979), "Background for Conflict: Greece, Turkey, and the Aegean Islands, 1912-1914", The Journal of Modern History, 51 (2, Supplement): D1119–D1146, S2CID 144142861
- Michalopoulos, Dimitris (2005), Attitudes parallèles : Éleuthérios Vénisélos et Take Ionescu dans la Grande Guerre (in French), Institut de recherches sur Éleutherios Vénisélos et son époque, ISBN 960-88457-3-4
- Schneider, Raphaël (June–July 2008), "Les guerres balkaniques (1912-1913)", Champs de Bataille (in French), no. 22
External links
- "Η Ελλάδα των Βαλκανικών Πολέμων 1912-1913". Hellenic Parliament. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2012.