Read an Excerpt
Balkan Breakthrough
The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918
By Richard C. Hall Indiana University Press
Copyright © 2010 Richard C. Hall
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-253-35452-5
CHAPTER 1
BALKAN POLITICS
By the third quarter of the nineteenth century three national states had emerged in southeastern Europe from the non-national Ottoman Empire. These were Greece, Romania, and Serbia. All three sought to emulate the political and economic success of national states in western Europe. From the onset of their establishment none of these small southeastern European states considered their frontiers to be permanent. All sought to expand into neighboring territories to include greater numbers of their co-nationals in the same state or to conform to romantic notions of medieval predecessors. The Greeks sought all the Aegean Islands, Thessaly, Macedonia, and Thrace, then all under Ottoman control. The Romanians had claims to Habsburg Transylvania and Romanov Besserabia. The Montenegrins and Serbs contested Ottoman territories in Bosnia Hercegovina, Kosovo, and northern Albania. In addition both the Greeks and the Serbs claimed Macedonia as part of their national legacy. Not only were these small states eager to acquire territories from the large dynastic empires that bordered on southeastern Europe, they also increasingly advanced claims that overlapped each other's national aspirations. The only apparent means of maintaining and forwarding such claims was armed action. In this regard the peoples of southeastern Europe attempted to emulate the successes of the Italians in 1861 and the Germans ten years later. These countries had unified through conflict.
As national movements grew in southeastern Europe, they often cooperated with each other. The Serbian state aided the Bulgarian revolutionary movement through the initial three quarters of the nineteenth century. A series of intra-Balkan alliances developed in the 1860s. In 1867 Bulgarian revolutionary leaders even proposed a Bulgarian-Serbian state. Bulgarian revolutionaries also found refuge in Bucharest.
The national situation became more intense in southeastern Europe in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In 1875, Orthodox and Muslim peasants in Hercegovina, the southwestern corner of Bosnia, rose against the Ottoman authorities. Both Montenegro and Serbia intervened in support of the insurrection. In the ensuing war the many Russian volunteers joined the Montenegrin and Serbian forces. A Russian general, Mikhail Chernyaev, assumed command of the Serbian army. Nevertheless the Serbs suffered defeat by the Ottomans in 1876. At the same time, Bulgarian revolutionaries mounted a national uprising against the Ottomans. The Bulgarians did not hesitate to slaughter the Turkish civilian population living there. The Ottoman authorities retaliated in kind. The result was the "Bulgarian Massacres," in which the Ottomans bore most if not all of the odium. Outraged populations elsewhere in Europe, especially in Great Britain, demanded action. The Russian government, however, used the opportunity to directly intervene on behalf of the beset Bulgarians. They did so in order to demonstrate the Pan-Slavist credentials of the tsarist regime. As the largest Slavic Orthodox power, the Russians perceived some leadership responsibility to other Slavic Orthodox peoples. They also acted to gain control over the strategic Straits passage between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The Straits consisted of three distinct bodies of war west to east, the narrow Dardanelles, the wide Sea of Marmara, and the narrow Bosporus. Control of this passage would ensure Russian access to year round maritime commerce and possession of the ancient imperial city of Constantinople, Tsarigrad in the Slavic languages.
In the aftermath of the defeat of the Serbian and Montenegrin efforts in Hercegovina, and with the intention of addressing Russia's inchoate sense of Slavic nationalism and Russia's much more concrete strategic goals in southeastern Europe, Tsar Alexander II declared war on the Ottoman Empire on 24 April 1877. A Russian force passed through Romania and crossed the Danube at Svishtov in June. It advanced to the Ottoman fortress of Pleven (Plevna). After failing to take the fortress, the Russians settled down for a siege. This lasted from July to December. After the Russians did not succeed on two occasions to take Pleven, a Romanian army reinforced them. Meanwhile in July, the Russians took control of the main north–south route across the Balkan Mountains at Shipka Pass. There they defeated Ottoman attempts to relieve Pleven in August and in September. Finally Pleven surrendered on 10 December 1877. The Russians then advanced south of the Balkan Mountains. They occupied Sofia on 4 January 1878. Ottoman resistance in Bulgaria collapsed as the Russian army reached Adrianople on 19 January 1878 and the final defensive positions in front of Constantinople, the Chataldzha lines, on 30 January. The next day the Ottomans sued for an armistice.
The ensuing peace negotiations were held at San Stefano, a suburb of Constantinople. On 3 March 1878 in the Treaty of San Stefano, the Ottomans acceded to a Russian demand for the establishment of a large independent Bulgaria. This state, which included Macedonia and most of Thrace, met the demands of the most expansive Bulgarian nationalists. Neither the other Great Powers nor the other Balkan states shared the Bulgarians' enthusiasm for the San Stefano Treaty. Greece, Romania, and Serbia all considered that the treaty had slighted their national demands. This did little to endear the new Bulgarian state to its neighbors.
Largely because of objections from Austria-Hungary and Great Britain that San Stefano Bulgaria would give the Russians a base from which they could dominate all of southeastern Europe and threaten Constantinople, the German chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, offered his services as an "honest broker" to revisit the settlement. A congress including representatives of all the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire met at Berlin in the summer of 1878; they signed an agreement on 13 July 1878. Some of the Great Powers obtained direct benefit. Primary among these was Austria-Hungary, which gained the consent of the other Powers to occupy Bosnia-Hercegovina and the Sandjak of Novi Pazar, a small sliver of territory separating Montenegro from Serbia. Great Britain in turn occupied Cyprus.
This Treaty of Berlin also recognized the complete independence of Montenegro, Romania, and Serbia from the Ottoman Empire. All three countries received territorial augmentation. The Montenegrins obtained territory, although not as much as they would have under the San Stefano settlement. The Serbs got the area around Niš. The Romanians, although required to cede Besserabia to Russia, received a part of the territory south of the great bend of the Danube before it empties into the Black Sea, northern Dobrudzha, in return. This was small compensation for their efforts during the recent war. Greece got nothing.
The Treaty of Berlin dashed aspirations of Bulgarian nationalists. Bulgaria itself became a principality but remained under the sovereignty of the Ottoman sultan. The southeast around Plovdiv obtained special status as an Ottoman province with a Christian governor and received the name Eastern Rumelia. The western part of San Stefano Bulgaria, Macedonia, returned to direct Ottoman rule. This was a huge disappointment for most Bulgarians.
The Congress of Berlin attempted to establish a permanent settlement for the problems of southeastern Europe. It emphasized the role of the Great European Powers in questions arising from the development of Balkan nationalisms. Only they had the authority to consider future modifications of the settlement. Realization of the disparity between their own abilities and those of the Great Powers forced the Balkan nationalists to seek arrangements to continue their efforts.
After the Congress of Berlin, the states of southeastern Europe perceived each other as rivals for the remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire. Montenegro and Serbia both sought territory in Albania and Hercegovina, Greece and Bulgaria in Thrace; and Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia all claimed Macedonia. Their overlapping claims undermined their abilities to realize them.
The southeastern Europeans recognized that they stood little chance individually of contradicting the collective will of the Great Powers. Therefore each state in southeastern Europe sought affiliation with either Austria-Hungary or Russia. Hohenzollern-ruled Romania resented the Russian intrusion of 1877 and the Russian confiscation of Besserabia the next year. The Bucharest government signed an alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1883, connecting Romania to the mighty Triple Alliance. Serbia, under the leadership of King Milan Obrenovi?, who had just assumed the royal title the previous year, likewise oriented its policy toward Vienna. Despite the disappointment of Berlin, the truncated Bulgarian principality remained pro-Russian. Alexander Battenberg, the Russian Tsar Alexander II's nephew, became prince of Bulgaria in 1879.
The first important breach of the Berlin settlement occurred in 1885. The Russian government had closely directed its Bulgarian satellite after 1878. In 1885, however, Bulgarian revolutionaries overthrew the Ottoman regime in Eastern Rumelia. Against the wishes of his cousin Tsar Alexander III, Prince Alexander of Bulgaria announced the annexation of Eastern Rumelia by Bulgaria. Prince Alexander recognized that as a foreigner ruling Bulgaria, he needed to associate himself with the national inclinations of his principality. Tsar Alexander, already infuriated by his cousin's struggles against Russian control, ordered Russian officers and advisors home from Bulgaria. The tsar's personal inclinations seemed to supersede Russia's strategic interests. The newly unified Bulgarian state lacked trained senior military officers and a Great Power patron. The Great Powers deadlocked over whether to permit the breach of the Berlin covenant.
In these circumstances, King Milan of Serbia perceived an opportunity. He did not want to see Bulgaria grow without compensation for Serbia. Accordingly, he declared war on Bulgaria on 13 November 1885. Serbian forces crossed the frontier and advanced toward Sofia. Most of the Bulgarian army was in the southeast to guard against Ottoman intervention. Furthermore, the withdrawal of Russian officers left in the Bulgarian army no higher rank than captain. Prince Alexander marched his troops to the northwest of the country and defeated the invaders at Slivnitsa 17–19 November. The Bulgarians then entered Serbian territory and moved toward Niš. At this point the Austro-Hungarians intervened to protect their Serbian client. They warned that further Bulgarian advance into Serbia would meet Austrian military resistance. The Treaty of Bucharest of 3 March 1886 prevented the Bulgarians from obtaining any advantage at the expense of the aggressors. The Serbo-Bulgarian War had several important consequences. The Powers permitted the modification of the Berlin settlement with the minor condition that the Bulgarian prince assume the title of governor of Eastern Rumelia, to last for five years. The Bulgarian annexation of Eastern Rumelia stood. Nevertheless, this success did not save Prince Alexander. Bowing to his cousin's displeasure, he abdicated in 1886. Because of their unexpected success against the Serbs, the Bulgarians also gained a reputation as the military power in southeastern Europe. They became known as the "Prussians of the Balkans." Finally, possibility of unified Balkan action against the Ottomans, never strong after the Congress of Berlin, became even more remote.
This Great Power control received additional buttress by an accord between Austria-Hungary and Russia. In May 1897, in the aftermath of a visit of Emperor Francis Joseph to St. Petersburg, the Habsburg and Romanov states agreed to maintain the status quo in southeastern Europe. This cooperation stabilized the situation there for the time being. The Balkan nationalities could achieve little success against the unity of the Powers determined to maintain the Berlin settlement.
This consensus compelled the national states in southeastern Europe to adjust their relations with the Great Powers. The Bulgarians returned to the Russian fold. Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a Roman Catholic Austro-German prince who had replaced the unfortunate Alexander Battenberg in 1887, pursued a policy of détente with Russia. In 1894, his son and heir, Prince Boris, was baptized in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The next year, a Bulgarian delegation traveled to St. Petersburg and received a favorable welcome by Tsar Alexander III's son and successor, Tsar Nicholas II. These efforts greatly improved Bulgarian-Russian relations. Also during the period of Bulgarian-Russian estrangement, Russian strategic interests in the Straits remained strong. On 14 June 1902 the Bulgarians signed a military convention with their Great Power patrons. This connection afforded Sofia a considerable sense of security against the neighboring Ottomans.
Much more dramatic events caused the change of direction in Belgrade. After failing to interest Austria-Hungary in the purchase of his patrimony, King Milan Obrenovi? abdicated in favor of his son Alexander in 1889. Alexander's continuation of his father's pro-Austrian policy did little endear him to an increasingly nationalist-minded population. The new king soon undercut his position further by his marriage to a woman many Serbs believed was an unsuitable connection. This was Draga Mašin, a widow of Czech origin. The unpopularity of the royal couple fueled a plot by Serbian army officers and some others. The plotters murdered the king and queen the night of 10 June 1903. Over manifestations of general European disapproval, the Karageorgevi? heir, Peter, became King Peter of Serbia. Under King Peter, Serbia oriented toward Russia. In 1905, Serbia became embroiled in a customs conflict with her chief trading partner, Austria-Hungary. This so-called Pig War lasted until the two countries signed an agreement 27 July 1910. By this time Serbia had found other markets for its mainly agricultural products. By the end of the Pig War Serbia had turned completely away from the old connection with the Dual Monarchy. Austria-Hungary's loss in this respect was Russia's gain.
Politics in Romania and Greece followed similar patterns. As in the Slavic states of southeastern Europe, national aspirations were a primary basis for politics. Variations in domestic and foreign politics depended upon perceptions as to which Great Power offered the best chance to realize these national goals. In Romania, the Conservatives supported the Hohenzollern king and the alliance with Austria-Hungary, while the Liberals looked westward to France. Neighboring Russia had little appeal for any Romanians. In Greece, the Danish Glücksberg dynasty and the army oriented toward Germany. The marriage of the German-educated Crown Prince Constantine to Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hohenzollern, the sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II, reinforced this connection. Activist nationalists lead by Eleutherios Venizelos, a native of Crete determined upon a strong nationalist program, looked to the British and French to support Greek national aims. Throughout southeastern Europe the political situation followed the growing division among the Great Powers. All the states of southeastern Europe maneuvered to obtain some advantage in this division. Only Serbia, after 1903, was clearly on the side of the Entente powers.
In 1903 nationalist tensions in Macedonia finally exploded. With its mixed population of Orthodox Slavs, Catholic and Islamic Albanians, Turks, Jews, Roma, Vlachs, and others, Macedonia became primary target of southeastern European nationalist aspiration during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Bulgarian nationalists had focused on Macedonia every since the Berlin settlement had restored Ottoman sovereignty in July 1878. Greek and Serbian nationalists also considered Macedonia as theirs by cultural and historical right. Bulgarian, Greek, and Serbian armed bands roamed the more remote areas of Macedonia. Sometimes they fought the Ottoman authorities, other times each other. Even Romanian nationalists, claiming a kinship with the Vlachs, who spoke a similar Latin-based language, attempted to establish at least a cultural presence in Macedonia. In August 1903 a Bulgarian-inspired revolutionary organization called IMRO (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization) began an armed uprising. By September the Ottomans reasserted control throughout Macedonia. The insurrection failed.
This time the Berlin settlement held, largely because the Austro-Russian détente in the Balkans continued. An Austro-Russian agreement at Mürzteg in Austria on 2 October 1903 promised Austrian and Russian collusion in reforming Macedonia. This Great Power intervention produced no real Ottoman reforms. The failure of the Bulgarian revolutionaries temporarily set back their cause in Macedonia, and increased the expectations of the Greeks and Serbs.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Balkan Breakthrough by Richard C. Hall. Copyright © 2010 Richard C. Hall. Excerpted by permission of Indiana University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
