Two Balkan wars took place shortly before the First World War. The first battles were exclusively liberating, anti-Turkish. The subsequent actions were caused by the contradictions between the winners in the first battle.
The Balkan wars (at the first stage) allowed the Turks to be squeezed out of Europe. The Union of Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria planned to deprive the Ottoman Empire of all possessions in European territory. Subsequently, due to the developing contradictions within the Union, some territories returned to the Turks. On the whole, the Balkan wars provoked a further aggravation of foreign policy contradictions. These military operations to some extent accelerated the outbreak of World War I. Along with this, the Balkan wars contributed to the development of military equipment. During the battles, new aircraft, submarines, and armored vehicles were used. In addition, the importance of massive gun, machine gun, and artillery fire was also confirmed.
The first Balkan war lasted from October 9th, 1912 to May 30th, 1913. During this period, Montenegro, Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria, united in the Union, fought with the Ottoman Empire. The peoples of the Balkan Peninsula had to fulfill an important historical task of freeing the Turks from national and feudal oppression. However, some backwardness of the peasantry and the weakness of the proletariat, the intervention of imperialist powers in the affairs of the peninsula led to the fact that this was accomplished not by revolutionary but by military means.
The Balkan Union was led by the Serbian and Bulgarian bourgeoisie, which sought to dominate the greater territory of Macedonia. The Bulgarian representatives of the board supposed by accession of Western Thrace and Thessaloniki to gain access to the Aegean Sea. At the same time, the Serbian ruling circles hoped to gain access to the Adriatic Sea by dividing Albania.
The acceleration of the First Balkan War was provoked by the uprisings in Albania and Macedonia, the Russian-Turkish war. The reason for the announcement of the start of offensive movements was the refusal of the Turks to grant autonomy to Thrace and Macedonia and to cease the mobilization of Turkish troops.
Montenegro first began hostilities on October 9, 1912. On October 18, the rest of the Union countries (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece) entered the battle. According to the Allied plan, the Turkish troops were supposed to be defeated before reinforcements from Asia Minor arrived. It should be noted that the combined forces outnumbered the Turks not only in numbers, but also in armament, and in the level of training of soldiers. At the same time, the Ottoman army underwent a reorganization.
The main blow to the East Turkish army was inflicted in Thrace. Crossing the border, the first and third Bulgarian armies defeated the third corps of the Turks. After the defeat of the fourth corps, the eastern Ottoman army fled. The troops of the Bulgarians were stopped at Chataldzhin positions, fortified quite strongly.
In southern Macedonia, Greek forces won the battle of Yenidge and launched an offensive in Thessaloniki, which was supported by the Bulgarian attacks. The Greeks, in addition, supported the Serbian army, advancing through Macedonia.
In the Aegean , the Greek fleet dominated.
The successes of the member countries of the Balkan Union in the battles set other great states with rather complicated tasks. For example, Russia was afraid that the conquest of the Turkish capital by the Bulgarians might raise the question of straits in unfavorable conditions for tsarism. Therefore, the Russian emperor proposed to suspend hostilities and proceed to peace talks.
As a result of the difficult international situation, the unsuccessful attempt to capture Istanbul by the Bulgarians, a truce was concluded between Serbia and Bulgaria on the one hand and Turkey on the other. However, hostilities were soon resumed. Only after new defeats of the Turkish army was a truce signed between all the countries of the Union and Turkey.
The Second Balkan War was caused by contradictions within the Union. Countries expressed their dissatisfaction with the results of the 1st battle. Military operations were conducted between Turkey, Montenegro, Romania, Greece and Serbia on the one hand and Bulgaria on the other.
As a result of the fighting, the Bulgarians lost a significant part of the territory, Romania moved away from the Triple Alliance and became closer to the Entente. Bulgaria itself became close to the Austro-German bloc.