Balkan Wars

Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro formed an alliance against the Ottoman Empire in 1912, known as the Balkan League. On 8 October Montenegro declared war on Turkey, and its allies followed on 18 October. The Turks were defeated in Macedonia and Thrace, the Greeks took Salonika and the Bulgarians reached the approaches to Constantinople. The Treaty of London of 30 May 1913 left Turkey only a strip of Thrace in Europe, and the great powers agreed to create an independent Albania.

Dissatisfied with the division of Macedonia, Bulgaria attacked Serbia and Greece on the night of 29–30 June 1913. Romania and Turkey, which recovered Adrianople, also turned against it. The Treaty of Bucharest of 10 August 1913 stripped Bulgaria of most of its gains in Macedonia and of southern Dobruja. Serbia nearly doubled its territory, which Austria-Hungary saw as a threat, while Bulgaria and Turkey, seeking revenge, joined the Central Powers in the Great War. Many commanders of 1914–1918 gained their experience in these wars.