Wars of Balkan Liberation, 1878–1913

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Southeastern Europe ◽  
Declaration Of Independence ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Young Turks ◽  
National Issue

Revolts against Ottoman rule erupted in the Balkans in 1875 and in 1876. Wars in which Montenegro, Romania, Russia, and Serbia fought against the Ottoman Empire broke out soon thereafter. While the Montenegrins and Serbs soon suffered defeat, the Russians overcame Ottoman forces on Bulgarian battlefields. The Treaty of San Stefano of 3 March 1878, imposed by the Russians on the Ottomans, proved to be controversial. In an effort to resolve the national issue of southeastern Europe and to replace the contentious Treaty of San Stefano, the European great powers met at Berlin to forge a new settlement. The Treaty of Berlin of 13 July 1878 established a Bulgarian principality under Ottoman suzerainty. Although the Treaty of Berlin satisfied none of the Balkan countries, rivalries among the Balkan peoples over the disposition of Ottoman territories prevented the formation of a united effort against the Ottomans. After the turn of the 20th century, intra-Balkan rivalries intensified, especially over Macedonia. At the same time, Albanians, Muslim Slavs, and Turks sought to effect reforms within the Ottoman Empire. The seizure of power by the Committee for Union and Progress (Young Turks) in Constantinople and their stated intentions to reform the Ottoman Empire initiated a series of events that led to general conflict. In the immediate aftermath of the Young Turk coup, the Austro-Hungarian government announced the formal annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Concurrently, Bulgaria made a formal declaration of independence. Concerns that Ottoman reform would thwart their nationalist aspirations led many Albanians to revolt in 1910. Two years later, similar apprehensions led the Bulgarians and the Serbs to put aside their rivalries over Macedonia and conclude an anti-Ottoman alliance. The Greeks and Montenegrins subsequently joined this Balkan League. In October 1912, the Balkan League went to war against the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan armies triumphed on all fronts. On 30 May 1913, the Balkan allies signed a preliminary peace with the Ottomans in London. Shortly thereafter, the Balkan alliance collapsed due to disputes over the disposition of Ottoman territory. On 30 June, the Bulgarians attacked their former Greek and Serbian allies in Macedonia. The Ottomans entered the fray against Bulgaria to regain lost Thracian territory, and the Romanians invaded Bulgaria to seize southern Dobrudja (Dobrudzha). Attacked on all sides, the Bulgarians were forced to sue for peace. These wars left Bulgaria with a sense of national frustration and the Balkan allies and Romania with a feeling of inflated national success. Within three years, all the participants in the Balkan Wars would again be at war.

scholarly journals Wars and ways of deosmanization of the Balkans (1912-1923)

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-47
Author(s):  
Safet Bandžović ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The Self ◽  
Great War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Great War ◽  
Vast Territory

The dramatic currents of the history of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Balkans cannot be seen in a more comprehensive way, separate from the wider European / world context, geopolitical order, influence and consequences of the interesting logics of superpowers, models of de-Ottomanization and Balkanization. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire was in a difficult position, pressured by numerous internal problems, exposed to external political pressures, conditions and wars. Crises and Ottoman military defeats in the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and the "Great War" (1914-1918), along with the processes of de-Ottomanization and fragmentation of the territories in which they lived and the growth of divisions, disrupted the self-confidence of Muslims. Expulsions and mass exoduses of entire populations, especially Muslims, culminated in the Balkan wars. Bosniaks, as well as Muslims in the rest of "Ottoman Europe", found themselves in the ranks of several armies in the "Great War". Many Muslims from the Balkans, who arrived in the vast territory of the Empire in earlier times as refugees, also fought in the units of the Ottoman army. In that war it was defeated. On its remnants, a new state of Turkey (1923) was created after the Greco-Ottoman war (1919-1922).

scholarly journals Isa Boljetinac and young Turk regime

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-184
Author(s):  
Vesna Zarković
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The State ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
State And Society ◽  
Young Turks

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Ottoman Empire started weakening largely. This weakening was influenced by difficult economic situation accompanied by stronger diplomatic activities of the European powers. Wishing to save the state from the collapse, the Young Turk movement had forced the Sultan Abdul Hamid to concession, which led to changes on the throne. The Young Turks reinforced their activity in all parts of the Ottoman Empire and many great plans lied ahead, which had foreseen reform of the state and society including internal consolidation of the country as well. The Young Turk regime representatives propagated the idea of equality of all people, which would have the same rights and duties as well. The ideas and work of the Young Turks came across a resistance of some Albanian leaders, among which was Isa Boljetinac, known as per his crimes over Serbian population of Mitrovica casa. He was known as an influential man and he enlarged his activity out of this territory, which often served, after numerous conflicts with Turkish authorities, as the hideout. As the prominent opponent of the Young Turk regime, the conflict with authorities and Albanian movements, which marked that time, was experienced as the struggle for old privileges such as: carrying of arms, non-paying of taxes, non-interference of Turkish authorities into their relationships and, especially, non-service in the army. Determination to persist in the struggle for the return of privileges led Isa Boljetinac to get in touch with the consul of the Kingdom of Serbia in Priština, from whom he requested arms, munitions, and money. Consul thought that the fulfilment of his requests had influenced the improvement of the position of Serbs and eventually some subsequent support so that he had approved of them. Nevertheless, before the outbreak of the Balkan Wars, Isa was not clear in his answers and it was evident it could not be counted on his alliance.

scholarly journals Ideja o osnivanju Univerziteta u Sarajevu početkom 20. stoljeća: austrougarska vlast u Bosni i Hercegovini između kulturne misije i političke realnosti

Bosniaca ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (25) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Amila Kasumović
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Major Effect ◽  
Social Activities ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
The University

Početkom 20. stoljeća brojne krize potresale su Balkan; a one poput Aneksione (1908–1909) i Balkanskih ratova (1912–1913) snažno su utjecale na gibanja u bosanskohercegovačkom društvu. Suočena s vrlo kompleksnom političkom situacijom na Balkanu; Austro-Ugarska je morala izgraditi strategiju jačanja svog utjecaja na ovom području. U tom smislu; Sarajevo je trebalo odigrati vrlo važnu ulogu. U ovom radu se želi pokazati kako je austrougarska vlast u Bosni i Hercegovini; plasirajući ideju da bi se u Sarajevu mogao osnovati univerzitet; lavirala između davno zacrtane kulturne misije u datom području i političkih mahinacija kojima se trebao anulirati rastući utjecaj Srbije. Reakcija javnosti; kako one u Bosni i Hercegovini; tako i one u Monarhiji; na ideju o osnivanju sarajevskog univerziteta; primorala je njene glavne zagovornike na propitivanje vlastitih političkih rezona.------------------------------------------- The idea of establishing the University of Sarajevo at the beginning of 20th century: Austro-Hungarian authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina between cultural mission and political realityAt the beginning of the 20th century; the Balkans was the epicentre of numerous crises and some of them (the Annexation Crisis 1908–1909 and the Balkan Wars 1912–1913) had a major effect on social activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore; faced with a very complex political situation in the Balkans; Austro-Hungary was about to develop a strategy of increasing its own influence in the mentioned area. Consequently; Sarajevo was bound to play an important role in these plans. This paper argues that; by promoting the idea of establishing a university in Sarajevo; the Austro-Hungarian authorities were actually oscillating between their previous plan of conducting a cultural mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and political machinations aimed at the annihilation of Serbian influence. The public reactions in Bosnia; as well as in the remainder of the Monarchy; forced the solicitors of this idea to re-examine their own political considerations.

scholarly journals Serbian Society at the Beginning of the 20th Century. “Militarization of Everyday”

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 28-45
Author(s):  
Ya. V. Vishnyakov
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
Eastern Question ◽  
The Impact

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Eastern question and the search for ways to solve it occupied a central place in the politics of both Russia and European states. With his decision was closely linked the process of formation of the young Balkan countries. Serbia, whose formation of a new statehood typologically coincides with a change in the system of European international relations of the 19th and early 20th centuries, played an important role in the events of the Eastern question, while claiming to be the Yugoslav “Piemont”. However, it was the war by the beginning of the twentieth century. It became, both for Serbia and other countries of the region, not only a means of gaining state sovereignty, but also the main way to resolve its own interstate contradictions, which took place against the background of an external factor - the impact on the political processes of the Balkans of the Great Powers. These factors led to the natural militarization of the everyday life of Serbian society. The presence in the everyday consciousness of the people of the image of a hostile “other” became one of the main ways of internal consolidation of the country, when attitudes towards war, pushing the values of peaceful life to the background, created a special basic consensus in the state development of Serbia at the beginning of the 20th century, and the anthropological role of the military factor was essential influenced the underlying processes that took place in the country at the beginning of the twentieth century. In the conditions of a new stage of destruction of the Balkans along the ethno-political line, the factor of militarization of everyday life again becomes an important element of the historical policy of the Balkan countries and the construction of a “new past”. In this regard, the understanding of many problems and possible scenarios for the development of the current Balkan reality is linked to this phenomenon. Thus, the study of the impact on the political life of Serbia at the beginning of the twentieth century of special "extra-constitutional" institutions is important for a wide range of researchers, including for a systematic analysis of the crisis in the territory of the former SFRY.Author declares the absence of conflict of interests.

Ottoman Empire and Danubian Provinces

2019 ◽  
pp. 263-272
Author(s):  
David Sorkin
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
The World ◽  
Young Turks ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Arabic Speaking

This chapter explores how the Ottoman Empire comprised the fourth region of emancipation. Diverse Jews assembled in the Ottoman Empire as a result of conquest and migration: Romaniots, Ashkenazim, Sephardim, and Arabic-speaking Jews of the Middle East. Living as a tolerated, inferior religious community, Ottoman Jewry became the largest and most prosperous in the world. After a period of economic decline in the eighteenth century, Ottoman Jews gained rights while retaining their religious community in the nineteenth century. Rights conjoined with the millet system comprised the Ottoman Empire's own version of emancipation. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the multireligious empire grappled with how to transform itself, especially in light of the loss of its European territories and Christian populations. The Young Turks opted for “Turkification” and the erection of a secular nation-state. Romania's approach to the Jews' citizenship was probably closest to Russia's. Indeed, Romania seemed to emulate Russia's policies: after a brief period of inclusion it engaged in a prolonged campaign of exclusion, discrimination, and outright persecution. Romania defied the intervention of the Great Powers and Jewish diplomacy through prevarication and deception.

7. World war and dissolution

2017 ◽  
pp. 94-108
Author(s):  
Martyn Rady
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
First World War ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
World War ◽  
Habsburg Empire ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Eastern Question ◽  
First World

International politics in the later 19th and early 20th centuries was dominated by the ‘Eastern Question’: the legacy of the failing Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. ‘World war and dissolution: 20th century’ considers issues that led to the First World War, including the murder of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, June 1914. To withstand the Russians, the Habsburg armies increasingly depended on German reinforcements. By passing strategic command of its forces to Wilhelm II in 1916, the Habsburg Empire’s fate was sealed. Franz Joseph’s nephew Karl was to be the last emperor. A final section gives a historical overview, asking whether the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire was inevitable.

scholarly journals Between deosmanization and balkanization: refugee’s steps of bosniak history

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-74
Author(s):  
Safet Bandžović ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Considerable Part ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Past ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
Eastern Question ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Units ◽  
Xix Century ◽  
Linguistic Backgrounds

The past and the present are inseparable, one interprets the other. Many "long-lasting" processes go beyond local frameworks and regional borders. This also applies to the complex "Eastern question", as well as the problem of the deosmanization of the Balkans, whose political geography in the 19th and 20th centuries was exposed to radical overlaps. Wars and persecutions are important factors in the history of Balkan Muslims. In the seventies of the XIX century, they constituted half of the population in the Ottoman part of the Balkans. With war devastation, a considerable part was killed or expelled to Anadolia between 1870 and 1890. The emergent "Turkish islands" in the Balkans after 1878 were increasingly narrowed, or disappeared due to the displacement of Muslims. Multiethnic and religious color of the Balkans disturbed accounts with simple categorizations. The term "balkanization" signified, after the Balkan wars of 1912-1913, "not only the fragmentation of large and powerful political units, but became synonymous with returning tribal, backward, primitive, and barbaric." The Balkanization of "Ottoman Europe" and the violent changes in its ethnic-religious structure led to discontinuity, the erosion of history, as well as fragmentation of the minds of the remaining Muslims and their afflicted communities, the lack of knowledge of the interconnectedness of their fates. The emigration of Bosniaks and other Muslims of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds from the Balkans to various parts of the Ottoman Empire, and then to Turkey, during the XIX and XX centuries, had a number of consequences.

The Cry of the Lost Homeland: The Idea of Turkism in Yılmaz Gürbüz's Novel of Balkan Acısı

Turkology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (107) ◽  
pp. 57-74
Author(s):  
Kamil PARIN
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
The Subject

With the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-1878, also known as the 93 War, the Ottoman Empire began to lose its power in the Balkans and subsequently to lose territory. Then, with the Tripoli and Balkan Wars, Rumelia was almost completely lost, and the Balkan nations declared their independence. During the Balkan Wars, the Turks, so to speak, experienced national debacle and depression, and were exposed to intense oppression and persecution. These negativities left deep wounds in the memory of the Turkish nation and caused trauma. The suffering in question has also been the subject of many literary works. One of these works is the novel of Balkan Acısı (Balkan Misery). In the novel, the depression caused by the painful loss of the Balkans, the traces of the debacle and the persecutions which were suffered have clearly found their place. However, the ideas of Ottomanism, Islamism, Turkism - especially Turkism - that emerged alongside modernization in order to save the Ottoman Empire from its situation and return it to its old days, were reflected in the novel. In the novel of Balkan Acısı, a way similar to the course of these currents of thought in the Ottoman Empire was followed, and it was emphasized that Turkism was the only solution when Ottomanism and Islamism failed. In this study, the above-mentioned issues are discussed and reflections on Turkism, which constitutes the thought ground of the novel, are revealed.

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