scholarly journals A third Balkan war: France and the allied attempts at creating a new Balkan alliance 1914-1915

Balcanica ◽  
2007 ◽  
pp. 191-218
Author(s):  
Vojislav Pavlovic
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Habsburg Monarchy ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

The initial phase of the First World War in the Balkans 1914-1915 was a natural continuation of the conflicts opened during the Balkan Wars, but national fervor now encompassed all of the Balkans, from Rijeka and Ljubljana to Athens, Sofia and Bucharest, because the role of the Dual Monarchy had changed from that of an arbiter to that of a participant in the conflict. With the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the further survival of the Habsburg Monarchy was challenged by the Serbian government's Yugoslav project, creating conditions for implementing the nationality principle in all of the Balkans. It seemed that, in support of the alliances that were being created in the Balkans and in Europe as a whole, the time had come for the final fulfillment of the national aspirations of the Balkan peoples. The outcome of this third Balkan war no longer depended solely on the balance of power inside the Balkans, but also on the overall course of the war. After the initial victories in 1914, Serbia suffered a defeat in 1915 and her armies were forced to retreat southward to Albania and Greece, but her Yugoslav project was the foundation of her future policies and the basis for materializing the concept of a common South-Slavic state.

THE RUSSIAN CONSUL IN DAMASCUS PRINCE BORIS N. SHAKHOVSKOY’S ROLE IN INTERFAITH PEACE ON THE EVE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR

2020 ◽  
pp. 162-178
Author(s):  
Aleksei V. Sarabiev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Interfaith Relations ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
Sharia Law ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Common ◽  
Foreign Ministry ◽  
First World

Prince Boris N. Shakhovskoy (1870–1926), the Russian consul in Damascus from 1907 until the First World War, left to his descendants a legacy of attentive and balanced diplomacy. His reports to the Russian Embassy in Constantinople and to the 1st Division of the Foreign Ministry contain invaluable information shedding light on interfaith relations in the Syrian regions of the Ottoman Empire on the eve and after of the Young Turk Revolution, as well as on the early months of the so-called Great War (WWI). The article analyzes the messages of the diplomat on various aspects of the religious situation in the region. He considered the activities of the Islamist organization Muslim League in Damascus, which aimed at enforcing Sharia law throughout Syrian society and countering non-Muslim and European influence in the region. An anxious change in interfaith relations is being evaluated, when Muslim suspicion towards Christians grew, aggravated by the common conscription in the context of the Tripolitan and two Balkan wars. The consul attentively followed the problems of the participation of the Orthodox Arabs in the Ottoman institutions, as well as the attempts to join the English Old-Catholics to Orthodoxy, acting through Metropolitan of Beirut. Of historical interest is also the information about the transition of the Syrian Jacobites to Catholicism, as well as notes on the Catholic missions activities in the region. All these issues in the Syrian soil are viewed by the diplomat through the prism of competition between European powers, especially France and Italy.

scholarly journals AN OVERVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES OF TESKILAT-I MAHSUSA IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (48) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Core ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Military Activity ◽  
First World

The Ottoman Empire signed an alliance agreement with Germany right after the start of the First World War. After the Alliance treaty, political and military targets were determined in the meeting held among the leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress to determine the policy to be followed. In this meeting, it was also decided to set up an Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, which would carry out a guerilla war for the army. Establishment of Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, immediately after the alliance signed with Germany, shows that Germany is also looking at this kind of initiative. It was established under the proposal of Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa Enver Pasha under the Ministry of War. Süleyman Askeri Bey, who dealt with the guerilla war, was brought to the head of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa. The next two presidents were elected among soldiers of military origin. Unionist officers formed the core of the organization. Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa carried out activities in the Balkans, Caucasus, Morocco, Tripoli, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria during the First World War. However, during the war, the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa underwent some changes. After Ali Başhampa, a civilian, became the president, the name of Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa became Umur-ı Şarkiyye Dairesi, and Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa became more central and civil. Following this change, Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa started to conduct propaganda rather than military activity. In this article, the activities carried out by Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa during the First World War will be evaluated. Keywords: Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, Enver Pashaa, the Committee of Union and Progress, the Ottoman Empire

The refugee question in Bulgaria before, during and after the First World War

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolai Vukov
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
World War ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First World

This chapter focuses on the circumstances of displacement, the reception and settlement of refugees, and the state’s attempts to address the political, economic and social shock of accepting thousands of refugees from the lost territories. It outlines the centrality of the refugee issue to the development of the modern Bulgarian state particularly after the Balkan wars. The chapter focuses on three main episodes: before 1912, when a quarter of a million refugees already fled to Bulgaria whose population was around 4.5 million in 1912; between 1913 and 1918, when 120,000 refugees settled in the country; and in the years 1919-25 during which time Bulgaria witnessed the influx of an additional 180,000 refugees. Some consideration is given to prevailing social and economic conditions, such as the impact of refugees on urban and rural life in Bulgaria, and to the role of refugee relief organisations. Attention is also devoted to the international repercussions of the refugee crisis.

Origins

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-27
Author(s):  
Dmitar Tasić
Keyword(s):  
State Building ◽  
First World War ◽  
Guerrilla Warfare ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
World War ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

Chapter I presents the story of origins of modern Balkan paramilitaries which was shaped during the late 19th—early 20th century nation and state building processes in the Balkans. Existing traditions of guerrilla warfare were used during the struggle between Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia over Ottoman Macedonia when all three countries initiated sending of small armed bands to Macedonia in order to protect their own and intimidate rivals followers. It also describes appearance of Albanian national movement and how Balkan countries used their respective paramilitaries during the Balkan Wars 1912-1913 and the First World War. It also shows how during the Toplica uprising in 1917 against Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian occupation regimes in Serbia happened yet another bloody encounter of Serbian, Bulgarian and Albanian paramilitaries. Situation after the First World War was characterised by adjusting to new realities, by creation of new organizations and by arrival of non-Balkan actors—‘White’ Russians émigrés and former participants in Russian revolutions. Both groups brought their own experiences, visions and rivalries.

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.

Becoming and unbecoming refugees: the long ordeal of Balkan Muslims, 1912–34

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uğur Ümit Üngör
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
World War ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
To Come ◽  
First World

In the process of Ottoman imperial collapse, roughly in the decade 1912-1923, millions of soldiers were killed in regular warfare. But hundreds of thousands of unarmed civilians were also victimised as a result of expulsions, pogroms, and other forms of persecution and mass violence. The Balkan wars of 1912-13 erased the Ottoman Empire from the Balkans and marked a devastating blow to Ottoman political culture. The wars produced an unparalleled refugee stream from the European provinces of the empire to Istanbul, and shaped politics and policy for years to come. The scale of displacement was such that any and all relief measures, both private and public, fell short in accommodating and providing for the refugees. Barely having recuperated from this crisis, the First World War brought more violence to Ottoman society, this time closer to its heartland. The years 1915-16 saw the destruction of the Anatolian Armenians, organized by the Young Turk political elite and carried out by a host of military, paramilitary, and civilian forces. The genocide uprooted a civilian population of over two million Armenians and made them into refugees for decades to come.

scholarly journals The Entry of the Ottoman Empire into World War I

Belleten ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 68 (253) ◽  
pp. 687-734
Author(s):  
Kemal H. Karpat
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Bolshevik Revolution ◽  
Careful Preparation ◽  
The First World War ◽  
First World

This article clarifies several points related to the Ottoman entry into the First World War. First, the Young Turk leaders mistrusted deeply Great Britain which had occupied Egypt in 1882, and appeared disposed to satisfy French and Italian ambitions at the Ottoman expense. Yet, most of the Unionists, not to speak of the public and Parliament, were opposed to war. Indeed, the British and French tacitly agreed to divide the Ottoman state. For this reason, Cemal paşa, a friend of the French, even tried to conclude an alliance with Paris but was unsuccesful. Second, the decision to enter the war came as the consequence of stiff German pressure upon the Unionists leadership and became immediately a fact after the fleet under admiral Souchon's command bombarded the Russian ports. Only four Unionist leaders at most were informed about the German plans to attack Russia. Leading Ottoman officials such as Kazım Karabekir, Hafız Hakkı and many others were against early Ottoman entry into the war. Most of them wanted to wait until spring so as to have time to complete the necessary preparations for the battlefield. Probably, if the Ottoman entry into the war had been postponed for six months or so, Istanbul would have not entered the war at all since by then the hopes for a quick German victory would have vanished. Indeed, after the German offensive in France was stalled at Marne the Unionists seemed to develop second thoughts about the wisdom of fighting on Berlin's side. Consequently, the German diplomatic mission in İstanbul increased its pressures on Enver paşa, who acceded to Kaiser's war demands, still under the illusion that a German victory was imminent. In sum, the Ottoman entry into the war was not the consequence of careful preparation and long debate in the Parliament (which was recessed) and press. It was the result of a hasty decision by a handful of elitist leaders who disregarded democratic procedures and lacked long range political vision and fell easy victim to German machinations and their own utopian expectations of recovering the lost territories in the Balkans. The Ottoman entry into war prolonged it for two years and allowed the Bolshevik revolution to incubate and then explode in 1917 which in turn impacted profoundly the twentieth century world history and the Republican Turkey.

تطورات رومانيا الداخلية وسياستها الخارجية أبان الحرب العالمية الاولى حتى احتلال بخارست (آب 1914 – كانون الاول 1916)

لارك ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
فهد عويد عبد
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
World War ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Unity ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
First World

The Balkan region in general and Romania in particular have witnessed major political developments during the First World War. Suffice it to say that the first outbreak of war began from the Balkans, namely Sarajevo, and ended in the Balkans, where the last peace treaties were signed with the surrender of Bulgaria on September 29, 1918. Years of War The Balkans were generally a theater in which the armies of the belligerents demonstrated their military capabilities. Moreover, in the same period, both sides of the conflict (the Axis Powers or the Wafd States) were struggling to obtain the support of the Balkans, including Romania, Sugary, political and economic, both on military operations or planed Supply issues or control over trade routes, and on the other side of Romania was seeking for its part to take advantage of the chance of war to the maximum extent possible to achieve the national dream of achieving political unity.

The role of nitrogen in transforming British agricultural productivity production prior to and during the First World War

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-609
Author(s):  
John Martin
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Coal Gas ◽  
Major Threat ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Food Shortages ◽  
War Effort ◽  
First World

This paper explores the reasons why artificial or mineral sources of nitrogen, which were more readily available in Britain than in other European countries, were only slowly adopted by farmers in the decades prior to and during the First World War. It considers why nitrogen in the form of sulphate of ammonia, a by-product of coal-gas (town-gas) manufacture, was increasingly exported from Britain for use by German farmers. At the same time Britain was attempting to monopolise foreign supplies of Chilean nitrate, which was not only a valuable source of fertiliser for agriculture but also an essential ingredient of munitions production. The article also investigates the reasons why sulphate of ammonia was not more widely used to raise agricultural production during the First World War, at a time when food shortages posed a major threat to public morale and commitment to the war effort.

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