The Balkans Wars (AQA GCSE History)

The Balkans Wars - Timeline & Summary

Before 1908, the Balkans were part of Turkey (the Ottoman Empire), a once-powerful empire that had controlled large areas across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. But by the early 1900s, Turkey was struggling. Its central government was weak, its economy was poor, and many of its colonies wanted independence.

By 1908, Turkey was unstable due to growing nationalism in its colonies. When the empire was at one of its weakest points, several Balkan countries took the opportunity to gain their independence. This resulted in the fall of the Ottoman Empire, with many of its colonies gaining independence and significant power. In addition, Austria-Hungary took this opportunity to annex Bosnia, which angered the Balkans countries and Russia.

The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 show how nationalism and imperialism contributed towards the cause of the First World War. The intense desire for independence in the Balkans led to the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and increased tensions in Europe. At the same time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s ambition to expand caused even more conflict. This eventually led to the creation of the Black Hand, which caused the First World War.

Where were the Balkans?

• The Balkans is a peninsula in the southeast of Europe

• The Balkans area contains the following countries:

  • Bosnia

  • Bulgaria

  • Serbia

  • Romania

  • Montenegro

  • Greece

  • Albania

• In 1900, Turkey (the Ottoman Empire) controlled the majority of the Balkans

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The Balkans Crisis 1908-1909

• In 1900, Turkey was weak

• Before 1908, countries within the Balkans took advantage of Turkey's weakening state and rebelled

  • Greece and Serbia became independent from Turkey

  • Bulgaria became semi-independent

• In 1908, there was a rebellion in Turkey which left them vulnerable

• In October 1908, Austria-Hungary and Russia wanted to take advantage of Turkey's decline to gain access to the Mediterranean

  • Austria-Hungary annexed the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • Russia and Serbia protested over this annexation

    • Russia have a cultural and religious connection to Serbia and has become a close ally

  • However, Russia and Serbia backed down once Germany supported Austria's actions

    • Neither Russia nor Serbia was prepared for war

• The annexation of Bosnia had major effects on the Balkans area

  • People in Bosnia resented Austro-Hungarian rule

  • Russia promised to never back down from Germany again

    • They started to plan for war

  • Secret societies were formed in Bosnia and Serbia

    • They planned to remove the Austrian-Hungarian Empire from their countries

    • The Black Hand Gang, who would go on to assassinate the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, were established

  • The Triple Alliance became weaker

    • Italy was unhappy with Austria's annexation of Bosnia

  • Germany showed their support for Austria-Hungary

    • This would be important in the future as Austria-Hungary would rely on their support

Causes of the Balkans Wars

• Turkey became known as 'the sick man of Europe' as it lost more of its empire

• When Italy took control of Turkish land in the north of Africa, many countries under Turkish rule took this as an opportunity to gain their independence

• Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro joined together to form the Balkan League to fight Turkey

  • This was created to remove Turkey from the Balkans area

  • Russia supported the Balkan League and its aims

Events of the Balkans Wars

The First Balkan War, October 1912 to May 1913

• Turkey was attacked in October 1912 by the Balkan League

  • This war lasted 50 days

  • Turkey lost

  • During a peace conference in London, Turkey signed the 1913 Treaty of London and agreed to withdraw from all areas in Europe that it controlled

    • Albania gained its independence

    • The rest of the land was shared between the Balkan League

• When the war ended, the Balkan nations started to argue over the amount of land that they gained during the First Balkan War

  • Bulgaria wanted more land and declared war on Greece and Serbia

The Second Balkan War, June to August 1913

• At the start of the Second Balkan War, Turkey and Romania joined the Balkan League and fought against Bulgaria

  • They aimed to take land from Bulgaria

• Bulgaria lost the war

  • The conflict was brutal

  • Bulgaria lost all of the land that they had gained from the First Balkan War

• The Second Balkan War had major effects on the Balkans

  • Serbia gained a significant amount of land from Bulgaria

    • The country almost doubled in size

    • Austria-Hungary saw this as a threat to their empire

  • Bulgaria was significantly weaker after the two wars

    • They wanted revenge on Serbia

How did the events in the Balkans increase tensions in Europe?

• Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia increased tensions as:

  • Russia started to prepare for war

    • The events from the Balkan Crisis pushed Russia to prepare for war

    • In 1914, when Russia declared war, they were able to mobilise their forces in 10 days, instead of the six weeks that Germany expected

  • nationalistic secret groups were created in the Balkans area

    • They aimed to gain independence from the Austrian-Hungarian Empire

    • The Black Hand Gang was formed and would go on to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914

• Serbia's increase of land increased tensions as:

  • Austria-Hungary saw them as a threat, which they believed they had to deal with