Just before the First World War, the Balkans witnessed two conflicts in close proximity. The First Balkan War was fought from October 1912 to May 1913. On one side was a coalition of Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece (the Balkan League), fighting the Ottoman Empire. The complete success of the League led to profound redesign of borders in the Balkans, with the Ottomans losing the vast majority of the lands they controlled prior to the War. The Treaty of London created the new Kingdom of Albania and allowed the four powers of the league to split the reminder of the territories gained from the Ottomans.
The Northern part of Macedonia had been split between Bulgaria and Serbia, but the Bulgars wanted more of it and started a Second Balkan War against their former allies, which went from June to August 1913. Both Romania and the Ottoman Empire were drawn into the conflict and the result was a Bulgarian defeat and Serbia becoming the strongest power in the region. This, unfortunately, precipitated the First World War…
The Balkan Wars
