Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918

Introduction

Introduction The mountainous southeastern corner of Europe is bordered on three sides by substantial bodies of water. The Adriatic Sea in the west, the Black Sea in the east, and the Aegean or White Sea in the south form this region into the peninsula. This entire region is often called the Balkan Peninsula, after the Turkish name for the central mountain range in Bulgaria. Mountains throughout much of the region hinder advancement overland. River valleys offer the main means of access into the hinterland. Chief among these is the Danube, which empties into the Black Sea. In the west, a high mountain chain impedes access from the Adriatic. In the south, several rivers break through the mountains and afford a connection to the interior. These include the Vardar and the Struma, which cut through the rocky mountain ridges of southeastern Europe. In several locations these rivers pass through narrow defiles, with only limited level land on one or both sides of the river. The Vardar, combined with the Morava River flowing to the north, offers a relatively easy passage between the Aegean and the Danube. Several cities on the Balkan periphery provide commercial access into the interior. On the Adriatic these include Dubrovnik (It: Ragusa) and Split (It: Spaleto). On the Black Sea these commercial outlets are Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria and Constanţa in Romania. The largest and most important of these port cities is located in the south on an arm of the Aegean Sea. This is Salonika (Eng), Thessaloniki (Gk), Solun (Bg). Here a cosmopolitan population and an active economy combine to form one of the most important urban areas in southeastern Europe.1 This port was the major maritime access point for much of the central Balkan Peninsula, including the large xii introduction mixed ethnic region of Macedonia. One railroad line linked Salonika with Athens to the south and Constantinople to the east. Another extended up into Macedonia, connecting Salonika with the main city of central Macedonia , Skopie, and then on up to the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The term Balkan has come to be associated with obscure and complex conflict in southeastern Europe. Often such conflicts lack resolution. This was not always the case. The establishment of Ottoman Turkish rule by the mid fifteenth century began a relatively peaceful era in the region. The introduction of the western European concept of nationalism into southeastern Europe at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, brought about a series of conflicts caused by the efforts of the inhabitants of southeastern Europe, also known as the Balkan Peninsula or simply as the Balkans, to emulate the western Europeans and establish nationalist states. In these conflicts, the peoples of this region initially directed their political and military efforts primarily against the Ottoman Empire. As these efforts achieved some success in throwing off Ottoman rule and establishing national states, the Balkan peoples increasingly came into conflict among themselves over Ottoman spoils. The inherent instability caused by these conflicts inevitably attracted the attention of the Great European Powers. These included Austria (Austria-Hungary after the Ausgleich of 1867), France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia. Especially interested in these issues were the two Great Powers most proximate to this region, Austria-Hungary and Russia. At Berlin in 1878, the Great Powers sought to impose an overall settlement on the region that would maintain their interests. In their efforts to preserve the Berlin settlement, they were only partly successful. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the settlement was coming undone. The consequence of the Great Powers’ inability to preserve stability in Southeastern Europe was a prolonged conflict beginning in 1912. At first the Balkan states attempted to realize their nationalist objects by the final expulsion of Ottoman authority from Europe in the First Balkan War. Before this was achieved, the Balkan states fell to fighting among themselves over the Ottoman legacy in the Second Balkan War. The enhanced status of the Bulgarians after the First Balkan War antagonized all of their Balkan neighbors and led to the Second Balkan War and the defeat of Bulgaria. introduction xiii The ensuing Treaty of Bucharest failed to impose a final settlement on the region. The defeated Bulgarians were vengeful. They sought an opportunity to attain the nationalist goals denied them by their former allies. The triumphant Greeks and Serbs were not sated. They wanted additional...