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Macedonian Struggle for Independence Part 37 – The Second Balkan War and Macedoni
Macedonian Struggle for Independence
Part 37 – The Second Balkan War and Macedonia’s Partition
By Risto Stefov
[email protected]
January 2011
The London Conference adjourned on August 11th, 1913, officially declaring an end to the First Balkan War. In spite of all the deals made during the conference, the resolutions left all parties dissatisfied. Serbia was dissatisfied with losing the Albanian territory. Serbia appealed to Bulgaria to grant it access to the Aegean Sea via Solun and the Vardar valley but its appeals fell on deaf ears. Greece also was not happy with Bulgaria’s invasion and annexation of Odrin. To balance her share, Greece wanted Serres, Drama and Kavala as compensation. That too fell on deaf ears.
Seeing that Bulgaria was not going to budge and the fact that neither Greece nor Serbia alone could take on Bulgaria militarily, should a conflict arise, Greece and Serbia concluded a secret pact to jointly work against Bulgaria. In short, the objective was for Greece and Serbia to take the territory west of the Vardar River away from Bulgaria and divide it and have a common frontier.
After stumbling upon the Greek-Serbian pact, despite Russian attempts to appease it by offering it Solun, Bulgaria remained bitter and in a moment of weakness was lured away by Austria. By going over to Austria, Bulgaria in effect broke off all relations with the Balkan League. Russia, disappointed with the Bulgarian shift, made it clear that Bulgaria could no longer expect any help from Russia.
In what was to be termed the “Second Balkan War”, the Bulgarian army, unprovoked, on June 30th, 1913 attacked its former allies on Macedonian soil. The conflict also drew in the Ottomans and Romania.
After a truce between the Ottomans and the allies was concluded on December 4th, 1912, besides Western Macedonia, the Serbian army had occupied part of Albania and had gained access to the Adriatic Sea. Austria-Hungary however, wanting that region to remain under its sphere of influence, strongly opposed Serbia’s plan. This unfortunately created a cascading effect threatening Russian plans to gain access to Istanbul and forcing France to take measures against Austro-Hungarian expansion by advising Serbia not to withdraw from the Albanian territories. Great Britain came in support of Greece wanting Greece to expand northward and eastward into Ottoman territory in order to block Russian influence in the Balkans and in Istanbul.
The start of the Second Balkan War sparked a crisis in the region which the Great Powers attempted to resolve by peaceful means. Russia advised Serbia to retreat from Albanian territories in order to avoid conflict with Austria – Hungary. There were also recommendations made that the allies withdraw from Macedonia and follow up on the December 1912 suggestion, made in the London Conference, that Macedonia be given autonomy under Ottoman sovereignty. But that suggestion was rejected. The one suggestion that was followed up on was that made by Austria-Hungary on December 27th, 1912, to create an autonomous Albanian state. This meant that Serbia would have to evacuate all Albanian territory. By the May 30th, 1913 Peace Treaty of London, the Albanian territory was defined as the entire territory north of the Enos-Midia line previously ceded to the Balkan allies. The Ottomans were also ordered to leave Crete and the Great Powers were to decide on Albania’s borders.
Serbia did retreat from Albania and gave up on its plans to gain access to the Adriatic Sea but now found itself landlocked, so it looked to Bulgaria to grant it access to the Aegean Sea. Serbia’s plan was to acquire a bigger chunk of Macedonia. Dissatisfied with Bulgaria’s silence on the matter, Serbia cancelled its Serbian-Bulgarian treaty regarding the current division of Macedonia. Greece in the meantime requested of its partners to recognize its share of southern Macedonian, including its rights to Solun. Bulgaria, while categorically refusing to cede Macedonian territories to its partners, was secretly hoping to occupy all of Macedonia and acquire Solun for itself.
On June 1st, 1913 Serbia and Greece signed a secret treaty by which they agreed to forcefully take more Macedonian territory away from Bulgaria. Using the tense situation to its advantage, Romania too jumped in and requested of Bulgaria to hand over southern Dobruja. Not to be outdone and in hopes of gaining back some of their lost territories the Ottomans too jumped into action.
Austria-Hungary also took advantage of the situation and to draw Bulgaria into its sphere of influence, on June 29th, 1913, began an assault on Bulgaria’s former allies thus initiating the Second Balkan War.
Caught in the middle of all this were the Macedonian people who were now being mobilized by force to fight on all sides of the conflict. Macedonians drafted in the foreign armies were well aware that they had been deceived and knew very well that the war they were about to fight was about Macedonia’s permanent occupation and imminent division. They felt deep hatred towards the Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks and deserted their armies at every opportunity.
The Macedonian economy also suffered during this time, particularly in the rural regions where Macedonians were forced to provide for the armies and work digging trenches and fortifying their positions. Outside of those being mobilized by force by the Bulgarian army, Bulgaria also mobilized about 40,000 young Macedonians between the ages of 20 and 26 to create the Seres, Drama and Odrin Brigades. These Macedonians were forced to fight against their will and to the detriment of their own people.
Bulgaria’s entry into the Second Balkan War began with King Ferdinand's order number 234 and directive number 22 issued on June 1st, 1913, which called for an urgent transfer of the Bulgarian army from the Thrace front to the western front in Macedonia.
Bulgarian Supreme Command was planning to attack and defeat the Serbian army in two decisive strikes; first in the Morava River valley and then in Ovche Pole. The plan was to encircle the Serbian armies and force them to surrender.
Assuming Austria-Hungary was going to protect it from Romania and the Ottomans by preventing them from joining the war against Bulgaria, Bulgarian Supreme Command left its borders with these countries unprotected.
Meanwhile, on June 1st, 1913, Serbian and Greek Supreme Commands, in accordance with article 6 of their Military Convention, signed a Protocol to co-operate in case of a Bulgarian attack.
On June 3rd, 1913 Greece signed a Treaty with Bulgaria defining the demarcation line between the Bulgarian and Greek armies. On June 6th, 1913 Greek Supreme Command issued an order to strategically deploy the Greek army on the Gulf of Orfano -Besik Lake -Lagadina Lake - hills north of Solun and the village Karasuli line. By June 13th, 1913 Greece had its forces regrouped and ordered to hold back the Bulgarians.
The first battle of the Second Balkan war began in Bregalnitsa on June 30th, 1913 when the Bulgarians unexpectedly attacked the Serbians. Many Macedonians were drawn into the battle and fought on both sides. The Macedonian -Odrin Opolchenie units fought on the Bulgarian side, while the Macedonian Osogovo detachment fought on the Serbian side. As the battle entered its second day, the Serbians, in need of reinforcements, decided to mobilize 30,000 men, mostly from Macedonia, and dispatched them to the front without any training. By July 7th, 1913 more Serbian reinforcements began to arrive and as the Greek army began its advance towards the north end of the front in an effort to cut off Bulgarian retreat, the Bulgarian army disengaged and retreated.
During the Bregalnitsa battle both Serbian and Bulgarian armies experienced mass desertions on the front lines. The deserters were Macedonians who not only knew each other from before but had come to the realization that the objective of this war was to divide Macedonia.
All three armies showed no hesitation in using Macedonians to fight on their fronts, even if they had to fight each other, Macedonians against Macedonians. All three recruited young men from the Macedonian population and, with no training, forced them to fight on the front where many were killed.
If destroying Macedonia’s future generations was not enough, all three belligerents also helped themselves to the Macedonian population’s food supplies threatening the civilian population, particularly the women and children, with starvation.
By July 2nd, 1913 a second front had developed in Kukush Region and fighting between the Bulgarian and Greek armies began. But due to a strong barrage of artillery fire from the Greek side, the Bulgarians retreated without a fight disappointing the Macedonians enough to discard their weapons and walk away. Kukush is Gotse Delchev’s birthplace and the Bulgarians abandoned it without a fight. Their retreat was disgraceful. If Delchev was truly Bulgarian as they had claimed, then the Bulgarians would not have left Kukush without a fight.
Over the next few days the Greek army continued to push the Bulgarians back until they reached Belasitsa where they ended their advance.
When it became clear that the Bulgarians had lost to the Serbians and Greeks at Bregalnitsa and Kukush, the Romanians began to mobilize their armies. At that point the Romanian government informed the Bulgarian government that Romania’s armies were going to invade Bulgaria in order to recover southern Dobruja. Given the vast size of the Romanian force, Bulgaria decided to remain passive and on July 13th, 1913 allowed the Romanians to cross the Bulgarian border. The next day the Romanians crossed the Danube River and on July 20th, 1913 reached the Berkovitsa- Vratsa –Orhaniya line. By July 25th, 1913 the Romanians came to within 5 km of Sofia where they were stopped by request from Germany.
In the meantime seeing that Bulgaria was losing to the Serbians and Greeks, the Ottomans also entered the fore. On July 15th, 1913 Ottoman forces crossed the Enos –Midia border and on July 23rd, 1913 entered Odrin. But due to Great Power intervention the Ottomans were stopped before crossing the Bulgarian border.
After Romania and the Ottomans entered the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria had little choice but to capitulate and on July 30th, 1913 signed a truce and entered negotiations for the division of Macedonia.
The Peace Conference in Bucharest began on July 30th, 1913 and was attended by six Great Power representatives. The Balkan delegations, except for the Bulgarian, were led by their Prime Ministers. Chairing the Conference was Prime Minister Titu Maioresku of Romania. The conference was organized in plenary and special sessions led by military delegations. Special commissions were also established to deal with special issues.
The Conference took place in a tense atmosphere and was constantly interrupted because of the many parties involved. Military operations were ordered to cease on July 31st, 1913 and a preliminary truce was signed under the following conditions:
1. Demarcation lines marked with white flags were to be drawn where the advance guards had reached on July 31st, 1913, precisely at noon.
2. The truce was to begin on July 31st, 1913, at noon, and was to last for five days.
3. Movement of the troops and provisions were not to be interrupted.
4. In order to terminate hostilities, the “warring powers” were to inform each other of their current positions.
5. Supreme commands of the “warring powers” were to immediately inform all their forces of the truce.
6. Articles 40 and 41 of the war conventions on land were to be observed.
When the Bucharest Conference began the various parties decided to leave Bulgaria out of the plenary sessions and separately discuss Bulgarian issues between Serbia, Romania, Greece and Montenegro. The first treaty to be signed was between Bulgaria and Romania.
On August 5th, 1913 Jackson, the American representative at the Conference, read a note sent by his government which in part said that the US government was interested in putting provisions in the Treaty to protect the civil and religious rights of the population in the regions proposed to come under the sovereignty of these five states. Maioresku accepted the American proposal and some discussions took place in that regard but on Venizelos’s (Greek prime minister) suggestion this provision did not enter the Peace Treaty, thus depriving the Macedonian population of its rights.
The most difficult problem the Conference faced was reaching an agreement about Macedonia’s division. In addition to the Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians wanting things to go their way, there were also all kinds of proposals made by the Great Powers. While the Russians wanted to divide Macedonia one way, Austria-Hungary, to placate Bulgaria, wanted to divide it a different way.
Russia suggested that the border between Serbia and Bulgaria be drawn between the Vardar and Struma rivers so that Shtip could be given to Serbia and Strumitsa and Kochani to Bulgaria. The junction between the Serbian-Greek-Bulgarian borders would be Gevgelija. The Greek-Bulgarian border would extend from Gevgelija down the Struma river valley to Drama, with Drama and Seres going to Greece. The Great Powers would then determine the border from Drama to the Aegean Sea.
Austria-Hungary suggested that the Serbian-Bulgarian border be drawn along the Vardar River so that lands west of the river would be given to Serbia and lands east of the river would be given to Bulgaria. The Greek-Bulgarian border would be drawn so that the southern part of the Struma River and the coast from Kavala to Enos would be given to Bulgaria.
The Serbian delegation disagreed and requested that the border be drawn from Gorna Dzumaja along the Struma River down past the Rupel Gorge.
On August 6th, 1913 Bulgaria and Serbia came to an agreement that Stip and Kochani should be given to Serbia and Strumitsa and Radovish to Bulgaria. While their military representatives drew up the border on topographic maps, a commission of experts from Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands was put together to deal with specific problems.
Drawing the Greek -Bulgarian border was a little more challenging mainly because Greece did not want to give Bulgaria access to the Aegean Sea. Greece insisted that the border be east of Belasitsa Mountain, north of Seres, Drama, Ksanthi up to Makri on the Aegean Sea. Under this scenario Bulgaria would acquire a 40 km long coast stretching from Makri to Enos. Dissatisfied Bulgaria requested of Maioresku, the Romanian Prime Minister, that it be given the Port of Kavala otherwise there would be no agreement. France and Britain however did not agree with Bulgaria’s request and Kavala was given to Greece.
Bulgaria agreed to continue with the talks under Russian, Italian, and Austro-Hungarian assurances that they would soon revise the Treaty to include this Bulgarian request.
On August 7th, 1913 Protocol number 9 was signed, drawing the Greek-Bulgarian border from the Serbian-Bulgarian border, over Belasitsa Mountain down the mouth of the Mesta River to the Aegean Sea. Then on August 10th, 1913 the Bucharest Conference adopted the text and the negotiations were over.
With the signing of this treaty Macedonia’s fate was sealed. The territories Macedonia, Kosovo, Metohija, Vasojevitsi, Sandzhak, Thrace and northern Epirus, previously occupied by the Ottomans were expropriated by the three belligerent states, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria.
Serbia received roughly the Vardar Region of Macedonia, Kosovo, part of Metohija and part of Sandzhak, an area of 39,000 km2 inhabited by 1,290,000 people.
Montenegro received Vasojevitsi, part of Sandzhak and part of Metohija. Its territory was increased by 7,000 km2 and its population by about 260,000 people.
Greece was given northern Epirus, roughly the Aegean Region of Macedonia, part of Western Thrace, the Chalcidice Peninsula with Solun and a large number of Aegean Islands. Greece was given 51,300 km2 of land populated by 1,624,000 people.
Bulgaria was given roughly the Pirin Region of Macedonia, greater Strumitsa and parts of eastern and western Thrace. Bulgaria was given 21,000 km2 of land inhabited by about 600,000 people. Bulgaria was also given access to the Aegean Sea which extended from the mouth of the Mesta River to the mouth of the Maritsa River and the Port of Dedeagatch.
Romania received southern Dobruja, an area of 800 km2 populated by 303,000 people.
On August 11th, 1913 just after the Treaty was signed, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Bulgaria requested revisions to the Treaty. But then a couple of days later, on August 14th, 1913, Russia changed its mind and the dreaded 1913 Treaty of Bucharest to this day remains incomplete and without the signatures of some Great Powers.
No one, not even the Great Powers took any requests from the Macedonian people not even for the preservation of their identity.
On March 1st, 1913 Georgi Konstantinovikj, Dimitrija Chupovski, Natse Dimov and Aleksandar Vezenkov, representatives of the Macedonian colony in St. Petersburg, signed a memorandum demanding independence for Macedonia and sent it to Edward Grey, Foreign Minister of Great Britain, as well as to the ambassadors of the Great Powers in London. Unfortunately the Great Powers were not interested and, in the absence of the Macedonian people, sanctioned Macedonia’s division.
As has been shown in this and previous chapters, the Balkan Wars were not about liberation but about land grabs resulting in the occupation and division of Macedonia. During the two year Balkan Wars duration, Macedonia was partitioned three different times by three different divisions. The first, as agreed by the March 13th, 1912 Serbian-Bulgarian Treaty called for the Deve Bair–Ohrid line to be drawn. The second division took place after the First Balkan War when a border was proposed to coincide with the frontlines. The third division took place on August 10th, 1913 after the Treaty of Bucharest was signed.
The only standards used to determine these borders, in all three cases, were force of arms, lies and deceit.
Instead of liberating it, the 1913 Bucharest Treaty enslaved Macedonia and turned it into provinces of the belligerent Balkan states which wasted no time in forcefully denationalizing and assimilating the Macedonian population.
Macedonian Struggle for Independence
Part 37 – The Second Balkan War and Macedonia’s Partition
By Risto Stefov
[email protected]
January 2011
The London Conference adjourned on August 11th, 1913, officially declaring an end to the First Balkan War. In spite of all the deals made during the conference, the resolutions left all parties dissatisfied. Serbia was dissatisfied with losing the Albanian territory. Serbia appealed to Bulgaria to grant it access to the Aegean Sea via Solun and the Vardar valley but its appeals fell on deaf ears. Greece also was not happy with Bulgaria’s invasion and annexation of Odrin. To balance her share, Greece wanted Serres, Drama and Kavala as compensation. That too fell on deaf ears.
Seeing that Bulgaria was not going to budge and the fact that neither Greece nor Serbia alone could take on Bulgaria militarily, should a conflict arise, Greece and Serbia concluded a secret pact to jointly work against Bulgaria. In short, the objective was for Greece and Serbia to take the territory west of the Vardar River away from Bulgaria and divide it and have a common frontier.
After stumbling upon the Greek-Serbian pact, despite Russian attempts to appease it by offering it Solun, Bulgaria remained bitter and in a moment of weakness was lured away by Austria. By going over to Austria, Bulgaria in effect broke off all relations with the Balkan League. Russia, disappointed with the Bulgarian shift, made it clear that Bulgaria could no longer expect any help from Russia.
In what was to be termed the “Second Balkan War”, the Bulgarian army, unprovoked, on June 30th, 1913 attacked its former allies on Macedonian soil. The conflict also drew in the Ottomans and Romania.
After a truce between the Ottomans and the allies was concluded on December 4th, 1912, besides Western Macedonia, the Serbian army had occupied part of Albania and had gained access to the Adriatic Sea. Austria-Hungary however, wanting that region to remain under its sphere of influence, strongly opposed Serbia’s plan. This unfortunately created a cascading effect threatening Russian plans to gain access to Istanbul and forcing France to take measures against Austro-Hungarian expansion by advising Serbia not to withdraw from the Albanian territories. Great Britain came in support of Greece wanting Greece to expand northward and eastward into Ottoman territory in order to block Russian influence in the Balkans and in Istanbul.
The start of the Second Balkan War sparked a crisis in the region which the Great Powers attempted to resolve by peaceful means. Russia advised Serbia to retreat from Albanian territories in order to avoid conflict with Austria – Hungary. There were also recommendations made that the allies withdraw from Macedonia and follow up on the December 1912 suggestion, made in the London Conference, that Macedonia be given autonomy under Ottoman sovereignty. But that suggestion was rejected. The one suggestion that was followed up on was that made by Austria-Hungary on December 27th, 1912, to create an autonomous Albanian state. This meant that Serbia would have to evacuate all Albanian territory. By the May 30th, 1913 Peace Treaty of London, the Albanian territory was defined as the entire territory north of the Enos-Midia line previously ceded to the Balkan allies. The Ottomans were also ordered to leave Crete and the Great Powers were to decide on Albania’s borders.
Serbia did retreat from Albania and gave up on its plans to gain access to the Adriatic Sea but now found itself landlocked, so it looked to Bulgaria to grant it access to the Aegean Sea. Serbia’s plan was to acquire a bigger chunk of Macedonia. Dissatisfied with Bulgaria’s silence on the matter, Serbia cancelled its Serbian-Bulgarian treaty regarding the current division of Macedonia. Greece in the meantime requested of its partners to recognize its share of southern Macedonian, including its rights to Solun. Bulgaria, while categorically refusing to cede Macedonian territories to its partners, was secretly hoping to occupy all of Macedonia and acquire Solun for itself.
On June 1st, 1913 Serbia and Greece signed a secret treaty by which they agreed to forcefully take more Macedonian territory away from Bulgaria. Using the tense situation to its advantage, Romania too jumped in and requested of Bulgaria to hand over southern Dobruja. Not to be outdone and in hopes of gaining back some of their lost territories the Ottomans too jumped into action.
Austria-Hungary also took advantage of the situation and to draw Bulgaria into its sphere of influence, on June 29th, 1913, began an assault on Bulgaria’s former allies thus initiating the Second Balkan War.
Caught in the middle of all this were the Macedonian people who were now being mobilized by force to fight on all sides of the conflict. Macedonians drafted in the foreign armies were well aware that they had been deceived and knew very well that the war they were about to fight was about Macedonia’s permanent occupation and imminent division. They felt deep hatred towards the Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks and deserted their armies at every opportunity.
The Macedonian economy also suffered during this time, particularly in the rural regions where Macedonians were forced to provide for the armies and work digging trenches and fortifying their positions. Outside of those being mobilized by force by the Bulgarian army, Bulgaria also mobilized about 40,000 young Macedonians between the ages of 20 and 26 to create the Seres, Drama and Odrin Brigades. These Macedonians were forced to fight against their will and to the detriment of their own people.
Bulgaria’s entry into the Second Balkan War began with King Ferdinand's order number 234 and directive number 22 issued on June 1st, 1913, which called for an urgent transfer of the Bulgarian army from the Thrace front to the western front in Macedonia.
Bulgarian Supreme Command was planning to attack and defeat the Serbian army in two decisive strikes; first in the Morava River valley and then in Ovche Pole. The plan was to encircle the Serbian armies and force them to surrender.
Assuming Austria-Hungary was going to protect it from Romania and the Ottomans by preventing them from joining the war against Bulgaria, Bulgarian Supreme Command left its borders with these countries unprotected.
Meanwhile, on June 1st, 1913, Serbian and Greek Supreme Commands, in accordance with article 6 of their Military Convention, signed a Protocol to co-operate in case of a Bulgarian attack.
On June 3rd, 1913 Greece signed a Treaty with Bulgaria defining the demarcation line between the Bulgarian and Greek armies. On June 6th, 1913 Greek Supreme Command issued an order to strategically deploy the Greek army on the Gulf of Orfano -Besik Lake -Lagadina Lake - hills north of Solun and the village Karasuli line. By June 13th, 1913 Greece had its forces regrouped and ordered to hold back the Bulgarians.
The first battle of the Second Balkan war began in Bregalnitsa on June 30th, 1913 when the Bulgarians unexpectedly attacked the Serbians. Many Macedonians were drawn into the battle and fought on both sides. The Macedonian -Odrin Opolchenie units fought on the Bulgarian side, while the Macedonian Osogovo detachment fought on the Serbian side. As the battle entered its second day, the Serbians, in need of reinforcements, decided to mobilize 30,000 men, mostly from Macedonia, and dispatched them to the front without any training. By July 7th, 1913 more Serbian reinforcements began to arrive and as the Greek army began its advance towards the north end of the front in an effort to cut off Bulgarian retreat, the Bulgarian army disengaged and retreated.
During the Bregalnitsa battle both Serbian and Bulgarian armies experienced mass desertions on the front lines. The deserters were Macedonians who not only knew each other from before but had come to the realization that the objective of this war was to divide Macedonia.
All three armies showed no hesitation in using Macedonians to fight on their fronts, even if they had to fight each other, Macedonians against Macedonians. All three recruited young men from the Macedonian population and, with no training, forced them to fight on the front where many were killed.
If destroying Macedonia’s future generations was not enough, all three belligerents also helped themselves to the Macedonian population’s food supplies threatening the civilian population, particularly the women and children, with starvation.
By July 2nd, 1913 a second front had developed in Kukush Region and fighting between the Bulgarian and Greek armies began. But due to a strong barrage of artillery fire from the Greek side, the Bulgarians retreated without a fight disappointing the Macedonians enough to discard their weapons and walk away. Kukush is Gotse Delchev’s birthplace and the Bulgarians abandoned it without a fight. Their retreat was disgraceful. If Delchev was truly Bulgarian as they had claimed, then the Bulgarians would not have left Kukush without a fight.
Over the next few days the Greek army continued to push the Bulgarians back until they reached Belasitsa where they ended their advance.
When it became clear that the Bulgarians had lost to the Serbians and Greeks at Bregalnitsa and Kukush, the Romanians began to mobilize their armies. At that point the Romanian government informed the Bulgarian government that Romania’s armies were going to invade Bulgaria in order to recover southern Dobruja. Given the vast size of the Romanian force, Bulgaria decided to remain passive and on July 13th, 1913 allowed the Romanians to cross the Bulgarian border. The next day the Romanians crossed the Danube River and on July 20th, 1913 reached the Berkovitsa- Vratsa –Orhaniya line. By July 25th, 1913 the Romanians came to within 5 km of Sofia where they were stopped by request from Germany.
In the meantime seeing that Bulgaria was losing to the Serbians and Greeks, the Ottomans also entered the fore. On July 15th, 1913 Ottoman forces crossed the Enos –Midia border and on July 23rd, 1913 entered Odrin. But due to Great Power intervention the Ottomans were stopped before crossing the Bulgarian border.
After Romania and the Ottomans entered the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria had little choice but to capitulate and on July 30th, 1913 signed a truce and entered negotiations for the division of Macedonia.
The Peace Conference in Bucharest began on July 30th, 1913 and was attended by six Great Power representatives. The Balkan delegations, except for the Bulgarian, were led by their Prime Ministers. Chairing the Conference was Prime Minister Titu Maioresku of Romania. The conference was organized in plenary and special sessions led by military delegations. Special commissions were also established to deal with special issues.
The Conference took place in a tense atmosphere and was constantly interrupted because of the many parties involved. Military operations were ordered to cease on July 31st, 1913 and a preliminary truce was signed under the following conditions:
1. Demarcation lines marked with white flags were to be drawn where the advance guards had reached on July 31st, 1913, precisely at noon.
2. The truce was to begin on July 31st, 1913, at noon, and was to last for five days.
3. Movement of the troops and provisions were not to be interrupted.
4. In order to terminate hostilities, the “warring powers” were to inform each other of their current positions.
5. Supreme commands of the “warring powers” were to immediately inform all their forces of the truce.
6. Articles 40 and 41 of the war conventions on land were to be observed.
When the Bucharest Conference began the various parties decided to leave Bulgaria out of the plenary sessions and separately discuss Bulgarian issues between Serbia, Romania, Greece and Montenegro. The first treaty to be signed was between Bulgaria and Romania.
On August 5th, 1913 Jackson, the American representative at the Conference, read a note sent by his government which in part said that the US government was interested in putting provisions in the Treaty to protect the civil and religious rights of the population in the regions proposed to come under the sovereignty of these five states. Maioresku accepted the American proposal and some discussions took place in that regard but on Venizelos’s (Greek prime minister) suggestion this provision did not enter the Peace Treaty, thus depriving the Macedonian population of its rights.
The most difficult problem the Conference faced was reaching an agreement about Macedonia’s division. In addition to the Greeks, Serbians and Bulgarians wanting things to go their way, there were also all kinds of proposals made by the Great Powers. While the Russians wanted to divide Macedonia one way, Austria-Hungary, to placate Bulgaria, wanted to divide it a different way.
Russia suggested that the border between Serbia and Bulgaria be drawn between the Vardar and Struma rivers so that Shtip could be given to Serbia and Strumitsa and Kochani to Bulgaria. The junction between the Serbian-Greek-Bulgarian borders would be Gevgelija. The Greek-Bulgarian border would extend from Gevgelija down the Struma river valley to Drama, with Drama and Seres going to Greece. The Great Powers would then determine the border from Drama to the Aegean Sea.
Austria-Hungary suggested that the Serbian-Bulgarian border be drawn along the Vardar River so that lands west of the river would be given to Serbia and lands east of the river would be given to Bulgaria. The Greek-Bulgarian border would be drawn so that the southern part of the Struma River and the coast from Kavala to Enos would be given to Bulgaria.
The Serbian delegation disagreed and requested that the border be drawn from Gorna Dzumaja along the Struma River down past the Rupel Gorge.
On August 6th, 1913 Bulgaria and Serbia came to an agreement that Stip and Kochani should be given to Serbia and Strumitsa and Radovish to Bulgaria. While their military representatives drew up the border on topographic maps, a commission of experts from Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands was put together to deal with specific problems.
Drawing the Greek -Bulgarian border was a little more challenging mainly because Greece did not want to give Bulgaria access to the Aegean Sea. Greece insisted that the border be east of Belasitsa Mountain, north of Seres, Drama, Ksanthi up to Makri on the Aegean Sea. Under this scenario Bulgaria would acquire a 40 km long coast stretching from Makri to Enos. Dissatisfied Bulgaria requested of Maioresku, the Romanian Prime Minister, that it be given the Port of Kavala otherwise there would be no agreement. France and Britain however did not agree with Bulgaria’s request and Kavala was given to Greece.
Bulgaria agreed to continue with the talks under Russian, Italian, and Austro-Hungarian assurances that they would soon revise the Treaty to include this Bulgarian request.
On August 7th, 1913 Protocol number 9 was signed, drawing the Greek-Bulgarian border from the Serbian-Bulgarian border, over Belasitsa Mountain down the mouth of the Mesta River to the Aegean Sea. Then on August 10th, 1913 the Bucharest Conference adopted the text and the negotiations were over.
With the signing of this treaty Macedonia’s fate was sealed. The territories Macedonia, Kosovo, Metohija, Vasojevitsi, Sandzhak, Thrace and northern Epirus, previously occupied by the Ottomans were expropriated by the three belligerent states, Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria.
Serbia received roughly the Vardar Region of Macedonia, Kosovo, part of Metohija and part of Sandzhak, an area of 39,000 km2 inhabited by 1,290,000 people.
Montenegro received Vasojevitsi, part of Sandzhak and part of Metohija. Its territory was increased by 7,000 km2 and its population by about 260,000 people.
Greece was given northern Epirus, roughly the Aegean Region of Macedonia, part of Western Thrace, the Chalcidice Peninsula with Solun and a large number of Aegean Islands. Greece was given 51,300 km2 of land populated by 1,624,000 people.
Bulgaria was given roughly the Pirin Region of Macedonia, greater Strumitsa and parts of eastern and western Thrace. Bulgaria was given 21,000 km2 of land inhabited by about 600,000 people. Bulgaria was also given access to the Aegean Sea which extended from the mouth of the Mesta River to the mouth of the Maritsa River and the Port of Dedeagatch.
Romania received southern Dobruja, an area of 800 km2 populated by 303,000 people.
On August 11th, 1913 just after the Treaty was signed, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Bulgaria requested revisions to the Treaty. But then a couple of days later, on August 14th, 1913, Russia changed its mind and the dreaded 1913 Treaty of Bucharest to this day remains incomplete and without the signatures of some Great Powers.
No one, not even the Great Powers took any requests from the Macedonian people not even for the preservation of their identity.
On March 1st, 1913 Georgi Konstantinovikj, Dimitrija Chupovski, Natse Dimov and Aleksandar Vezenkov, representatives of the Macedonian colony in St. Petersburg, signed a memorandum demanding independence for Macedonia and sent it to Edward Grey, Foreign Minister of Great Britain, as well as to the ambassadors of the Great Powers in London. Unfortunately the Great Powers were not interested and, in the absence of the Macedonian people, sanctioned Macedonia’s division.
As has been shown in this and previous chapters, the Balkan Wars were not about liberation but about land grabs resulting in the occupation and division of Macedonia. During the two year Balkan Wars duration, Macedonia was partitioned three different times by three different divisions. The first, as agreed by the March 13th, 1912 Serbian-Bulgarian Treaty called for the Deve Bair–Ohrid line to be drawn. The second division took place after the First Balkan War when a border was proposed to coincide with the frontlines. The third division took place on August 10th, 1913 after the Treaty of Bucharest was signed.
The only standards used to determine these borders, in all three cases, were force of arms, lies and deceit.
Instead of liberating it, the 1913 Bucharest Treaty enslaved Macedonia and turned it into provinces of the belligerent Balkan states which wasted no time in forcefully denationalizing and assimilating the Macedonian population.
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