Third Balkan War

Prelude
On the 12th of February 1916 Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand I declared his ambitions for expansions into Greece and Romania. The tsar always wanted to expand his territory after the loss in the second Balkan war but was restricted from knowing of the coming retaliation by a combined Greece, Romania and Serbia. But after the subjection of Serbia Bulgaria was confident in a victory if war was declared. The Romanian King Ferdinand I and Greek King Constantine I agreed to a defensive alliance against Bulgaria called “The Treaty in Green”. Tsar Ferdinand, seeking a casus belli mobilized his army and stationed them along the Romanian and Greek borders. The Romanians and Greeks in response did the same and began fortifying against the Bulgarian threat. The Bulgarian forces were instructed to begin training along the border with Greece and during training an artillery round came close to a Greek camp causing a panic. In the panic the soldiers thought a war had broken out and one Greek officer ordered a charge into the enemy Bulgarian camp. The skirmish was a perfect casus belli for the Bulgarians declaring war on the 15th of March one week after the skirmish called the “Battle of dark hills”.

War
The war was soon joined by the Romanians to help their Greek ally, anticipating that the Bulgarians had two war plans, one against Greece and one against Romania. The Greek war plan named “Plan Elinski” was to take Thessaloniki then push west and south and force a surrender. The Romanian war plan named “Plan Vlashko” was to cross the Danube as soon as possible and capture key bridges to continue a large push throughout the front to take Budapest. The Greek plan was to take eastern Thrace and push north from there as the Bulgarians would be busy in Romania. The Romanian war plan would be to destroy all the bridges crossing the Danube making the Defense far easier.

The Bulgarians devoted around 30% of their army to the Romanian front hoping to eliminate the Greeks first. The Bulgarians began an assault on the city of Kavala forcing early victories. The Bulgarians also attempted to cross key bridges across the Danube but were halted and were unable to take the brides. On the other side of the front the Bulgarians made large gains taking the city of Medgidia the. The Romania generals gave the order to destroy the bridges crossing the Danube. The Romanians began destroying bridges crippling the Bulgarian war plan of crossing the Danube. With the Romanian defenses it would be nearly impossible to cross. The Bulgarians then devoted more forces to the east where they were making progress. The Greeks stopped to Bulgarian attack, halting them outside of Kato Nevrokopi. The Greek king and some generals wanted to launch an offensive into east Thrace but the majority of the high command advised against it. Constantine I would not listen to the high command and began an offensive. The Bulgarians realizing that a Greek attack was imminent would allow the Greeks to make gains then they would encircle their lines and capture the soldiers. On the 18th of April the Greeks entered east Thrace to low resistance and within days had made it through half of east Threce when the Bulgarians began closing in in the west trapping 20,000 soldiers in east Thrace. The Bulgarians crashed down on the Greeks capturing all 20,000 trapped soldiers.

Constantine I was extremely angry at the loss putting all blame on his general staff firing most of his cabinet only causing more trouble. King Ferdinand of Romania issued orders that the city of Constanța will not fall into Bulgarian hands and at all costs defend the city. The Bulgarians launched an assault across the Danube using boats to cross. The following battle called “The Battle of the Danube” was more of a massacre than a battle. Bulgarian soldiers were gunned down in their boats; it was reported that the river was stained red from their blood. The general (Dimitar Geshov) in charge of the assault stopped after the second wave; not a single Bulgarian made it to the Romanian side of the river alive. Dimitar Geshov was reprimanded for his decision but it is estimated that he saved hundreds of lives. The Bulgarians sought a quick end to the war; the new plan would be to take key cities on the land border and then turn around and conquer Greece. The Romanian king Ferdinand I knew that the war was turning sour and wanted to get out of the war as soon as possible. The Bulgarians continued to push further into Greece encircling Thessaloniki. The Greek morale was low and the soldiers were convinced that they would lose the war. The Greek king Constantine I was ready to end the war but the Bulgarians were clear in their demands.

The Greeks were afraid that the Bulgarians would win and presented a peace treaty on the 2nd of may that would give Bulgaria minor land concessions and Greece would no longer lay claim to east Thrace. The Bulgarians refused stating “the peace treaty presented does not meet the demands of our empire”. The Greek soldiers now convinced that even the Greek king was aware that they would lose began deserting by the hundreds. On the Romanian front the Bulgarians had taken Constanța forcing most remaining Romanians on the Bulgarians side of the river to flee across the Danube. The now famous “Danube crossing” was a battle waged on both sides of the Danube. Bulgarian forces captured Romanians and forced them to cross, the Bulgarians dressed in Romanian uniforms with red bands to distinguish each other. The Bulgarians went in boats across the Danube along with disarmed Romanian soldiers and made it across the river at that time they initiated an attack bombarding major Romanian positions and capturing the opposite side of the river. The Romanians taking two major losses and a way for the Bulgarian army to cross the river agreed to leave the war and gave territory up to Constanța on the 22nd of may. The Romanians all agreed it could have been far worse with the bigger fear being the Bulgarian getting territory up to where the Danube meets the sea.

With Romania out of the war the Greek army was primed to completely collapse all it would take is one big blow. The Bulgarians repealed all forces from Romania and focused all attacks on Greece. The Greeks were demanding more and more from their soldiers, issuing an order to begin a counter offensive against the Bulgarians. The Greek commanders ignored the orders focusing on defending over leading a suicidal counter offensive. The Bulgarians took Thessaloniki and Kozani on the 8th of June leading to mass desertion and mutinies. The Greek army had completely collapsed. The Bulgarians pushed deep into Greece reaching the west coast on the 15th of June. Greece agreed to peace talks and a cease fire on the 17th. The peace talks were completely dominated by the Bulgarians. The Greeks, upset at some of the demands tried to bluff that they would leave peace talks but the Bulgarians were aware of the state of their military and called their bluff. On the 23rd of June Greece agreed to Bulgarian terms.

Peace
The Bulgarian terms state that they gain most of Greek Macedonia except the city of Thessaloniki and the surrounding peninsula; the border with Bulgaria and Serbia shall be demilitarized. The kingdom of Romania and the kingdom of Greece shall not be allied or have a pact that allows them to be in any way until the 1st of January 1931. The Bulgarians also partnered with the Austrians; the Bulgarians bought the Macedonian parts of Serbia in exchange for a nonaggression pact called the “Macedonian Agreement” and three quarters of the taxes from the region for 10 years. After the war Bulgaria was undeniably the dominant power in the Balkans; it gained almost all of the territory it wanted since the first Balkan war.

Aftermath
The third Balkan war fundamentally reorganized the state of the Balkans and started a great change in Greece. In Greece king Constantine I was regarded as a war hero, a great defender of Greece but after the humiliating loss of the war and the failure of the offensive into east Thrace called the “Constantine Offensive”. The people hated Constantine I and feared that Greece would never be able to defend itself against Bulgaria. The Greek people went down the path of racialism leading to strong communist and republican support and a referendum was called in January leading to the Greek revolutions of 1916 and 1917. The Bulgarian tsar was happy with the settlements made and was content in the state of his nation; the only thing more would be the desire to take territory up the Danube in Romania. Bulgaria was now the dominant state in the Balkans, even taking territory in the Ottoman Empire up to Istanbul during the Ottoman collapse.