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Macedonia with Monastir and Okhrida, and Serbia northern Macedonia or Old Serbia; there was an
indeterminate zone between the two spheres, including Skoplje (Üsküb, in Turkish), the exact division of
which it was agreed to leave to arbitration at a subsequent date.
The Macedonian theatre of war was by common consent regarded as the most important, and Bulgaria here
promised Serbia the assistance of 100,000 men. The Turks meanwhile were aware that all was not what it
seemed beyond the frontiers, and in August 1912 began collecting troops in Thrace, ostensibly for
manoeuvres. During the month of September the patience of the four Governments of Greece, Bulgaria,
Serbia, and Montenegro, which had for years with the utmost self-control been passively watching the awful
sufferings of their compatriots under Turkish misrule, gradually became exhausted. On September 28 the four
Balkan Governments informed Russia that the Balkan League was an accomplished fact, and on the 30th the
representatives of all four signed the alliance, and mobilization was ordered in Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
The population of Montenegro was habitually on a war footing, and it was left to the mountain kingdom from
its geographically favourable position to open hostilities. On October 8 Montenegro declared war on Turkey,
and after a series of brilliant successes along the frontier its forces settled down to the wearisome and arduous
siege of Scutari with its impregnable sentinel, Mount Tarabo[)s], converted into a modern fortress; the
unaccustomed nature of these tasks, to which the Montenegrin troops, used to the adventures of irregular
warfare, were little suited, tried the valour and patience of the intrepid mountaineers to the utmost. By that
time Europe was in a ferment, and both Russia and Austria, amazed at having the initiative in the regulation of
Balkan affairs wrested from them, showered on the Balkan capitals threats and protests, which for once in a
way were neglected.
On October 13 Greece, Bulgaria, and Serbia replied that the offer of outside assistance and advice had come
too late, and that they had decided themselves to redress the intolerable and secular wrongs of their
long-suffering compatriots in Macedonia by force of arms. To their dismay a treaty of peace was signed at
Lausanne about the same time between Turkey and Italy, which power, it had been hoped, would have
distracted Turkey's attention by a continuance of hostilities in northern Africa, and at any rate immobilized the
Turkish fleet. Encouraged by this success Turkey boldly declared war on Bulgaria and Serbia on October 17,
hoping to frighten Greece and detach it from the league; but on the 18th the Greek Government replied by
declaring war on Turkey, thus completing the necessary formalities. The Turks were confident of an early and
easy victory, and hoped to reach Sofia, not from Constantinople and Thrace, but pushing up north-eastwards
from Macedonia. The rapid offensive of the Serbian army, however, took them by surprise, and they were
completely overwhelmed at the battle of Kumanovo in northern Macedonia on October 23-4, 1912. On the
31st King Peter made his triumphal entry into Skoplje (ex-Üsküb), the ancient capital of Serbia under Tsar
Stephen Du[)s]an in the fourteenth century. From there the Serbian army pursued the Turks southward, and at
the battles of Prilep (November 5) and Monastir (November 19), after encountering the most stubborn
The Balkans - A History Of Bulgaria--Serbia--Greece--Rumania--Turkey 55
opposition, finally put an end to their resistance in this part of the theatre of war. On November 9 the Greeks
entered Salonika.
Meanwhile other divisions of the Serbian army had joined hands with the Montenegrins, and occupied almost
without opposition the long-coveted sandjak of Novi-Pazar (the ancient Serb Ra[)s]ka), to the inexpressible
rage of Austria-Hungary, which had evacuated it in 1908 in favour of its rightful owner, Turkey. At the same
time a Serbian expeditionary corps marched right through Albania, braving great hardships on the way, and on [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]