1915 treaty between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire
Map of the territorial changes (horizontal shaded lines) of the Convention of SofiaCloser view of the same
The convention of Sofia between Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) was signed on 6 September (24 August O.S.) 1915. It rectified the border between the two countries in Bulgaria's favour in order to bring Bulgaria into the First World War on the side of the Central Powers.
A defensive alliance between Bulgaria and Turkey had been concluded on 19 August 1914, but negotiations for Bulgaria's intervention in the war did not begin between the two parties until May 1915. It quickly became clear that Bulgaria sought a rectification of the border, and Germany and Austria-Hungary put pressure on their Ottoman ally to accept.[1] The Austro-Hungarians for their part were convinced that a Turco-Bulgarian alliance would keep Greece and Romania neutral. The German ambassador to Turkey, Hans von Wangenheim, was unconvinced by the proposed alliance, believing that Romanian neutrality could only be secured by Austro-Hungarian territorial concessions. The Austro-Hungarian ambassador, Johann von Pallavicini, convinced the Ottomans to accept a border rectification, but Bulgaria initially refused to consider abandoning their neutrality—the only condition on which the Ottomans would yield territory.[2]
On 6 August 1915, the British launched an offensive on Gallipoli that exposed Turkey's grave shortage of munitions. On 17 August, the Turkish minister of war, Enver Pasha, wrote to the German chief of staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, to see if an Austro-German offensive against Serbia was forthcoming. When told that it hinged on Bulgaria's intervention, which in turn hinged on a Turco-Bulgarian pact, the Ottomans reached a quick agreement with Bulgaria on 22 August.[2] They ceded the Maritsa river and its left bank to a depth of 1.5 kilometres.[3] This gave Bulgaria control of the railway to the Aegean port of Dedeagach.[4] It also left Edirne (Adrianople) vulnerable to Bulgarian attack, but signature of the accord was dependent on a military convention being signed between Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary and Germany.[2]
In addition to the Bulgarian-Ottoman convention, Bulgaria also signed a treaty of alliance with Germany and a military convention between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria in Sofia on 6 September. Bulgaria agreed to allow the transit of German and Austro-Hungarian supplies through its territory to the Ottoman Empire and to invade Serbia with a large force.[2] By November, Turkey's critical supply problem, which had threatened to destroy the regime in August, had been resolved.[5]
Silberstein, Gerard E. (1967). "The Serbian Campaign of 1915: Its Diplomatic Background". American Historical Review. 73 (1): 51–69. doi:10.2307/1849028. JSTOR1849028.
The Balkan Wars were a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defeated it, in the process stripping the Ottomans of their European provinces, leaving only Eastern Thrace under the Ottoman Empire's control. In the Second Balkan War, Bulgaria fought against the other four original combatants of the first war. It also faced an attack from Romania from the north. The Ottoman Empire lost the bulk of its territory in Europe. Although not involved as a combatant, Austria-Hungary became relatively weaker as a much enlarged Serbia pushed for union of the South Slavic peoples. The war set the stage for the Balkan crisis of 1914 and thus served as a "prelude to the First World War".
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The Triple Alliance was a defensive military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. It was formed on 20 May 1882 and renewed periodically until it expired in 1915 during World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary had been closely allied since 1879. Italy was looking for support against France shortly after it lost North African ambitions to the French. Each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any other great power. The treaty provided that Germany and Austria-Hungary were to assist Italy if it was attacked by France without provocation. In turn, Italy would assist Germany if attacked by France. In the event of a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Italy promised to remain neutral. The existence and membership of the treaty were well known, but its exact provisions were kept secret until 1919.
The League of the Balkans was a quadruple alliance formed by a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 between the Eastern Orthodox kingdoms of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and directed against the Ottoman Empire, which at the time still controlled much of Southeastern Europe.
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The Congress of Berlin was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at the meeting were Europe's then six great powers: Russia, Great Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Germany; the Ottomans; and four Balkan states: Greece, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro. The congress concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Berlin, replacing the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano that had been signed three months earlier.
The Treaty of London or the Pact of London was a secret agreement concluded on 26 April 1915 by the United Kingdom, France, and Russia on the one part, and Italy on the other, in order to entice the latter to enter World War I on the side of the Triple Entente. The agreement involved promises of Italian territorial expansion against Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and in Africa where it was promised enlargement of its colonies. The Entente countries hoped to force the Central Powers – particularly Germany and Austria-Hungary – to divert some of their forces away from existing battlefields. The Entente also hoped that Romania and Bulgaria would be encouraged to join them after Italy did the same.
In diplomatic history, the Eastern question was the issue of the political and economic instability in the Ottoman Empire from the late 18th to early 20th centuries and the subsequent strategic competition and political considerations of the European great powers in light of this. Characterized as the "sick man of Europe", the relative weakening of the empire's military strength in the second half of the eighteenth century threatened to undermine the fragile balance of power system largely shaped by the Concert of Europe. The Eastern question encompassed myriad interrelated elements: Ottoman military defeats, Ottoman institutional insolvency, the ongoing Ottoman political and economic modernization programme, the rise of ethno-religious nationalism in its provinces, and Great Power rivalries.
The Reinsurance Treaty was a diplomatic agreement between the German Empire and the Russian Empire that was in effect from 1887 to 1890. Only a handful of top officials in Berlin and St. Petersburg knew of its existence since it was so secret. The treaty played a critical role in German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's extremely complex and ingenious network of alliances and agreements, which aimed to keep the peace in Europe and to maintain Germany's economic, diplomatic and political dominance. It helped keep the peace for both Russia and Germany.
The Bosnian Crisis, also known as the Annexation Crisis or the First Balkan Crisis, erupted on 5 October 1908 when Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, territories formerly within the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire but under Austro-Hungarian administration since 1878.
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The Balkans theatre or Balkan campaign was a theatre of World War I fought between the Central Powers and the Allies.
The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front, was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. The expedition came too late and with insufficient force to prevent the fall of Serbia and was complicated by the internal political crisis in Greece. Eventually, a stable front was established, running from the Albanian Adriatic coast to the Struma River, pitting a multinational Allied force against the Bulgarian army, which was at various times bolstered with smaller units from the other Central Powers. The Macedonian front remained stable, despite local actions, until the Allied offensive in September 1918 resulted in Bulgaria capitulating and the liberation of Serbia.
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The Bulgarian Crisis refers to a series of events in the Balkans between 1885 and 1888 that affected the balance of power between the Great Powers and the conflict between Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire. It was one of several episodes in the continuing Balkan Crisis as vassal states struggled for independence from the Ottoman Empire but achieved a mosaic of nascent nation-states (Balkanisation). They featured unstable alliances that frequently led to war and eventually to the First World War.
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The Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces occupied Serbia from late 1915 until the end of World War I. Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia on 28 July 1914 marked the beginning of the war. After three unsuccessful Austro-Hungarian offensives between August and December 1914, a combined Austro-Hungarian and German offensive breached the Serbian front from the north and west in October 1915, while Bulgaria attacked from the east. By January 1916, all of Serbia had been occupied by the Central Powers.
An Ottoman–Bulgarianalliance was signed in Sofia on 19 August (6 August O.S.) 1914 during the opening month of the First World War, although at the time both the signatories were neutral. The Minister of the Interior, Talaat Pasha, and President Halil Bey of the Chamber of Deputies signed the treaty on behalf of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and Prime Minister Vasil Radoslavov on behalf of the Kingdom of Bulgaria. The Ottoman–Bulgarian alliance was probably a prerequisite for Bulgaria's joining the Central Powers after Turkey entered the war in November.
The Liberation of Serbia, Albania and Montenegro was a military action in the Balkans in the final weeks of World War I. Between 29 September and 11 November 1918, the Allied Army of the Orient liberated these three countries from occupation by the Central Powers.
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