| Siege of Vidin | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Second Balkan War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Kingdom of Bulgaria |  Kingdom of Serbia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Krastyu Marinov | Vukoman Aračić | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 4,200 men 52 cannons | 8,500 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 84 killed and wounded [1] | Unknown | ||||||
The siege of Vidin was an attempt by the Serbian Army to seize the Bulgarian city of Vidin during the Second Balkan War. The siege took place between 12 and 18 July 1913.
At the war's start, the Bulgarian First Army was situated in north-western Bulgaria. Its advance into Serbian territory was successful between 22 and 25 June, but Romania's unexpected intervention in the war and the Bulgarian Army's retreat from the front against Greece forced the Bulgarian chief of staff to transfer most of the country's troops into the region of Macedonia. [2] During the retreat via the city of Ferdinand (now Montana), a large part of the 9th infantry division mutinied and surrendered to the Romanians on 5 July. [3] [4] Consequently, only a small, mostly militia force remained to face the Serbian counteroffensive in the areas of Belogradchik and Vidin.
On 8 July, the garrison of Belogradchik was overrun by the advancing Serbs of the Timok group and a small portion of Bulgarian soldiers who had survived the Serb onslaught retreated to Vidin. The next day, the Serbs entered Belogradchik while their cavalry blocked the land connection to Vidin from the rest of Bulgaria. Near the village of Bela Rada, a bloody battle was fought between the Serbian advanced guard and a Bulgarian reconnaissance squad, which then had to retreat. [5] [6]
By 12 July, the Serbian Timok Army (between 16 and 21 battalions with 54 cannons, including howitzer batteries) surrounded Vidin from all directions. The city was defended by about 1,200 regular troops and 3,000 militia, armed with a total of 52 cannons (most of which were obsolete.) In general, the Bulgarians were poorly equipped and had little ammunition. On 14 July, the Serbs started to bombard the ramparts and the city itself. The Bulgarian commander, General Krastyu Marinov, refused to surrender twice. The relentless bombardment continued for three straight days, causing insignificant military casualties for the Bulgarian side. [7]
In the late afternoon of 17 July, after a lengthy artillery bombardment, a Serbian infantry division attacked the western sector of Vidin, located between the villages of Novoseltsi and Smardan. Two Serbian attacks had been repulsed by the Bulgarians by that evening. On 18 July, the Serbs notified General Marinov of the armistice that had been signed on the same day in Bucharest. Afterwards, the Serbians retreated from the region. [7] [8]
The Second Balkan War was a conflict that broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 (O.S.) / 29 (N.S.) June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counterattacked, entering Bulgaria. With Bulgaria's also having previously engaged in territorial disputes with Romania and the bulk of Bulgarian forces engaged in the south, the prospect of an easy victory incited Romanian intervention against Bulgaria. The Ottoman Empire also took advantage of the situation to regain some lost territories from the previous war. When Romanian troops approached the capital Sofia, Bulgaria asked for an armistice, resulting in the Treaty of Bucharest, in which Bulgaria had to cede portions of its First Balkan War gains to Serbia, Greece and Romania. In the Treaty of Constantinople, it lost Adrianople to the Ottomans.
Vidin is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin.
The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine required Bulgaria to cede various territories, after Bulgaria had been one of the Central Powers defeated in World War I. The treaty was signed on 27 November 1919 at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
The Serbo-Bulgarian War or the Serbian–Bulgarian War was a war between the Kingdom of Serbia and Principality of Bulgaria that erupted on 14 November [O.S. 2 November] 1885 and lasted until 28 November [O.S. 16 November] 1885. Despite Bulgaria being a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, the Ottomans did not intervene in the war. Serbia took the initiative in starting the war but was decisively defeated. Austria-Hungary demanded for Bulgaria to stop its invasion, and a truce resulted. The final peace was signed on 3 March [O.S. 19 February] 1886 in Bucharest. The old boundaries were not changed. As a result of the war, European powers acknowledged the act of Unification of Bulgaria which happened on 18 September [O.S. 6 September] 1885.
The Battle of Slivnitsa was a victory of the Bulgarian army over the Serbians on 17–19 November 1885 in the Serbo-Bulgarian War. It solidified the unification between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia.
The siege of Adrianople, was fought during the First Balkan War. The siege began on 3 November 1912 and ended on 26 March 1913 with the capture of Edirne (Adrianople) by the Bulgarian 2nd Army and the Serbian 2nd Army.
The Bulgarian First Army was a Bulgarian field army during the Balkan Wars, World War I and World War II.
Torlakian, or Torlak, is a group of transitional South Slavic dialects of southeastern Serbia, Kosovo, northeastern North Macedonia, and northwestern Bulgaria. Torlakian, together with Bulgarian and Macedonian, falls into the Balkan Slavic linguistic area, which is part of the broader Balkan sprachbund. According to UNESCO's list of endangered languages, Torlakian is vulnerable.
Serbianisation or Serbianization, also known as Serbification, and Serbisation or Serbization is the spread of Serbian culture, people, and language, either by social integration or by cultural or forced assimilation.
The Battle of Bregalnica was fought between the Kingdom of Bulgaria army and the Kingdom of Serbia during the Second Balkan War from 30 June to 8 July. It was the largest battle of the war.
The Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps was a volunteer corps of the Bulgarian Army during the Balkan Wars. It was formed on 23 September 1912 and consisted of Bulgarian volunteers from Macedonia and Thrace, regions still under Ottoman rule, and thus not subject to Bulgarian military service.
The Battle of Dobro Pole, also known as the Breakthrough at Dobro Pole, was a World War I battle fought between 15 and 18 September 1918. The battle was fought in the initial stage of the Vardar Offensive, in the Balkans Theatre. On 15 September, a combined force of Serbian, French and Greek troops attacked the Bulgarian-held trenches in Dobro Pole, at the time part of the Kingdom of Serbia. The offensive and the preceding artillery preparation had devastating effects on Bulgarian morale, eventually leading to mass desertions.
The Kingdom of Bulgaria participated in World War I on the side of the Central Powers from 14 October 1915, when the country declared war on Serbia, until 30 September 1918, when the Armistice of Salonica came into effect.
The Bulgarian-Serbian wars were a series of conflicts between the Bulgarian Empire and medieval Serbian states between the 9th and 14th centuries in the central Balkans.
The Ohrid–Debar uprising was an uprising by the population in Western Macedonia, then Kingdom of Serbia, in September 1913. It was organized by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) and Albania against the Serbian capture of the regions of Ohrid, Debar and Struga after the Balkan Wars (1912–13).
The Bulgarian Second Army was a Bulgarian field army during the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II.
The Kingdom of Serbia was one of the major parties in the Balkan Wars, gaining land in both conflicts. It experienced significant territorial gains in the Central Balkans, nearly doubling its territory.
The Great Retreat, also known in Serbian historiography as the Albanian Golgotha, refers to the retreat of the Royal Serbian Army through the mountains of Albania during the 1915–16 winter of World War I.
Krastyu Marinov Prazov Marinov was a Bulgarian volunteer, officer, and major general.
Atanas Marinov Uzunov (1857-1887) was a Bulgarian revolutionary and officer, he was a participant in the struggle for liberation from Ottoman rule from 1875 to 1878, a defender of Vidin during the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 and a leader of the Ruse Revolt in 1887.
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