Examining Key Causes of First Balkan War

When describing international relations in the latter part of the 19th and
20th centuries, it must be framed in the context of tumultuous political
disorder. The once great empires of the past are dissolving into individual
states; almost every former European hegemon is reduced in size and
power as the ethnic inhabitants push for the creation and international recognition of their own
nations. These growing pains eventually give way to the modem concept of states following the
ideas of self-determination and national sovereignty, transitioning to a system with new, smaller
states mixed with volatile, ailing empires.
The Ottoman Empire had claims in Europe for more than 500 years before the
subordinate regions initiated the exodus of Ottoman control over the territory in question
(Gewehr 1931:79). The Balkan powers of Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro seized a
moment of clear weakness in the Turkish government to stage the First Balkan War. The goal of
the Balkan states was to definitively remove the grasp of the Ottoman Empire from its hold of
the area and to divide the retrieved territory among themselves (Holt and Chilton 1917: 490-
491). They were not the only states in Europe to whom this issue was salient; Russia had
immense hopes of attaining access to the Black Sea, and therefore pushed them to action, while
the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not want Russia to gain this access or to see a fellow kingdom
dissolve (Thaden 1965: 43, 122; Chilton and Holt 1917: 486). Ultimately, after an eight month
entanglement, the Balkan states had successfully stripped Turkey of nearly all its territorial
claims in Europe. There are a myriad of factors that led four modestly populated states to attack
a former world power, but two key determinants are the critical and swift rise of nationalism in
the peninsular states, and the weaning power and stability of the Turkish government that
spawned the confidence of the belligerents during this transition. Though both contribute to the
development of the First Balkan War, Turkey's "sick man of Europe" image was the primary
reason for the instigation of aggression, with nationalism allowing the movement to be so
successful and definitive (Kennan 1993:5). As will be discussed, never was there a more
advantageous time for a surge of cooperation within the Balkans, united against Ottoman's long
standing claims over highly contested ethnic territory.