page_title: Incident at Petrich
section_title: International intervention
hierarchical_section_title: Incident at Petrich / International intervention
caption_attribution_description: English: The Greek ambassador to France, Karapanos, during the discussions at the League of Nations over the Greco-Bulgarian conflict in 1925
context_page_description: The Incident at Petrich, or the War of the Stray Dog, was a Greek–Bulgarian crisis in 1925, in which there was a short invasion of Bulgaria by Greece near the border town of Petrich, after the killing of a Greek captain and a sentry by Bulgarian soldiers. The incident ended after a decision of the League of Nations.
context_section_description: Fighting between Greek and Bulgarian forces started and Bulgaria appealed to the League of Nations to intervene in the dispute. Some chetas of Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO), together with the sentries, organised defence lines against the Greeks near Petrich. Volunteers and war veterans from the whole region were summoned to join the resistance. On the other side Greece made it clear that it was not interested in Bulgarian territory, but demanded compensation.
  According to the newspapers of that time the town of Petrich was captured, but in fact the League of Nations sent a telegraph to both countries ordering them to stop their armies just few hours before Greeks launched their attack to Petrich.
  The League ordered:
  Ceasefire
  Greek troops should withdraw from Bulgaria
  Greece should pay £45,000 to Bulgaria.
  Both countries accepted the decision, although Greece complained about the disparity between its treatment and that of Italy in the Corfu incident at 1923, since the decision showed that there were two different rules in the League, one for the Great Powers, like Italy, and another for the smaller, like Greece.
  The League Council sent military attaches from France, Italy and the United Kingdom to report to it when the hostilities have ceased and to observe the withdrawal of the Greek troops. The attaches also decided that the Bulgarians should not re-occupy the territory until a certain time had elapsed in order to prevent the incidents which would occur if the Bulgarian troops began their advance too soon.
  The compensation that Greece had to pay for material and morale damage was £45,000 and should pay them in two months.
  Over 50 people were killed before Greece complied, mostly Bulgarian civilians.
caption: The Greek ambassador to France, Karapanos, during the discussions at the League of Nations over the Greco-Bulgarian conflict in 1925
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