page_title: Bulgaria during World War I
section_title: The Balkan Wars
hierarchical_section_title: Bulgaria during World War I / Background / The Balkan Wars
caption_attribution_description: English: KLEPTOROUMANIA. Punch cartoon favourable to Bulgaria, the aggressor of the Second Balkan War. King Carol I of Romania points his pistol at King Petar of Serbia and King Constantine of Greece while he steals Southern Dobrudja from the helpless Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. The title "KLEPTOROUMANIA" is a pun on kleptomania, the mental disorder of impulsive stealing for the sake of stealing. Roumania: "SIRS, I WILL NOT STAND IDLY BY AND SEE THIS HELPLESS GENTLEMAN EXTINGUISHED." Български: Политическа карикатура на тема Втората балканска война.
context_page_description: 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 Thessalonica came into effect.
  After the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, Bulgaria was diplomatically isolated, surrounded by hostile neighbors and deprived of Great Power support. Negative sentiment grew particularly in France and Russia, whose officials blamed Bulgaria for the dissolution of the Balkan League, an alliance of Balkan states directed against the Ottoman Empire. Bulgarian defeat in the Second Balkan War in 1913 turned revanchism into a foreign policy focus.
  When the First World War started in July 1914, Bulgaria, still recovering from the economic and demographic damage of the Balkan Wars, declared neutrality. Strategic location and a strong military establishment made the country a desired ally for both warring coalitions, but its regional territorial aspirations were difficult to satisfy because they included claims against four Balkan countries.
context_section_description: When Bulgaria proclaimed its independence from the Ottoman Empire on 22 September 1908, its status was promoted to that of a kingdom and Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria assumed the title of tsar. The country was now able to focus on completing its national unification by turning its attention toward the lands populated by Bulgarians that remained under Ottoman control.
  To achieve its goals, the Bulgarian government, under Prime Minister Ivan Geshov, approached the governments of the other Balkan countries in hopes of creating an alliance directed against the Ottomans. His efforts culminated in a series of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 to form the Balkan League. By summer of the same year, Ottoman grip on their Balkan provinces  deteriorated rapidly in Albania and Macedonia, where open rebellions had erupted. The Allies decided to exploit the vulnerable state of the Ottoman Empire and declared war on it in October 1912.
  The opening stages of the First Balkan War began with decisive Allied victories in both Thrace and Macedonia. Within a month, the Ottomans found themselves driven back by the Bulgarians to within 40 kilometers of Constantinople and badly beaten by the Serbians and the Greeks. A short armistice brought no conclusion to the conflict and fighting once again broke out in January 1913. A major Ottoman counter-offensive was defeated by the Bulgarians, who also seized the fortress of Adrianople in March and finally forced the Ottoman Empire to admit defeat and return to the peace table. While the Bulgarian army was still fighting, a new challenge arose from the north: Romania demanded territorial compensations from Bulgaria in return for its neutrality during the war. A conference, which was held in Saint Petersburg, sought to resolve the dispute by rewarding Romania the town of Silistra, but this decision greatly antagonized both countries and sowed the seeds of further enmity between them.
  The formal ending of the war was marked by the signing of the Treaty of London of 1913, which awarded all Ottoman territory to the west of the Midia-Enos line, with the exception of Albania, to the Allies.
  The treaty failed to make clear provisions for the division of the former Ottoman territories between the victors, which brought about the dissolution of the Balkan League. Geshov foresaw this outcome, which signalled the collapse of his goal of forming a permanent alliance directed against the Ottoman Empire, and resigned from his post as prime minister. He was replaced by the hard-liner Stoyan Danev. The new government was not willing to compromise with Bulgarian claims in Macedonia, and neither were Serbia and Greece, whose interests were frustrated by the creation of an Albanian state. Russia, which was viewed as the patron of the Balkan League, was unable to control the situation and settle the disputes between the allies. The failure of Russian diplomacy, and the Entente Cordiale among Russia, France, and Great Britain that stood behind it, was a victory for Austria-Hungary, which sought to undermine the unity between the Balkan countries. In June, the new Bulgarian government was asked by the Bulgarian General Staff to either take aggressive action or order demobilization within 10 days. The senior Bulgarian commanders were concerned by the new alliance between Serbia and Greece and the growing restlessness in the army, which had been in the field since September 1912. Danev was preparing to leave for Russia where a new attempt to solve the problem was made by Tsar Ferdinand and General Mihail Savov, who decided to make a demonstration to Serbia, Greece and the Entente by ordering two of the Bulgarian armies to attack and consolidate their positions in Macedonia on 16 June. More than a day later, Danev ordered Savov to stop the fighting and the latter obeyed, despite orders for the continuation of the attack given to him by the tsar. The Serbians and Greeks, however, were not willing to let this opportunity pass and declared war on Bulgaria. Perceiving an opportunity to acquire Southern Dobrudja, Romania also inv
caption: A Punch cartoon of the Second Balkan War.
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