First Balkan War The First Balkan War , which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 , pitted the Balkan League ( Serbia , Greece , Montenegro and Bulgaria ) against the Ottoman Empire . The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success . As a result of the war , almost all remaining European territories of the Ottoman Empire were captured and partitioned among the allies . Ensuing events also led to the creation of an independent Albania n state . Despite its success , Bulgaria was dissatisfied over the division of the spoils in Macedonia , which provoked the start of the Second Balkan War . Background . Tensions among the Balkan states over their rival aspirations to the provinces of Ottoman - controlled Rumelia , namely Eastern Rumelia , Thrace and Macedonia , subsided somewhat following intervention by the Great Powers in the mid - 19th century , aimed at securing both more complete protection for the provinces ' Christian majority and protection of the status quo . By 1867 , Serbia and Montenegro had both secured their independence , which was confirmed by the Treaty of Berlin a decade later . But the question of the viability of Ottoman rule was revived after the Young Turk Revolution of July 1908 , which compelled the Sultan to restore the suspended Ottoman constitution , and the significant developments in the years 1909 – 11 . Serbia ' s aspirations towards Bosnia and Herzegovina were thwarted by the Austrian annexation of the province in October 1908 . The Serbs focused their expansionist attentions to the south . Following the Austro - Hungarian annexation , the Young Turks tried to induce the Muslim population of Bosnia to emigrate to the Ottoman Empire . Those who took up the offer were re - settled by the Ottoman authorities in those districts of northern Macedonia where the Muslim population was weak . The experiment proved to be a catastrophe for the Empire since the immigrants readily united with the existing population of Albanian Muslims . They participated in the series of Albanian uprisings before and during the spring of 1912 . Some government troops who were ethnic Albanians switched sides , joining with the revolutionaries . In May 1912 , after driving the Ottomans out of Skopje , the Albanian revolutionaries pressed south towards Manastir ( present day Bitola ) , forcing the Ottomans to grant effective autonomy over large regions in June 1912 . Serbia , which had helped arm the Albanian rebels and sent secret agents to some of the prominent leaders , took the revolt as a pretext for war . Serbia , Montenegro , Greece , and Bulgaria had all been in talks about possible offensives against the Ottoman Empire before the Albanian revolt of 1912 broke out ; a formal agreement between Serbia and Montenegro had been signed on 7 March . On 18 October 1912 , Peter I of Serbia issued a declaration ' To the Serbian People ' , which appeared to support Albanians as well as Serbs : In a search for allies , Serbia was ready to negotiate a contract with Bulgaria . The agreement provided that , in the event of a victorious war against the Ottomans , Bulgaria would receive all of Macedonia south of the Kriva Palanka - Ohrid line . Serbia ' s expansion was accepted by Bulgaria as being to the North of the Shar Mountains ( i . e . Kosovo . ) The intervening area was agreed to be " disputed " ; it would be arbitrated by the Tsar of Russia in the event of a successful war against the Ottoman Empire . During the course of the war , it became apparent that the Albanians did not consider Serbia as a liberator , as suggested by King Peter I , nor did the Serbian forces observe his declaration . After the successful coup d ' état for unification with Eastern Rumelia , Bulgaria began to dream that its national unification would be realized . For that purpose , it developed a large army , which gave it a self - esteem as the " Prussia of the Balkans . " But it was clear that Bulgaria could not win a war alone against the Ottomans . In Greece , Army officers had revolted in August 1909 and secured the appointment of a progressive government under Eleftherios Venizelos , which they hoped would resolve the Cretan issue in Greece ' s favour . They also wanted to reverse their defeat of 1897 at the hands of the Ottomans . An emergency military reorganization led by a French military mission had been started for that purpose , but its work was interrupted by the outbreak of war in the Balkans . In the discussions that led Greece to join the Balkan League , Bulgaria refused to commit to any agreement on the distribution of territorial gains , unlike its deal with Serbia over Macedonia . Bulgaria ' s diplomatic policy was to push Serbia into an agreement limiting its access to Macedonia , while at the same time refusing any such agreement with Greece . Bulgaria believed that its army would be able to occupy the larger part of Aegean Macedonia and the important port city of Salonica ( Thessaloniki ) before the Greeks . In 1911 , Italy had launched an invasion of Tripolitania , which was quickly followed by the occupation of the Dodecanese Islands . The Italians ' decisive military victories over the Ottoman Empire encouraged the Balkan states towards the possibility of winning a war against the Ottomans . By the spring and summer of 1912 , the various Christian Balkan nations had created a network of military alliances which became known as the Balkan League . The Great Powers , most notably France and Austria - Hungary , reacted to this diplomatic grouping by trying to dissuade the League from going to war , but failed . In late September , both the League and the Ottoman Empire mobilized their armies . Montenegro was the first to declare war , on 25 September ( O . S . ) / 8 October . After issuing an impossible ultimatum to the Porte on 13 October , Bulgaria , Serbia and Greece declared war on the Empire on 17 October . Order of battle and plans . The Ottoman order of battle when the war broke out constituted a total of 12 , 024 officers ; 324 , 718 men ; 47 , 960 animals ; 2 , 318 artillery pieces , and 388 machine guns . From these a total 920 officers and 42 , 607 men had been assigned in non - divisional units and services , the remaining 293 , 206 officers and men were assigned into four Armies . Opposing them and in continuation of their secret prewar settlements of expansion , the three Slavic allies ( Bulgarian , Serbs and Montenegrins ) had extensive plans to coordinate their war efforts : the Serbs and Montenegrins in the theater of Sandžak , the Bulgarians and Serbs in the Macedonian and Thracia n theaters . The bulk of the Bulgarian forces ( 346 , 182 men ) was to attack Thrace , pitted against the Thracian Ottoman Army of 96 , 273 men and about 26 , 000 garrison troops or about 115 , 000 in total , according to both Hall ' s , Erickson ' s and the Turkish Gen . Staff ' s 1993 study . The remaining Ottoman army of about 200 , 000 was located in Macedonia , pitted against the Serbian ( 234 , 000 Serbs and 48 , 000 Bulgarians under the Serbians orders ) and Greek ( 115 , 000 men ) armies . It was divided into the Vardar and Macedonian Ottoman armies , with independent static guards around the fortress cities of Ioannina ( against the Greeks in Epirus ) and Shkodër ( against the Montenegrins in north Albania ) . Bulgaria . Bulgaria was militarily the most powerful of the four Balkan states , with a large , well - trained and well - equipped army . Bulgaria mobilized a total of 599 , 878 men out of a population of 4 . 3 million . The Bulgarian field army counted for nine infantry divisions , one cavalry division and 1 , 116 artillery units . The Commander - in - Chief was Tsar Ferdinand , while the operating command was in the hands of his deputy , General Michail Savov . The Bulgarians also possessed a small navy of six torpedo boats , which were restricted to operations along the country ' s Black Sea coast . Bulgaria was focused on actions in Thrace and Macedonia . It deployed its main force in Thrace , forming three armies . The First Army ( 79 , 370 men ) , under general Vasil Kutinchev with three infantry divisions , was deployed to the south of Yambol , with direction of operations along the Tundzha river . The Second Army ( 122 , 748 men ) , under general Nikola Ivanov , with two infantry divisions and one infantry brigade , was deployed west of the First and was assigned to capture the strong fortress of Adrianople ( Edirne ) . According to the plans , the Third Army ( 94 , 884 men ) , under general Radko Dimitriev , was deployed east of and behind the First , and was covered by the cavalry division hiding it from the Turkish view . The Third Army had three infantry divisions and was assigned to cross the Stranja mountain and to take the fortress of Kirk Kilisse ( Kırklareli ) . The 2nd ( 49 , 180 ) and 7th ( 48 , 523 men ) divisions were assigned independent roles , operating in Western Thrace and eastern Macedonia respectively . Serbia . Serbia called upon about 255 , 000 men ( out of a population of 2 , 912 , 000 people ) with about 228 guns , grouped in 10 infantry divisions , two independent brigades and a cavalry division , under the effective command of the former War Minister Radomir Putnik . The Serbian High Command , in its pre - war wargames , had concluded that the likeliest site of the decisive battle against the Ottoman Vardar Army would be on the Ovče Pole plateau , before Skopje . Hence , the main forces were formed in three armies for the advance towards Skopje , while a division and an independent brigade were to cooperate with the Montenegrins in the Sanjak of Novi Pazar . The First Army ( 132 , 000 men ) was commanded by General Petar Bojović , and was the strongest in number and force , forming the center of the drive towards Skopje . The Second Army ( 74 , 000 men ) was commanded by General Stepa Stepanović , and consisted of one Serbian and one Bulgarian ( 7th Rila ) division . It formed the left wing of the Army and advanced towards Stracin . The inclusion of a Bulgarian division was according to a pre - war arrangement between Serbian and Bulgarian armies , but that division ceased to obey orders of Gen . Stepanović as soon as the war began , followed only the orders of the Bulgarian High Command . The Third Army ( 76 , 000 men ) was commanded by General Božidar Janković and , being the right - wing army , had the task to take Kosovo . It would then join the other armies in the expected battle at the Ovče Polje . There were two other concentrations in northwestern Serbia across the Serbo - Austrohungarian borders , the Ibar Army ( 25 , 000 men ) under General Mihailo Živković and the Javor brigade ( 12 , 000 men ) under Lt Colonel Milovoje Anđelković . Greece . Greece , at the time a state of 2 , 666 , 000 people , was considered the weakest of the three main allies , since it fielded the smallest army and had suffered a defeat against the Ottomans 16 years before in the Greco - Turkish War of 1897 . A British consular dispatch from 1910 expresses the common perception of the Greek Army ' s capabilities at the time : " if there is war we shall probably see that the only thing Greek officers can do besides talking is to run away " . However , Greece was the only Balkan country to possess a substantial navy . This was vital to the League , as it could prevent Ottoman reinforcements from being rapidly transferred by ship from Asia to Europe . This fact was readily appreciated by the Serbs and Bulgarians , and was the chief factor in initiating the process of Greece ' s inclusion in their alliance . As the Greek ambassador to Sofia put it during the negotiations that led to Greece ' s entry into the League : " Greece can provide 600 , 000 men for the war effort . 200 , 000 men in the field , and the fleet will be able to stop 400 , 000 men being landed by Turkey between Salonica and Gallipoli . " The Greek Army was still undergoing reorganization by a French military mission , called in 1911 , when the war began . Under French supervision , the Greeks had adopted the triangular infantry division as their main formation , but more importantly , the overhaul of the mobilization system allowed the country to field and equip a far greater number of troops than it had in 1897 . While foreign observers estimated Greece would mobilize a force of approximately 50 , 000 men , the Greek Army fielded 125 , 000 , with another 140 , 000 in the National Guard and reserves . Upon mobilization , as in 1897 , this force was grouped in two field armies , reflecting the geographic division between the two operational theaters open to the Greeks : Thessaly and Epirus . The Army of Thessaly ( Στρατιά Θεσσαλίας ) was placed under Crown Prince Constantine , with Lt Gen Panagiotis Danglis as his chief of staff . It fielded the bulk of the Greek forces : seven infantry divisions , a cavalry regiment and four independent Evzones light mountain infantry battalions , roughly 100 , 000 men . It was expected to overcome the fortified Ottoman border positions and advance towards south and central Macedonia , aiming to take Thessaloniki and Bitola . The remaining 10 , 000 to 13 , 000 men in eight battalions were assigned to the Army of Epirus ( Στρατιά Ηπείρου ) under Lt Gen Konstantinos Sapountzakis . As it had no hope of capturing Ioannina , the heavily fortified capital of Epirus , its initial mission was to pin down the Ottoman forces there , until sufficient reinforcements could be sent from the Army of Thessaly after its successful conclusion of operations . The Greek Navy was relatively modern , strengthened by the recent purchase of numerous new units and undergoing reforms under the supervision of a British mission . Invited by Prime Minister Venizelos in 1910 , the mission began its work upon its arrival in May 1911 . Granted extraordinary powers and led by Vice Admiral Lionel Grand Tufnell , it thoroughly reorganized the Navy Ministry and dramatically improved the number and quality of exercises in gunnery and fleet maneuvers . In 1912 , the core unit of the fleet was the fast armoured cruiser , completed in 1910 and , at that time , the fastest and most modern ship of the line in the combatant navies . It was complemented by three rather antiquated battleships of the . There were also eight destroyers built in 1906 – 1907 , and six new destroyers that were hastily bought in summer 1912 as the imminence of war became apparent . Nevertheless , at the outbreak of the war , the Greek fleet was far from ready . The Ottoman battlefleet retained a clear advantage in number of ships , speed of the main surface units and , more importantly , in the number and caliber of the ships ' guns . In addition , as the war caught the fleet in the middle of its expansion and reorganization , fully a third of the fleet ( the six new destroyers and the submarine ) only reached Greece after hostilities had started , forcing the navy to reshuffle crews , who consequently suffered from lacking familiarization and training time . Coal stockpiles and other war stores were also in short supply , while the " Georgios Averof " had arrived with barely any ammunition , and would remain so until late November . Ottoman Empire . In 1912 , the Ottomans had a difficult position . They had a large population , 26 million , but just over 6 . 1 million of them lived in the European part of the Empire . Of these , only 2 . 3 million were Muslims , the rest being Christians , who were considered unfit for conscription . The very poor transport network , especially in the Asian part , dictated that the only reliable way for a mass transfer of troops to the European theater was by sea , but that was at risk due to the Greek fleet in the Aegean Sea . In addition , the Ottomans were still engaged in a protracted war against the Italians in Libya ( and by now in the Dodecanese islands of the Aegean ) , which had dominated the Ottoman military effort for over a year . The conflict lasted until 15 October , a few days after the outbreak of hostilities in the Balkans . The Ottomans were unable to significantly reinforce their positions in the Balkans , as their relations with the Balkan states deteriorated over the course of the year . Ottoman forces in the Balkans . The Ottomans ' military capabilities were hampered by a number of factors , beginning with domestic strife , caused by the Young Turk Revolution and the counter - revolutionary coup several months later ( see Countercoup ( 1909 ) and 31 March Incident ) . This resulted in different groups competing for influence within the military . A German mission had tried to reorganize the army , but its recommendations had not been completed . The Ottoman army was caught in the midst of reform and reorganization . In addition , several of the army ' s best battalions had been transferred to Yemen to face the ongoing rebellion there . In the summer of 1912 , the Ottoman High Command made the disastrous decision to dismiss some 70 , 000 mobilized troops . The regular army ( " Nizam " ) was composed of well - equipped and trained active divisions , but the reserve units ( " Redif " ) that reinforced it were ill - equipped , especially in artillery , and badly trained . The Ottomans ' strategic situation was difficult , as their borders were almost impossible to defend against a co - ordinated attack by the Balkan states . The Ottoman leadership decided to defend the entirety of their territory . As a result , the available forces — which could not be easily reinforced from Asia due to Greek control of the sea and the inadequacy of the Ottoman railway system — were dispersed too thinly across the region . They failed to stand up to the rapidly mobilized Balkan armies . The Ottomans had three armies in Europe ( the Macedonian , Vardar and Thracian Armies ) , with 1 , 203 pieces of mobile and 1 , 115 fixed artillery on fortified areas . The Ottoman High Command repeated its error of previous wars in neglecting the established command structure and creating new superior commands , the Eastern Army and Western Army , reflecting the division of the operational theater between the Thracian ( against the Bulgarians ) and Macedonian ( against Greeks , Serbs and Montenegrins ) fronts . The Western Army fielded at least 200 , 000 men while the Eastern Army fielded 115 , 000 men against the Bulgarian Army . The Eastern Army was commanded by Nazim Pasa and numbered seven corps of 11 Regular Infantry , 13 Redif and 1 + Cavalry divisions : The Western Army ( Macedonian and Vardar Army ) was composed of ten corps with 32 infantry and two cavalry divisions . Against Serbia , the Ottomans deployed the Vardar Army ( HQ in Skopje under Halepli Zeki Pasha , with five Corps of 18 Infantry divisions , one cavalry division and two independent cavalry brigades under the : The Macedonian Army ( HQ in Thessaloniki under Ali Rizah Pasha ) was composed of 14 divisions in five corps detailed against Greece , Bulgaria and Montenegro . Against Greece , seven - plus divisions were deployed : Against Bulgaria in south - eastern Macedonia , two divisions forming the Struma Corps ( 14th Infantry and Serez Redif divisions , plus the Nevrekop Detachment ) were deployed . Against Montenegro , four - plus divisions were deployed : According to the organizational plan , the men of the Western Group were to number 598 , 000 . But slow mobilization and the poor railroad efficiency reduced drastically the available men . According to the Western Army Staff , when war began , they had only 200 , 000 men available . Although during the next period more men reached the units , due to the war casualties , the Western Group never came near its nominal strength . In time of war , the Ottomans had planned to bring more troops in from Syria , both " Nizamiye " and " Redif . " Greek naval supremacy prevented those reinforcements from arriving . Instead those soldiers had to deploy via the land route , and most never made it to the Balkans . The Ottoman General Staff , assisted by the German Military Mission , developed 12 war plans , designed to counter various combinations of opponents . Work on plan No . 5 , which was against a combination of Bulgaria , Greece , Serbia and Montenegro , was very advanced , and had been sent to the Army staffs for them to develop local plans . State of the Ottoman Navy . The Ottoman fleet had performed abysmally in the Greco - Turkish War of 1897 , forcing the Ottoman government to begin a drastic overhaul . Older ships were retired and newer ones acquired , chiefly from France and Germany . In addition , in 1907 the Ottomans called in a British naval mission to update their training and doctrine . In the event , the British mission , headed by Admiral Sir Douglas Gamble , would find its task almost impossible . To a large extent this was due to the political upheaval in the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution ; between 1908 and 1911 , the office of Navy Minister changed hands nine times . Inter - departmental infighting and the entrenched interests of the bloated and over - aged officer corps , many of whom occupied their positions as a quasi - sinecure , further obstructed drastic reform . In addition , British attempts to control the Navy ' s construction programme were met with suspicion by the Ottoman ministers , and funds for Gamble ' s ambitious plans for new ships were not available . To counter the Greek acquisition of the " Georgios Averof , " the Ottomans initially tried to buy the new German armoured cruiser or the battlecruiser . Not able to afford the ships ' high cost , the Ottomans acquired two old pre - dreadnought battleship s , which became and . Along with the cruisers and , these two ships were to form the relatively modern core of the Ottoman battlefleet . By the summer of 1912 , however , they were already in poor condition due to chronic neglect : the rangefinders and ammunition hoists had been removed , the telephones were not working , the pumps were corroded , and most of the watertight doors could no longer be closed . Operations . Montenegro started the First Balkan War by declaring war against the Ottomans on . Bulgarian theater of operations . The western region of the Balkans , including Albania , Kosovo , and Macedonia was less important to the resolution of the war and the survival of the Ottoman Empire than the Thracian theater , where the Bulgarians fought major battles against the Ottoman forces . But although the geography dictated that Thrace would be the major battlefield in a war with the Ottoman Empire , the position of the Ottoman Army there was jeopardized by erroneous intelligence estimates of their opponents ' order of battle . Unaware of the secret prewar political and military settlement over Macedonia between Bulgaria and Serbia , the Ottoman leadership assigned the bulk of their forces there . The German ambassador Hans Baron von Wangenheim , one of the most influential people in the Ottoman capital , had reported to Berlin on 21 October that the Ottoman forces believed that the bulk of the Bulgarian army would be deployed in Macedonia with the Serbs . Subsequently the Ottoman HQ under Abdullah Pasha expected to meet only three Bulgarian infantry divisions , accompanied by cavalry , east of Adrianople . According to E . J . Erickson this assumption possibly resulted from their analysis of the objectives of the Balkan Pact – but it had deadly consequences for the Ottoman Army in Thrace , which would have to defend the area against the bulk of the Bulgarian army against impossible odds . This misappraisal was also the reason of the catastrophic aggressive Ottoman strategy at the start of the campaign in Thrace . Bulgarian offensive and advance to Çatalca . In the Thracian front the Bulgarian army had placed 346 , 182 men against the Ottoman 1st Army with 105 , 000 men in eastern Thrace and the Kircaali detachment of 24 , 000 men in western Thrace . The Bulgarian forces were divided into the 1st ( Lt . Gen . Vasil Kutinchev ) , 2nd ( Lt . Gen . Nikola Ivanov ) and 3rd ( Lt . Gen . Radko Dimitriev ) Bulgarian Armies of 297 , 002 men in the eastern part and 49 , 180 ( 33 , 180 regulars and 16 , 000 irregulars ) under the 2nd Bulgarian Division ( Gen . Stilian Kovachev ) in the western part . The first large - scale battle occurred against the Edirne - Kırklareli defensive line , where the Bulgarian 1st and 3rd Armies ( together 174 , 254 men ) defeated the Ottoman East Army ( of 96 , 273 combatants ) , near Gechkenli , Seliolu and Petra . The Ottoman XV Corps urgently left the area to defend the Gallipoli peninsula against an expected Greek amphibious assault , which in the event never materialized . The absence of this Corps created an immediate vacuum between Adrianople and Demotika , and the 11th Infantry Division from the Eastern Army ' s IV Corps was moved there to replace it . Thus one complete army corps was removed from the Eastern Army ' s order of battle . As a consequence of the insufficient intelligence on the invading forces , the Ottoman offensive plan failed completely in the face of Bulgarian superiority forcing Abdullah Pasha to abandon Kirk Kilisse , which was taken without resistance by the Bulgarian Third Army . The fortress of Adrianople , with some 61 , 250 men , was isolated and besieged by the Bulgarian Second Army , although for the time being no assault was possible due to the lack of siege equipment in the Bulgarian inventory . Another consequence of the Greek naval supremacy in Aegean was that the Ottoman forces did not receive the reinforcements projected in the war plans , consisting of a further corps to be transferred by sea from Syria and Palestine . Thus the Greek Navy played a crucial albeit indirect role in the Thracian campaign , by neutralizing three corps , a significant portion of the Ottoman Army , in the all - important opening round of the war . Another , more direct role , was the emergency transportation of the Bulgarian 7th Rila Division from the Macedonian to the Thracian front after the termination of the operations there . After the battle of Kirk Kilisse the Bulgarian high command decided to wait a few days , a decision which allowed the Ottoman forces to occupy a new defensive position on the Lüleburgaz - Karaağaç - Pınarhisar line . Despite this , the Bulgarian attack by First and Third Army which together accounted for 107 , 386 rifleman , 3 , 115 cavalry , 116 machine guns and 360 artillery pieces defeated the reinforced Ottoman Army consisting of 126 , 000 riflemen , 3 , 500 cavalry , 96 machine guns and 342 artillery pieces and reached the Sea of Marmara . In terms of forces engaged it was the largest battle fought in Europe between the end of the Franco - Prussian War and the beginning of the First World War . As a result of it the Ottoman forces were pushed to their final defensive position across the Çatalca Line protecting the peninsula on which Constantinople is located . There they succeeded in stabilizing the front with the help of fresh reinforcements from the Asian provinces . The line had been constructed during the Russo - Turkish War of 1877 - 8 under the directions of a German engineer in Ottoman service , von Bluhm Pasha , but was considered obsolete by 1912 . Meanwhile the forces of the Bulgarian 2nd Thracian division , 49 , 180 men divided into the Haskovo and Rhodope detachments , advanced toward the Aegean Sea . The Ottoman Kircaali detachment ( Kircaali Redif and Kircaali Mustahfiz Divisions and 36th Regiment with 24 , 000 men ) , tasked with defending a 400 km front across the Thessaloniki - Alexandroupoli railroad , failed to offer serious resistance and on 26 November their commander Yaver Pasha was captured together with 10 , 131 officers and men by Macedonian - Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps . After the occupation of Thessaloniki by the Greek army , his surrender completed the isolation of the Ottoman forces in Macedonia from those in Thrace . On , the offensive against the Çatalca Line began , despite clear warnings from Russia that if the Bulgarians occupied Constantinople it would attack them . The Bulgarians launched their attack along the defensive line with 176 , 351 men and 462 artillery pieces against the Ottomans ' 140 , 571 men and 316 artillery pieces , but despite Bulgarian superiority , the Ottomans succeeded in repulsing them . An armistice was consequently agreed on between the Ottomans and Bulgaria , the latter also representing Serbia and Montenegro , and peace negotiations began in London . Greece also participated in the conference , but refused to agree to a truce , continuing its operations in the Epirus sector . The negotiations were interrupted on , when a Young Turk coup d ' état in Constantinople under Enver Pasha overthrew the government of Kiamil Pasha . Upon expiration of the armistice , on , hostilities recommenced . Ottoman counteroffensive . On 20 February Ottoman forces began their attack , both in Çatalca and south , at Gallipoli . There the Ottoman X Corps , with 19 , 858 men and 48 guns , landed at Şarköy , at the same time as an attack of around 15 , 000 men supported by 36 guns ( part of the 30 , 000 - strong Ottoman army isolated in the Gallipoli peninsula ) at Bulair further south . Both attacks were supported by fire from Ottoman warships , and were intended in the long term to relieve pressure on Edirne . Confronting them were about 10 , 000 men with 78 guns . The Ottomans were probably unaware of the presence in the area of the newly formed 4th Bulgarian Army of 92 , 289 men under General Stiliyan Kovachev . The Ottoman attack in the thin isthmus , with a front of just 1 , 800m , was hampered by thick fog and strong Bulgarian artillery and machine gunfire . As a result the attack stalled , and was repulsed by a Bulgarian counterattack . By the end of the day both armies had returned to their original positions . Meanwhile the Ottoman X Corps , which had landed at Şarköy , advanced until by the reinforcements sent by General Kovachev succeeded in halting them . Casualties on both sides were light . After the failure of the frontal attack in Bulair , the Ottoman forces at Şarköy re - embarked into their ships on 11 February and were transported to Gallipoli . The Ottoman attack at Çatalca , directed against the powerful Bulgarian First and Third Armies , was initially launched only as a diversion from the Gallipoli - Şarköy operation , pinning down the Bulgarian forces in situ . Nevertheless , it resulted in unexpected success . The Bulgarians , who were weakened by cholera and concerned that an Ottoman amphibious invasion might endanger their armies , deliberately withdrew about 15 km and to the south over 20 km to their secondary defensive positions on higher ground to the west . With the end of the attack in Gallipoli the Ottomans canceled the operation , reluctant to leave the Çatalca Line , but several days passed before the Bulgarians realized that the offensive was over . By 15 February the front had again stabilized but the fighting along the static lines continued until the armistice . The battle , which resulted in heavy Bulgarian casualties , could be characterized as an Ottoman victory at the tactical level , but strategically it was a failure , since it did nothing to prevent the failure of the Gallipoli - Şarköy operation or relieve the pressure on Edirne . Fall of Adrianople and Serbo - Bulgarian friction . The failure of the Şarköy - Bulair operation and the deployment of the 2nd Serbian Army together with its much needed heavy siege artillery sealed Adrianople ' s fate . On 11 March after a two weeks bombardment that destroyed much of the fortified structures around the city , the final assault started with Allied forces enjoying a crushing superiority over the Ottoman garrison . Under the command of General Nikola Ivanov , the Bulgarian 2nd Army with 106 , 425 men and two Serb divisions with 47 , 275 men conquered the city , with the Bulgarians suffering 8 , 093 and the Serbs 1 , 462 casualties . The Ottoman casualties for the entire Adrianople campaign reached 23 , 000 killed . The number of prisoners is less clear . The Ottoman Empire began the war with 61 , 250 men in the Adrianople fortress . Richard Hall notes that 60 , 000 men were captured . Adding to the 33 , 000 killed , the modern Turkish General Staff History notes that 28 , 500 man survived captivity leaving only 10 , 000 men unaccounted as possibly captured ( including the unspecified number of wounded ) . Bulgarian losses for the entire Adrianople campaign amounted to 7 , 682 . This was the last and decisive battle that was necessary for a quick end of the war , even though it is speculated that the fortress would have fallen eventually due to starvation . The most important result was that now the Ottoman command lost all hopes of regaining the initiative , which made any further fighting pointless . The battle had major and key results in the Serbo - Bulgarian relations planting the seeds of the countries ' confrontation some months later . The Bulgarian censor rigorously cut any references about the Serbian participation in the operation in the telegrams of the foreign correspondents . The public opinion in Sofia thus failed to realise the crucial services Serbia rendered in the battle . Accordingly the Serbs claimed that their troops of the 20th Regiment were those who captured the Ottoman commander of the city , and that Colonel Gavrilović was the allied officer who accepted Shukri ' s official surrender of the garrison , a statement that Bulgarians disputed . Subsequently the Serbs officially protested , pointing out that although they had sent their troops to Adrianople to win for Bulgaria territory the acquisition of which had never been foreseen by their mutual treaty , the Bulgarians had never fulfilled the clause of the treaty requiring Bulgaria to send 100 , 000 men to help the Serbians in their Vardar front . The Bulgarians answered that their staff had informed the Serbs about that on 23 August . The friction escalated some weeks later when the Bulgarian delegates in London bluntly warned the Serbs that they must not expect Bulgarian support on their Adriatic claims . The Serbs angrily replied that that was a clear withdrawal from the prewar agreement of mutual understanding according to the Kriva Palanka - Adriatic line of expansion , but the Bulgarians insisted that in their view , the Vardar Macedonian part of the agreement remained active and that the Serbs were still obliged to surrender the area as agreed . The Serbs answered by accusing the Bulgarians of maximalism , pointing out that if they lost both northern Albania and Vardar Macedonia , their participation in the common war would have been virtually for nothing . The tension soon was expressed in a series of hostile incidents between the two armies along their common line of occupation across the Vardar valley . The developments essentially ended the Serbo - Bulgarian alliance and made a future war between the two countries inevitable . Greek theater of operations . Macedonian front . Ottoman intelligence had also disastrously misread Greek military intentions . In retrospect , it would appear that the Ottoman staffs believed that the Greek attack would be shared equally between the two major avenues of approach , Macedonia and Epirus . The 2nd Army staff had therefore evenly balanced the combat strength of the seven Ottoman divisions between the Yanya Corps and VIII Corps , in Epirus and southern Macedonia respectively . The Greek Army also fielded seven divisions , but , having the initiative , concentrated all seven against VIII Corps , leaving only a number of independent battalions of scarcely divisional strength in the Epirus front . This had fatal consequences for the Western Group of Armies , since it led to the early loss of the strategic center of all three Macedonian fronts , the city of Thessaloniki , a fact that sealed their fate . In an unexpectedly brilliant and rapid campaign , the Army of Thessaly seized the city . In the absence of secure sea lines of communications , the retention of the Thessaloniki - Constantinople corridor was essential to the overall strategic posture of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans . Once this was gone , the defeat of the Ottoman Army became inevitable . To be sure , the Bulgarians and the Serbs played an important role in the defeat of the main Ottoman armies . Their great victories at Kirkkilise , Lüleburgaz , Kumanovo , and Monastir shattered the Eastern and Vardar Armies . However , these victories were not decisive in the sense that they ended the war . The Ottoman field armies survived , and in Thrace , they actually grew stronger day by day . In the strategic point of view these victories were enabled partially by the weakened condition of the Ottoman armies brought about by the active presence of the Greek army and fleet . With the declaration of war , the Greek Army of Thessaly under Crown Prince Constantine advanced to the north , successfully overcoming Ottoman opposition in the fortified Straits of Sarantaporo . After another victory at Giannitsa on , the Ottoman commander Hasan Tahsin Pasha surrendered Thessaloniki and its garrison of 26 , 000 men to the Greeks on . Two Corps HQs ( Ustruma and VIII ) , two Nizamiye divisions ( 14th and 22nd ) and four Redif divisions ( Salonika , Drama , Naslic and Serez ) were thus lost to the Ottoman order of battle . Additionally , the Ottoman forces lost 70 artillery pieces , 30 machine guns and 70 , 000 rifles ( Thessaloniki was the central arms depot for the Western Armies ) . The Ottoman forces estimated that 15 , 000 officers and men had been killed during the campaign in south Macedonia , bringing total losses up to 41 , 000 soldiers . Another direct consequence was that the destruction of the Macedonian Army sealed the fate of the Ottoman Vardar Army , which was fighting the Serbs to the north . The fall of Thessaloniki left it strategically isolated , without logistical supply and depth to maneuver , ensuring its destruction . Upon learning of the outcome of the battle of Yenidje , the Bulgarian high command urgently dispatched their 7th " Rila " Division from the north in the direction of the city . The division arrived there a week later , the day after its surrender to the Greeks . Until 10 November , the Greek - occupied zone had been expanded to the line from Lake Dojran to the Pangaion hills west to Kavalla . In western Macedonia however , the lack of coordination between the Greek and Serbian HQs cost the Greeks a setback in the Battle of Vevi on , when the Greek 5th Infantry Division crossed its way with the VI Ottoman Corps ( a part of the Vardar Army consisting of the 16th , 17th and 18th Nizamiye divisions ) , retreating to Albania following the battle of Prilep against the Serbs . The Greek division , surprised by the presence of the Ottoman Corps , isolated from the rest of Greek army and outnumbered by the now counterattacking Ottomans centered on Bitola , was forced to retreat . As a result , the Serbs beat the Greeks to Bitola . Epirus front . In the Epirus front the Greek army was initially heavily outnumbered , but due to the passive attitude of the Ottomans succeeded in conquering Preveza ( 21 October 1912 ) and pushing north to the direction of Ioannina . On 5 November , Major Spyros Spyromilios led a revolt in the coastal area of Himarë and expelled the Ottoman garrison without facing significant resistance , while on 20 November Greek troops from western Macedonia entered Korçë . However , Greek forces in the Epirote front had not the numbers to initiate an offensive against the German - designed defensive positions of Bizani that protected the city of Ioannina , and therefore had to wait for reinforcements from the Macedonian front . After the campaign in Macedonia was over , a large part of the Army was redeployed to Epirus , where Crown Prince Constantine himself assumed command . In the Battle of Bizani the Ottoman positions were breached and Ioannina taken on . During the siege , on 8 February 1913 , the Russian pilot N . de Sackoff , flying for the Greeks , became the first pilot ever shot down in combat , when his biplane was hit by ground fire following a bomb run on the walls of Fort Bizani . He came down near small town of Preveza , on the coast north of the Ionian island of Lefkas , secured local Greek assistance , repaired his plane and resumed flight back to base . The fall of Ioannina allowed the Greek army to continue its advance into northern Epirus , the southern part of modern Albania , which it occupied . There its advance stopped , although the Serbian line of control was very close to the north . Naval operations in the Aegean and Ionian seas . On the outbreak of hostilities on 18 October , the Greek fleet , placed under the newly promoted Rear Admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis , sailed for the island of Lemnos , occupying it three days later ( although fighting continued on the island until 27 October ) and establishing an anchorage at Moudros Bay . This move was of major strategic importance , as it provided the Greeks with a forward base in close distance to the Dardanelles Straits , the Ottoman fleet ' s main anchorage and refuge . In view of the Ottoman fleet ' s superiority in speed and broadside weight , the Greek planners expected it to sortie from the straits early in the war . Given the Greek fleet ' s unpreparedness resulting from the premature outbreak of the war , such an early Ottoman attack might well have been able to achieve a crucial victory . Instead , the Ottoman Navy spent the first two months of the war in operations against the Bulgarians in the Black Sea , giving the Greeks valuable time to complete their preparations and allowing them to consolidate their control of the Aegean . By mid - November Greek naval detachments had seized the islands of Imbros , Thasos , Agios Efstratios , Samothrace , Psara and Ikaria , while landings were undertaken on the larger islands of Lesbos and Chios only on 21 and 27 November respectively . Substantial Ottoman garrisons were present on the latter , and their resistance was fierce . They withdrew into the mountainous interior and were not subdued until 22 December and 3 January respectively . Samos , officially an autonomous principality , was not attacked until 13 March 1913 , out of a desire not to upset the Italians in the nearby Dodecanese . The clashes there were short - lived as the Ottoman forces withdrew to the Anatolian mainland , so that the island was securely in Greek hands by 16 March . At the same time , with the aid of numerous merchant ships converted to auxiliary cruiser s , a loose naval blockade on the Ottoman coasts from the Dardanelles to Suez was instituted , which disrupted the Ottomans ' flow of supplies ( only the Black Sea routes to Romania remained open ) and left some 250 , 000 Ottoman troops immobilized in Asia . In the Ionian Sea , the Greek fleet operated without opposition , ferrying supplies for the army units in the Epirus front . Furthermore , the Greeks bombarded and then blockaded the port of Vlorë in Albania on 3 December , and Durrës on 27 February . A naval blockade extending from the pre - war Greek border to Vlorë was also instituted on 3 December , isolating the newly established Provisional Government of Albania based there from any outside support . Lieutenant Nikolaos Votsis scored a major success for Greek morale on 31 October : he sailed his torpedo boat No . 11 , under the cover of night , into the harbor of Thessaloniki , sank the old Ottoman ironclad battleship and escaped unharmed . On the same day , Greek troops of the Epirus Army seized the Ottoman naval base of Preveza . The Ottomans scuttled the four ships present there , but the Greeks were able to salvage the Italian - built torpedo - boats and , which were commissioned into the Greek Navy as and respectively . A few days later , on 9 November , the wooden Ottoman armed steamer " Trabzon " was intercepted and sunk by the Greek torpedo boat No . 14 under Lt . Periklis Argyropoulos off Ayvalık . Confrontations off the Dardanelles . The main Ottoman fleet remained inside the Dardanelles for the early part of the war , while the Greek destroyers continuously patrolled the straits ' exit to report on a possible sortie . Kountouriotis suggested mining the straits , but was not taken up for fear of international reactions . On 7 December , the head of the Ottoman fleet Tahir Bey was replaced by Ramiz Naman Bey , the leader of the hawkish faction among the officer corps . A new strategy was agreed , whereby the Ottomans were to take advantage of any absence of " Georgios Averof " to attack the other Greek ships . The Ottoman staff formulated a plan to lure a number of the Greek destroyers on patrol into a trap . A first such effort on 12 December failed due to boiler trouble , but the second try two days later resulted in an indecisive engagement between the Greek destroyers and the cruiser " Mecidiye " . The war ' s first major fleet action , the Naval Battle of Elli , was fought two days later , on . The Ottoman fleet , with four battleships , nine destroyers and six torpedo boats , sailed to the entrance of the straits . The lighter Ottoman vessels remained behind , but the battleship squadron moved on north under cover of the forts at Kumkale and engaged the Greek fleet , coming from Imbros , at 9 : 40 . Leaving the older battleships to follow their original course , Kountouriotis led the " Averof " into independent action : utilizing her superior speed , she cut across the Ottoman fleet ' s bow . Under fire from two sides , the Ottomans were quickly forced to withdraw to the Dardanelles . The whole engagement lasted less than an hour , in which the Ottomans suffered heavy damage to the " Barbaros Hayreddin " and 18 dead and 41 wounded ( most during their disorderly retreat ) , and the Greeks one dead and seven wounded . In the aftermath of Elli , on 20 December the energetic Lt . Commander Rauf Bey was placed in effective command of the Ottoman fleet . Two days later he led his forces out , hoping again to trap the patrolling Greek destroyers between two divisions of the Ottoman fleet , one heading for Imbros and the other waiting at the entrance of the straits . The plan failed as the Greek ships quickly broke contact . At the same time the " Mecidiye " came under attack by the Greek submarine " Delfin " , which launched a torpedo against it but missed ; the first such attack in history . During this period , the Ottoman Army continued to press upon a reluctant Navy a plan for the re - occupation of Tenedos , which the Greek destroyers used as a base , by an amphibious operation . The operation was scheduled for 4 January . On that day , weather conditions were ideal and the fleet was ready , but the " Yenihan " regiment earmarked for the operation failed to arrive on time . The naval staff nevertheless ordered the fleet to sortie , and an engagement developed with the Greek fleet , without any significant results on either side . Similar sorties followed on 10 and 11 January , but the results of these " cat and mouse " operations were always the same : " the Greek destroyers always managed to remain outside the Ottoman warships ' range , and each time the cruisers fired a few rounds before breaking off the chase . " In preparation for the next attempt to break the Greek blockade , the Ottoman Admiralty decided to create a diversion by sending the light cruiser , captained by Rauf Bey , to raid Greek merchant shipping in the Aegean . It was hoped that the " Georgios Averof " , the only major Greek unit fast enough to catch the " Hamidiye " , would be drawn in pursuit and leave the remainder of the Greek fleet weakened . In the event , " Hamidiye " slipped through the Greek patrols on the night of 14 – 15 January and bombarded the harbor of the Greek island of Syros , sinking the Greek auxiliary cruiser which lay in anchor there ( it was later raised and repaired ) . The " Hamidiye " then left the Aegean for the Eastern Mediterranean , making stops at Beirut and Port Said before entering the Red Sea . Although providing a major morale boost for the Ottomans , the operation failed to achieve its primary objective , as Kountouriotis refused to leave his post and pursue the " Hamidiye " . Four days later , on , when the Ottoman fleet again sallied from the straits towards Lemnos , it was defeated for a second time in the Naval Battle of Lemnos . This time , the Ottoman warships concentrated their fire on the " Averof " , which again made use of its superior speed and tried to " cross the T " of the Ottoman fleet . " Barbaros Hayreddin " was again heavily damaged , and the Ottoman fleet was forced to return to the shelter of the Dardanelles and their forts . The Ottomans suffered 41 killed and 101 wounded . It was the last attempt of the Ottoman Navy to leave the Dardanelles , thereby leaving the Greeks dominant in the Aegean . On , a Greek Farman MF . 7 , piloted by Lt . Moutousis and with Ensign Moraitinis as an observer , carried out an aerial reconnaissance of the Ottoman fleet in its anchorage at Nagara , and launched four bombs on the anchored ships . Although it scored no hits , this operation is regarded as the first naval - air operation in military history . General Ivanov , commander of the 2nd Bulgarian Army , acknowledged the role of the Greek fleet in the overall Balkan League victory by stating that " the activity of the entire Greek fleet and above all the " Averof " was the chief factor in the general success of the allies " . Serb - Montenegrin theater of operations . The Serbian forces operated against major part of Ottoman Western army which were located in the areas of Novi Pazar , Kosovo and northern and eastern Macedonia . Strategically the Serbian forces were divided into four independent armies and groups : Javor brigade and Ibar Army against Ottoman forces in the area of Novi Pazar , Third Army against Ottoman forces in the areas of Kosovo and Metohija , First Army against Ottoman forces in the area of northern Macedonia and Second Army ( operating from the Bulgarian territory ) against Ottoman forces in the area of eastern Macedonia . The decisive battle was expected to be fought in the area of northern Macedonia , more specifically in the plains of Ovče Pole , where the main forces of Ottoman Vardar Army were expected to concentrate . According to the plan of the Serbian Supreme Command , three Serbian armies ( First , Second and Third ) were supposed to encircle and destroy the Vardar Army in that area , with First Army advancing from the north ( direction Vranje - Kumanovo - Ovče Pole ) , Second Army advancing from the east ( direction Kriva Palanka - Kratovo - Ovče Pole ) and Third Army advancing from the north - west ( direction Priština - Skopje - Ovče Pole ) . In the execution of this plan the main role was given to the First Army while Second Army was expected to cut of the Vardar Army ' s retreat route , and if necessary attack its rear and right flank . The main goal of Third Army was to take Kosovo and Metohija and if necessary give assistance to the First Army by attacking the Vardar Army ' s left flank and rear . Ibar Army and the Javor brigade had a minor role in the Serbian plan , they were expected to secure the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and replace Third Army in Kosovo after advancing farther south . The Serbian Army under General ( later Marshal ) Putnik dealt three decisive victories in Vardar Macedonia , its primary objective in the war , effectively destroying the Ottoman forces in the region and conquering north Macedonia . They also helped the Montenegrins to take the Sandžak and sent two divisions to help the Bulgarians at the siege of Edirne . The last battle for Macedonia was the battle of Monastir , in which the remains of the Ottoman Vardar Army were forced to retreat to central Albania . After the battle , Prime Minister Pasic asked Gen . Putnik to take part in the race for Thessaloniki . Putnik declined and instead turned his army to the west , towards Albania , foreseeing that a future confrontation between the Greeks and Bulgarians over Thessaloniki could greatly help Serbia ' s own plans over Vardar Macedonia . After the Great Powers applied pressure on them , the Serbs started to withdraw from northern Albania and the Sandžak , although they left behind their heavy artillery park to help the Montenegrins in the continuing siege of Shkodër . On 23 April 1913 Scutari ' s garrison was forced to surrender due to starvation . Conclusion of the war and aftermath . The Treaty of London ended the First Balkan War on 30 May 1913 . All Ottoman territory west of the Enez - Kıyıköy line was ceded to the Balkan League , according to the " status quo " at the time of the armistice . The treaty also declared Albania to be an independent state . Almost all of the territory that was designated to form the new Albanian state was currently occupied by either Greece or Serbia , which only reluctantly withdrew their troops . Having unresolved disputes with Serbia over the division of northern Macedonia and with Greece over southern Macedonia , Bulgaria was prepared , if the need arose , to solve the problems by force , and began transferring its forces from Eastern Thrace to the disputed regions . Unwilling to yield to any pressure Greece and Serbia settled their mutual differences and signed a military alliance directed against Bulgaria on 1 May 1913 , even before the Treaty of London had been concluded . This was soon followed by a treaty of " mutual friendship and protection " on 19 May / June 1 , 1913 . Thus the scene for the Second Balkan War was set . Reactions among the Great Powers . The developments that led to the war did not go unnoticed by the Great Powers , although there was an official consensus between the European Powers over the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire , which led to a stern warning to the Balkan states , unofficially each of them took a different diplomatic approach due to their conflicting interests in the area . As a result , any possible preventative effect of the common official warning was cancelled by the mixed unofficial signals , and failed to prevent or to stop the war : Finally , when Serb - Austrian tensions again grew hot in July 1914 when a Serbian backed organization assassinated the heir of the Austro - Hungarian throne , no one had strong reservations about the possible conflict and the First World War broke out .