The principal reason for the Ottoman defeat in the fall of 1912 was the decision on part of the Ottoman government to respond to the ultimatum from the Balkan League on 15 October 1912 by declaring war at a time when the Ottoman mobilization ordered on 1 October was only partially complete. At the time of the declaration of war there were 580,000 Ottoman soldiers in the Balkans facing 912,000 soldiers of the Balkan League. The bad condition of the roads together with sparse railroad network had led to the Ottoman mobilization being grossly behind schedule, and many of the commanders were new to their units, having only been appointed on 1 October 1912. The Turkish historian Handan Nezir Akmeșe wrote the best response when faced with the Balkan League ultimatum on 15 October on the part of the Ottomans would have been to try to stall for time via diplomacy while completing the mobilization instead of declaring war at once. The War Minister Nazim Pasha and the Navy Minister Mahmund Muhtar Pasha had presented over-optimistic pictures of the Ottoman readiness for war to the Cabinet in October 1912 and advised that the Ottoman forces should take the offensive at once at the outbreak of hostilities. By contrast, many senior army commanders were advocating taking the defensive when the war began, arguing that the incomplete mobilization together with serious logistic problems made taking the offensive impossible. Other reasons for the defeat were:. why did the Ottomans try to stall?