Abstract
During the summer of 1912 the Balkan League states — Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece — furtively worked to prepare for a clash with the Turks. In August the Montenegrins and the Turks had an armed clash along the Albanian border. Tensions mounted, so much so that Austria-Hungary, Russia and even France grew alarmed. In mid-September Montenegro joined the Balkan League. An attack on Turkey appeared imminent, prompting Constantinople to mobilize troops in Thrace on 22 September. Eight days later the Balkan League mobilized. Then on 8 October Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman empire. On 18 October all the other League members declared war. The First Balkan War had begun.1
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Notes and References
For examples of Schemua’s assessments, see Schemua to Berchtold, 7 Oct. 1912, Operations Büro, KA Fasz. 61; and Schemua’s memorandum, ‘Allgemeiner Zustand der russischen Armee im Vergleich mit unserer Wehrmacht’, 13 Oct. 1912, ibid. On the German assessments, see Jack R. Dukes, ‘Militarism and Arms Policy Revisited: The Origins of the German Army Law of 1913’, in Jack R. Dukes and Joachim Remak (eds), Another Germany: A Reconsideration of the Imperial Era (Boulder, Col., 1988) pp. 28-33. On the overall problem, see Rudolf Kiszling, ‘Russlands Kriegsvorbereitungen im Herbst 1912 und ihre Rückwirkungen auf Österreich-Ungarn’, Berliner Monatshefte, XIII (March 1935) 181–92
On the general situation at this point, see Treadway, Montenegro, pp. 143-56; also Richard Crampton, ‘The Decline of the Concert of Europe in the Balkans, 1913-1914’, Slavonic and East European Review, LII (1974) 393–419
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© 1991 Samuel R. Williamson, Jr
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Williamson, S.R. (1991). Militant Diplomacy: the Habsburgs and the First Balkan War, August 1912–May 1913. In: Austria-Hungary and the Origins of the First World War. The Making of the 20th Century. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21163-0_8
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