102 years since...

[trajan]

... the 1st Balkan War began (well, 102 years plus 1 day actually), on 8 October, 1912, when Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire. One of many preludes to the GW, the subsequent events showed just how badly prepared the Ottoman army was, even with German assistance, for a major war. Mobilisation was a disaster, with initially only some 300,000 men available to combat a combined Balkan force of some 610,000. Even the inclusion and advice of German officers serving in Turkey and naturalised as Ottoman subjects with almost immediate effect did not help. The war dragged on, until an armistice of sorts was agreed December but spluttered along into 1913 (including a failed attempt in February at encircling the Bulgarian 4th army on the Gallipoli peninsula through an amphibious landing at İnceburun and Şarköy, with Mustafa Kemal on the staff), until May. But with so many parties unhappy with the state of affairs, the 2nd Balkan War began in June 1913, continuing until the Ottomans agreed to peace, the Treaty of Istanbul with Bulgaria being agreed on 29 September 1913, the Treaty of Athens with Greece on 14 November 1913, and a second Treaty of Istanbul with Serbia on March 13, 1914.

Trajan