1912 - First Balkan War

First Balkan War erupted in October 1912, in which Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria fought against the Ottoman Empire, in a coalition called "The Balkan League". The war ended with an armistice on December 3rd the same year. At the Peace Conference in London, May 30th 1913, Turkey had to give up all possessions in Europe, apart from Edirne, which the allies managed to take but failed to hold under their authority. Macedonian people took an active part in the war, fighting with expectation for freedom and independence. But instead, the Allies divided Macedonia, which, in turn, due to "inadequate separation" was the reason for the beginning of the Second Balkan War.

At the same time, Italy sends it's own troops in Libya and several islands in the Ege Sea. There are numerous uprisings in Arabia against the Turkish authority, so the large and well equipped Turkish army suffers defeat and loses in almost all fronts. The city of Thessaloniki, with more than 100.000 soldiers, most modern canons and navy with 6 submarines, surrenders to the Greek army without a fight. That same Greek army didn't managed to conquer the fortress of Janina, while the fortress of Edirne is conquered by the Bulgarian army in which for the first time were used airplanes for bombarding. Bulgarian army approached 20 km outside of Istanbul and Macedonian soldiers showed dedicated fight in stopping the counter attacks of the Ottoman army lead by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Ottoman Turks were chased away from the Balkan, but with the Peace Conference East Trakia and Edirne remained under their authority, while Macedonia was divided between Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece, which meant that the Macedonians fought in the war only to be conquered again by her neighbors. 

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