- 1912-10-08 —
The start of the the First Balkan War when Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia constituting the Balkan League and having large parts of their ethnic populations under
Ottoman sovereignty, attacked the Ottoman Empire, terminating its five centuries of rule in the Balkans. The seven-month campaign ended in the Treaty of London (30 May 1913) brokered and mediated by the great powers of Europe, including the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. They sought to prevent further conflicts in the Balkans and to maintain stability in the region.
The main provisions included the following:
- Serbia expanded its territory, gaining control of Kosovo, parts of Macedonia, and northern Albania.
- Greece acquired southern Epirus, southern Macedonia, Crete, and the northern Aegean islands.
- Bulgaria received Thrace up to the outskirts of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and parts of Macedonia.
- Montenegro also saw territorial gains in northern Albania and Kosovo.
- Albania was created as an independent state, with the great powers of Europe guaranteeing its sovereignty.
- The division of Macedonia: The treaty stipulated that the majority of Macedonia would be under the sovereignty of Serbia and Greece, with Bulgaria gaining a smaller portion. This division sowed the seeds of future conflicts and territorial disputes in the region.
- The deportation of people according to their "ethnical" backgrounds was stipulated in this treaty for the first time in history and was soon to lead to unprecedented atrocities and new forms of racism and racial prejudice committed later in Europe, especially by the Nazis. Unprecedented atrocities were committed by all parties involved and hundreds of thousands of Muslims, mostly Greeks, Bulgarians and Slavs now designated as "Turks", were deported eventually to the Asiatic parts of Turkey, putting an end to Ottoman rule in Southeastern Europe. [Colonialism, Nationalism and Jewish Immigration to Palestine: Abdu´l-Baha's Viewpoints Regarding the Middle East by Kamran Ekbal p16]
In a talk at the Japenese Independ
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