The Balkan Wars: 1912-1913: Second EditionSchurman, Jacob Gould
History
The Balkan Wars: 1912-1913: Second Edition
Schurman, Jacob Gould
Balkan Peninsula -- History -- War of 1912-1913
Turkey was finally compelled to accept terms of peace. In January,
while the London Peace Conference was still in session, Kiamil Pasha,
{58} who had endeavored to prepare the nation for the territorial
sacrifice he had all along recognized as inevitable, was driven from
power and his war minister, Nazim Pasha, murdered through an uprising
of the Young Turk party executed by Enver Bey, who himself demanded the
resignation of Kiamil and carried it to the Sultan and secured its
acceptance. The insurgents set up Mahmud Shevket Pasha as Grand Vizier
and made the retention of Adrianople their cardinal policy. But the
same inexorable fate overtook the new government in April as faced
Kiamil in January. The Powers were insistent on peace, and the
successes of the Allies left no alternative and no excuse for delay.
The Young Turk party who had come to power on the Adrianople issue were
accordingly compelled to ratify the cession to the allies of the city
with all its mosques and tombs and historic souvenirs. The Treaty of
London, which proved to be short-lived, was signed on May 30.
{59}
THE TERMS OF PEACE
The treaty of peace provided that beyond a line drawn from Enos near
the mouth of the Maritza River on the Aegean Sea to Midia on the coast
of the Black Sea all Turkey should be ceded to the Allies except
Albania, whose boundaries were to be fixed by the Great Powers. It was
also stipulated that the Great Powers should determine the destiny of
the Aegean Islands belonging to Turkey which Greece now claimed by
right of military occupation and the vote of their inhabitants (nearly
all of whom were Greek). A more direct concession to Greece was the
withdrawal of Turkish sovereignty over Crete. The treaty also
contained financial and other provisions, but they do not concern us
here. The essential point is that, with the exception of
Constantinople and a narrow hinterland for its protection, the Moslems
after more than five centuries of possession had been driven out of
Europe.
{60}
This great and memorable consummation was the achievement of the united
nations of the Balkans. It was not a happy augury for the immediate
future to recall the historic fact that the past successes of the
Moslems had been due to dissensions and divisions among their Christian
neighbors.
{61}
II
THE WAR BETWEEN THE ALLIES
[Illustration: Map showing the Turkish Territories occupied by the
Armies of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Servia at the close of the
War against Turkey.]
{63}
II
THE WAR BETWEEN THE ALLIES
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