The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—TurkeyHogarth, D. G. (David George)
History
The Balkans: A History of Bulgaria—Serbia—Greece—Rumania—Turkey
Hogarth, D. G. (David George)
Balkan Peninsula -- History; Eastern question (Balkan)
The number of Turkish troops opposing the Bulgarians in Thrace was
about 180,000, and they had almost exactly the same number wherewith to
oppose the Serbians in Macedonia; for, although Macedonia was
considered by the Turks to be the most important theatre of war, yet
the proximity of the Bulgarian frontier to Constantinople made it
necessary to retain a large number of troops in Thrace. On October 19
the Bulgarians took the frontier town of Mustafa Pasha. On October 24
they defeated the Turks at Kirk-Kilissé (or Lozengrad), further east.
From October 28 to November 2 raged the terrific battle of Lule-Burgas,
which resulted in a complete and brilliant victory of the Bulgarians
over the Turks. The defeat and humiliation of the Turks was as rapid
and thorough in Thrace as it had been in Macedonia, and by the middle
of November the remains of the Turkish army were entrenched behind the
impregnable lines of Chataldja, while a large garrison was shut up in
Adrianople, which had been invested by the end of October. The
Bulgarian army, somewhat exhausted by this brilliant and lightning
campaign, refrained from storming the lines of Chataldja, an operation
which could not fail to involve losses such as the Bulgarian nation was
scarcely in a position to bear, and on December 3 the armistice was
signed. The negotiations conducted in London for two months led,
however, to no result, and on February 3, 1913, hostilities were
resumed. These, for the Bulgarians, resolved themselves into the more
energetic prosecution of the siege of Adrianople, which had not been
raised during the armistice. To their assistance Serbia, being able to
spare troops from Macedonia, sent 50,000 men and a quantity of heavy
siege artillery, an arm which the Bulgarians lacked. On March 26, 1913,
the fortress surrendered to the allied armies.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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