Balkan League (1912)
발칸 동맹 (1912)
The coalition of bilateral treaties concluded in 1912 by Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro against the Ottoman Empire. Formed under Russian patronage, it won the First Balkan War but broke apart over the partition of Macedonia, collapsing in the Second Balkan War of 1913.
In depth
The core of the League was the Serbo-Bulgarian treaty signed under Russian supervision on 13 March 1912. Ostensibly directed against Austria-Hungary, its secret annex provided for war against the Ottoman Empire and a partition of Macedonia: the land east of the Ohrid-Kriva Palanka line was an "Uncontested Zone" recognised as Bulgarian, while some 11,000 km² in the northwest formed a "Contested Zone" to be arbitrated by the Russian Emperor. The Greco-Bulgarian treaty of 29 May set no division of territory; Montenegro allied separately with Bulgaria and Serbia, while Greece had only oral "gentlemen's agreements" with Serbia and Montenegro. All the negotiations were secret, and the treaties were published in French translation in Le Matin in Paris after the wars.
The Bulgarian army, the leading force of the coalition, took the Thracian front and the Serbian army the Macedonian front, while Greece was needed for a navy that could dominate the Aegean and cut off Ottoman reinforcements. After war began in October 1912 the allies seized most of the Ottoman Empire's European territory. But when Serbia, denied an Adriatic port by Albanian independence, demanded revision of the Macedonian partition and Greece and Serbia allied against Bulgaria on 1 June 1913, the League effectively dissolved. English Wikipedia judges its collapse a vital blow to Russia's system of defence against Austria-Hungary.