The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 16 June 1913. Serbian and Greek armies repulsed the Bulgarian offensive and counter-attacked, entering Bulgaria. With Bulgaria also having previously engaged in territorial disputes with Romania, this war provoked Romanian intervention against Bulgaria. The Ottoman Empire also took advantage of the situation to regain some lost territories from the previous war. When Romanian troops approached the capital Sofia, Bulgaria asked for an armistice, resulting in the Treaty of Bucharest, in which Bulgaria had to cede portions of its First Balkan War gains to Serbia, Greece, Romania and the Ottomans.
The war caused a break-up of the Russo-Bulgarian alliance, leaving Serbia as the only ally of Russia in this critical region. For this reason Serbia had Russia's full support. This, and Serbia's successes in the First and Second Balkan Wars, fueled both Serbian ambitions over Austro-Hungarian ruled territories and Austro-Hungarian fears of Serbian ambitions. Extremists connected to the Serbian government ignited the July crisis of 1914, and (having issued two ultimatums to Serbia during the Balkan Wars, with reluctant Russian acquiescence) hoped to repeat this successfully a third time. This move precipitated the First World War.
Read more about Second Balkan War: First Balkan War, Bulgarian Plans For War, Opposing Forces, Outbreak of The War, Battle of Kilkis-Lachanas, Battles of Bregalnica and Kalimanci, Battle of Kresna and Armistice, Peace Treaty and Aftermath
Famous quotes containing the words balkan war, balkan and/or war:
“... there was the first Balkan war and the second Balkan war and then there was the first world war. It is extraordinary how having done a thing once you have to do it again, there is the pleasure of coincidence and there is the pleasure of repetition, and so there is the second world war, and in between there was the Abyssinian war and the Spanish civil war.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“... there was the first Balkan war and the second Balkan war and then there was the first world war. It is extraordinary how having done a thing once you have to do it again, there is the pleasure of coincidence and there is the pleasure of repetition, and so there is the second world war, and in between there was the Abyssinian war and the Spanish civil war.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“Since the war nothing is so really frightening not the dark not alone in a room or anything on a road or a dog or a moon but two things, yes, indigestion and high places they are frightening.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)