First Balkan War

The Albanian National Awakening or the National Renaissance or the National Revival refers to the period in the history of Albania from 1870 until... the Albanian Declaration of Independence in 1912. Its activists are called Revivalists . In 1912, with the outbreak of the First Balkan War, the Albanians rose up and declared the creation of an independent Albania, which included what are now Albania and Kosovo. On December 20, 1912 the Conference of Ambassadors in London recognized an independent Albania within its present-day borders. Right after 1830, when the Massacre of the Albanian Beys occurred, the last Albanian Pashalik, that of Scutari fell. The Bushati dynasty rule ended when an Ottoman army under Mehmed Reshid Pasha besieged the Rozafa Castle and forced Mustafa Reshiti to surrender . The Albanian defeat ended a planned alliance between the Albanians and the Bosnians, who were similarly seeking autonomy. Instead of the pashalik, the vilayets of Scutari and that of Kosovo were created.
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The Battle of Kumanovo or Battle of Kumanova on 23 – 24 October 1912 was a major battle of the First Balkan War. It was an important Serbian... victory over the Ottoman army in Vardar Macedonia, shortly after the outbreak of the war. After this defeat, the Ottoman army abandoned the major part of Vardar Macedonia, suffering heavy losses in manpower and in war materiel. The objective of the Serbian army plan was to destroy the Ottoman army in a decisive battle before the Ottomans could complete the mobilisation and concentration of forces. The Serbian planners assumed that the main Ottoman force would be deployed defensively in the valley of Vardar and on the strategically important plateau of Ovče Pole. The aim was to double envelop the Ottoman army by using three armies: The Serbian Commander-in-Chief was General Radomir Putnik. According to the initial Ottoman plan, created by Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz, the Ottoman forces in Macedonia would stay in defense and, if necessary, retreat to Albania. The decisive battle would take place in Thrace, versus the Bulgarian army.
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The Battle or Siege of Adrianople or Siege of Edirne was fought during the First Balkan War, beginning in mid-November 1912 and ending on 26 March... 1913 with the capture of Edirne by the Bulgarian 2nd Army. The victorious end of the siege was considered an enormous military success because the defenses of city were carefully developed by leading German siege experts and were dubbed 'undefeatable'. The Bulgarian army, after 5 months of siege and two bold night attacks, took the Ottoman stronghold. The victors were under the overall command of General Nikola Ivanov, and the commander of the Bulgarian forces on the Eastern sector of the fortress was General Georgi Vazov, brother of the famous Bulgarian writer Ivan Vazov and General Vladimir Vazov. One of the first known uses of an airplane for bombing took place during the siege: the Bulgarians dropped special hand grenades from one or more airplanes in an effort to cause panic among Turkish soldiers.
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The Battle of Lule Burgas or 'Battle of Luleburgas - Bunarhisar line was a battle between the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire. The... battle took place from the 28 October to 3 November 1912. The outnumbered Bulgarian forces made the Ottomans retreat to Çatalca line, 30 km from the Ottoman capital Constantinople. In terms of forces engaged it was the largest battle fought in Europe between the end of the Franco-Prussian War and the beginning of the First World War Following the quick Bulgarian victory on the Petra - Seliolu - Geckenli line and the capture of Kirk Kilisse , the Ottoman forces retreated in disorder further east and south. The Bulgarian Second Army under the command of gen. Nikola Ivanov besieged Adrianople but the First and Third armies failed to chase the retreating Ottoman forces. Thus the Ottomans were enabled to re-group and took new defensive positions along the Lule Burgas - Bunar Hisar line. The Bulgarian Third Army under gen. Radko Dimitriev reached the Ottoman lines on October 28.
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The Battle of Kirk Kilisse or Battle of Kirkkilise or Battle of Lozengrad was part of the First Balkan War between the armies of Bulgaria and the... Ottoman Empire. It took place on 24 October 1912, when the Bulgarian army defeated an Ottoman army in Eastern Thrace. The initial clashes were around several villages to the north of the town. The Bulgarian attacks were irresistible and the Ottoman forces were forced to retreat. On 10 October the Ottoman army threatened to split 1st and 3rd Bulgarian armies but it was quickly stopped by charge by 1st Sofian and 2nd Preslav brigades. After bloody fights along the whole town the Ottomans began to pull back and on the next morning Kırk Kilise was in Bulgarian rule. After the victory, the French minister of war Alexandre Millerand stated that the Bulgarian Army was the best in Europe and that he would prefer 100,000 Bulgarians for allies than any other European army.
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