While Greece and Servia were scattering, capturing, or destroying
the Turkish troops stationed in Macedonia, and closing in on that
province from north and south like an irresistible vise, it fell to
Bulgaria to meet the enemy's main army in the plains of Eastern
Thrace. The distribution of the forces of the Allies was the natural
result of their respective geographical location. Macedonia to the
west of the Vardar and Bregalnitza Rivers was the only part of
Turkey which adjoined Greece and Servia. Thrace, on the other hand,
marched with the southern boundary of Bulgaria from the sources of
the Mesta River to the Black Sea, and its eastern half was
intersected diagonally by the main road from Sofia to Adrianople and
Constantinople. Along this line the Bulgarians sent their forces
against the common enemy as soon as war was declared. The swift
story of their military exploits, the record of their brilliant
victories, struck Europe with amazement. Here was a country which
only thirty-five years earlier had been an unknown and despised
province of Turkey in Europe now overwhelming the armies of the
Ottoman Empire in the great victories of Kirk Kilisse, Lule Burgas,
and Chorlu. In a few weeks the irresistible troops of King Ferdinand
had reached the Chataldja line of fortifications. Only twenty-five
miles beyond lay Constantinople where they hoped to celebrate their
final triumph.