Bulgaria's belated acceptance of Russian arbitration was not
destined to establish peace. Yet Dr. Daneff, the prime minister, who
received me on June 27 and talked freely of the Balkan situation
(perhaps the more freely because in this conversation it transpired
that we had been fellow students together at the University of
Heidelberg), decided on June 28 not to go to war with the Allies.
Yet that very evening at eight o'clock, unknown to Dr. Daneff, an
order in cipher and marked "very urgent" was issued by General
Savoff to the commander of the fourth army directing him on the
following evening to attack the Servians "most vigorously along the
whole front." On the following afternoon, the 29th, General Savoff
issued another order to the army commanders giving further
instructions for attacks on the Servians and Greeks, including an
attack on Saloniki, stating that these attacks were taking place
"without any official declaration of war," and that they were
undertaken in order to accustom the Bulgarian army to regard their
former allies as enemies, to hasten the activities of the Russian
government, to compel the former allies to be more conciliatory, and
to secure new territories for Bulgaria! Who was responsible for this
deplorable lack of harmony between the civil government and the
military authorities has not yet been officially disclosed. Did
General Savoff act on his own responsibility? Or is there any truth
in the charge that King Ferdinand after a long consultation with the
Austro-Hungarian Minister instructed the General to issue the order?
Dr. Daneff knew nothing of it, and though he made every effort to
stop the resulting hostilities, the dogs of war had been let loose
and could not now be torn from one another's throats.
There had been sporadic fighting in Macedonia between the Allies for
some months past. Greece and Servia had concluded an anti-Bulgarian
alliance on June 1. They also entered into a convention with
Roumania by which that power agreed to intervene in case of war
between the late Allies. And war having been declared, Roumania
seized Silistria at midnight, July 10. Meanwhile the Servian and
Greek forces were fighting the Bulgarians hard at Kilkis, Doiran,
and other points between the Vardar and the Struma. And, as if
Bulgaria had not enemies enough on her back already, the Turkish
Army on July 12 left the Chataldja fortifications, crossed the
Enos-Midia line, and in less than two weeks, with Enver Bey at its
head, re-occupied Adrianople. Bulgaria was powerless to stop the
further advance of the Turks, nor had she forces to send against the
Roumanians who marched unopposed through the neighboring country
till Sofia itself was within their power.
No nation could stand up against such fearful odds. Dr. Daneff
resigned on July 15. And the new ministry had to make the best terms
it could.