THE FALL OF THE TURKISH POWER
In the nineteenth century the Turkish dominion was pushed back in all
directions from the Balkan Peninsula. At the dawn of that century
Montenegro was the only Balkan state entirely free from occupation,
vassalage, or the duty of tribute to the Sublime Porte. At the close of
that century Montenegro, Serbia, Roumania, Greece, and Bulgaria were all
practically free and self-governing.
In 1804, as has been recorded, Kara George in Serbia raised the standard
of revolt against Turkey. In 1806 the Serbs defeated the Turks in a
pitched battle, and for a moment Serbia was free. But in 1812 when the
Turkish power resolved upon a great invasion of Serbia, the heart of
Kara George failed him and he left his country to its fate, taking
refuge in Austria. Thus deserted by their leader, the Serbs did not
abandon the struggle altogether. Milosh Obrenovic stepped to the front
as the national champion, and though he could make no stand against the
Turkish troops in the open field he kept up an active revolt from a base
in the mountains. The contest for national liberty went on with varying
fortune. Troubles at this time were thickening around Turkey, and
whenever she was engaged in war with Russia the oppressed nationalities
within her borders took the opportunity to strike a blow for liberty. By
1839--it is not possible to make a record of all the dynastic changes
and revolutions which filled the years 1812-1839--Serbia was practically
free, with the payment of an annual tribute to Turkey as her only bond.
During the Crimean War she kept her neutrality as between Russia and
Turkey. The Treaty of Paris (1856) confirmed her territorial
independence, subject to the payment of a tribute to Turkey. In 1867 the
Turkish garrisons were withdrawn from Serbia; but the tribute was still
left in existence until the date of the Treaty of Berlin.
[Illustration: _Exclusive News Agency_
THE KING OF ROUMANIA]
Roumania in 1828 (then Wallachia and Moldavia) had won her territorial
independence of Turkey subject only to payment of a tribute. The Treaty
of Paris (1856) left her under a nominal suzerainty to Turkey. In 1859
the two kingdoms united to form Roumania, and in 1866 the late King
Charles, as the result of a revolution, was elected prince of the united
kingdom.
Bulgaria had remained a fairly contented Turkish province until the
rising of 1875, and its cruel suppression by the Bashi-Bazouks. As a
direct consequence of that massacre European diplomacy turned its
serious attention to the Balkan Peninsula, and at a Conference demands
were made upon Turkey for a comprehensive reform applying to Serbia,
Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. The proposed reform was
particularly drastic as applied to Bulgaria, which was still in effect
Turkish territory, whilst all the other districts had achieved a
practical freedom. It was proposed to create two Bulgarian provinces
divided into Sandjaks and Kazas as administrative units, these to be
subdivided into districts. Christian and Mohammedans were to be settled
homogeneously in these districts. Each district was to have at its head
a mayor and a district council, elected by universal suffrage, and was
to enjoy entire autonomy in local affairs. Several districts would form
a Sandjak with a prefect (_mutessarif_) at its head who was to be
Christian or Mohammedan, according to the majority of the population of
the Sandjak. He would be proposed by the Governor-General, and nominated
by the Porte for four years. Finally, every two Sandjaks were to be
administered by a Christian Governor-General nominated by the Porte for
five years, with consent of the Powers. He would govern the province
with the help of a provincial assembly, composed of representatives
chosen by the district councils for a term of four years. This assembly
would nominate an administrative council. The provincial assembly would
be summoned every year to decide the budget and the redivision of taxes.
The armed force was to be concentrated in the towns and there would be
local militia besides. The language of the predominant nationality was
to be employed, as well as Turkish. Finally, a Commission of
International Control was to supervise the execution of these reforms.
The Sublime Porte was still haggling about these reforms when Russia
lost patience and declared war upon Turkey on April 12, 1877. Moving
through the friendly territory of Roumania, Russia attacked the Turkish
forces in Bulgarian territory. In that war the Russians found that the
Turks were a gallant foe, and the issue seemed to hang in the balance
until Roumania and Bulgaria went actively to the help of the Russian
forces. The Roumanian aid was exceedingly valuable. Prince Charles
crossed the Danube at the head of 28,000 foot soldiers and 4000 cavalry.
He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces against Plevna, and
his soldiers were chiefly responsible for the taking of the Grivica
Redoubt which turned the tide of victory against the Turks. The
Bulgarians did but little during the campaign: it was not possible that
they should do much seeing that they could only put irregulars in the
field. Nevertheless some high personal reputations for courage were
made. During my stay with the Bulgarian army in 1912 I noted that there
were of the military officers three classes, the men who had graduated
in foreign military colleges--usually Petrograd,--very smart, very
insistent on their military dignity, speaking usually three or four
languages; officers who had been educated at the Military College,
Sofia; and the older Bulgarian type, dating sometimes from before the
War of Liberation. Of these last the outstanding figure was General
Nicolaieff, who as captain of a Bulgarian company rushed a Turkish
battery beneath Shipka after the Russians had been held up so long that
they were in despair. A fine stalwart figure General Nicolaieff showed
when I met him at Yamboli, a hospital base town of which he was military
commandant. Another soldier of the War of Liberation, a captain in rank,
I travelled with for a day once between Kirk Kilisse and Chorlu. We
chummed up and shared a meal of meat balls cooked with onions, rough
country wine (these from his stores), and dates and biscuits (from my
stores). He spoke neither English nor French, but a Bulgarian doctor who
spoke French acted as interpreter, and the old officer, who after long
entreaty at last had got leave to go down to the front in spite of his
age, yarned about the hardships and tragedies of the fighting around
Stara Zagora and the Shipka Pass. Some of the Bulgarians, he said, took
the field with no other arms than staves and knives, and got their first
rifles from the dead of the battle-fields.
[Illustration: THE SHIPKA PASS]
Serbia took a hand in this campaign, too, though she hesitated for some
time, going to the aid of Russia through fear of Austria. Beginning
late, at a time when the mountains were covered in the winter snows, the
Serbians suffered severely from the weather, but won notable victories
at Pirot, at Nish, and at Vranga. The Turks were in full retreat on
Constantinople when the armistice and Treaty of San Stefano put an end
to the war.
It seems to be one of the standing rules of Balkan wars and Balkan peace
treaties that those who do the work shall not reap the reward, and that
a policy of standing by and waiting is the wisest and most profitable.
In this Russo-Turkish war the Roumanians had done invaluable work for
the Russian cause. In return the Treaty of San Stefano robbed them
shamefully. The Bulgarians had done little, except to stain the arms of
the allies with a series of massacres of the Turks in reprisal for the
previous atrocities inflicted upon them by the Bashi-Bazouks. The
Bulgarians were awarded a tremendous prize of territory. If the grant
had been confirmed it would have made Bulgaria the paramount power of
the Balkan Peninsula. By the Treaty of San Stefano, Bulgaria was made
an autonomous principality subject to Turkey, with a Christian
government and national militia. The Prince of Bulgaria was to be freely
chosen by the people and accepted by the Sublime Porte, with the consent
of the Powers. As regards internal government, it was agreed that an
assembly of notables, presided over by an Imperial Commissioner and
attended by a Turkish Commissioner, should meet at Philippopolis or
Tirnova before the election of the Prince to draw up a constitutional
statute similar to those of the other Danubian principalities after the
Treaty of Adrianople in 1830. The boundaries of Bulgaria were to include
all that is now Bulgaria, and the greater part of Thrace and Macedonia.
The European Congress of Berlin which revised the Treaty of San Stefano
recognised that the motive of Russia was to create in Bulgaria a vast
but weak state, which would obediently serve her interests and in time
fall into her hands: and that the injury proposed to be done to Roumania
was inspired by a desire to limit the progress of a courageous but an
unfortunately independent-minded friend. The Congress was suspicious of
the Bulgarian arrangement, and clipped off much of the territory
assigned to the new principality. The injury done to Roumania was
allowed to stand. Then, as in 1912-1913, when Balkan boundaries were
again under the discussion of an inter-European Conference, the vital
interests of the great Powers surrounding the Balkan Peninsula were to
keep its peoples divided and weak. Both Russia and Austria had more or
less defined territorial ambitions in the Balkans: and it suited neither
Power to see any one Balkan state rise to such a standard of greatness
as would enable it to take the lead in a Balkan Union. Especially was it
not the wish of Austria that any Balkan state should grow to be so
strong as to kill definitely the hope she cherished of extending down
the Adriatic and towards the Aegean.
By the Treaty of Berlin, which followed the Congress of Berlin, the
greater part of the Balkan Peninsula was freed altogether from Turkish
rule. Roumania and Serbia were relieved from all suggestion of tribute
or vassalage. Bulgaria was left subject to a tribute (which was very
quickly afterwards repudiated). Where the Turkish power was left in
existence in European Turkey it was a threatened existence, for the
newly freed Christian peoples began at once to conspire to help to
freedom their nationals left still under Turkish rule. The war of 1912
began to be prepared in 1878.
There was, however, a period of comparative peace. Roumania, though
discontented, decided to bide her time. Her prince was crowned king with
a crown made from the metal of Turkish cannon taken at Plevna. That was
the only hint that she gave of keeping in mind the greatness of her
services which had been so poorly rewarded.
Montenegro, whilst deprived of the great and the well-deserved expansion
which the Treaty of San Stefano offered, had some benefit from the
Treaty of Berlin. The area of the kingdom was doubled and it won access
to the Adriatic. A little later the harbour of Dulcigno was ceded to
Montenegro by Turkey under pressure from the Powers, and she was left
with only one notable grievance, that of being shut off from Serbia by
the Sanjak of Novi-Bazar, which Austria secured for Turkey, apparently
with the idea of one day seizing it on her way down to Salonica.
[Illustration: _Chusseau Flaviens_
KING FERDINAND OF BULGARIA]
Serbia increased her territory by one-fourth under the Treaty of Berlin,
but was not allowed to extend towards the Adriatic, and, nurturing as
she did a dream of reviving the old Serbian Empire, was but poorly
satisfied.
Bulgaria, if it had not been for the promises of the Treaty of San
Stefano, might have been fairly content with the provisions of the
Treaty of Berlin. She had been the first nation in the Balkans to yield
to the Turks. She had allowed her sons to act as mercenary soldiers to
aid the Turks against other Christians: and during the period of
oppression she had suffered less than any from the rigours of the
invader, had protested less than any by force of arms. Yet now she was
given freedom as a gift won largely by the sacrifices of others. But,
though having the most reason to be content, Bulgaria was the least
contented of all the Balkan States. The restless ambition of the people
guiding her destinies was manifested in an internal revolution which
displaced the first prince (Alexander of Battenberg) and put on the
throne the present king (Ferdinand of Coburg). Bulgaria, too, repudiated
the friendly tutelage which Russia wished to exercise over her
destinies.
The territorial settlement made by the Berlin Treaty was first broken by
Bulgaria. That treaty had cut the ethnological Bulgaria into two,
leaving the southern half as a separate province under the name of
Eastern Rumelia. In 1885 Eastern Rumelia was annexed to Bulgaria with
the glad consent of its inhabitants, but in spite of the wishes of
Russia. Serbia saw in this the threat of a Bulgarian hegemony in the
Balkans, and demanded some territorial compensation for herself. This
was refused. War followed. The Bulgarians were victorious at the Battle
of Slivnitza, an achievement which was in great measure due to the
organising ability of Prince Alexander. The victory secured Rumelia for
Bulgaria. But no sense of gratitude to Prince Alexander survived, and
the Russian intrigue which secured his abdication and flight was
undoubtedly aided by a large section of the Bulgarian people.
Stambouloff, a peasant leader of the Bulgarians and its greatest
personality since the War of Liberation, was faithful to Alexander, but
was not able to save him.
[Illustration: _Underwood & Underwood_
KING FERDINAND'S BODYGUARD]
The Bulgarian throne after Alexander's abdication was offered to the
King of Roumania. The acceptance of the offer would possibly have led to
a real Balkan Federation. The united power of Roumania and Bulgaria,
exercised wisely, could have gently pressed the other Balkan peoples
into a union. That, however, would have suited the aims neither of
Russia nor of Austria, the two Empires which guided the destinies of the
Balkans, chiefly in the light of their own selfish ends. The Roumanian
king refused the throne of Bulgaria, and in 1887 Prince Ferdinand of
Coburg became Prince of the State. It was not long before he fell out
with Stambouloff, the able but personally unamenable patriot who chiefly
had made modern Bulgaria. In the conflict between the two Prince
Ferdinand proved the stronger. Stambouloff was dismissed from office,
and in 1895 was assassinated in the streets of Sofia. No attempt was
made to punish his murderers.
In 1908 Bulgaria shook off the last shred of dependence to Turkey. The
bold action was the crown of a clever diplomatic intrigue by Prince
Ferdinand. Since the murder of Stambouloff the Prince had been
sedulously cultivating in public the friendship of Russia: but that had
not prevented him carrying to a great pitch of mutual confidence a
secret understanding with Austria. The Austrian Empire was anxious to
annex formally the districts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which it had
long been in occupation. Objection to this would surely have come from
Russia; but Russia was impotent for the time being after the disastrous
war with Japan. Just as surely it would come from Serbia which would see
thus definitely pass over to the one Power, which she had reason to
fear, a section of Slav-inhabited country clearly connected to the Serbs
by racial ties. Serbia, it might be expected, would have the support of
France and England as well as Russia. For Bulgaria the offer to
neutralise Serbia made to Austria all the difference between an action
which was a little risky and an action which had no risk at all.
Bulgaria supported Austria in the annexation, and, as was to have been
expected, Serbia found protest impossible, since Russia, France, and
England swallowed the affront to treaty obligations to which they were
parties. It was Bulgaria's reward to have the support of the Triple
Alliance in throwing off all fealty and tribute to the Sublime Porte.
Prince Ferdinand became the Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria.
Nor was that the end of Bulgarian ambition. The "big" Bulgaria of the
San Stefano treaty floated before the eyes of her rulers constantly, and
she began to prepare for a war against Turkey, of which the prize
should be Thrace and Macedonia. An obstacle in Macedonia was not only
that the Turks were in occupation, but that the Greeks considered
themselves entitled to the reversion of the estate. Rivalry between the
three nations was responsible for the Macedonian horrors, which went on
from year to year, and made one district of the Balkans a veritable hell
on earth. These horrors have been set at the door of the "Unspeakable
Turk." The Turk has quite enough to answer for in the many hideous
crimes which he has undoubtedly committed. It is not quite just to hold
him wholly responsible for the terrible state of Macedonia during the
last few years. Greek and Bulgarian were alike interested in making it
appear to the world that Turkish rule in Macedonia was impossible. To
effect this they insisted that rapine and massacre should become normal.
If the Turk did not wish for massacres he was stirred up to massacres.
Christian pastors were not prevented by their Christian faith from
murders of their own people, if it could be certain that the Turks would
have the discredit of them. Side by side with the atrocities which were
committed by Turks against Christians and Christians against Turks, the
two sets of warring Christians, the Bulgarian Exarchates and the Greek
Patriarchates, attacked one another with a fiendish relentlessness,
which equalled the most able efforts of the Turks in the way of rape,
murder, and robbery.
In excuse for part of this, _i.e._ that part which stirred up the Turks
to atrocities even when they wished to be peaceful, there could be
pleaded the good object of striving for the end of all Turkish rule in
Christian districts of the Balkans. The excuse will serve this far: that
without a doubt a Christian community cannot be governed justly by the
Turk, and the very strongest of steps are warranted to put an end to
Turkish domination of a district largely inhabited by Christians. But no
consideration, even that of exterminating Turkish rule, could justify
all the Christian atrocities perpetrated in Macedonia: and there is
certainly no shadow of an excuse for the atrocities with which Bulgarian
sought to score against Greek and Greek against Bulgarian. The era of
those atrocities has not yet closed. The Turk has been driven from
Macedonia, but Greek and Bulgarian continue their feud. For the time the
Greek is in the ascendant, whilst the Bulgarian broods over a revenge.
[Illustration: BULGARIAN INFANTRY]