"There has broken out and is now in progress a war which is generally regarded as the greatest of all time-a war already involving five of the six Great Powers and three of the smaller nations of Europe as well as Japan and Turkey..."So opens this second edition of the classic history published mere months after the first in 1914 and prompted by the rapidly devolving global political situation. Students of World War I and war reportage will find a stunning immediacy and a journalistic urgency in this recounting of a war that turned out to be but a mere skirmish preceding a much larger conflagration, told by a diplomat on the scene: the author, a former philosophy professor, served as U.S. minister to Greece and Montenegro during the Balkan Wars.AUTHOR BIO: JACOB GOULD SCHURMAN (1854-1942) was born on Prince Edward Island and educated in Britain and Germany, but spent much of his life in the service of government and education in the United States. In 1892, he was named Cornell University's third President, and during his 28-year tenure advanced the causes of academic freedom and intellectual liberalism. His wide-ranging diplomatic missions-embarked upon during his years as Cornell's president-took him around the globe to postings in the Pacific, Europe, and China.

Did you know that the Balkan Peninsula is often referred to as the "powder keg of Europe?" It was a term devised in the early 20th century to describe the unstable political situation in the region just before it exploded into a conflict known as the First World War. The Balkan Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Balkan League (Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro) and its allies and the Ottoman Empire. But these wars didn't involve any of the great European powers such as Germany, France, or the United Kingdom. This is what makes them less known, but they were crucial for the development of the European political scene. The Balkan Wars were first fought for ethnic groups that were ruled by the Ottoman Empire so they could gain their complete independence and expand their territory. Looking up to the successful western states, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Greece wanted to achieve national states with a territory that would gather all their ethnic brothers into one state. But the legacy of the Ottoman Empire lives on in the multiethnic hodgepodge of the Balkan Peninsula. Unlike Westerners, the Ottomans considered their faith to be the uniting factor, not the idea of belonging to a nation. This belief created the complex situation in the Balkans that lasts to this day. To understand this part of Europe, one must look into the past and understand the obscure and complex conflicts that are known as the Balkan Wars. This book will take you into the past and show you how it all started, from the creation of the Balkan League to the Bucharest Peace Conference. Read Captivating History's The Balkan Wars to understand the origins of the conflict, as well as: The national aspirations of the Balkan people How Bulgaria gained independence just to lose it against its will The creation of the Balkan League How Bulgarians pushed the Ottomans out of Thrace and Europe How they lost Macedonia, their ultimate goal, in the process The role of the Greek navy in the Balkan Wars How Greece took Thessaly and its main prize, the Port of Thessaloniki Why the Montenegrins were tied to Serbia and what their role in the war was Why Serbia and Greece agreed on an alliance Why Romania and the Ottoman Empire jumped into the conflict How it all ended with a peace treaty signed in Bucharest and Constantinople Don't miss this opportunity to learn about the Balkan Wars, scroll up and click the "add to cart" button!

Reproduction of the original: The Balkan Wars by Jacob Gould Schurman

The Balkan Peninsula is often referred to as the "powder keg of Europe," but it is more accurately described as the "melting pot of Europe." In The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their Medieval Origins, Alexandru Madgearu discusses the ethnic heterogeneity in modern-day Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia and traces its history. Madgearu examines the historical evolution that led to the genesis of several conflicts in the Balkans. The affected areas and associated events have transformed the Balkan Peninsula into an intricate ethnic mosaic, where no single group of people has the majority. The various ethnic and religious differences these groups possess have survived the many occupations of this land over the years, whether by the Roman, Byzantine, or Ottoman Empires, and then became manifest when the modern Balkan states were created. With the dissolution of the strong outside forces once dominating the area, the Balkan states-prompted by political propaganda and nationalist ideologies-then used history to support territorial claims, defend ethnic-cleansing actions, and justify conflicts with other countries. The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula argues that the current ethnic structure is the basis for the solution of the disputes between the Balkan states and that history should be used to explain, not legitimize, the conflicts. Book jacket.

Positioned on the fault line between two competing Cold War ideological and military alliances, and entangled in ethnic, cultural and religious diversity, the Balkan region offers a particularly interesting case for the study of the global Cold War system. This book explores the origins, unfolding and impact of the Cold War on the Balkans on the one hand, and the importance of regional realities and pressures on the other. Fifteen contributors from history, international relations, and political science address a series of complex issues rarely covered in one volume, namely the Balkans and the creation of the Cold War order; Military alliances and the Balkans; uneasy relations with the Superpowers; Balkan dilemmas in the 1970s and 1980s and the ‘significant other’ – the EEC; and identity, culture and ideology. The book’s particular contribution to the scholarship of the Cold War is that it draws on extensive multi-archival research of both regional and American, ex-Soviet and Western European archives.

In The Balkan Wars 1912-1913, Richard Hall examines the origins, the enactment and the resolution of the Balkan Wars, during which the Ottoman Empire fought a Balkan coalition of Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia. The Balkan Wars of 1912 - 1913 opened an era of conflict in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, which lasted until 1918, and which established a basis for problems which tormented Europe until the end of the century. Based on archival as well as published diplomatic and military sources, this book provides the first comprehensive perspective on the diplomatic and military aspects of the Balkan Wars. It demonstrates that, because of the diplomatic problems raised and the military strategies and tactics pursued to resolve those problems, The Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 were the first phase of the greater and wider conflict of the First World War.

With Eastern Europe a political powder keg in the early years of the 20th century, this plea for reasoned pacifism-first published in 1912-seems entirely prescient in hindsight, with our foreknowledge of the dreadful war to engulf the continent two years later. A classic of political theory, Peace Theories and the Balkan War discusses: . the inadequacies of the terms "war" and "peace" . the economic motives for war . the impossibility of separating the moral and the material . the danger of war to be found in its illusions . war and religion . and much more. British journalist and politician SIR RALPH NORMAN ANGELL (1872-1967) was an executive for the World Committee against War and Fascism and a member of the executive committee of the League of Nations Union. Knighted in 1931, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1933. From 1905 to 1912, he was the Paris editor for the Daily Mail, and served as a Labour MP from 1929 to 1931. He is also the author of The Fruits of Victory.

This authoritative reference follows the history of conflicts in the Balkan Peninsula from the 19th century through the present day. The Balkan Peninsula, which consists of Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and the former Yugoslavia, resides in the southeastern part of the European continent. Its strategic location as well as its long and bloody history of conflict have helped to define the Balkans' role in global affairs. This singular reference focuses on the events, individuals, organizations, and ideas that have made this region an international player and shaped warfare there for hundreds of years. Historian and author Richard C. Hall traces the sociopolitical history of the area, starting with the early internal conflicts as the Balkan states attempted to break away from the Ottoman Empire to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that ignited World War I to the Yugoslav Wars that erupted in the 1990s and the subsequent war crimes still being investigated today. Additional coverage focuses on how these countries continue to play an important role in global affairs and international politics.