World War I began amid the tangled national and ethnic rivalries of the Balkans, and the region remained of immense strategic importance throughout the four-year conflict. Of the new states to emerge from the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century, Bulgaria was arguably the most important. In the summer of 1914, the rival alliance systems were keen to secure it as an ally. It was the most populous Balkan state, with the best army in south-east Europe. It also occupied a critical geographical position, astride the main overland route linking Ottoman Turkey with Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Yet Bulgaria was not to be taken for granted. It would side with the combination of countries that was most likely to deliver its long-held desire for territorial gain. In September 1915, its ruler, King Ferdinand I, finally agreed to join the Central Powers. It was a move that initially produced some battlefield successes. In the longer term, however, it led to Bulgaria’s growing submission to German dictates, internal tensions, and military defeat.
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For decades, Bulgaria’s ambitions had centred on Macedonia, to which Serbia and Greece also laid claim. In the first Balkan War of 1912-1913, the three countries temporarily overcame their rivalry to join Montenegro in a loose alliance against the Ottoman Empire. A dispute over the spoils led to a second war, which lasted from June to August 1913 and culminated in a heavy Bulgarian defeat. The gains it had made in the earlier conflict were wiped out. Bulgaria lost Macedonia to Greece and Serbia, and Southern Dobrudja, on the western Black Sea coast, to Romania.
